Teen Texting and Driving: An Accident Waiting to Happen
There comes a time when laws simply can’t impact a situation to any great degree. Education, experience and common sense then must prevail.
This is about using cell phones while driving. Numerous road tragedies have occurred where it was documented that the use of cell phones were at the crux of the issue.
There have been many appeals for people not to use their cell phones while driving because of the distractions of dialing and/or trying to hold the phone while negotiating through tight turns and heavy traffic.
Many of us don’t stop to realize that particularly on a two-lane road, when two cars meet it is the equivalent of two guided missiles with only a few feet between them. One bobble and there is the tragic grinding of steel. The result might even resemble the damage caused by a guided missile.
Various ordinances have attempted to thwart some of the dangerous potential of talking on cell phones while driving. Of course, such laws are inherent with the physical problem of actually catching the violator.
But now we learn through various collections of statistics via surveys that many teen-agers are actually text messaging while driving.
This adds a whole new dimension to the dangers of a driver using his cell phone while motoring down the road. Metaphorically speaking, it’s kind of like using a powder keg as an ash tray.
In messaging, one has to take his eyes off the road for a much greater time than is required for speaking on a cell phone. And if there was a way of collecting these messages and analyzing them, they probably would translate to a whole lot of nothing — very unnecessary communication, given the dangerous circumstances. And that might even be the case of much messaging that takes place outside of driving. It mostly a gizmo-driven exercise.
Again, passing laws to prohibit such use of a phone while driving will have minimum effect as most people will only consider it a strong suggestion. And also, there is the problem of actually catching someone doing it.
This is where we should apply common sense. This is where we should be talking to our teen-agers particularly about the serious nature of operating a vehicle, maybe even using the example of two guided missiles. Perhaps it would make an impact to take them to a junk yard and let them view the results of an actual crash. And maybe the documented carnage would make further impact.
Common sense, however, does not run rampant in comparison with the rapid development of modern devices and gizmos. Still, we must take every opportunity to educate motorists — young and old — on the aforementioned dangers.
For more information:
www.safetytrack.net/st-300
There comes a time when laws simply can’t impact a situation to any great degree. Education, experience and common sense then must prevail.
This is about using cell phones while driving. Numerous road tragedies have occurred where it was documented that the use of cell phones were at the crux of the issue.
There have been many appeals for people not to use their cell phones while driving because of the distractions of dialing and/or trying to hold the phone while negotiating through tight turns and heavy traffic.
Many of us don’t stop to realize that particularly on a two-lane road, when two cars meet it is the equivalent of two guided missiles with only a few feet between them. One bobble and there is the tragic grinding of steel. The result might even resemble the damage caused by a guided missile.
Various ordinances have attempted to thwart some of the dangerous potential of talking on cell phones while driving. Of course, such laws are inherent with the physical problem of actually catching the violator.
But now we learn through various collections of statistics via surveys that many teen-agers are actually text messaging while driving.
This adds a whole new dimension to the dangers of a driver using his cell phone while motoring down the road. Metaphorically speaking, it’s kind of like using a powder keg as an ash tray.
In messaging, one has to take his eyes off the road for a much greater time than is required for speaking on a cell phone. And if there was a way of collecting these messages and analyzing them, they probably would translate to a whole lot of nothing — very unnecessary communication, given the dangerous circumstances. And that might even be the case of much messaging that takes place outside of driving. It mostly a gizmo-driven exercise.
Again, passing laws to prohibit such use of a phone while driving will have minimum effect as most people will only consider it a strong suggestion. And also, there is the problem of actually catching someone doing it.
This is where we should apply common sense. This is where we should be talking to our teen-agers particularly about the serious nature of operating a vehicle, maybe even using the example of two guided missiles. Perhaps it would make an impact to take them to a junk yard and let them view the results of an actual crash. And maybe the documented carnage would make further impact.
Common sense, however, does not run rampant in comparison with the rapid development of modern devices and gizmos. Still, we must take every opportunity to educate motorists — young and old — on the aforementioned dangers.
For more information:
www.safetytrack.net/st-300
