A Tragic Reminder re: Cell Phones and Driving
Labor Day is, of course, the last holiday of summer - a time for families to enjoy one last hurrah on the beach or at the grill before the chill of autumn and the crush of homework kick in.
For Gaston County, North Carolina resident Brittney Johnson, it meant the end of a life only sixteen years in the making.
According to the North Carolina Highway Patrol, Johnson may have been distracted while using a cell phone on Sunday night, as she was heading toward the town of Stanley, in the northeast corner of the county, when the Chevy Lumina she was driving ran off the road, struck an embankment and cracked a utility pole. Johnson was the only casualty of the horrific crash.
If it's true that Brittney Johnson lost her life because she was talking on a cell phone while driving, then her death should serve as a very valuable object lesson to her friends, to her family and to everyone else who engages in this behavior while trying to control what is essentially a wheeled missile. Phoning while driving does not mix. It is dangerous, it is stupid and it is unnecessary.
On more than one occasion, I have used my cell phone while driving to report accidents on the highway, dangerous debris in the road, and malfunctioning traffic signals. These instances would be considered to be bona fide emergencies requiring action from state or local law enforcement authorities to keep the driving public safe. These are also the only instances that I would ever consider using my cell phone while driving.
Every day, as I drive along I-77 and I-85, the two mainline interstate freeways that serve Charlotte, I pass no fewer than 10 vehicles in which drivers are engaged in conversations on cell phones. They're not reporting accidents or malfunctions - if they were, I'd see what they were seeing - but they are typically driving between 10 and 15 miles per hour below the posted speed limit. They are forcing me and other drivers to navigate around them, fanning the flames of a city already hot with road rage. They are, in short, a hazard.
That Brittney Johnson died in this manner is bad enough. Had she injured or killed other members of the motoring public, or if instead of striking an embankment her car had plowed into someone's home, the aftermath of this tragedy would have been much worse. This was an accident that didn't have to happen. Now her family and her friends are left to wonder about what might have been, to mourn a life that ended much too soon. I feel for her family and her friends, but I'll confess that I'm much more angry than sad.
The article about this accident has pictures of Miss Johnson's car as it is being towed away. Please take a moment to read it and if you have young eyes reading with you, be mindful that reader discretion is advised.
For Gaston County, North Carolina resident Brittney Johnson, it meant the end of a life only sixteen years in the making.
According to the North Carolina Highway Patrol, Johnson may have been distracted while using a cell phone on Sunday night, as she was heading toward the town of Stanley, in the northeast corner of the county, when the Chevy Lumina she was driving ran off the road, struck an embankment and cracked a utility pole. Johnson was the only casualty of the horrific crash.
If it's true that Brittney Johnson lost her life because she was talking on a cell phone while driving, then her death should serve as a very valuable object lesson to her friends, to her family and to everyone else who engages in this behavior while trying to control what is essentially a wheeled missile. Phoning while driving does not mix. It is dangerous, it is stupid and it is unnecessary.
On more than one occasion, I have used my cell phone while driving to report accidents on the highway, dangerous debris in the road, and malfunctioning traffic signals. These instances would be considered to be bona fide emergencies requiring action from state or local law enforcement authorities to keep the driving public safe. These are also the only instances that I would ever consider using my cell phone while driving.
Every day, as I drive along I-77 and I-85, the two mainline interstate freeways that serve Charlotte, I pass no fewer than 10 vehicles in which drivers are engaged in conversations on cell phones. They're not reporting accidents or malfunctions - if they were, I'd see what they were seeing - but they are typically driving between 10 and 15 miles per hour below the posted speed limit. They are forcing me and other drivers to navigate around them, fanning the flames of a city already hot with road rage. They are, in short, a hazard.
That Brittney Johnson died in this manner is bad enough. Had she injured or killed other members of the motoring public, or if instead of striking an embankment her car had plowed into someone's home, the aftermath of this tragedy would have been much worse. This was an accident that didn't have to happen. Now her family and her friends are left to wonder about what might have been, to mourn a life that ended much too soon. I feel for her family and her friends, but I'll confess that I'm much more angry than sad.
The article about this accident has pictures of Miss Johnson's car as it is being towed away. Please take a moment to read it and if you have young eyes reading with you, be mindful that reader discretion is advised.
4 Comments:
Whenever I find myself waiting for the 'left turn arrow' I see the other lefties passing in front, and count the ones on the phone...My biggest total was: Of 11 cars turning, 9 held cell phones to their heads!
This is a tragic story, and one we see daily. The law doesn't seem to work in these cases, so what to do?
By veronikkamarrz, Sep 07 09 1:26 PM
I'm not sure, VM...I think this is one of those things that's going to require more people to die in order for people to really get it. That's a shame, too, because it's really a waste.
By cag1970, Sep 07 09 1:46 PM
This is a Huge problem all over the world apparently!
Here in Oz using a mobile while driving is illegal - our 'P' platers (first 3 years of licencing after 'L' plates) will have their licence suspended if caught, the threat of which appears to have virtually no effect.
Even use via hands free is to be considered with caution as still too distracting.
Unfortunately all 'our kids' have embraced technology to the full and can't possibly be anywhere without their life line.
Having said that - with the number of adults so blatantly defying the law, why should young drivers take any more care?
There's no simple solution and (like young deaths due to speeding) it annoys and frustrates me that lives are cut short and no lessons are necessarily learned as a result.
What is it about any motor vehicle that can make the driver feel immortal? :(
By MarchHare007, Sep 08 09 8:08 PM
I wish I could answer that question, MarchHare. In the United States especially, and in the Charlotte, North Carolina, area particularly, the car is king. The young girl who was killed was just 16. In many states in our Union, that's the legal driving age. I'm just glad that she didn't injure or kill anyone else or that she didn't do any major property damage.
By cag1970, Sep 09 09 4:38 PM