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The Importance of Safe Driving

It’s the new age. The age of technology always at your fingertips. The age of constant connection. The age of instant communication. The age of obsession of knowing what’s going on. Where we don’t want to leave our smart phone for five minutes because someone commented on our profile. The moments that you swore you felt it vibrate so you just have to check it. Did you ever hear of a guy driving a buggy and cart and writing a letter at the same time? I didn’t think so. Even though this technology is great, awesome, and a big boon to our society, it’s also causing a heavy amount of distraction on the road. 

Always appreciate Hungry's distraction-free and skilled driving

Always appreciate Hungry’s distraction-free and skilled driving

I’m a fairly careful driver. On the highways, I’m always hitting 55mph (yay for saving gas!) and I don’t get infected by road rage. I’ve heard enough about texting and driving crashes that I don’t even want to stray on that road (no pun intended 😉 ). And let’s emphasize on the word crash instead of accident. Crashes are caused by intoxication, speeding, or distracted driving. Even though you obviously don’t want to get into a crash, it’s not an accident if you’re distracted or being careless. That’s the hard truth. 

In Colorado, we get all kinds of weather–in ONE day. It could be 30 and snowing when you wake up and be 65 and sunny during the day and then give you some rainfall at night! This makes for seriously precarious roads and conditions to drive in. Despite these very dangerous conditions, every single day on my way to work I will see bowed heads, eyes floating towards that little screen of light. It makes me sad and also scared! Even if I’m the most careful driver in the world, it won’t matter if the person behind me doesn’t see me stop and ram right into my bumper. That’s scary! I feel more and more anxious about getting crashed into because of the increase of smart phone usage of those around me. Several of my clients have been rear-ended by someone who was on their phone. It’s a shame and it needs change.

Weather makes it critical to focus on the road!

Weather makes it critical to focus on the road!

That’s why I’m reaching out to you alongside the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the Auto Alliance to make a difference. Encourage your friends, your siblings, your children to Decide to Drive. It’s easy to slip and just check that one message, but that one message could lead to a crash. Take part of the Decide to Drive campaign (seriously, click on the link and learn more about it, it’s really cool!) and end unnecessary crashes, injuries, and deaths due to distracted driving. This program drives to encourage the conversation about this issue and speak up about the distracted driving you see. This is something we at Hungry and Fit are incredibly passionate about. 

I’ll leave you with this scary statistic: “According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), of the nearly 33,000 roadway fatalities in 2012, there were 3,328 fatalities and approximately 421,000 injuries in distracted driving-related crashes.” Are you willing to step up and help end these unnecessary deaths? Join Hungry and I in the Decide to Drive campaign and help American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the Auto Alliance make a difference in the lives of millions. And as always…stay hungry and fit!

  • Question of the Day: Have you ever had a run-in with distracted driving? Comment below!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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