Driven to distraction-driving woes of the commuter
It’s easy to blame it on the cell-phone. You see them everywhere, hunched over-shoulders to ears, not cognizant of what’s going on around them. People living industrious lives and using the cell phone to help them keep connected and informed whether for business or pleasure. And then there are the accidents-oh the many accidents that infringe on our time when we least have the patience to sit endlessly behind the wheel and wait until a police investigation ensues or they remove the tipped over tanker from the mangled guardrail. Blame it on the cellphone. It’s the cell phones fault. But is it? Is it really? Or is it the fault of distracted drivers? Distracted drivers. Those unfocused, sidetracked, diverted and preoccupied drivers who simply do not pay attention to the road and the hazards around them. Distracted drivers include the sleepers who aren’t asleep as yet but could be in an instant, those arguing their point to the colleagues around them, those painting their faces, shaving their hairs, finding a radio station that has something more to say than ‘ooo baby ooo’ and those looking through their car for the piece of important documentation that they assert they ‘put just there’. We can all be distracted but distractions take many forms and not just in the form of the cell-phone user. There are some drivers (I would put myself in this group), that could cook a six course dinner, plan a trip and organize a wardrobe while behind the wheel. And still duck through a potential accident and save another from getting into one with a simple blow to the horn. There are others who can’t comprehend what’s around them even if they peer intently on their surroundings with a dozen of back seat drivers to aide in their endeavour. It’s the driver, plain and simple. If you disallow people from using their phones in the car, they will still crash into exit signs. You can’t prevent accidents by telling people what they can or can not do behind the wheel. It’s about the driver, not the cellphone. Driving is a responsibility and a serious one at that. If you aren’t a responsible driver, you shouldn’t be using a phone, an electronic device or a hairbrush. And don’t start quoting the stats either. If I am in an accident and I am holding a cellphone in my hand does anyone ask me if I am going through a life changing event in my personal life, that I had two hours sleep or that I’ve got a migraine. No, they see the cell. It’s the cells fault-hence the stat. Make drivers more responsible for what they do and let them rejoice in a little chuckle with a friend as they sit on the Don Valley parking lot in rush hour. Responsibility.
DK
