I was driving around my town yesterday and noticed one of those giant lit road signs along the highway that stated: “Distracted Driving Patrols on NOW” which happened to get my attention. I later found out this is a part of the “U Text. U Drive. U Pay.” campaign that’s taking place in 100 precincts here in Washington state.
At the time I read the sign I wondered, “What’s that about?” Then it occurred to me that it must have something to do with texting on cell phones. Personally, I don’t text on my phone while driving but I might do so while stopped at a stop light, for example. Honestly, I’m still not a big fan of texts.
My wife used to be somewhat bad about reading texts–and probably even texting–while driving but I would get on her about it time and again and I believe she’s much better now. My niece who lives with us… probably not so good still.
Anyway, for some reason I decided to look into the Washington state “distracted driving” thing and wound up at the Washington State Traffic Commission’s website which states:
“Distracted driving is a concern for everyone. A distracted driver is one who is paying attention to something other than driving. The distraction can be anything from typing a text message to putting a disk in a CD player or talking on a cell phone.”
I can see that texting is a problem as you really have to concentrate on punching the right letters and can easily distract you but putting a CD into the radio or even talking on the phone isn’t such a big deal, in my opinion. Heck, I do that stuff all the time! By the way, it’s apparently illegal to even talk on the phone here in Washington while driving… ugh.
One of the links I came across from the Washington State Traffic Commission’s site brought me to an injury claims site in New York which points out that the following are also distractions:
- Eating – I do this on occasion, especially when in a hurry.
- Grooming – I don’t have any hair but I can see how people do this. Here’s a crazy report on how a woman gets a $200 ticket for applying lip balm at a red light.
- Talking to passengers in the vehicle – Really???
- Tending to children or pets in the vehicle – Good luck totally ignoring a screaming 6 month old!
- Looking at another accident, or “rubber-necking” – Ok, we all occasionally do this a bit too much.
- Sightseeing – too many distractions, I guess. 😉
- Changing the radio station – Oh, boy… now we’re ALL in trouble.
- Daydreaming – I’m not even sure where I am half the time!
So, basically, I can see this as turning into a situation where ANYTHING a police officer deems as being “distracting” can be grounds for writing you a ticket and that’s where this becomes a problem… hello Nanny State.
On the one hand I want to applaud the educational efforts as I’m sure there are occasions where distracted driving does cause accidents (sources estimate 25% of accidents are caused by distracted driving) but policing my behaviors to such an extent is a bit much, don’t you think? How about you just work to educate us and NOT fine me?
Anyway, what I really wanted to do here today was to point out that if you do text and drive… it can wait! Please do yourself the safety service and ONLY text when stopped and you have the time… and probably NOT at a stoplight, lest you receive a hefty fine. 😉
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