It was in 2011 when Kentucky enacted a law that prohibited the use of cell phones while driving. It was a few years later--about a decade ago, or so--when I was almost sideswiped by a driver who had propped their phone up on the top of the steering wheel. "I guess that made it okay," I announced rhetorically. It didn't, and I'll let the state legislature take it from here:

kentucky.gov
kentucky.gov
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To be fair, I've seen fewer and fewer instances of motorists pushing the envelope with regard to usage of devices while driving, but that doesn't mean it's stopped happened. Quite the contrary, as a matter of fact.

That's why a declaration like the one Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear issued Wednesday, October 30th, is so important. It is "Buckle Up, Phones Down Day," and it occurs me that I haven't yet told a seatbelt tale yet, but I don't have one like the phone story. Let's just say that I have buckled up every single time I've stepped into a vehicle for as along as I can remember. I have certainly done so since I've been a driver, and that is a VERY long time.

Here are a few statistics concerning seatbelt use and traffic accidents from the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety:

Kentucky Office of Highway Safety
Kentucky Office of Highway Safety
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As for distracted driving, the alarming numbers speak for themselves. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 3,300 people were killed in 2022 because of distracted driving. Full stop.

For one day--and, certainly, we hope many more--you can lay the phone down beside you until you get home. Or do the hands-free thing.

Buckle up, Kentucky, and lay that phone down, and we'll see you tomorrow.

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

Gallery Credit: Sophia Crisafulli

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