The phrase “texting while driving” is the hottest buzz-word(s) going around currently, and for good reason. The technological advances in cellphone design coupled with more features being added to service plans has allowed this form of instantaneous communication known as “texting” to mushroom. And emergency responders are being sucked right into the texting world because these impatient communicators are now coming to sudden stops against trees, bridge abutments and assorted buildings around the country.
Honestly, I cannot begin to comprehend why anybody would even think of trying to operate those tiny keyboards while watching the mini-display screen and expect to safely drive a car. But there’s no law that says you have to have common sense to get a driver’s license. And in some places you don’t have to have common sense to drive an ambulance, either. I’ve reported on at least two ambulance crashes that involved drivers playing with their Nextels.
While we aren’t in a position to do much public education on the hazards of texting while driving, we certainly can make sure that everybody we work with gets jogged back to reality and don’t even think about trying such a stunt. It only makes sense that you are asking for disaster if you concentrate your attention and hands to the cellphone while your operating a piece of heavy machinery that’s hurtling along the highway at 60 mph.
Recently Car and Driver magazine conducted a detailed road test on how dangerous the practice is. Using an airport landing strip for the test drive, the magazine documented how long it takes to hit the brake when sober, when legally drunk at .08, when reading an e-mail, and when sending a text. The car was set up with a little red light attached to the windshield at eye-level to simulate the brake lights of a car in front of the test car and the passenger recorded the reaction times for applying the brakes in each instance.
The results are worse than you probably imagined.
That’s right, texting is more dangerous than drinking while operating your car. Read Car and Driver’s report on the test HERE.
CNBC has a video report on the Car and Driver test:
If that doesn’t convince anybody to change their ways, then they have no business driving a car or any other vehicle. So let’s make this our 15-minute drill for today. Go over what all this means and let’s reinforce good, safe and intelligent driving habits. It’s time to eliminate unprotected text.
First, we need to get this equipment checked out. I’ll get some good, strong coffee started and we’ll meet back in the day room in a little while.
