When Tragedy Hits Home

People just don’t seem to understand how distracted they are when they engage in a telephone conversation while behind the wheel. While many will identify the most dangerous distraction on our roadways today is cellphones, they think others are dangerous, not themselves. Reality is that it can happen to anyone, at any time. You can be looking straight ahead and not see what is right in front of you. It’s called cognitive distraction.

Don’t believe me? Ask David Teater, Director of Transportation Initiatives at the National Safety Council. Click on the video to hear his story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=45&v=E7fvOxeZnjQ

Still not convinced? Ask Christopher Hill.

In September 2008, Hill, then 20-years-old, was talking on his cell phone when he ran a red light. He didn’t notice a small SUV until the last second. Hill hit the vehicle at 45 mph; the 61-year-old woman inside was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. Two months after the accident, his mom gave him a hands-free headset; she thought it would create less distraction. Hill said he tried it once, but found his mind wandering into his phone call so much that “I nearly missed a light,” he said. He said that when he drives, he usually keeps his cellphone tucked in a space in the dashboard, and has set strict rules not to use it — rules he acknowledges he sometimes breaks.

The daughter of the deceased said she, too, once talked incessantly while driving. “We’re all guilty of it,” she said. “I’m the first to admit it.” In her case, no longer. She said she almost always ignores the ring of an incoming call.

If these stories were not enough to get you to hang up and drive, I suggest you read any number of others from victims and their families. All of these stories are not just heartbreaking; each one is a helping to change the beliefs, behaviors and attitudes about this deadly epidemic.

You have heard it before and I’ll say it again: Every single time you take your eyes off the road or talk on the phone while driving - even for just a few seconds - you put yourself and others in danger. Please, put the phone down before you or your loved ones have to endure what these families went through. It may seem hard a first, even Mr. Teater will tell you he had a bit of a hard time adjusting to the concept. “With all the motivation in the world I couldn’t do it,” he said, adding that he eventually took more decisive action: “I put the cellphone in the trunk.”

I remember when wearing seat belts became law in the 1980s. It was hard to get used to at first, but it soon became second nature. Put the cell phone away before you start the car. Before long, it too will become second nature.

Mark Bello is the CEO and General Counsel of Lawsuit Financial Corporation, a pro-justice lawsuit funding company.