Limiting Distracted Driving?

This weekend I watched a “kid” casually swerving while driving down the road.   At at traffic light, I noticed he was actively involved with his cell phone which was in his lap.  I couldn’t help but think, he was more concerned about texting a buddy than paying attention to driving straight down the road.  I stopped myself from saying anything to the kid as I had the strange feeling that part of my father was about to come out of me.  “Those dumba%$ kids…blah, blah, blah.

What I do know and what I’d like to share with that kid is that most cell phone companies offer some sort of technology to prevent people from using their phone while driving.  However, the consensus is that people are not using it.

The biggest problem is this exact compulsive texting by the teen aged drivers.  They need a technology to protect them from themselves.  Research is showing that motorists on cell phones are 4 times more likely to get into a crash than those not on cell phones.  Combine that with the inexperienced teen driver and you have a recipe for disaster.

Should the insurance companies demand that teenagers use this technology?  Should legislation come into play to limit the distracted driving of teenagers?  Tough to say.  I am not an advocate for a system that tells us what we can and cannot do with our own safety, after all, someone once said, stupid is as stupid does.  But when it involves the safety of other innocent drivers being at risk due to some kids who are in need of some more mature driving habits, well, then maybe the topic needs to be looked at more closely.

If you are a parent of a teen driver, for the safety of the rest of us on the road, please take a look at what your cell carrier has to offer.  The life you save might be……mine.