At first glance the whole idea seemed sort of silly to me.
I mean, why in the world would the Missouri State Highway Patrol have to go to the trouble of launching a campaign warning folks about the dangers of texting while driving.
But then I remembered that shampoo companies have to put directions on their products.
“Honey, I forget. Do I rinse first or do I lather?”
“I don’t know. I’ll go fetch the bottle.”
It seems some people have to be hit over the head when it comes to things that seem pretty obvious to the rest of us.
Take my wife, please.
Ha. I loved Henny Youngman.
A couple of weeks ago I was riding with my wife in the car. My wife was driving. I was listening to Jimmy Buffett. Suddenly my wife’s cell phone made a funny noise. Apparently, whenever my wife gets a text, her phone makes funny noise. My wife picked up her phone and read the text.
Did I mention that my wife was driving?
Before I could say something, my wife said, “Oh no, she didn’t,” and then started to text a reply.
I did mention that my wife was driving, didn’t I?
I managed to stop my wife from texting while driving by calmly explaining to my wife that if she didn’t put her cell phone down I would “TAKE IT AND THROW OUT OF THE &*^%$# WINDOW.”
To my wife’s credit, she was stopped at a stop sign when she started texting, and she immediately admitted that texting while driving was dumb and put her phone away. But still.
After thinking about that texting incident, on second glance, the fact that the Highway Patrol has to go to the trouble of launching a campaign warning folks about the dangers of texting didn’t seem so silly.
According to the patrol, gabbing on the cell phone and/or texting while driving leads to more car crashes than any other activity.
To that, I am forced to say “WELL DUH.”
But the folks at the patrol are too polite to say “You morons. Quit it. Pay attention when you drive.”
Nope, the folks at the patrol are taking the high road and rather than yelling at morons who text while they drive, they are trying to educate them by pointing out the dangers of doing something so stupid.
The patrol cites a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute that found that drivers who text while driving increase their chances of being involved in an accident by more than 23 times.
See, that’s not good.
The other thing the patrol is doing as part of its “don’t text and drive” campaign really makes sense. The patrol points out that current Missouri law prohibits drivers 21 and younger from texting while driving. The patrol goes on to call for all drivers, regardless of their age, to quit texting or using cell phones while driving.
I always thought the 21 and younger ban on texting while driving was sort of dumb. I mean if you are going to prohibit one group from doing something clearly moronic, why not prohibit all drivers from doing the same moronic thing?
Besides, it sort of sends the wrong message, don’t you think?
“Today I’m 22. I am a man. I can text while driving.”
Look, if anyone has the right to be concerned about texting while driving it should be the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The men and women of the patrol are the ones who get called on to deal with the horrible aftermaths of car accidents. It’s not a pleasant job and anything that can be done to reduce those calls, I think, is a good thing.
So the patrol is doing a neat thing here. For that matter, so is Con-way Inc. The trucking company has teamed up with the patrol to help spread the word about the dangers of texting and driving. I just hope people listen.
People like my wife.
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