I’m Quitting

I’m quitting, and I hope you will too.

I’ve quit doing what Martha calls “fiddling with my phone” while I’m driving.

It wasn’t easy. I still feel the necessity to reach over and pick up my phone and see if I’ve missed something in the last 10 minutes.

Now, if I’m on a long trip I simply plan to stop a little more often and check email or deal with a text message.

Maybe this sounds a little humorous, but it’s really not.

Let me tell you what precipitated this decision.

It happened in our weekly pastoral staff meeting. As we prepared to pray, we noted how many people we know who have been struck by automobiles recently. Some lost their lives.

We obviously don’t know if any of those were caused by distracted drivers, but we all know that many accidents have been caused by drivers who were “fiddling with their phones.”

At that point, I asked our pastors to covenant with me to be serious with our driving and not to be distracted by our phones.

It’s not just phones that can distract you. It can be most anything – – a cup of coffee, the radio, or something outside the automobile.

Our pastors all agreed what a serious issue this is. We agreed that while it would be bad to die from a distracted driver, it would be worse to cause someone else’s death.

We all know we have a responsibility to be good citizens and care for the needs of others. There are many things we can’t change about our world, but we can change how we live as citizens of this world.

We’ve decided to quit, and I hope you will too.

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10 Responses

  1. Yay!!!! Hide the phone turn off the ring turn off the radio and take a minute to breath and thank God for the moment! Goub

  2. Great idea! I think back on the days when there were no cell phones or caller ID. We all survived not being in constant touch . It amazes me how everywhere you look people are looking at their phones or playing with them in some way. They are a constant distraction.

  3. My boss asked us to sign a commitment a few years ago to never use a phone while driving. It’s made a big difference and I definitely drive safer. There really is no excuse to be messing with a phone while driving as there is nothing so important it can’t wait until you stop. There are a number of statistics showing that driving while texting is actually worse than driving while drunk.

  4. Good decision!

    Thankfully everyone in our story is alive.
    A family member’s car stalled on the bridge, safety guidelines were followed & help was on the way.
    Only one car was seen on the bridge and it was approaching quickly.
    An attempt to flag the driver was made. It became obvious they were not looking ahead, but down.

    The driver admitted they were distracted with their phone and saw nothing before hitting the stalled car at full speed and totaling it. The driver, a medical professional, was on the way to traffic court for a previous offense.

    Many lives could have been horribly changed forever in that one instance. So very thankful they weren’t.

    So glad for one less distracted driver on the road … YOU!

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