As many of our students are earning their drivers' licenses, I would like to take a few moments to remind all of you of the great need to think carefully about what you do while in the car.  Drivers, it is a good practice to never answer or talk on the cell phone while driving.  In many states and on military bases, you can be ticketed for talking on the phone or texting while driving.  You hear this advice all of the time, but here is a real-world example of what can happen when someone tries to talk on the phone and drive at the same time.


A young girl was driving home across a country road shortcut where traffic was limited.  She had just exited the highway and felt traffic was clear, so she answered her ringing cell phone.  While she was driving along the road and talking, she failed to notice the flashing red light she was approaching.  The day was sunny, warm, and clear.  It was a weekend, so what could go wrong?  She was taking a shortcut where little traffic ever traveled, and she was cutting off 20 minutes from her drive home.


As the young woman approached the intersection, she briefly looked and saw one stopped vehicle and no others.  She decided the stopped vehicle would wait on her, so she proceeded through the intersection without slowing, disregarding the fact that she was supposed to stop.  Just before she reached the center of the crossing, another vehicle (which had the right of way) appeared from behind a blind corner and entered the intersection.  The young woman's car struck the passenger side of the new car.  The rate of speed from the young woman's car pushed the other vehicle into the already stopped car at the intersection.  The result was total destruction of all three vehicles.

In the first car that was struck was a woman in her 50s carrying her 8-year-old niece to a birthday party.  In the stopped car was a family of two adults in their 30s and two children under 5.  The first car that was struck was a new vehicle the driver had taken home from the dealership for a weekend test drive.

The woman and her 8-year-old niece were taken to the hospital with bleeding injuries, but were saved from any lasting serious damage by all of the airbags in the brand new vehicle.

The second family wasn't so fortunate.  The accident failed to deploy airbags in the third vehicle, and both adults in that vehicle suffered spinal injuries they will deal with for the rest of their lives.  All of the children in the accident suffered from nightmares and a fear of traffic for several years following the accident.

The image below is proof of one of those adult's lasting injuries from a careless moment with a cell phone.  The plates in the image are real and were placed there to hold the neck together as the person's disks had burst from the accident.  This person was so pumped from the shock of the accident that he failed to realize how hurt he was until three days after the accident.




The young woman that caused the accident escaped unharmed, but she will have to live with the idea that she changed many lives forever.  One of the two adults that suffered spinal injuries can no longer walk long distances or climb stairs without trouble.  The person in the image above deals with never-ending headaches and pain.

One careless moment of distraction while on the cell phone totally changed the lives of all seven people that day.  Remember, life is too precious to risk.  The names of the people in this accident are not important.  The result and lesson you can learn is!

Wait a few moments and find a place to pull over, or use a hands-free device before responding to that phone call.  Never text or e-mail when you are driving.  You may be the one whose life you save!