Recently we lost yet another life on our roadways. A 29 year old mother with her 3 year old daughter in the backseat rolled her minivan on the Interstate in NY after swerving into the median and then overcorrecting. Mom didn’t survive. Her child was airlifted to a local hospital with head injuries after being ejected from the vehicle (no mention of child restraint usage or non-usage). Investigators believe the driver may have been texting just before the crash.
Makes you wonder what it takes to get through to people, doesn’t it? And, as the above story illustrates, this isn’t just a problem with teenagers. Many mature adults are just as guilty. So why do people insist on continuing this incredible risky behavior even though they know better?
Maybe it’s because most states still haven’t banned texting while driving. NY recently passed a law that went into effect on Nov 1 but it’s a secondary law, which means in order for a person to be ticketed for texting or emailing while driving, the driver must have committed a primary enforcement offense such as speeding, disobeying a traffic signal or other violation. How stupid is that? I mean seriously, why even bother if you’re not going to make it a primary offense?
Clearly the lack of effective laws restricting this behavior and/or the inability of law enforcement to sufficiently enforce these laws is part of the problem. The other part is that there will always be drivers who don’t believe anything bad can ever happen to them. And to be honest, I’m often amazed that people get away with stuff as often as they do. I think therein lies the problem. When you do something that you know is unsafe but you repeatedly “get away with it”, you start to convince yourself that it’s really not so bad or that you can handle it. Maybe that’s why people who know better are still texting and applying makeup and reading emails all while attempting to drive a motor vehicle. But how do you counter that kind of thinking? Short of forcing them to crash by pulling in front of them and then slamming on your brakes – how do you get through to these people?
It’s against the law here. I still see people doing it. But at least they can get in trouble for it I guess. I try to call and report it when I see it.
MediaCurves.com just conducted a study with 300 viewers of a Public Service Announcement (PSA) from the U.K. illustrating the dangers of texting and driving. Results showed that majority of viewers (80%) reported that they are less likely to text while driving after watching the PSA. The study also found that 85% of American viewers reported that the PSA should be aired in the U.S. The majority of viewers (87%) believe that the PSA is appropriate in nature, and 86% also indicated that the PSA was extremely effective. More in-depth results can be viewed at http://www.mediacurves.com/NationalMediaFocus/J7508-PSA/Index.cfm
Thanks,
Ben
Ah. But we do have laws about speeding, using seat belts, and putting kids in car seats, and those laws are broken every day.
Distracted driving is already against the law everywhere I have lived as well. And I think this DEFINITELY falls under distracted driving!