Texting has evolved from just a secondary means of
communication to the foremost preferred. Whereas phone conversations were the
escape from face-to-face confrontation, texting now takes up precedence as the
novel way to escape voice confrontation as well.
Candid exchanges have become almost extinct. Assuming that
texting requires half the effort, drivers the world over mistake it as an easy
multitasking option for driving and communicating in one shot. It only requires,
well, your line of vision, concentration, and hands. Other than that, sounds
like a safe way to multitask, right? Wrong.
Statistics back up the fact that no matter just how
tech-savvy, and how ‘I-can-watch-the-road-while-siri-types-what-I-say’ you are,
previous results are not on your side.
According to the Department of Transportation, nearly 16,000
truckers were ticketed for using their cell phones last year, but only four of
those were suspended and taken out of service, WABC reported.
In just one scenario, ABC reports a George and Kathy Weed who
were killed one year ago when a truck driver who police say was texting while
driving slammed his tractor-trailer into the back of the upstate New York
couple’s car on a Pennsylvania highway.
“Dad was in his lane and coming to a stop,” said their son,
Brian Weed. “The truck just came up and
hit him from behind and pushed him into another truck.”
“This utterly destroyed us,” said their daughter, Tricia
Weed. “I mean, devastating beyond
words.”
This immeasurably horrifying tale is only one among thousands. Even if the driver lives to tell the tale, he may wish he hadn’t.
In another example, in Arizona, a truck driver has pleaded
not guilty to murder charges after a police officer was killed when the driver
crashed into police cars and emergency vehicles. The driver was allegedly looking at pictures
on his phone at the time of the crash.
Practicing unsafe loading can aggravate the chances for a
fatal crash as well, due to unwanted shifting and tumbling of heavy cargo in
the wake of a texting-induced crash.
When WABC investigative reporter Jim Hoffer asked National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Robert Sumwalt if the consequences
for texting while driving are strict enough for truck drivers, he had this to
say:
“Well, is it really changing behavior?”
“From your video, that indicates a lot of people driving
commercial vehicles that are still using personal electronic devices,” he said.
“And that would indicate the enforcement side of it is not strong enough.”
An investigation in New York City showed that the two
crashes are not isolated incidents.
Cameras set up on major New York highways caught truck drivers dialing,
texting and talking on their cell phones.
In one of the worst cases observed by the cameras, a truck driver carried on two conversations on two separate phones.
An institution of stricter laws have been consequentially put into place:
A truck driver stopped by police for talking on a cell phone in New York would receive a $150 fine and five points on a driver’s license. Accumulating 11 points over an 18-month period may result in a suspended license in New York, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
The hope is that the fear for suspension will deter avid
texters and lousy loading to a thing of the past.
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