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Multitasking Behind the Wheel…Putting a Stop to Texting While Driving.
While multitasking is a sign of the times, multitasking behind the wheel, “texting while driving” is taking efficiencyto newer limits. Before SMS was even in our vocabulary driving was already dangerous, what with all the inexperienced young drivers, “reflex challenged” elderly drivers, drunk drivers and just plain bad and distracted drivers, every time you get behind the wheel you are taking your life in your hands.
Distracted drivers are becoming a huge road hazard. As if talking on a cell while driving is not dangerous enough, now we are trying to type while navigating the roadways. People forget or are simply oblivious to the fact that a car is a weapon in the wrong hands.
According to a study by Carnegie Melon University’s Psychology Professor Marcel Just, “simply listening to a cell phone while driving can cause drivers to commit errors as if they were under the influence of alcohol. New findings by Carnegie Mellon researchers show making the devices hands-free or voice-activated is not sufficient in eliminating these distractions…Just’s study used brain imaging to document that listening to a call reduces the amount of brain activity associated with driving by 37 percent. This can cause drivers to weave out of their lane, based on the performance of subjects using a driving simulator.” Carnegie Mellon Study Now imagine what trying to “type” a message does to your driving ability.
This study spurred the National Safety Council to call for a ban on cell phone use while driving. The government recently had the “Distracted Driving Summit” to address the dangers of text-messaging and other distractions behind the wheel.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood admits “You can’t legislate behavior,” LaHood said. “Taking personal responsibility for our actions [while driving] is the key.” But as we all know personal responsibility is not enough to stop drinking and driving, and it won’t be enough to stop habitual texters.
While legislating a ban on cell phone use and texting while driving will be a deterrent to some, it won’t be to all. Another option that is being looked at are collision warning systems that are right now being offered on some expensive autos.
Texting while driving has become not only a worry for parents of teenagers, a bad habit of the “busy people syndrome”, a liability for employers who have their workers make use of company phones, but also a danger to anyone’s life and must be dealt with more seriously. According to Oprah, “…It’s become America’s new deadly obsession.” She is having a show on the subject of texting while driving on Monday Jan 18th follow the link to watch the episode.
The best solution that I’ve seen yet comes from several companies that have come up with a solution that employs innovative GPS technology which allow cell phone owners to disable texting and other features while driving. Some of them lets parents and employers customize cell phones to selectively disable texting functions, block certain numbers, or only permit incoming and outgoing calls to preset “safe lists” or emergency numbers. In addition to preventing dangerous use while driving, users may also set up ’safe zones’ that do not allow distractions around focused areas such as schools or worksites. Maybe in the future it will be a service offered by the cell phone companies, for a nominal fee.
But ultimately it is the responsibility of the individual to recognize the dangers involved in texting while driving and to put a stop to it.
