Our view: Distracted driving message goes for adults, too
Hopefully parents took note of the state’s campaign last week against distracted driving.
Hopefully parents took note of the state’s campaign last week against distracted driving.
Woodbury residents, especially, should have noticed: the state’s Department of Public Safety used East Ridge High School and its students as the backdrop for the announcement. While the campaign was short – it called on law enforcement to step up enforcement for one day – the message was heard loud and clear: keep your eyes on the road when you’re driving.
Not on your text message. Not on your iPod. Not on a distraction. Wait to chomp that breakfast burrito once you get to your destination. Find a better time to reach for your CD case.
If the message seems a little too preachy, there’s a reason. It isn’t just for teen drivers. In case you hadn’t noticed, adults do all these things too. Don’t think so? Next time you’re a passenger in traffic, take a look at the drivers around you and count how many you see fiddling with their phones or mobile devices. Most of the guilty parties will be adults.
It’s important to drill the notion into the heads of young drivers now – before bad habits take hold – but adults must also heed the message. According to state figures, distracted driving accounts for 20 percent of all crashes annually in Minnesota. Not 20 percent of crashes involving teens. This counts everyone.
And that figure is probably low. The state says its numbers in distracted driving-related crashes are “vastly underreported” due to officers’ difficulties in determining what constitutes a distraction as it relates to a crash. That’s understandable. The officers are trying to piece together sense through the calamity of a crash.
As drivers, we have it a lot easier. All we have to do is keep our eyes on the road and leave those distractions until later. Especially text messages. Just because we can respond instantaneously doesn’t mean we have to.
Do you really have to send a text saying you’ll be somewhere in two minutes when you can just wait … two minutes? Is responding to a trivial comment worth jeopardizing other people’s safety on the road?
A participant at last week’s East Ridge press conference summed it up: “Most texts really aren’t that important.” That seems about right. The speaker? A high school senior.
That’s a message we can all take to heart.
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