Message Monday - Put down the phone or we will turn off the sun
Remember when you were a kid and your parents would threaten to take something away if you didn’t use that item in a responsible way? Well, using your phone behind the wheel is kinda like that.
Today has the potential to be one of the worst distracted driving days we’ve seen. For the first time in nearly 100 years, there will be a nationwide eclipse of the sun. And people have cell phones. And they like to take photos. Sometimes when they are driving. The combination can be deadly.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, in the United States, approximately nine people are killed and more than 1,000 are injured in distracted driving crashes EVERY DAY.
Last week the Federal Highway Administration had this advice related to driving on eclipse day - http://wtop.com/dc-transit/2017/08/driving-eclipse-feds-warn-dangerous/
The fatality count of 192 is an increase of seven since last Monday. In all of 2016, 404 people were killed on Iowa highways. This number has been updated from 405 as police reports now indicate one of the fatalities in 2016 was due to natural causes. To see statistics published daily by the Office of Driver Services, go to the daily fatality report at https://www.iowadot.gov/mvd/stats/daily.pdf