This is not the first time that I write on my blog about texting and driving. The previous time, I wrote that this is a very unsafe practice and it is usually OMG and not LOL. But reading the news today I was once again shocked. This resembles a Greek tragedy: A 32 year old woman has died in a head-on collision on a US highway just seconds after she posted selfies and updated her status on Facebook, according to the police. The tragic part of the story is that the woman was listening to the “happy song” and her last (typed) words were: "The happy song makes me so HAPPY."
This takes the whole distraction while driving issue
to a different level. The crash statistics of texting and driving are nowadays well documented and the facts say that this is quite a common practice among drivers, especially among young drivers. It seems though that there is still a lot to be done.
There is a lot to be done in terms of driver
education. A lot of campaigns focus on speeding, like the “Join the drive” campaign
that Queensland government launched before Christmas and kept it going during
this last Easter period due to its big success.
I remember that at first, the whole discussion
was about driving and talking on the mobile phone. After a few years and as the
mobile phones evolved from the first generation almost primitive ones - good
only for talking - to the new smartphones that you can send SMSs, connect to
Facebook, check and respond to emails and even read a book, the driver distraction
problem got much worst.
There is also a lot to be done it terms of
technology. Apple seems to be realizing the depth of the problem and just
yesterday has announced that has filed a patent application for a system that
could bar access to an iPhone’s messaging apps while a user is driving.
There is a lot to be done in terms of
enforcing. While the road rules covers this topic quite adequate, It seems that it is not a top priority for police to target texting
and driving. Just a few days ago a West Australian police officer was photographed using his mobile phone while driving.
As a reaction WA police have launched their Easter road safety blitz with a
show of force designed to deter distracted drivers from picking up the phone
while behind the wheel. That included the use of unmarked motorcycles to crack down on texting drivers.
And the craziness seems not to be limited to
mobile phones. A few weeks ago, a driver on the Pacific Highway was readinga book while driving at speed over 100 km/h.
At my previous post I was asking: Why can't we just do the right thing and don’t use the mobile phone while we are driving? Why do we prefer OMG rather than LOL? It seems that we are way beyond this point. There is no time anymore to waste on asking theoretical questions. It is time to act. Everyone on his own and the responsible organisations and governments on a structured and effective way.
