Have you ever talked on your cell phone or sent a text message while driving? Fiddled with your iPod or the radio? Ever had a snack or a beverage behind the wheel? Then you’re a distracted driver and 72% of Americans are guilty of it.

“With the technology we have nowadays, people are trying to run their business out of their vehicles, so its not only teens who are texting or talking on their cell phone consistently while they are behind the wheel, its all ages,” says Syndi Bultman, Injury Prevention Manager for Lee Memorial’s Trauma Center.

In fact, recent studies find that drivers who send text messages or chat on their cell phone while driving are almost as dangerous as drunk drivers. “They’re swaying over the roadway, they’re slowing up, their speeding up, their erratic with their driving behavior, they’re popping their head up, and looking down, popping up, and looking down,” adds Bultman.

Jay Anderson is the Executive Director of the “Stay Alive Just Drive” program. “We encourage people to pull over. It’s simple. It doesn’t require magic, brain surgery, rocket science; it’s simple. Pull over.”

Syndi Bultman and Jay Anderson are encouraging all drivers to take part in tomorrow’s “Crash Free Friday” initiative. A push to persuade drivers to focus their attention on the road and off their cell phone to prevent further vehicle crashes. “It not only affects the driver who was distracted, but it affects whoever it was they hit, the family members,” warns Bultman.

Anderson adds, “if we could produce one day and show the public that if people paid attention, drove smart, we could hopefully reduce the number of crashes and it would be great to see Lee County go a day without any traffic crashes.”

Every single day, on average, 110 people die in the United States as victims of distracted driving.