New year & renewed efforts on distract driving
The start of the 2022 legislative session at the state capitol in Jefferson City saw the introduction of more than a dozen bills focused on curbing distracted driving.
Trailnet is helping lead efforts with partners across the state to curb distracted driving and pass legislation that limits phone use by people while driving. This bi-partisan coalition, Hands Free Missouri, is pushing for new rules that limit people from using their phones while driving.
With the legislative session underway, we are working to grow the coalition of supporters, engage with lawmakers, coordinate testimony for bills, and make progress on this problem.
Missouri is the last state in the nation without meaningful restrictions on all drivers using phones while driving. This lack of rules endangers everyone on our roads, but puts people walking and biking at an ever greater risk.
Dangerous, distracted driving poses one of the biggest threats to people walking and biking in our community. In Missouri more than 2,500 crashes a year involve people using their phones while driving and 407 people were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver between 2016 and 2020.
This has to stop.
It is vital that Missouri lawmakers pass meaningful distracted driving legislation and each of us realize the real, human risk that comes from distracted driving.
We need your help to stop distracted driving:
- Set an example for the people in your life by not using your phone while driving
- Take MODOT’s Buckle up Phone Down Pledge
- Call or email your Missouri State Representative and Senator asking them to support hands free driving legislation
- Get involved with Trailnet’s advocacy work by emailing our Policy Manager: kevinhahn@trailnet.org
- Share the incredibly powerful and personal toll distracted driving crashes can have for people. Watch or share one of these incredibly impactful videos from one of our partners in the Hands Free Coalition, Mercy Injury Prevention