Do you recall a time when wearing your seatbelt wasn't a law or common practice? Can you imagine getting behind the wheel and not buckling up nowadays - no way!
The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year. To help raise awareness of the dangers of distracted driving, Fit Pros has partnered with Impact Teen Drivers, a 501-3c that develops evidence-based curricula and guides for schools and professional fields across the country.
As the dependance of always being socially connected rises, as do deaths due to texting while driving. Our mission is to evoke a mind-shift, similar to the mandatory seat belt law that passed in 1984. Somehow we’ve trained ourselves to immediately buckle up. Why can’t we train the brain to put our phone in the glovebox?
THE WORKSHOP
This 60 minute course will empower parents to make meaningful behavioral changes in their own driving habits, in turn to encourage safe driving in their family and community.
Sharing their experience, strength and hope with the audience, the presenter will be someone who's been dramatically impacted by distracted driving. The speaker will be joined by a local police or firefighter to answer questions and offer data-points of what they witness in your city.
WHY WE CARE
Written by Founder, Lindsay Bailey
Some days I feel selfish for being sad. Other days I feel guilty that the day went by without thinking about him. Most days my heart sinks when remembering that I'll never hear, "I love you sis" from my baby brother when we say goodbye.
On July 2 at 7:32 am, while driving to work, Cory Bailey texted just three letters before driving his truck head-on into a guardrail, hitting two trees, and then slid down an embankment, nearly into a lake, before coming to his immediate death. One witness said, "it didn't look like he hit the breaks."
Time stopped when my phone read two missed calls, and one text from my mom that read '911'. My mind immediately went to, "oh no, my stepdad, Greg had another heart attack" then to, "maybe it's Greg telling me mom is hurt." Phew, mom answered, "Hey, what's up," I said. Then in a shattered tone, she whimpered, "Your brother was killed." I gasped, "WHAT...which brother...how?" With little breath she cried, "Cory...car accident."
We later learned that his bank alerted via text that his account balance was low. Cory replied with ‘BAL’ to get an auto balance update just before steering off the road.
Moments such as this, in which we have zero control over our mental and physical reaction, fascinates me. As my body radiated heat head to toe, my knees buckled and my hands grasped the countertop. My mind was present, but far away, like deep in a black and white tunnel in which I could see colors and movement in the distance, but nothing was clear. I didn’t know who was in the room with me, it didn’t matter, but I heard muffled whispers and gasps. I was physically in the room, but mentally in another dimension. I was like Dorothy, not yet in Oz, but as quickly as possible riding her bike away from the tornado, seeking shelter from the reality of inevitable pain.
Too many lives are lost from this unavoidable danger of distracted driving. Imagine if putting our phone in the glovebox before getting behind the wheel became a habit. Our streets would be much safer, and less families will suffer from the tragic loss of a loved one.
To support #CorysCause and donate to Impact Teen Drivers visit:
More real life stories…