My brother died recently in Colorado. He was killed by a distracted driver.

Distracted driving has been called an American epidemic and is often referred to as the "new drunk driving."

Last year in the United States 391,000 injuries and 3,477 deaths were caused by drivers who were distracted.

Sending or reading a text causes drivers, on average, to take their eyes off the road for 5 seconds. When driving at 55 miles per hour, that means that drivers travel approximately the length of a football field with their eyes closed.

A recent poll showed that 77% of adults and 55% of teenage drivers believe that they can manage texting while driving. Most of the time they're correct; however, if they're wrong once, someone might die.

I encourage you to challenge yourself for the rest of the month to put your phone away when you get in your car. Whatever you need to write or read can wait till you get where you're going.

I also encourage you to reflect on Bob's last message to me and, as soon as you get out of your car, call someone you love. You never know when your last conversation will be your last conversation.

Bill, I really need to see this today. No bitching is my goal for the day.

Just be a good example. Change the thing you can. ME.

Thanks for talking this morning. Bob