It was a couple of years ago that I was driving down the M3 with my cell phone propped on my steering wheel and I was just scrolling through some messages, reading while driving. I wasn’t texting – I was just reading. Suddenly out the corner of my eye, I noticed a car alongside me and as I looked towards it I saw a policeman on the verge of pulling me over. He wagged his finger at me and sped off. You can imagine that I dropped my phone and put both hands on the wheel and both eyes on the road. Since then, I have made it a policy that I won’t drive and use my cell phone unless it is on speaker phone.
You can see a distracted driver a mile away. Usually they are either going very slowly or they are not staying central to their lane. Because Mike is retired, a lot of our driving is done together and so with Mike behind the wheel, I have the opportunity of looking to see what the driver is doing. While behind them, we can see they are distracted. Passing by, we can see why. So many of them have their eyes off the wheel, smiling at their cell phone while texting. They have no idea that they are driving erratically. They actually think they are performing quite well, but seen from behind they are weaving or driving far slower than the speed limit. Apart from being inconsiderate it’s downright dangerous.
According to research in the USA, every day 8 people die as a result of accidents caused by distracted drivers. Apparently 1161 are injured. It’s said 330 000 accidents per year are caused by texting while driving in the States that lead to severe injuries. 78% of distracted drivers have been using their cell phones while driving.
I can believe it. Once I was driving home on the freeway and the guy on the left of me was on his cell phone. He didn’t take the bend in the road and climbed the curb. Fortunately there was a traffic light ahead and he had slowed down. The same thing happened literally round the corner from my house. As I came out of my street, there was a lady stopped right in front of me, probably just finishing a text. She saw me and not wanting to hold me up she started turning left while still texting. Only problem was she didn’t stop turning, lost control of the car and climbed the verge in front of a house. She was fortunate. The owner of the home was out – if he hadn’t been, she would have crashed right into his car. I watched this little fiasco unfold, stopping as she tried getting off the curb and back onto the road. She was very embarrassed.
I thought a lot about this yesterday evening as I drove out to the airport to collect Julian. I was alone and when he sent me a message to say he had landed, I was tempted to reply. I saw the whatsapp come through and I left my cell phone online so he could see I had seen it. He knew I was alone and when I was closer to the airport I phoned him using speaker phone to say I was round the corner.
Proverbs 22:3
The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.
Don’t be tempted to text and drive.
#201 of my 1000 thanks is that I feel I am on top of things and go into my travel week prepared.
These are the days!
Keep the smile going.
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂