New York is joining the “Buckle Up, Phone Down” challenge.

The national campaign challenges all drivers to get back to the basics of safe driving by always buckling up and putting their phone down.  These two simple actions have been found to be crucial in preventing crashes and surviving a crash if one occurs.

There were nearly 23,000 crashes from January 2022 to mid-September 2023, where people were not wearing a seatbelt, and 1,450 crashes in that same time period where cell phone use was a factor, according to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles.

In 2001, New York became the first state in the nation to ban handheld cell phone use while driving.

Seat belt use has been required in the front seat since 1985, and for everyone since 2020.