Just hang up and drive

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable weekend.   I know I did, as the family and I took a mini-vacation down to the beach Sunday.   The beach and the water were perfect for what was a very hot day inland, the two hour drive one way was definitely worth it to get out of the city and beat the heat.

What was a really good day almost ended in tragedy, not once but twice and both cases were related to idiots and I am using that term nicely, who were texting while driving.

The young lady in the silver Toyota Camry was attempting a left hand merge, which is dangerous anyhow as you are entering the fast lane(s) of traffic from the left hand side, typical of Houston and this merge onto I45 N from 610 S is particularly hazardous, but when you are texting instead of driving, you are going to get into an accident.   She successfully merged with traffic, because everyone got over for her, but she started drifting into the second lane of traffic, which is when she got two or three vehicles, included myself, honking at her.   It was all I could do to maintain a mature driving attitude as this young lady had not only endangered her life, she was risking that of my kids as well.

The second situation involved a black Ford Taurus and a young man who decided he could drive with his left hand, text with his right as long as it was propped on the wheel and drive.  Again, he was in and out of other peoples lanes, almost causing an accident.

Distracted driving is not a joke.   People are getting seriously hurt or killed.   What’s even more puzzling to me, what is so important that a person loses all focus on the business of driving and is distracted driving on a Sunday afternoon?   What is so important?   Either one of these individuals could have hung up and drove, the text is not going anywhere.

My teenage nephew, who has his learner permit was with me and I let him know, although they might get 200 texts an hour, none are important enough to risk the lives of others via distracted driving.

Hang up and drive.   Don’t kill someone because you were not focused on driving.

This article and tv interview below is real, it happens – this could be your mom, your dad, your grandparent, your brother or sister.  Is the text that important?

http://www.wbaltv.com/news/24357566/detail.html