Photo: reynaldodallin
Of all police departments out there, the traffic police is arguably in a league of its own. Other than to discipline people who park in places they shouldn’t have parked, enforcing the rules of the road also includes punishments for texting while driving.
As our lives depend more and more on the smartphone, it shouldn’t come as a surprise than texting and driving has become a leading cause of traffic accidents. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, texting while driving is extremely similar to driving after four beers.
The extent of this distraction is best witnessed in the United Kingdom, where the Road Policing Unit managed to catch 7,966 drivers on the phone in a single week in November 2016. Out of 10,012 stopped vehicles by the police, that’s what I'd call dreary news. Of the offending motorists, 68 drivers were handed court summons for being especially stupid while behind the wheel.
It’s no wonder, then, that the Road Policing Unit took to itself to engage in such clampdowns more often. Today, January 23, the National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Roads Policing made it clear that the war on texting while driving will continue. “This week forces will be working to make driving distracted as socially unacceptable as drink driving through enforcing strong deterrents and powerful messages to make people think twice about their driving habits,” declared Suzette Davenport, the UK’s chief constable.
On that note, how much does a good pair of bluetooth headphones cost these days? Another good question I can’t seem to find an answer to is, why do most drivers “forget” to pair their phones to the car’s media system? Regarding the act of texting, some vehicles know how to read incoming texts and reply to texts with preset messages. And a case in point: Ford’s SYNC.
The bottom line is, texting and driving is not an option. Furthermore, it’s not an advanced form of multi-tasking, but a basic form of stupidity.
The extent of this distraction is best witnessed in the United Kingdom, where the Road Policing Unit managed to catch 7,966 drivers on the phone in a single week in November 2016. Out of 10,012 stopped vehicles by the police, that’s what I'd call dreary news. Of the offending motorists, 68 drivers were handed court summons for being especially stupid while behind the wheel.
It’s no wonder, then, that the Road Policing Unit took to itself to engage in such clampdowns more often. Today, January 23, the National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Roads Policing made it clear that the war on texting while driving will continue. “This week forces will be working to make driving distracted as socially unacceptable as drink driving through enforcing strong deterrents and powerful messages to make people think twice about their driving habits,” declared Suzette Davenport, the UK’s chief constable.
On that note, how much does a good pair of bluetooth headphones cost these days? Another good question I can’t seem to find an answer to is, why do most drivers “forget” to pair their phones to the car’s media system? Regarding the act of texting, some vehicles know how to read incoming texts and reply to texts with preset messages. And a case in point: Ford’s SYNC.
The bottom line is, texting and driving is not an option. Furthermore, it’s not an advanced form of multi-tasking, but a basic form of stupidity.
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