autoevolution
 

The NHTSA Is Cyber Bullying Those Who Text and Drive on Twitter

I will admit to not being a big fan of Twitter - the idea of having to compress your thoughts into a finite number of characters is great and leads to the sort of efficiency you never thought yourself capable of, but at the same time it encourages people to send way too many messages, and that can get distracting after a while.
Teen texting and driving 1 photo
Photo: CDC/ Amanda Mills via FreeStockPhotos.biz
Follow more than a dozen active people and your phone will never stop beeping, your feed will teach you about double-hand scrolling, and your life will never be the same again. Not to mention it might draw you in, retweeting, replying and doing all sorts of stuff people who are into Twitter do. Besides, isn't Facebook enough of a handful that we actually need another one? And don't even get me started on Instagram.

The thing is, since we're so busy working all the time, we'll use every moment of spare time we can get to check on what our friends and followers (I'll admit that I like the sound of that) are doing. If we use the public transport, then it's fine: nothing wrong in hanging on with one hand and browsing the telephone with the other while riding the subway or the train. If you're driving, though, then using your phone is a big no-no.

Not only is it illegal to text and drive, but it's also extremely dangerous - which is why it became illegal in the first place, and not because the Government hates Twitter and Facebook. In fact, the best proof that not only does it not hate it, but it fully embraces it, comes from the NHTSA. The national agency in charge of traffic safety has proceeded to naming and shaming on Twitter those who admit to using their phones while driving. Just below are some tweets under the hashtag #justdrive, picked by Engadget.com:




The NHTSA uses a very courteous tone - if a little too pedantic - while telling people to just put down their smartphones and focus on driving the vehicle. As years of living with our parents have told us, being told what to do will probably not have the desired effect, but maybe the fact that we're not five anymore will help us see the facts and react differently. You never can tell until you've been tagged by NHTSA yourself. Hell, this might even become something to be proud of for some.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Vlad Mitrache
Vlad Mitrache profile photo

"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories