Driving down the interstate or around town the past week, you may have seen the words “Buckle Up, Phone Down” or “BUPD” on signs or spelled out on fences. The statewide traffic safety …
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Driving down the interstate or around town the past week, you may have seen the words “Buckle Up, Phone Down” or “BUPD” on signs or spelled out on fences. The statewide traffic safety campaign sought to make this message local last week an effort to save more lives.
“Approximately 88% of drivers and passengers buckle up. The other 12% account for nearly two-thirds of vehicle occupants killed in traffic crashes,” said Deana Dothage, sharing information from the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety. Dothage runs the First Impact driver safety program for teens and parents, and works for the MU School of Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Not only do unbuckled drivers and passengers take on a risk for themselves, they also risk injuring other people if they get thrown about in a car, Dothage said.
The danger of a tragedy on the road is only compounded by the increasing prevalence of drivers distracted by their phones, one of the fastest-growing causes of crashes in Missouri. And again, distracted drivers aren’t only putting themselves at risk. More than half the fatalities in distracted driving crashes are someone other than the distracted driver, Dothage cited.
“Seventy-one people in Missouri were killed in distracted driving crashes in 2019,” she said.
The issue of roadway safety is one of deep personal impact to Dothage. Her father and her brother were both killed in car accidents barely a year apart, and in her brother’s case a seat belt might have saved his life. Even decades later, it’s still a painful memory.
“He lost control on wet pavement. It was raining. ... His car rolled six times, and my brother was ejected. He died instantly, according to what the law enforcement told my family,” Dothage recalled. “I live this, every day that I don’t have my brother.”
Now with a 19-year-old son of her own, Dothage reminds her child, and every other driver on the road, how important it is to be safe by buckling up and eliminating distractions.
The Coalition for Roadway Safety is challenging individuals and businesses across the state to pledge to being safer drivers. You can accept the Buckle Up, Phone Down challenge online at www2.modot.org/BuckleUpPhoneDown.
