Texting and Driving

Do you text and drive? Has this resulted in your heart stopping a few times because you’ve almost run off the side of the road? According to a study done by the University of Utah, cell phone distractions slow a driver’s reaction as much as a blood alcohol level of .08 percent. Slower reaction times result in drivers to cause four times as many accidents (NHTSA). According to Mark Keel, who oversees the state’s troopers as director of the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, “…a national safety study recently… said that for every six seconds a person is texting while driving, their eyes are off the road four-and-a-half seconds,”. That single statistic scares the life out of me. Think about how far a person traveling at 65 miles per hour can go in those four-and-a-half-seconds. How many people are they endangering because they couldn’t wait to send or check an incoming text? Don’t believe me??? Check out this short YouTube video and see for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDb-15hAtxY .


If after watching that video you still feel you won’t be able to resist checking those incoming text messages, check out this new alternative. “DriveSafe.ly is a mobile application that reads text (SMS) messages and emails aloud in real time and automatically responds without drivers touching the mobile phone.” (http://www.drivesafe.ly/). My husband tested out this application last night, in the safety of our home. He sent himself an email and within 30 seconds his Blackberry was reciting the email back to us. Now we have no excuse to take our eyes off the road. No urgent texts or emails will be missed.


Please share the YouTube link with all those you care about, as my friend shared it with me. Let’s work together to get our roads safer for everyone.