Texting While Driving Spells Danger

Warning! The second of the two videos included today is VERY graphic. To say it is disturbing would be insufficient. It is horrifying.

And yet, if viewing either of the two videos in this blog would prevent someone from EVER texting while driving, the visual onslaught would be far better than an actual outcome similar to that in the dramatization.

In fact, if you have teenaged or younger drivers, it might be considered required viewing.
That, of course, is up to you. Sometimes, young people—who often see themselves as invincible—need to be SHOCKED into awareness that would change behavior. The second video should do the trick.

The first video is an on-track field test from the publishers of Car and Driver magazine, measuring the effects of both alcohol and texting on driver response times. Not to give away the results, but it is clear that texting while behind the wheel is even more dangerous than operating a vehicle while above the legal blood alcohol limit.

Here’s the first film:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbiHwGBsRr0

Pretty scary, no? Well, as clinical and factual as the previous video is, this next one displays in graphic detail the results of texting on a visceral and emotional level. Produced in the UK for young people to be compelled to view, it has been touted as both horrific and terrific---terrific in the sense that it has affected viewers at a gut level that may be more effective in changing behaviors—as opposed to mere “preaching”. One moment of inattention—especially for a text or message that is frivolous in nature---nonetheless becomes life-changing----and perhaps life-ending for the victims of this accident. The consequences of a split-second mistake will alter the course of these kids' lives forever:




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIqO2IBR8aY

Hard to watch.

Harder still if you imagine any of those kids being your own. So, at the risk of being a pest, at the peril of nagging your loved ones, PLEASE convey the danger of texting while driving. Much has been said about speaking on a cell phone while driving. I won’t attempt to minimize the dangers here too, but texting while driving is demonstrably worse.

I have been guilty of it in the past, but these videos have hit me so hard, I won’t be doing it again. There is no message so urgent to receive or send that it is worth risking your life-or the lives of others.

Be careful out there!

If you’d like my blog in your box, just let me know: tim.moore@citcomm.com