Shocking statistics in an article about texting while driving have made me pretty mad today. Forty-eight percent of drivers between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four have admitted to sending a text message, instant message, or e-mail while driving. It is bad enough that these kids don’t have the years of driving experience behind them, but the fact that they are playing with their electronic devices at the same time? That’s just suicidal.
A new study by engineers at the University of Michigan concluded that driving while texting is as risky as having three or four alcoholic drinks. The probability of getting in an accident TRIPLES when you take your eyes off the road.
I don’t understand what people are thinking. Driving is dangerous. Collisions kill so many people every year and the real kicker is that it is avoidable!
Defensive driving saves lives (and not just your own). I do not text or use my cell phone in the car. I do change my radio stations, and, rarely, I eat while driving. These things are dangerous, but we all do them. The important thing is to know that we all do them and to pay attention to the people around you and be ready to react if they screw up.
It is one thing to keep yourself and your family safe, and that’s important. But it is quite another to be responsible for the death or injury of an innocent bystander because I was too stupid to look where I was going while driving my ten-ton deathtrap. I couldn’t live with that guilt.
So what is your biggest distraction while driving? Has it ever gotten you into trouble?
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