To boss: ``u will hv story in 5 mins''

To husband: ``u pickd up m yet? u r l8 4 class!''

Phone rings: ``Hello? Hi, Mom. Yes, yes, we're fine. The boys are fine. No, the weather is good. If you saw it on the Weather Channel, why are you calling me to ask? Yes, I'll make sure the boys wear jackets. Gotta go, Mom, I'll call you back.''

To boss: ``ok gimme 10 mins''

From husband: ``whats 4 dinner 2nite?''

OK, not responding to that one.

So here it is -- my multitasking confessional. Driving, talking, texting. Oh, and I forgot to include reaching back to break up a fight or fish for a lost Lego piece.

According to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, I am a ``menace to society.'' And I know I'm not alone.

Come on, sisters: Join me in admitting that moms are especially distracted drivers. I know, because some of you out there have yakked on the phone with me while we're both stuck in traffic.

According to LaHood, some statistics show that nearly 6,000 people were killed and more than half a million were injured on America's roads last year in crashes linked to texting or talking behind the wheel. It's the cause of about 20 percent of the nation's accidents.

Yes, that is chilling enough to stop me cold amid the tappity-tap.

The crusade against distracted driving was the topic of a summit this week by the U.S. Department of Transportation. It pretty much overshadowed this week's revelation that working moms are the nation's biggest cellphone users by a long shot, according to Scarborough Research.

We chew up cellphone charges 21 percent faster than any of y'all, including gabby teens and self-important guys in suits.

Multitasking behind the wheel is a natural extension of the busy lives we lead today.

Parents often find themselves as nothing more than unpaid cabbies, shuttling their kids to and fro. And we know how much cabbies love their cellphones.

Although women have made great strides in the workplace, most of us still have a second shift of household responsibilities that has changed little in the past century. (And I know you're out there, you fabulous husbands who do housework. Please don't write me an e-mail about yourselves. Instead, take my husband out for coffee and teach him your ways.)

So we do two jobs and that little BlackBerry or iPhone is the magic fairy in our pockets, the answer to the age-old wish: ``If only I could be in two places at once.''

We sneak out of the office to see the recital.

Boss wants an answer on that report? No problem. Tap-tap-tap and you've returned his e-mail in a flash. And on the way back to work, we are field marshals, using our PDAs to dispatch instructions to our brood, text grocery orders, pay bills and register for gymnastics, all with our nimble thumbs.

Statistically, despite the digital acrobatics, parents are not the prime perps when it comes to the distracted-driving accidents.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said this week that drivers younger than 20 are most likely to have such accidents. So this week's conference focused on how to curb a trend that many liken to drunken driving.

Washington D.C. and seven states have banned talking on a cellphone without a hands-free device while driving. Congress is considering a nationwide ban on texting behind the wheel, which is already illegal in the Washington, Maryland, Virginia and 16 other states.

After hearing all the grim numbers from the Department of Transportation, I know I've got to do better when I'm behind the wheel.

If the inspiration isn't in the rearview mirror, where I can glance my boys' little faces, it's in the picture of another boy, Joe Teater.

Joe's dad, David, spoke about the dangers of distracted driving at the summit this week. Joe was 12 when a driver distracted by his cellphone ran a red light on a Michigan street and killed the boy. That story is enough for me. I have no desire to be David Teater.

And it should be enough for everyone else who thinks their business simply can't wait.

To the boss: ``u will hv column in 30 mins, when i get back 2 the office.''

(C)2009 The Washington Post

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