Texting while driving: Why do we do it?
[TEXTKILLS.COM - March 23,2010] Everybody knows it’s a bonehead move, but people still do it. Texting while driving is still regrettably common on US streets and highways, and it has been the cause of innumerable near-misses and more than a few accidents, including a deadly train crash in California that killed 25 people. We tend to take driving a car for granted, and think nothing of taking our eyes off the road to do any number of activities that could wait for later.
What’s even more disturbing is that public employees whose office is behind the wheel text while driving. The train engineer, who was distracted by text messages at the time of the tragic Chatsworth, California accident, was not the only public employee to ever put the public at risk due to this reckless practice. Only recently, a Washington, DC bus driver was caught texting while driving by a passenger armed with a cell phone camera. Although the driver was fired, he does have the right under union contract to file a grievance. We can only hope that the driver has enough common sense to look for another line of work. A bus driver in San Antonio, Texas was also caught on camera texting, and subsequently ramming his bus into an SUV. The Department of Transportation has recently announced guidance to prohibit commercial drivers from texting while driving, subjecting them to civil or criminal penalties.
Prominent celebrities and lawmakers have stepped up to raise public awareness and call for legislation to deal with the situation. Oprah Winfrey, on her popular television show, aired an episode featuring people who have lost loved ones to cell phone-driving related crashes, and she has set up a section of her web site to encourage people to take a pledge to make their cars a “no phone zone”. Several states have enacted legislation to forbid talking on a cell phone or sending text messages while driving, and Federal safety regulators have also created a set of guidelines to encourage more states to pass similar laws.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 6,000 people died in 2008 because of a crash that occurred when the driver was distracted, and more than 500,000 suffered injuries. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have passed laws banning texting while driving, and seven states have passed laws banning use of any handheld device while driving. There is currently legislation in the Senate that would bar all texting while driving across the board.
Just how dangerous is it? First and foremost, texting while driving just doesn’t pass the “common sense” test, but Car and Driver decided to demonstrate that it’s a bad idea once and for all, and compare driver’s reactions while they are texting against while they have been drinking. Academic studies conducted by simulators have already shown that texting while driving is a bad idea, but Car and Driver conducted the only live test, renting an open taxiway at an airport and equipping drivers with smart phones with full keypads. The results were astounding, showing that drivers that were texting were even more impaired than drivers who had been drinking.
Talking on a cell phone or sending a text seems like a simple enough task, and it is. But the fact is, doing so distracts us while we are driving, and in the case of texting, requires us to take our eyes off the road while we send and receive those friendly little messages. It may seem harmless at first to send a cute message to your friend about last night’s “Simpson’s” episode, but remember, the results could be devastating.
What do you think? Care to Comment?
