Don’t Text and Drive
A few years ago I was having a conversation about the latest apps my boss had gotten for his iPhone. This one particular app he was extremely proud of; “this app lets you talk into the phone and it will type what you say as a text so you can send it and not have to look at the screen to type.” I could immediately see the advantages of this app for people who feel they MUST text while driving.
He went on ” not only that, but if the person you are texting has the same app, their phone will actually read the text out loud to them so they don’t have to focus on the screen to read it!” I responded that that was amazing but my Android could do even better than that. “Watch this”, I said, “All I have to do is talk into the speaker like you do but instead of typing the message as a text so the other person can then hear their phone read it, I can actually hear the voice of the person I called in real time, it’s called a telephone!”
People can get so wrapped up in the newness of something they forget the whole purpose of the item to begin with; a phone was made for conversation. Way too many families are being broken apart because that fact has been forgotten and people are texting while driving. Texting is what you send when you don’t need to speak to someone right a way. A text is sent to someone to convey a message so that they can read it when they have the time to read it safely, without interrupting some one or something else that they may happen to be engaged with in some matter or another i.e. a real face to face conversation, a lecture, a classroom, church sermon or driving.
Taking your eyes off the road for just 5 seconds can distract you long enough to have traveled the length of a football field before you look at the road again. Think of all that can happen in 100 yards. Here is a great graphic from the AdCouncil that illustrates the point. Click on the graphic from a larger view. Thanks to the AdCouncil.org for the media.
Is it worth it? I am not saying that talking on the cell phone while driving is smart or even safe, but you can do that without taking your eyes off the road while driving a 3000-pound vehicle. Bluetooth can be a wonderful thing.
Re-think the text and if you really have to send one, call instead. If you absolutely have to text, pull off the road because if you don’t, the next call you do make may be for an ambulance, a lawyer or both. Whatever you do, remember, no texting while driving.
Kyle Collins
Wirelessdefensivedriving.com
Defensive driving on your smart phone or tablet.
