Look Left – Look Twice

In case you didn’t already know, texting while driving is bad…..

http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1066987_new-study-shows-texting-doubles-reaction-time

On the morning of July 1st, 2010, my nephew Josh Cook was riding his motorcycle into work.  He was traveling on a typical suburban street, probably very much like a road you’ll be driving on today.  Down the road a little bit, a woman was buying breakfast at a McDonald’s drive-through window, perhaps also very similar to something you’ll do during your day today.  As the woman exited the McDonald’s driveway, she didn’t yield the right-of-way to Josh, pulling out in front of him at a time when he had no time to stop.  He was killed instantly.

No one really knows why the woman didn’t stop for Josh.  The only explanation she was able to offer was, “I didn’t see nothing coming.”  In reality, she was likely taking a sip of coffee, handing a breakfast sandwich to her passenger, adjusting the car radio volume, talking on her cell phone, or maybe was just lost in her own thoughts.  Regardless of the reason, she failed to be doing the ONE thing that she was supposed to be doing while in the driver’s seat…..DRIVE!  And it cost Josh his life.

I’m posting this to ask everyone who reads it to do me a favor.  One the one-year anniversary of his passing (It shouldn’t be too much to ask that you do this ALL the time, but I’ll start with a day), please consider abiding by these rules when you get behind the wheel of your car today, in his memory:

• DON’T talk or text on your cell phone
• DON’T eat your breakfast/lunch/dinner
• Drink your caffeine before you leave or after you arrive at your destination
• DON’T fix your hair, put on make-up, shave, brush your teeth, whatever
• Turn off (or at least down) your radio
• DRIVE like the driver’s education instructor is in the passenger’s seat evaluating you
• ELIMINATE all other distractions
• WATCH out for the other drivers on the road who are not following these rules and maybe give them the evil eye!  (You’ll be surprise, or maybe not, how many people aren’t paying attention.  Please don’t be one of them.)
• LOOK LEFT, LOOK RIGHT, LOOK LEFT at every intersection you come to (remember them teaching you that at driver’s ed?)

If that woman driving her car one year ago today had looked left just one more time, Josh might still be alive today.

If you’ve read this and feel compelled, please pass it on to others.  I don’t think you want to be the one responsible for the loss of another person’s life.  I can tell you first-hand, you don’t want to be someone that lost a loved one because of it.

AT&T’s Txtng & Drivng Campaign Urges Consumers That ‘It Can Wait’. This documentary featuring families affected by texting while behind the wheel is being distributed to educators, government officials, safety organizations and public as part of a educational awareness campaign.

DO NOT text when you drive. DO NOT read your phone when it vibrates when you are driving — It can WAIT!!!

You don’t want your text message to be the one that causes an accident….. if someone is driving — wait to send your message.

Josh’s family has such close ties to the automotive industry, we’re always sensitive to negative comments about it.  That said, I still found this recent New York Times op-ed piece interesting.  It talks about the potential added distractions in the recent trend of integrating technology into vehicles.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/opinion/27dowd.html

Did You Know?
Research on distracted driving reveals some surprising facts:

• 20 percent of injury crashes in 2009 involved reports of distracted driving. (NHTSA).
• Of those killed in distracted-driving-related crashed, 995 involved reports of a cell phone as a distraction (18% of fatalities in distraction-related crashes). (NHTSA)
• In 2009, 5,474 people were killed in U.S. roadways and an estimated additional 448,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes that were reported to have involved distracted driving. (FARS and GES)
• The age group with the greatest proportion of distracted drivers was the under-20 age group – 16 percent of all drivers younger than 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported to have been distracted while driving. (NHTSA)
• Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. (Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
• Using a cell phone while driving, whether it’s hand-held or hands-free, delays a driver’s reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. (Source: University of Utah)

Source: distraction.gov

Loren Vaillancourt, Miss South Dakota in the upcoming Miss America pageant, is hoping people will pay attention to her message: Put down your cell phone while driving, and pay attention to the road.  Her brother was killed in an accident due to distracted driving.

http://www.argusleader.com/article/20110114/LIFE/101140314/1004/life