(Note: I make a similar post every year or so. It's that important to me.)

Please put your phones away when you get in your car. There's a mountain of evidence showing that cell phone usage while driving drastically reduces a driver's ability to stay focused on the road. Conditions can change all the time, both at low speed and high speed. Even using voice-to-text functionality can prove distracting. Anything that can take your eyes and attention off the road decreases your ability to respond to rapid changes that can bubble up at a moment's notice. Spend time when you're not driving getting to know your car's entertainment/phone/control panel by touch so you can use it without taking your eyes off the road.

Please wear your seatbelts. ALWAYS. If you're tired, pull over and rest. If you've had a drink, play it safe and call a taxi. If you're angry, pull over until you're calm.

Every time you get in your car, remind yourself how much you love your family, your wife, your kids, your parents, your siblings, your football team, your ability to walk and talk, your ability to sit on your deck and enjoy a late-summer breeze while grilling steaks, your favorite vacation.... basically everything that you love and have worked for. Because tens of thousands of people will die in vehicle accidents this year, mostly caused by poor decisions made by drivers, and many more than that will have their lives and health destroyed in accidents that don't kill them. Please make a life commitment to being a safe, sane, calm, and lawful driver.

Tim