Somerset County designates Oct. 16, 2025 as 'Do Not Disturb While Driving Day'

The Somerset County Board of County Commissioners on Oct. 1, 2025 designated Oct. 16, 2025 as Do Not Disturb While Driving Day and encouraged residents to use “do not disturb” technology or put phones away while driving. The proclamation was read aloud during the meeting and adopted by the board without additional discussion.

The board cited national safety data in the proclamation, including figures attributed to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and other organizations. The proclamation states that distracted driving was blamed for 3,275 fatalities and more than 324,819 injuries in 2023, and that NHTSA estimates distraction was involved in 13% of crashes, resulting in about 1,300,000 nonfatal injuries and $98,200,000,000 in economic costs in 2019. It also cites the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s estimate that crash risk is two to six times greater when drivers manipulate a cell phone, and notes that about one in five people killed in crashes involving a distracted driver in 2023 were pedestrians, bicyclists or otherwise outside a vehicle.

The proclamation also referenced the National Distracted Driving Coalition (NDDC) and identified Oct. 16, 2025 as the fourth annual National Do Not Disturb While Driving Day, an awareness effort to promote technology and practices that reduce phone-related distractions while driving.

A staff member read the proclamation text at the meeting after Commissioner Greener introduced the item; no public comments were made on the proclamation during the session. The board did not take a separate recorded roll-call vote specifically on the proclamation during the portion of the transcript provided.

The proclamation urges citizens to use available “do not disturb” technology or to put phones away while driving to reduce cell-phone-related distractions.