Real Life Reasons Not to Text and Drive

This we we have seen heightened scrutiny of distracted driving. It’s been interesting to hear so many people at least talking about the issue. I’m sure it will be a problem for those that get stopped, but it is the kind of thing that at least has the dialog going.

There are a couple of other stories out there that people should be thinking about:

– A Eden Prairie mother is facing charges for allegedly texting and talking on her cell phone, with her two kids in the car, and causing a crash where she hit a motorcyclist head-on. My is now in a situation she never thought possible. Endangering your children and the lives of others on the road is real

– Fox 9, had a interesting and sad story of a woman who had her life physically changed and suffered the loss of a good friend in a crash that involved two distracted drivers. As she said:

Your car is not your phone booth. Your life is not worth loosing for a text.

These are the stories that need to reinforce the dangers of distracted driving:

Distracted driving is a leading cause of crashes in Minnesota, accounting for about 20 percent annually, but the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said the number of traffic accidents caused by distracted driving is seriously underreported.

The Department of Transportation’s studies indicating that up to 80% of crashes may be caused by distracted drivers, there may be so many more happening that we don’t find out about. Throw in that in 2008, 800,000 vehicles on any given day are being driven by somebody using a cell phone, and you have a lot of reasons why there are car crashes.