Dear family members and friends:

Don’t bother to call me while you’re driving — even if you’re using that fancy new hands-free device of yours. I’m no longer accepting those calls.

I’d rather wait until later to talk to you — when you’ve reached your destination (or pulled over to the side of the road). That’s a lot less inconvenient than having to visit you in the hospital after you’ve crashed your car, distracted by our phone conversation.

It’s also a lot less inconvenient than spending hours, days, months and probably years consoling you for the anguish I know you’d feel for causing injury — or worse — to someone else.

And don’t tell me how you, unlike all those other crazy drivers on the road, are able to multitask while behind the wheel. That argument just won’t fly anymore.

As New York Times reporter Matt Richtel reported on Sunday:

Sound familiar? Of course, you might be forgiven for not having (until now) all the facts about the dangers of using the phone while driving. As the New York Times reported in another article on Tuesday:

Why?  Apparently, because some NHTSA officials were worried about angering Congress, who themselves, according to the Times, didn’t want to anger “voters who multitask while driving and, to a much smaller degree, the cellphone industry.”

Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the Center for Auto Safety and Public Citizen, you can now read those sobering documents.

I’m sure doing so will persuade you to turn your phone on mute while behind the wheel. But in case it doesn’t, I’ll remind you again: Don’t bother calling me while you're driving. I want you to concentrate on the road ahead of you — so we'll be sure to have years of wonderful, joyous conversation ahead of us.

Talk to you soon ...

Affectionately,

Susan