Christy Stevens, Fairfax City Clerk, is pictured with the Buckle Up Phone Down sign at Fairfax City Hall. (Submitted photos)
Buckle Up Phone Down signs were located outside Rock Port City Hall, above, and Tarkio City Hall, at left.
By Christy Pearce, Community Planner, Northwest Missouri Regional Council of Governments
As someone who has driven Missouri’s back roads, highways, and gravel lanes, I can tell you: Missourians care. We check in on our neighbors. We hold doors open. We wave from our trucks. Now, we’re being asked to do something just as kind: Protect each other on the road. We know that texting while driving makes a crash 23 times more likely. We know that seat belts reduce the risk of fatal injury by nearly 45%.
Most of all? We know that change starts with us.
I’m not just writing about Buckle Up Phone Down (BUPD) Day. I participated. I’m pledged. Because hope isn’t passive, it’s active. And the safest roads are the ones where every driver chooses to care.
Caring is the First Step Toward Change
Since its creation, seat belt use in Missouri has increased by over 5%, and reports of distracted driving fatalities have begun to decline. That’s not coincidence, it’s progress.
More than 12,800 individuals and 560 businesses have taken the BUPD pledge. Hundreds of companies now have policies requiring seat belt use and restricting phone use in company vehicles. It’s not just about rules; it’s about setting a tone of safety and care from the top down.
Every Missouri community was invited to get involved on BUPD Day, October 29, whether you’re rural, urban, and everywhere in between. The beauty is this: all it takes is a small action. And it’s in these choices, these moments how lives are saved.
It’s in the mother who now insists her son buckle up before starting the car. It’s in the employer who models phone-free driving to her entire team. It’s in the teacher who explains to students that being cool behind the wheel means being careful.
This is a movement meant to be seen, heard, and felt in every corner of our state, from the Bootheel to the bluffs of the Missouri River.
So, Buckle up, Phone Down Missouri!
Wednesday, October 29, was more than observing another safety campaign: Lives were reclaimed. Those lost were honored. And we chose hope, one seat belt click, and one phone put away at a time. And we’re committing to do it year-round.
Join the movement. Save a life. Maybe even your own.
