Get ready to accept the challenge

Calendars are marked and the countdown is on for you to stand up and join the movement for improved roadway safety. The Missouri Department of Transportation and the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety are challenging you and those you know at home, work, school or in your community to buckle up and put your phone down.                         

Friday, Oct. 20, is slated as “Buckle Up/Phone Down Day”. The challenge is simple: when you get into any vehicle, buckle up your safety belt. If you are a driver, put the cellphone down. Turn it off if you have to. No texting and no talking unless hands free. By buckling up and putting your phone down – even for one day – you will be doing your part to make Missouri’s roads safer. Let’s save lives and turn this day into a week, a month, and eventually every trip, every time.

“We’re experiencing a high number of fatalities again this year,” said MoDOT Highway Safety and Traffic Engineer Nicole Hood.  “The simple tasks of buckling everyone in the vehicle and choosing not to use your phone while driving can help save your life, the lives of your passengers and occupants of other vehicles.”

Texting increases the risk of car crashes by 50 percent. Sixty-seven percent of this year’s fatalities involved unbuckled drivers or passengers that may have survived if they were only properly restrained. The loss of one life is too many.

Join the movement and stand up and be counted on Buckle Up/Phone Down Challenge Day Friday, Oct. 20. Take the challenge at http://www.modot.org/BuckleUpPhoneDown/.