DOT : New Faces of Distracted Driving Video Series
These are a heartbreaking series of videos put out by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) which puts a face on what can happen as a result of distracted driving. In the latest video, nine-year-old Erica Forney was on her bicycle outside of her home in Fort Collins, Colorado when a driver looked down at her cell phone and failed to see Erica. Her mother, Shelly, says the little girl was thrown 15 feet and landed on her neck. On Thanksgiving Day in 2008, two days after she was hit, Erica died.Her mother says distracted driving wasn’t “worth my daughter’s life. If you choose to text or take a phone call behind the wheel, you’re playing Russian roulette with your life and other people’s lives on the road.”
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has been passionate about this very powerful campaign against distracted driving.
Dashboard Distractions
At the same time, auto manufacturers seem to be adding even more distractions to the dashboard of a vehicle creating a visual display that is difficult to resist. Can you believe you can not only find a nearby restaurant on some dashboards, but update your Facebook status, check the weather and gas prices, as well as read text messages? A new Toyota reportedly will allow you to search the web, and some Ford vehicles will even deliver Twitter updates.
It is estimated that more than 5,000 people were killed by a distracted driver in 2009, and 500,000 were injured in accidents where the driver was distracted by a cell phone, changing the radio, fooling with the GPS, or any other number of distractions that can be found in a vehicle these days.
It takes a concerted effort to remain undistracted and drive. The Florida distracted driving accident lawyers of Farah & Farah encourages everyone to have the self-discipline to put away the phone while you are behind the wheel and involved in the serious business of driving.
Source: www.distraction.gov/faces;www.distraction.gov;http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/money/consumer/consumer_reports/consumer-reports-examines-dashboard-distractions#ixzz1b68nFYhQ
