I'm sick to my stomach and I'm shaking. I'm trying to recollect myself after just being hit by another driver. Within a minute, I have caught up to them. Instead of fear I'm now shaking with anger as I pull up to a woman totally engrossed in her phone, entirely oblivious to the fact she almost took out my car. Driving to and from work, I can count more people on their phones than not and I am disgusted.
Have we not all watched some sort of educational video or PSA that details the dangers of texting while driving? These videos show reenactments of graphic injuries and accident scenes and documentaries of families who now have permanent holes in their lives because someone went to send a meaningless text behind the wheel of a car. The videos are powerful. But they seem to not be working. Apparently, images of shattered cars and shattered lives aren't enough. So, tell me--what is? What is going to make people put down their phones?
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I can't even begin to express how stupid it is that people find the urge to use their phones while driving. I've sat behind drivers who are essentially parked at a green light because they're giving more attention to Facebook than the traffic light. I've watched drivers weave between cars, narrowly missing each, who have their faces illuminated in the darkness of night by nothing other than their phones. There seems to be this stereotype that teenagers are the biggest offenders when it comes to phone use while driving. But stupidity knows no age, no gender. I have witnessed older men dressed in their nice business attire, directing all their attention to their phone. I have driven alongside another car, where a mom with her kids in the back, is looking down at her phone every 30 seconds. I'm always curious what message they are reading that is worth more than the life of their children?
In 2010, my aunt was in an incredibly bad car accident. My mom was on the phone with her when it happened. My aunt lives in Connecticut where they have a "hands free" law, so she was using her Bluetooth headset. In the midst of the conversation, my aunt stopped speaking.
"What are they doing?"
That's what my mom heard before a giant thud. My mom could hear faint moans through the phone and a woman's voice calling out "we have to get her out.” My mother's yells went unacknowledged as she went to call my uncle to inform him that she believed his wife had just been in an accident. With other passengers in their car, a driver had chosen to text while driving and crossed over into my aunt's lane--hitting her head on. My aunt saw the driver slowly making their way into her lane of traffic. She made an effort to move further off to her side of the road but it didn't seem to matter. The EMT driver said that she was lucky to be alive, based on what he's seen. In his opinion, she wouldn't be alive if she hadn't been driving a Volvo.
I am fortunate that my aunt was able to walk out alive but that certainly doesn't mean that that day isn't still with her. She lost a lot of mobility in her hand. She endured multiple surgeries to try to restore movement. Unfortunately her scar tissue reproduces at such a rapid rate that surgeries cannot stop it from hardening her hand and affecting her mobility. The incident even affected my mother for months, having listened to her sister's accident and having not known her condition for a period of time. We could have lost such a wonderful person at the expense of a careless individual with a cell phone.
It's a stupid choice. Key word being choice. You are making the very conscious decision to put your text message above your own life and the lives of other drivers who have no say in your actions. I don't text and drive. I never have and I never will. My family doesn't do it either, but what is horrible is how we choose to do the right thing, the safe thing, and that can still not matter. All it takes is someone else deciding to text and drive. My safety and that of my family is entirely in the hands of another. You're selfish if you pick up your phone while you're driving. If I get into a car with someone, my safety has become their responsibility. If they pick up their phone to check a text, I take it or I tell them to put it away. I've heard every excuse in the book as to why they need to check it and no excuse is good enough. None will ever be. I used to feel uncomfortable acknowledging my discomfort as their passenger but I now put them on the spot. They should feel uncomfortable for even putting me in a position where I have to say something, for putting me in a situation that could cause my life harm. I don't feel bad, but they should. Everyone has adopted this dangerous attitude that they're invincible. People see the warnings about texting while driving and think "that will never happen to me." But you know what? Everyone who has been in an accident caused by texting said the same thing once. It takes one time.
You should value your life and the lives of others more than your phone.
If you text and drive, for the love of God, please stop.
