A health care worker has gone viral for sharing the dangers of keeping a pen in your pocket while driving, and he told Newsweek many people forget to check, remove or secure potentially harmful objects before setting off.
Omar Snoubar, 32, is a registered nurse living in East Texas, and recently shared a vital PSA warning against keeping a pen in your breast pocket while traveling in a vehicle.
"I decided to share because I think this is something that many people tend to forget, and I wanted to put out a reminder," said Snoubar.
"They just get in the car and drive, not thinking about the potential dangers of what they have on their body — or anything loose in the car for that matter — is a potential risk."
A video shared to his TikTok account @osnoubar on November 13 with close to 40,000 likes shows Snoubar sitting in his car, holding a pen and telling the camera: "Make sure you take this stuff out before you start driving."
"We had a patient who was involved in a car wreck, the air bag went off and they had a pen in their pocket. Guess where they found the pen? It was inside of their lung cavity."
Warning against wearing an ID badge, lanyard or pen while driving, he added: "I just wanted to put that out there as a reminder to everybody. Stay safe, drive safe, be careful."
He said in that patient's case, "the thing that's supposed to save your life becomes the potential risk."
"The patient I was referring to had other minor injuries, but the injury caused by the pen could've been fatal had it penetrated the heart or lungs," he explained.
Newsweek also spoke to Dr Jared L Ross, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri Medical School and director of trauma services for Bothwell Regional Health Center, who previously worked as a paramedic and firefighter. He said impalement injuries are "rare, and typically caused by large objects outside the vehicle rather than small objects in our pockets."
While pens and lanyards are "unlikely to become dangerous" in a crash, he acknowledged "any object placed between the air bag and the driver can become a hazard."
There were 46,980 road traffic fatalities across the U.S. in 2021, according to Statista. Alongside drug overdoses, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among those under the age of 55 in the U.S.
In July of this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) warned of faulty replacement air bag inflators in used cars, which can cause death or serious injury in a crash.
The warning came after three people were killed and two injured due to "faulty aftermarket replacement air bag inflators."
Dr Ross warned that "blunt force trauma from heavy objects inside the vehicle" are more hazardous than items in pockets — this can include gym weights, backpacks, coffee mugs and laptops, and even dogs.
And the "biggest threat to drivers today," he warned, was "distracted driving," from cellphones, kids and pets, to multitasking such as "eating, applying makeup, or talking on the phone, even hands-free."
Snoubar's video got a major conversation going, with hundreds commenting on the clip, including one woman who said she has worked as a nurse for 34 years, and agreed: "Always empty all your pockets before you leave! Be safe!"
Others confirmed Snoubar's warning was new information to them, one writing: "Not me driving with a badge and like 4 pens."
"New fear unlocked," another said, as one said they "need to empty my car, everything turns into projectiles."
Snoubar said the reaction to his video has been "fantastic."
He told Newsweek: "I plan to put out more PSAs like this in the future as I encounter them."
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