"Nine year later, Spray still cries when she tells her daughter’s story. It’s trying, but she tells it nearly every week because she wants others to learn from it."
Tragic, but Darwin is invoked when it happens a 2nd time.
It’s horrible that this happened...
but honestly.. would it have made a difference if she was eating a big mack, tuning the radio, or checking her makeup when she crashed?
There is an endless list of things which can distract you from driving, why the focus on this? oh yeah... because it’s new, and new is scary.
If a near death experience isn’t enough to break the texting habbing while behind the wheel I think it says something about how impacted the brain is by this technology. I just don’t think the brains of kids raised with ubiquitous texting, streaming videos, selfies and the like process info in quite the same way as the generations prior.
However the sterotyoe that it is young kids doing this is very incorrect.
I watch it as I drive. It is far and above people (mostly women) in the age group of about, say, 35-55.
In other words, people who really don't have anything all that fascinating going on that it can't wait and should know better.
But, I guess when your online persona is 20X hotter than you are in real life, it probably does become your "second life".
That said, I was pulled up pretty close to a lady on Friday night, close enough that I could see she was scrolling through Facebook at the light. She was probably about 50.
The light changed. She stayed there for a good 15 seconds, scrolling away....
Can’t fix stupid.
Looks like autonomous vehicles are coming along just in time to save the Occutard generation from itself.
Apparently the first "wake up call" only had a limited shelf life. She was right in what she said after the first accident. Too bad she stopped believing it.
“Sorry, can’t talk right now because I’m dead.”
I have been driving for many years. In the last 5 to 7 years driving has become a near daily exercise in abject frustration. Commuting to and from work is a seemingly endless procession of drivers — mostly female and mostly contractors — with their phone glued to the side of their head. In this condition they are semi-conscience of anything around them.
You know, those who are slowly following the car in front of them with two city blocks space because they know their reflex time is so great that they otherwise won’t be able to stop in time.
How about those who come to an almost dead stop in one lane of traffic waiting for the next lane to clear so they can then change lanes? Merging to change lanes? Pffft... too much mental processing needed for the phone conversation.
About such drivers, my line to my kids in the car is, “See, that person can’t be bothered by driving right now, she’s on the phone.”
I saw a guy driving in traffic on I-80 in NJ while reading a newspaper.
That transition road “loop” from the 99 to the 120 that connects to the 5 is one nasty road, needing full attention. I can’t even imagine texting while taking that part of the highway.
Nine years ago most people had the flip phones which required pushing the buttons multiple times to get to some letters. No wonder the girl wrecked.
Her poor mother.
Where did she get the phone? That is the root of the problem, I think.
If I get a text alert, I ignore it.
I was fortunate to have worked for a company that ENFORCED Defensive Driving. It was given to all employees who ‘might ever’
drive in a company vehicle. There was a one week course every five years an a two day refresher every year.
A couple of notes: All other drives are liable to do the unsuspected moves, Do not trust the other to do the correct thing and never do anything but drive-alert when driving a vehicle.
My family doesn’t enjoy when I am driving because I talk aloud about moves that other drivers are about to do. Most times Im right.
No tickets or accidents since 1958.
The technology must exist to have the option of making cell phones inoperable when the vehicle is moving....
texting is impossible while driving. One can feasibly talk on a phone while driving, because one can keep one’s eyes on the road.
With texting, it is impossible. I see it with my kids and their friends. They are slaves to their devices. I am constantly railing against it.
I feel bad for the other driver.
The folks in the other car weren't badly hurt.