One of the most chilling videos I have ever seen [VIDEO]
A friend and client of mine, Steve, shared this video with me and asked me to pass it on to as many people as I could. The video concerns texting while driving which up until today I thought had been covered enough.
I couldn't be more wrong.
To say this video gripped me would be the understatement of the year. From the moment it started I was drawn in, completely absorbed into the lives of the people telling their stories. And by the end, I had tears flowing out of both eyes.
So now it's my turn. Please watch this video. If you are guilty of texting while driving, learn from it. If you are a parent of a child who texts while driving, make them watch this video.
The video runs nearly 11 minutes and I know what you're thinking. I'll skip through it. Don't. Please.
If you can not see the embedded video above please use the following link: AT&T Don't Text While Driving Documentary (Closed Captioned)
6 comments for this blog post so far...
February 01, 2011 at 10:04 am
BenCatalistMcCann
Very sobering. Recommitting myself to stop texting while driving. Thanks for sharing.
February 01, 2011 at 10:38 am
Robby Slaughter
Texting while driving is terribly dangerous, but it’s also incredibly seductive.
It would be easy for the cellphone companies to not offer this service to people (especially minors) unless they had watched an educational video first.
It would also not be too technically difficult to temporarily disable texting on phones while they are moving faster than 20 miles per hour. Or the system could respond to a text message sent in this way with a question: “Are you driving? Texting and driving kills.”
Education is good, but action is better.
February 01, 2011 at 10:49 am
Patric Welch
Robby, I think issue is trickier than most people give credit. One could easily argue that texting “LOL” on a mobile phone is less distracting than changing a CD in the CD player or programming a new route into the GPS.
And why stop at just banning texting? If this becomes law in our state, is it still illegal to update your Facebook status or play your next move in Words with Friends?
I’m making a big effort this year to not do any of this while the car is moving. But like you said, it is seductive. It’s almost as if I need to place my cell phone completely out of reach while I’m driving.
February 01, 2011 at 11:06 am
Robby Slaughter
Patric, I’m not arguing that it should be *illegal* to text while driving---although many states have made this move. Just that the cellphone carriers could do a lot more than release a video. They could have minors sign specific agreements, or require them to watch educational videos the get a texting plan, or even disable texting under these circumstances.
Of course, you are right that all forms of distraction are dangerous while driving. One article (http://www.michiganradionews.org/post/distractions-rise-distracted-driving-deaths-dont) explains that there really hasn’t been a rise in deaths, but rather a change in distractions.
Personally I’d like to see more technologies to make cars safer and self-driving. The biggest travesty of all of this is that there are 50,000+ deaths a year in this country in motor vehicle accidents, virtually all of which can be prevented if we figure out how to make cars safer, drivers more attentive, and driving less necessary.
February 01, 2011 at 11:15 am
Patric Welch
Robby, I know. I just got sidetracked as I was typing and got on my soapbox about what is considered a distraction while driving. You make good points and I appreciate your comments!
February 01, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Kaycee
I thought I would get up and walk around while the video was playing. I couldn’t. So heart-rending. I kept it together pretty well, because I was once hit by a truck while on my bike. The driver was receiving road-head when he drove right into me. Because I was seven, when I saw him turn his head to the right, I thought he was about to turn onto the street he was paused at. How can you expect a seven-year-old to know about road-head?...or that someone would actually engage in such acts on a residential road, at a corner where children played 24/7 all summer long (it was August)? The driver didn’t live very far away; he was familiar with the neighborhood, and the huge populous of kids that were at that corner - hanging around - every day. And still, he could be so selfish? So impatient? But it wasn’t long before I, too, had tears streaming down both cheeks.
But if people have to die, or lose their licenses, etc., because of texting while driving - a form of verbal communication, why did the guy who who nearly killed me, because he had to have fellatio while driving, not even so much as get a traffic ticket? And the lawyer said my dad “[had] no case.” It seems to me that someone so selfish should lose something more precious to him than his privilege to drive.
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