During April’s National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, NHTSA is partnering with our friends in state and local law enforcement and with advocates across the country to remind everyone about the dangers of distracted driving. We’re airing ads that convey a powerful message about distracted driving. If you’re caught texting and driving you’ll be pulled over and ticketed because you’re putting your life and your neighbors’ lives at risk.

We all know that the screens on our phones, phablets and tablets can sometimes seem irresistible. Most of us have been scolded for bringing a device to the dinner table, taking out a phone in the middle of a party, or checking Twitter or Snapchat during an office meeting. (If you haven’t, you’re more disciplined than most.) But when you’re behind the wheel being distracted by your phone is more than a social faux pas; it’s an invitation to a deadly disaster.

Distracted driving is also about more than just electronic diversions. It’s anything you’re doing behind the wheel that undermines safe driving, including eating and drinking, fiddling with the music or the A/C, or checking yourself out in the mirror. Recently, a driver even became distracted by her dog who was riding with her. She took her eyes off the road, crossed the center line, and crashed head-on into a sheriff’s deputy’s vehicle in Davis County, Utah.

So during April’s Distracted Driving Awareness Month, make a positive, lifesaving change that will make you safer year-round. Before you start the car, shut down your phone. Put it out of reach so you won’t be tempted by it. Recommit yourself to safe driving by not giving in to distraction and by focusing solely on the road. You’ll save yourself the cost of a ticket and maybe even save a life.