As a recent survey shows, 71  percent of people between the ages 18 to 49 admitted to texting or talking on the phone while they are driving.  The phone call you just have to make or the really important text you just have to repsond right away can be threatening.  Life threatening to be exact. 

Making it into the national headlines, a good example of this is when a bus carrying 21 students was hit my a semitruck.  Before bursting into flames, the bus was pushed more than 200 feet by the big truck.  The truck driver later admmitted that he had been texting and didn’t notice that the bus had stopped.  Greatfully, 20  of the students escaped and made it safely off the bus.  However, this was not the case for 13 year old Margay Schee who was killed.

 People everyday think that this will never happen to them, but neither did the semitruck driver.  You may think you can be the odds, but the truth is you can’t.  Is a life lost worth responding to that text message or phone call that can’t wait?

Opray Winfrey took it upon herself to do something about this.  Having surveys, like the one metioned, statitstics, and live stories, she wanted to give viewers a visual of the reality. 

“It is my prayer that this show, this day will be a seminal day in your life,” Oprah replied on her TV show,  ”Let it be the end, the end of you using a cell phone or sending a text message when you are behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. And until we as a nation decide we’re going to change that, those numbers are only going to go up.” 

Along with Oprah, Harpo Studios came together to declare April 30^th the first national “No Phone Zone Day.”  The announcement was made April 6^th on Oprah and is hoped to be used as a day where Americans or any drivers band using their cell phones, for whatever reason, in a vehicle.  More than 160,000 people have already taken the No Phone Zone pledge for April 30^th.  This is hoped to serve as an example to drivers that they can in fact make it without using their phones for the amount of time that they are driving. 

 ”We must not allow more mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, sisters and brothers to die before we take action against distracted driving. Let’s put a stop to it now, by joining together on April 30 for national ‘No Phone Zone Day’, and by making our cars a ‘No Phone Zone.’” Oprah stated. So, will you along with the others, rise up to the plate and pledge your April 30^th as a No Phone Zone Day?