Put Down Your.....Ice Cream!

{dirty dirty windshield}

Last week Dave and I were coming home from Target.

Imagine that!

There was a car in front of us at this intersection.

She was turning onto the highway and we were right behind her.

The light turned green and a lady started to cross the street on one side, while

a teenage boy rode his bike across the crosswalk coming the other direction.

We watched in horror as the lady in front of us drove right through the intersection.

Never stopping for the woman walking or the bicycle rider crossing. Not even pausing.

Although she was driving slow like she was distracted I'm pretty sure she never saw them.

RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER CAR.

The woman walking jumped out of the way. But the boy on the bicycle was hit.

He was OK. Pretty shaken up but she just clipped his foot

and back tire of his bicycle.

As we were all just paused there on the road the boy decided he was fine

and started to ride away in shock.

The driver took a few minutes to pull off the road down the off-ramp a ways.

I followed her closely.

She was an older lady with blue gray hair.

As she tried to get out of her car I slowed and unrolled my window.

I still wasn't sure she knew what really happened.

It was then that I saw it.

Instead of yelling....Put Down Your Cell Phone.....

which we do often in our car out of frustration for people not paying attention....

I yelled at her in horror....Put Down Your Ice Cream Lady!

She was trying to eat a square Klondike Bar while driving.

You know the kind where the hard chocolate shell falls off with each bite?

She was still trying to manage it and eat while getting out of her car on the side of the road.

As she took ANOTHER bite of ice-cream and looked at me quizzically 

I yelled to her again...YOU JUST HIT A BOY...

PUT DOWN YOUR ICE CREAM AND DRIVE.

*  *  *  *  *  *

Two weeks ago I challenged two of Kaia's friend who are driving...both boys,

to join me in a week of truly cell free driving. 

No glancing, touching, texting or checking our cell phones while driving. 

Because I know I am guilty of glancing and even sending short texts while driving.

While I have a driver age child approaching quickly I realized

what a bad example I am being to her.

Sure I've got more experience on the road....

but taking your eyes off the road for a few seconds

isn't even safe for the most experienced drivers.

I checked in with the boys mid-week.

They were doing pretty good.

I allowed us all 3 strikes because I know bad habits are hard to break.

There was a prize at the end of the week if they succeeded!

These boys drive my daughter around town occasionally

...so I wanted them to be successful.

I didn't want them to give up because they failed one time.

We found that the only way to be truly successful was to not have our cell phones within reach.

Which meant in the back seat or even in the trunk of the car.

A few times I couldn't help but want to check my phone...

so I pulled over to the side of the road to address who had called or texted.

I was anticipating some calls from Shriners Hospital that I needed to take.

I talked to one of the boys after we were finished with our week challenge and

He said he has pretty much stopped texting while driving.

I was so proud of him.

Both boys will be getting a treat from me this week as their reward.

Most of us don't have a problem eating ice-cream while driving.

But we are almost all guilty of cell phone use while driving.

Take our challenge this week.

Put your cell phone away.

Be aware of how may times you do take your eyes off the road

even just to check who is calling you.

Hand your phone off to your passenger....

or put it in the back seat where it will have to wait until you are parked to reach it!

And let me know how it goes.

There might just be a reward for you too...

comment on this post if you are joining in on the challenge!