Distracted driving is a serious problem. 64% of all accidents in the United States involve a cellphone. Back in 2014, 3,179 people were killed due to a distracted driver. A young man involved in a bad car accident and his mother decided to raise awareness on the subject.

Matt Reeves, 17, was lucky to survive a car accident. He was driving his mother’s car when his cellphone that was resting in the center console slipped under the pedal. Instead of pulling over, Matt slowed the car down and reached down to grab it, by the time he put his eyes back on the road it was too late.

“I didn’t feel like it would be that long to grab it, but when I came up it was too late,” he said in an interview with WXYZ Detroit. “I saw the rear end of the black SUV and I just remember hitting it really hard.”

The young teen suffered a few injuries, including fracturing his nose, jaw, and skull, and injuring his shoulder. Despite these injuries Matt says that he was lucky. He could’ve killed himself or someone else just because he took his eyes off the road.

After the incident, Matts mother, Linda, decided to talk about it on Facebook, hoping to prevent more accidents. She said in her post, “Put the damn phones off and in a place you can’t be tempted to reach for it. Matt was lucky. This could have had a different outcome.”

Matt has since made a full recovery, and says he has learned his lesson. He leaves his phone out of sight every time he goes for a drive.

Since Linda and Matt started raising awareness they have received messages from loved ones and complete strangers, saying they have changed their driving habits.

Watch the video below about distracted driving.

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