Allstate Safe Driving Blog Tour

A year ago, I rarely texted.  I would sometimes with my brother, and sometimes with Bo, but it wasn't an everyday thing.  Now, I text daily -- not the thousands of texts that you read that teens send, but I send more than 100 a month and had to recently upgrade my phone plan. I can tell you that I do NOT text while driving, ever.  I do know people who do text while driving, though, and it is a very dangerous practice.

Allstate has launched a cause to encourage teens not to text while driving.  For every person that joins the Allstate Thumbs Up cause before January 15, 2010, Allstate will donate $1 to Teen Safety Driving programs, up to $25,000. As of tonight, about 12,500 have joined -- so we have just over 2 weeks to find another 12,500 to join the cause and pledge to keep their thumbs off their cell phones while driving.

The Allstate website has a pledge you can download for your family, and shared some statistics that are sobering.  Did you know these facts about texting while driving?  (statements taken from the Allstate website, which shares the sources of each statement)

• It takes your eyes off the road on average of five seconds at a time. At 55 mph, that's like driving the length of a football field - completely blind.
• It's like driving after having 4 beers.
• It makes us 23 times more likely to crash.
• It results in car crashes that kill an average of 11 teens each day.
• It's results in 330,000 distracted driving injuries every year.

While I don't have any teens in the house (yet), I do have friends with teens.  The parents I know all have a rule that cell phones are not to be used while driving -- but teens will be teens and I know that the rules are sometimes broken.  One friend monitored activity with their online statements, which led to her teen losing phone privileges for a month.   While her teen may have felt the punishment was harsh, the lesson was learned and when phone privileges were re-instated, there was no more texting or calling while driving.

I have added this cause to my Facebook account, and have asked my friends to join!  I am asking all my readers to join as well in order to encourage teens (and adults!) to keep their thumbs on the steering wheel and not their cell phones while driving!  While I love the convenience of texting, I'm not about to put myself or others in danger by texting and driving -- and I hope that others agree!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of The Allstate Foundation. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.