Chang

Maybe you've been tempted. Sitting at the wheel in traffic moving slowly, you hear the familiar beep of a text-message alert. Maybe your boss wants the results of that sales contact you made this morning, or your best friend wants to set up a place to meet for drinks.

Traffic is backed up and you know it would take less than a minute to type a response with your thumbs, so you do. There is little risk here, you think. And then it happens! The driver in front of you stops more quickly than you expected and you crash into him/her.

A public service announcement (PSA) from the United Kingdom (UK) about driving while texting (DWT) has caused a debate among some viewers - does its message outweigh its graphic nature?

The PSA produced in Gwent, UK, August 2009, by Peter Watkins-Hughes of Newport School, Wales, which lasts more than four minutes, shows the dangers of texting while driving. In the video, a car of teenage girls veers into the path of an oncoming car while the driver sends a text message on her phone. The ensuing four minutes show the girls and others on the road as they bounce violently in their cars with glass and steel shattering around them as blood stains the car windows. This and similar videos can readily be viewed on YouTube.

overpowering temptation

But, of course, any safety message has to break through a basic trait of human nature - the part of us that says accidents happen only to other people. Don't they?

A United States (US) nationwide insurance poll found that 20 per cent of all drivers are driving while texting (DWT) and the number gets worse among drivers ages 18 to 24, where 66 per cent do.

Now this poll was conducted in the US, and while the percentages might be less, the figures suggest that a lot of drivers in Jamaica text while driving, including yours truly, who must admit that the temptation is overpowering sometimes.

In addition, the survey of 1,200 driving Americans found that:

83 per cent believe they are safe drivers.

59 per cent don't consider themselves distracted drivers.

73 per cent talk on cellphones while driving.

38 per cent admit they have driven a certain distance without recalling.

What's more, the Transportation Research Laboratory in the UK found that reaction times were worse when DWT than driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol.

The reaction of a text user was 35 per cent less than normal, while the reaction of a drunk was 12 per cent less than normal. Marijuana smokers' reaction times were 21 per cent less than normal.

In an article entitled 'Cellie boom - 2.5 million mobile users by year 2008' published October 12, 2005, Ross Sheil, Gleaner staff reporter, writes: "Jamaica has room to add half a million more cellphone users over the next three years before reaching saturation point, according to Digicel chief executive officer, David Hall.

"This would bring the total number of cell users to 2.5 million, just 100,000 less than the national population."

With the arrival of CLARO and the reinvigorated LIME in the past two years, there is every reason to expect that this figure has been attained, or even surpassed. That would make Jamaica on par or even exceed the per capital cellphone users of most developed countries of the world, including the US.

PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN

What can we do to protect our kids (from those they drive with and from themselves)?

I have six biological children and two adopted children that have been with me since they were babies. While half of them are adults now, all are still my 'kids' so I have to take the following advice seriously. I would suggest you do too.

Here are some suggestions courtesy of the kajeet website:

Demonstrate that texting while driving is unacceptable. Don't pick up the cellphone to read your text while driving, even if you stop at a traffic light. If we do that consistently over the years it will become pretty difficult to communicate a different message to our own kids when they start to drive.

Talk with your kids about the topic of texting while driving. Point out that accidents happen and people die because drivers are taking their eyes off the road to text, for example.

Check your kid's cellphone message activity when they go out. Have a talk with your kids if you discover they might be texting while driving.

Talk with your children about their friend's driving, and about how they should deal with friends that persist in DWT. This is no less a hazard to them than drinking while driving so we (and they) need to take it seriously.

Now while texting and talking on a phone is distracting, so are many things we've accepted. Like adjusting the radio, playing with the navigation system, reading, eating, drinking, a pet in the car, and dealing with crying or fighting kids in the back seat. We should try to avoid all distractions.

PARENTS MUST CONTROL BAD HABITS

Finally, we as parents must learn to control our bad habits as well as our children's bad habits. According to a Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) study, even when adults were in a car with teens that were driving,

The teens sped 50 per cent of the time.

They talked on their cellphone 20 per cent of the time.

They ate or drank 20 per cent of the time.

Stephen Wallace, chairman and CEO of SADD says, "Perhaps most important is to set a good example for young drivers and to reinforce their good driving habits by praising what they are doing right behind the wheel."

BM&Y, YHBW. ICBAMOLOD. (Between me and you, you have been warned. It could be a matter of life or death). Amen.

Egerton Chang is a businessman. He may be contacted at (e_rider69@hotmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.