Thieving Thursday: Texting and Driving

The other day, I saw this video on Lola's Diner. Now, I only watch a small number of the videos that come my way. They just don't interest me, but I decided to watch this one and my husband, how never watches videos with me, sat down next to me to watch it, too. Chilling.

Just because I know it was staged (as most people don't have high speed cameras in their car capable of capturing this video), it didn't change the impact because I knew this happens. Not the gore (though it's pretty graphic, pretty disturbing), but the little girl crying in the back seat for her parents in the front seat to wake up. Or the baby with blue eyes staring while we hear people saying, "He's unresponsive." That image stayed with me for hours and made going to sleep very difficult.

Why?

Because this is something I can't prevent (unless I'm willing to stay housebound for the rest of my existence), even if I never text or use a cellphone in the car, never drink and drive, never drive when I'm too sleepy. Even driving with the utmost care, I'm at the mercy of everyone else on the road and so are the people in my car with me.

See, at least in my own mind, I make a distinction between (a) self-destructive behavior that kills/injures only you (like obesity or failing to wear your seatbelt) and (b) self-destructive behavior that can affect others, like smoking around nonsmokers or children and, to a larger degree, doing something stupid behind the wheel. A car is a useful tool for getting from one place to another, but it's also a big heavy weapon that can do an amazing amount of devastation.

The bogeyman is texting and driving and it's worthwhile to try to nip this in the bud and make this out of style sooner rather than later. The problem with a bogeyman is that people often get complacent about the other stupid stuff: sure, I had a few martinis, but I know better than to text on my way home. The problem is that driving while impaired, texting while driving, driving when you're two tired - people aren't objective about their ability to do any of these things. With alcohol and exhaustion, one of the first things to go is judgment, so you are the one least likely to be able to tell when you really shouldn't be driving. With texting, it's just dangerous to have your eyes and hands busy somewhere beyond the road, beyond the wheel.

People die. I personally know three people (at least) who have lost someone important to them to drunk drivers: my coworker who lost his fiance two weeks before they got married, my English teacher (who was also my best friend in high school) who lost his only daughter - leaving his grandchildren motherless, and another coworker who lost his four year old daughter playing in her own front yard.

If you have teenagers who drive, make them watch the video. My daughter is smart to know about alcohol and driving. She's a pain in the butt to my friends at parties if she thinks they've had too much to drink (I'm so proud). I think this will mean something to her and encourage her to not only hold off on texting but perhaps encourage her friends to do the same.

Some people think it can never happen to them. Even if they never do drive carelessly, they're wrong. Some people take offense at anyone telling them their limitations. Do they think they can live with taking someone's life through carelessness?

Their victims can't.