Honestly, the new distracted driving law scared me. I know I shouldn’t be texting while driving, and since the new law is in affect, I will abide by it. What scared me was if I didn’t have a GPS in the car and I didn’t know where I was going to next. Perhaps it's a self-fulfilled prophecy, but I have never arrived to my destination without getting a wrong turn at least once. I can resist looking at a text for two hours, but I have to see that map. I concede I should be using a no-hands phone holder, or a GPS attached to the window screen, but I didn't at the time. I do regret how I endangered the lives of others and myself on the road for being so careless, and possibly conceited for thinking I can be safe while I'm checking directions on the phone. I will reassert my promise to respect the current distracted driving law. I was merely demonstrating my first thoughts about the new law.
Another key point is that I am grateful that my kids or a future generation will not see the bad examples we have been. Each time a kid is in the back seat or a teen witnesses their parent participating in distracted driving, we were setting an example and saying, “It’s okay to text and drive as long as you are at a stop light”. Well now the law declares that you can't text at a stop light either.
One and too many times I have my fellow drivers on the road with their hands on phones, whether it was texting or taking a call. I was disturbed by the number of people that took risks, even though I was one of them. I have realized that it was an unnecessary risk. That I could have pulled over to check my directions, or answered that text that asked, "Where are you?"
How many times have you answered, "Where are you?" in a moving vehicle? Where you driving?
According to the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI);
- Text messaging, browsing and dialing resulted in the longest duration of drivers taking their eyes off the road.
- Text messaging increased the risk of a crash or near-crash by two times and resulted in drivers taking their eyes off the road for an average of 23 seconds total.
- Activities performed when completing a phone call (reaching for a phone, looking up a contact and dialing the number) increased crash risk by three times.
(Go to http://www.vtti.vt.edu/featured/?p=193 for more information.)
Now that the “Driving Under the Influence of Electronics” law has been launched, we are probably reminded of all the times we felt the urge to glance at our phone screen one last time. Although the law is in full effect, the Washington State Patrol will not ticket people until after a six-month grace period. Ticketing by WSP begins January. Other police agencies could ticket drivers starting Sunday, so don’t expect every police officer to let you off the hook this month. There has been some confusion about the parameters of what is still legal. It is advised that little sips of coffee are just fine, but do your best to stay focused on the road. You may also want your questions about fines answered. Check out Kiro7 news (the link is at the end of this article), or any other local news source at your convenience.
