 |
| http://www.itcanwait.com/ |
It's horrible enough that too many people still STUPIDLY insist on reading texts and/or writing texts while driving an automobile, and many of them are crashing and dying, often taking innocent, non-texting drivers with them.
But there is another insidious problem with all the capabilities of modern smartphones.
Just about EVERY SINGLE TIME I am stopped at a red light behind someone, the light will turn green and the car in front will just sit there. Why don't they move? Well, they have their heads bent downward and they are reading something on their phones. It is happening almost EVERY SINGLE TIME!
When I am stopped alongside someone, first in line at a red light, I look over at the driver next to me, and 99 times out of 100 they are looking downward at their phones. The light turns green, I go, I look in my rearview mirror and they are STILL sitting there at the light, peering into their phones.
It's EPIDEMIC! About the only good thing I can say about this is that these people, who are seemingly always GLUED to their phones, continue to sit at a green light while others in cross traffic are busy running the red light. So by sitting there for a few extra seconds, they are avoiding some T-bone collisions. That's great, but they are still pissing off everyone behind them waiting at the green light for this moron to GO!
It's like clockwork now. These idiots will sit there for two, three, four, five seconds until they FINALLY look up and see the light is green. Of course, the idiot behind them is still looking at their phone, so instead of 15 cars getting through the green light, maybe five will.
I have honked my horn more often over the last year than I honked it my entire life, because everyone has something SO important happening on their phone, they can't be bothered with traffic lights.
I realize that I am sort of taking my life in my own hands by honking. This is Texas, where just about everyone is packing heat, and if you honk a little too often or a little too long, you just might eat some lead. Still...IT CAN WAIT!!
Speaking of which, the City of Houston recently launched an "It Can Wait" campaign and got high school students involved. Several schools here in Houston created some short videos to drive the point home. Obviously amateurish, but still, as long as it sinks in....
Here is the entry from Bellaire High School, who won the competition...
Here's Memorial High School's effort (how many of these people were texting and crashing?
And then Kingwood...
Mayor
Annise Parker encourages all Houstonians not to text while
driving. The City of Houston campaign, It Can
Wait, Houston, was launched April 2, 2013, as a part of National
Distracted Driving Awareness Month. In conjunction with this effort, the Mayor's
Youth Council held a video contest promoting the No Texting While Driving
Campaign.
A total
of 11 videos were submitted by students from high schools all over the city.
The top three videos will be promoted through social media and Bellaire's
winning submission will be used by the Houston Fire and Police Departments in
safety presentations at area schools.
Often
youth think nothing can hurt them and that they are invincible. That is why
this contest was so important to Mayor Parker. The videos do an excellent job of
depicting the dangers of texting and driving. It is her hope that their
messages will help convince their peers, as well as adults, to put the phone
down while driving. The Mayor reminds us that we all have to change our habits
and refuse to put our own lives and the lives of others at risk.
Those who text while driving are 23 times more
likely to be in a crash. In 2011, 13 percent of the over 3,000 traffic
fatalities in Texas were due to texting while driving. Research released by
AT&T indicates that 43 percent of commuters admit to a "habit" of texting
while driving, even though they are aware of the risks. Take the no texting
while driving pledge by visiting http://www.itcanwait.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment