Texting While Driving- Is this too much?
A friend of mine back home alerted me to a news story on Fox40.com that I found extremely interesting… They’re talking about a new video that’s being show in the UK that is supposed to shock teens into driving safely and not text while behind the wheel…
Here’s a link to the story… and the full (even more graphic) version that they couldn’t show on TV.
I’m going to warn you now… It’s a very graphic video… Obviously, if they do something similar here, they’re probably going to scale it down quite a bit… Why don’t we have commercials like this here? Is it just that the US is scared to show life how it really is??? Is it censorship? I don’t know.. I mean, remember those commercials where the people are driving through a police checkpoint, and when they open their driver’s window, a bunch of “alcohol” spills out from the car? Sure, they get carted off to jail.. but is that really the shock treatment people need? I doubt it. I think they DO need more videos like this one.. especially if they show them as a part of driver’s ed classes!
Now, I never got to see all those gory videos in driver’s ed class. I’m sure if I had, those images would’ve been burned into my mind… at least for a while. After watching this video and pretty much getting on the verge of tears, I’m more solid in my decision to not text while driving.
In fact… Dr John Medina, in his book, Brain Rules, a book I highly recommend reading, even says that the brain can’t multitask, and that even just talking on the phone while driving is worse than driving drunk… Can you imagine texting while driving? You can’t even look at the road while you’re typing!
If you’re ok with blood, crashes, and stuff, please watch this video and tell me what you think of it… Please don’t watch it with children in the room… unless you have teen drivers… I’d love to hear their reaction as well..
Powered by FireStats
Sadly, as a mother of a 16 year old, I am not sure even that video will stop her from doing what she wants. Kids think they are invincible and there is no amount of video (in my opinion) that is going to change that. I think it might get the message through better than my talking to her and warning her because, well, I am just her mom.
I will show her it and see what she thinks. I know what she is going to say though..
“I won’t text and drive”… hopefully that is true but I am not going to hold my breath on that one.
I truly think that there is a need to raise awareness about the subject here in the US. I agree that probably the video is too graphic and/or bloody, but people should really understand that it only takes a couple of seconds for something like that to happen.
I actually drove too close to a tall sidewalk (in South America) while I was driving and texting. Thankfully it was a quiet street, and there were no other cars (or pedestrians) involved, but the front tire blew up. Needless to say, I DON’T USE MY PHONE WHILE DRIVING.
Dialing can also be dangerous. Activate and use the voice dialing in your phones!
I truly think that there is a need to raise awareness about the subject here in the US. I agree that probably the video is too graphic and/or bloody, but people should really understand that it only takes a couple of seconds for something like that to happen.
I actually drove too close to a tall sidewalk (in South America) while I was driving and texting. Thankfully it was a quiet street, and there were no other cars (or pedestrians) involved, but the front tire blew up. Needless to say, I DON'T USE MY PHONE WHILE DRIVING.
Dialing can also be dangerous. Activate and use the voice dialing in your phones!