A Google image search for texting while driving will turn up some pictures that will give you nightmares. If your kids text while driving, you might want to show those pictures to them. I am not inclined to link to them here because… they are gross.
But if it makes your texting teen rethink updating their Twitter while driving, then perhaps let them see what can happen.
A lot of adults aren’t any brighter than careless teens.
“My job has me out on the road for four to five days out of the week,” Anthony Perry, a director of business development for a Washington-based health care research firm, told CNN in an e-mail sent from his BlackBerry. “I don’t particularly think I am that good at texting while driving but I do it anyway, recognizing the risks.”
I don’t think he actually does recognize the risks. Mr. Perry, please have a look at those images I mentioned above. Only then can you say that you recognize the risks.
More stupidity follows:
Nevertheless, for many in business, it seems to be a matter of competitive survival.
“Now with e-mail and with the advent of the BlackBerries and hyper-accessibility, there’s this sense that if you don’t show that you’re always prepared and ready to respond and address an issue, then somehow you’re going to be perceived as not being conscientious or not keeping up on things,” said Tom Britt, a professor of social psychology at Clemson University in South Carolina.
“I could not imagine doing my job, or living my life, without the aid of a bberry,” Perry wrote. “I don’t know many who could who are in my line of work.”
In the context of an article about the modern workplace, devices and connectivity, that kind of attitude wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. But this is from this article about texting while driving. Are people seriously justifying the need to text while driving? Work demands are forcing you to put your life in great peril? Really? Or do you think that you’re that important (not to mention, indestructible)?
Mr. Perry. You only get once chance to become fatally distracted. Do that Google image search mentioned above. You’re job isn’t important enough to risk your own life or the lives of others.
Sending that message can’t possibly be that important. If it is, then it’s important enough to justify pulling over for a minute.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve tried texting while driving a few times. It’s scary how deeply it absorbs the mind. You forget you’re driving!
Ya. Me too. I did try once and it was a scary experience. I figured, “I’m on a straight portion of road… I can do this…” Bzzt… Wrong! I still could have died or killed somebody.
I still don’t believe that “talking while driving” is the real danger out there. Dialing and answering the phone are the real risks. Just like listening to music isn’t necessarily a big problem, but “hunting” for a good station is dangerous.
People aren’t good at multitasking.
Texting is the worst of all of it. Can you keep your eyes on the road, on the texting screen, on the keyboard, while trying to type the right thing on a tiny keyboard, while not dropping the phone and steering the vehicle safely with the other hand and using your foot to control the speed of your car?
No way. It cannot be done… Period.