Danger of USING Digital devices while driving
I noticed some interesting and disturbing responses on a different forum / thread that was morphing so I am starting this thread in spyder land to address these issues straight up.
I feel and lots and lots of behavioral research agrees that:
People who fiddle with their phones and other gadgets while operating a vehicle are three things:
1) self absorbed
2) selfish and thinking only of themselves
3) dangerous to other people and themselves
As people whose lifes often cling to a fraction of a second we can ill afford to support (in any way) people who drive while distracted, especially with devices which take significant visual resources and shift them away from the primary task of operating a vehicle.
9 years ago I was hit by a car doing 50 mph from the year - she was texting. The damage as you might imagine was significant and life altering.
I am also a neuro-muscular therapist who works with accident victims everyday; and everyday these patients who have been seriously harmed tell me their tales of woe about being hurt by a distracted driver - primarily phone use / texting etc.. but fiddling with GPS devices or anything else that requires split focus of hand eye coordination is also part of the mix.
My daughter who was told "NO - texting while driving" did not heed my warning and slammed into the back of a car that pulled up short to avoid a blow that occurred in front of her, creatied a chain reaction that not only destroyed her right foot but several other people lives. for the last 7 years she has limped around pathetically and in pain - a horrible reminder that she could have easily prevented her pain and the pain she caused others by doing one of two things:
1) wait till you are off the road - meaning - pull over if it is that important, and it never is.
or
2) wait till you get home.
Science has shown over and over again that people who are fiddling with their digital devices while driving are every bit and sometimes more dangerous than drunk drivers - they used race car drivers in these tests to prove their point.
I realize that you can't change people who have these impulsive character flaws; the best we can do is make them aware of how dangerous they are behaving. Yes it is a behavior guided by a poor choice.
RANT:
If you are one of those people (WHO THINKS) you can operate a vehicle of any kind safely while playing with digital devices that require your eyes and hands - you are for warned that you are only fooling yourself mentally while putting yourself and others physically in harms way. It not if, rather just when.
It can wait - if it can't pull off the road.
Peace out
even the police have troubles
Distracted and Dangerous!!
I spent a second career of ten years as a Fire Service Captain attending many "accidents", and almost all of them involved either alcohol or cell phones or both! Any distraction at all, even spirited conversation slows down response time as much as being at or above the legal limit for alcohol.:yikes: Now add GPS and Pot to the mix and it becomes even more dangerous. :yikes::yikes:
Here's one from the weekend
