Cell Phone/Driving Horror Story

[PrayersForMaura]

Aggressive Driving

If you think driving is a race you have to win, remember: The winners are those drivers who reach their destination safely.

Learn to recognize aggressive driving behavior in yourself and others: speeding, tailgating, making sudden and frequent lane changes, failing to yield the right of way, ignoring traffic signals.
Remember that these behaviors cause over 50% of all crashes.

March 2006 Safety Month
More info: http://www.nsc.org/nsm/aggressive_driving.htm





Drinking and Driving
You simply can't hear it enough times: Don't drink and drive.

Keep these sobering statistics in mind:
Alcohol is a factor in more than 40% of all motor vehicle fatalities.
An average of one person every two minutes is injured in an alcohol-related crash in the U.S.
Young people are particularly at risk. Every day,13 people between the ages of 16 and 24 die in an alcohol-related crash.
Strictly enforce a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to alcohol and the young drivers in your family. Remember, it's the law in all 50 states! Give teens the guidance they need to deal with peer pressure and make safe choices.
More: http://www.nsc.org/nsm/drinking_driving.htm




Distracted Driving
Driven to distraction? Don't end up in a crash! Focus on driving and reduce your risk.

• Keep in mind: the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 25% of all crashes involve some kind of driver distraction.
• The time to adjust your mirrors, radio or temperature control is before you pull out of the driveway - not while you're driving.
• Don't reach down or behind the driver's seat, pick up items from the floor, open the glove compartment or clean the inside windows while driving.
• Your vehicle is not a portable salon - allow time for personal grooming at home.
• Enjoy your meals at home or in a restaurant - not on the go.
• Going someplace new? Plan your route ahead oftime. If you need to refer to a map, park the car or ask a passenger help you navigate.
• If you've got passengers, some conversation is inevitable - but try to avoid very emotional subjects while driving.
• For cell phone conversations, pull over to the side of the road or wait until you reach your destination. The safest time to use a cell phone while driving is when stopped.
• Never answer or dial a cell phone in hazardous conditions like heavy traffic, higher speeds, or bad weather.

Notice this accounts for 25% of all accidents, yet encompasses many forms of distractions, NOT just cell phone usage, but I bolded it to show you that I wasn't hiding any facts or skewing data. Normal conversations in cars can be just as distracting, which was my point a page or so ago....

More: http://www.nsc.org/nsm/distracted_driving.htm

 

[TheShadow]

QUOTE......A ringing cell phone, a wet Delta road and a speeding driver apparently led to a fatal accident Monday morning near Courtland that claimed at least two lives.

One of the victims was 3-year-old Meeyon Taylor, who was just beginning her life. The other was 18-year-old Sheree Palacio, who was rebuilding hers. The body of another child could not be found, and the California Highway Patrol called off the search Monday afternoon........QUOTE



QUOTE....Fletcher was the driver and the mother of the missing girl, said CHP spokesman Jasper Begay.

The accident occurred about 9:40 a.m. on Highway 160 atop a Sacramento River levee just south of Courtland, according to the CHP. It had started raining at the time of the crash. Begay said that Fletcher told an officer the last thing she remembered was answering her cell phone....QUOTE
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14232857p-15054921c.html

For what it's worth....I think this article has relevance.

 

[Pharlap]

Talking on cell phones while driving should be illegal.

Just two months ago two teenage girls were killed in a head on collision here. The third girl survived with some pretty bad injuries. She said the last thing she remembered was the cell phone ringing and the driver trying to answer it and veering into the wrong traffic lane while she was fiddling with the phone.

Pull over to talk, not drive....:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[PrayersForMaura]

QUOTE......A ringing cell phone, a wet Delta road and a speeding driver apparently led to a fatal accident Monday morning near Courtland that claimed at least two lives.

One of the victims was 3-year-old Meeyon Taylor, who was just beginning her life. The other was 18-year-old Sheree Palacio, who was rebuilding hers. The body of another child could not be found, and the California Highway Patrol called off the search Monday afternoon........QUOTE



QUOTE....Fletcher was the driver and the mother of the missing girl, said CHP spokesman Jasper Begay.

The accident occurred about 9:40 a.m. on Highway 160 atop a Sacramento River levee just south of Courtland, according to the CHP. It had started raining at the time of the crash. Begay said that Fletcher told an officer the last thing she remembered was answering her cell phone....QUOTE
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14232857p-15054921c.html

For what it's worth....I think this article has relevance.

I do too, for it combines the things I wrote about: driver error:
A ringing cell phone, a wet Delta road and a speeding driver

Again, I think people are misunderstanding my point.

I am not "for" talking on cell phones while driving.
But, it is not the cause and cause alone of the majority of accidents on the road, and to say that it is is a flat out lie.
Just because someone doesn't agree with something is not reason to skew the facts or hide the truths.

There are many distractions besides talking on cell phones that can cause accidents. And I think people should lobby for them all and not just one thing. Lobby for safe driving, and if you make it a law to not talk on cell phones while driving, then make it a stiff penalty, but you better make other laws, too, and lots of them because that is not the only distraction while driving.
But banning of anything never solves a problem because people are going to do it anyway. Awareness and educations of the problems and the end results are more helpful, I think. Harsher fines helps lessen the number of offenses, perhaps. Definitely makes the state some money.

In Los Angeles, I was told that the fine is $5,000 for a DWI. My friend who lives there told me this. If this is true, that is good. :clap:
I think the rules should be tougher.
Because people will break the rules.
It happens all the time

 

[PrayersForMaura]

QUOTE......A ringing cell phone, a wet Delta road and a speeding driver apparently led to a fatal accident Monday morning near Courtland that claimed at least two lives.

One of the victims was 3-year-old Meeyon Taylor, who was just beginning her life. The other was 18-year-old Sheree Palacio, who was rebuilding hers. The body of another child could not be found, and the California Highway Patrol called off the search Monday afternoon........QUOTE



QUOTE....Fletcher was the driver and the mother of the missing girl, said CHP spokesman Jasper Begay.

The accident occurred about 9:40 a.m. on Highway 160 atop a Sacramento River levee just south of Courtland, according to the CHP. It had started raining at the time of the crash. Begay said that Fletcher told an officer the last thing she remembered was answering her cell phone....QUOTE
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14232857p-15054921c.html

For what it's worth....I think this article has relevance.

Thanks for posting this story, it really broker my heart.
For those who don't have a password or account, try
user name: flipper
password: flipper.



Here's a few more clips from the story


"The speed, the wet roadway, the distraction of a cell phone - those are all a combination of a major crash like this," Begay said.

The northbound car went off the road at a curve where the posted speed is 45 miles per hour, Begay said, and hit a tree west of the roadway apparently at high speed. The car spun into another tree, which sheared it in half. The rear end of the vehicle slid into the river, and with it, the three passengers who are believed to be dead.

 

[CyberLaw]

Prayers for Maura:

I would hope you look up the "type" of distraction and the effects of those distractions on the how the brain function while driving.

When you are on a cell phone(but not with other types) of distractions you field of view is narrowed, your reaction time(as in speeding) is narrowed, you don't notice "hazzards" or people walking because the function and effect of cell phone on the brain.

So if you are speeding(a danger) on a wet road(again a danger)you are paying full attention to what is in front of you, but the minute your attention is taken off those two facts, is when you divert your attention to the cell phone conversation.

I even do it when I am on a Landline......I get distracted because it is a two way conversation and I am the one on the other end listening, and reacting to what is said.

www.apa.org/monitor/sep03/distraction.html



In the cell-phone variation, drivers had two different mental tasks: to convert foreign currency and to recount in detail their actions on a given day and time. The calculation task proved to be particularly distracting, and so the authors say that complex conversations--whether by phone or with a passenger--are dangerous for road safety. "This work adds to the growing body of scientific evidence, establishing that cell phones and other in-vehicle devices can often draw attention away from processing the information necessary for the safe operation of a motor vehicle," says University of Utah psychologist David Strayer, PhD, who conducts extensive research on driving and cell-phone use.

In sum, internal distraction can cause at least as many mistakes in driving as external distraction. "This work is consistent with the observation that a basic form of driver error is that drivers look at, but fail to see, roadway traffic and other imperative information in the driving environment," explains Strayer.

So you are talking on your cell phone, you are distracted by a two way conversation and you don't react in time to that person crossing the street, or a red light because of the cognative distraction of a two way conversation reducing your attention to external factors and causes you to have slower reaction time.

So if you are speeding, on a wet road. You are still paying attention to the road. But the moment you pick up your cell phone, your attention is now diverted from the external factor to the internal factors and you don't pay the attention to the road, but your brain is wired to 'engage" your brain in the conversation.

That is why when you use the cell phone when drving, even if you are speeding, you are fulling increasing your chances of an accident due to two factors(speeding will reduce your chance to stop in time) and cell phone(because you won't notice the external factors that require you to stop in time)

So it is the effect on the cognative function of the brain that cell phone use while driving is in effect and the cognative function that causes a person to be less aware of what is happening around them on the road to respond in time to avoid an accident.