Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — As the viral #InMyFeelings challenge has taken over the internet, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued a plea to drivers: “Don’t jump out of a moving vehicle to dance in the street.”
“Here’s a reminder we thought we’d never have to give: Don’t jump out of a moving vehicle to dance in the street,” Nicholas Worrell, chief of the NTSB Safety Advocacy Division, wrote in a blog post on the NTSB’s website.
Celebrities from Will Smith to Ciara have participated in the viral craze, posting videos of themselves dancing to the hit Drake song In My Feelings.
As more and more people partake in the challenge and record themselves dancing in the streets, it has taken an unexpectedly dangerous turn in recent weeks.
Jaylen Norwood, a Boynton Beach, Florida, man was hit by a car during his attempt at the #InMyFeelings challenge late last week, and the incident was captured on video that later exploded on Instagram.
Norwood, who sustained only a few scrapes during the ordeal, appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! shortly after his viral post.
“You risked your life for a meme!” Kimmel quipped, to which Norwood responded, “It was worth it.”
“I’m the most famous guy in Florida,” Norwood added.
While Norwood said he feels fine after his botched #InMyFeelings challenge attempt, some other people weren’t so lucky.
An 18-year-old Iowa girl, Anna Worden, sustained a fractured skull and other injuries after jumping out of a moving car to try the challenge herself, according to local ABC News affiliate WQAD-TV.
“The last thing I remember was opening the door,” Worden told WQAD-TV. “So apparently I got out and tripped and fell and hit my head.”
After regaining consciousness in the ICU, Worden said she wants to warn others to “be more careful about the challenges and fads that are going around.”
“It may seem fun, and it may seem easy, but at the same time, they could be so dangerous,” she said.
Stephanie Shaw, a safety advocate for the NTSB, told ABC News that they issued the warning over the #InMyFeelings challenge because they saw that drivers and passengers were “jumping out of their vehicle.”
“This is unsafe driving behavior that could lead to crashes and potentially injuries and death,” she added.
Worrell of the NTSB wrote in a blog post outlining the dangers of distracted driving that no dance craze is worth a human life, and crashes can happen incredibly fast.
“Avoid becoming — or causing — an #InMyFeelings fatality. All you have to do is not jump out of a moving vehicle,” he wrote. “Crashes happen fast, sometimes in the blink of an eye. Driving distracted is dangerous and can be deadly. No call, no text, no update is worth a human life. No dance is either.”
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