What are people thinking

In the past month I have posted a lot of articles on my facebook page about texting while driving. It seems like I could post one a day. Many of them are fatalities. I worry about this a lot being a father of daughters in their early 20's and having a teenage daughter who drives.

I find it interesting that the laws that have been passed seem to make people more worried of getting a ticket so they stop texting. Is getting a ticket worse then getting in an accident and having something far worse happen? Why don't people understand that the reason we should stop texting while driving is because of the dangers involved and not the fear of getting a ticket.

One of my daughters and I drove from Columbus Ohio to Lehi Utah. It was strange that when we got out in the wide open country of South Dakota (I know we took the long scenic route so we could see Mount Rushmore) and Wyoming there was no one texting while driving but when we got into the metro areas it seemed like 1 out of 5 drivers were doing it.

I remember a device that came out many years ago to keep truckers from sleeping at the wheel. When they lowered their head to nod off a buzzer would sound. I wonder if we could do something like that to keep texters from lowering their heads and not seeing traffic or other dangerous situations when they drive.

Distracted Driving. The new DUI

For the past month I have done a lot of studying on distracted driving. I have 4 daughters and I am very concerned about their ability to put down the phone while they drive. I try to show them things all the time that show how bad texting while driving is. I show them the stat that you are 23 times more likely to be in a crash if you text and drive. I show them videos with blood and gore to scare them away from texting and driving. I have them play Mario Cart and text them to show them how it make them a worse player. I tell them how test show that texting and driving is worse then drinking and driving and we all know how bad drinking and driving is.

The problem I have here is that I think my words are falling on deaf ears. I do not want to be a parent who is on a crusade because I have already lost a child to texting and driving. I want to be the proactive parent who sees the danger before hand and warns them so that they can avoid this dangerous action.

I have a facebook page that only deals with distracted driving and I post articles there everyday. I send out twitters everyday with posting of the dangers of texting while driving. I talk to my kids and they tell me that they understand and that they will not text while driving but I want to be sure.

Maybe I should buy them a lock box and tell them to put their phones in the lock box while they drive. Avoid the temptations of hearing the phone buzz so they will get used to not taking calls or texts while they drive.

Maybe I am just paranoid. Maybe I am talking to myself as at one time I was a huge offender of this law. I heard it took a generation to understand why we need seatbelts. It took a generation to help people see the evil of drinking while driving. I hope we can shorten the learning curve on this.