Distracted Drivers Are a National Epidemic

From The News & Advance.

The News & Advance
Published: August 9, 2009

Driving is one of the most dangerous things an individual can do.

Think about it ... you’re behind the wheel of a machine weighing a ton or a ton and a half, traveling down the road at 55 mph or faster, loaded with highly flammable gasoline. More people die each year in highway accidents than died in the entire Vietnam War.

Why, then, would you even think of calling your best bud about meeting up at City Stadium later for a Hillcats game or texting your colleagues at the office about next week’s presentation?

Amazingly, more people than you can shake a stick at think nothing of it.

Distracted drivers have always been a hazard on America’s highways. With the advent of cell phones, however, the danger to the motoring public has increased exponentially.

As we noted earlier this week, Virginia has finally joined the ranks of states that prohibit teen drivers, age 18 and younger, from texting while operating a vehicle.

It’s still legal for drivers older than 18 to engage in this risky behavior. It’s also perfectly legal for any driver to gab away on a cell phone while driving.

It’s time for state laws across the country to catch up to the fact that use of a cell phone while driving is almost as dangerous as driving under the influence.

How many times have you been on the highways of Central Virginia and seen a near-accident caused by a driver talking on the phone?

A red light changes to green, you’re about to advance and a driver talking on a phone flies through the intersection, totally oblivious to the fact he has a red light.

Or, you’re sitting in traffic and all of a sudden, you hear the screeching of tires as a driver slams on the brakes to avoid a rear-end collision because he didn’t realize traffic had stopped ... because he was talking on the phone.

For years, the cell phone industry has fought any attempt by state legislatures to restrict the use of the devices. California, for example, finally passed such a law, after the industry successfully fended it off for much of this decade.

The New York Times reported last month how the industry also managed to quash release of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration studies that quantified the risks and the dangers of driving and phoning.

It’s way past time for the law and the general public to wake up to the dangers of distracted driving and to the fact that talking on a cell phone is simply incompatible with the safe operation of a motor vehicle.

This is one of those times when a law to keep your mouth shut really is needed.