It’s something we each witness countless times a day on the roads. It isn’t anything to do with the background of the driver, their skill/experience level, age or sex.
I have witnessed Gardai (Police here in Ireland) fall foul to this also, with scary regularity. When you know someone who has been prosecuted for this, only to observe the authorities commit the exact same crime, it’s very difficult to not be highly annoyed.
This danger is not just an issue here in Ireland. Most countries in the world are facing this issue regarding road safety too. So what is it?
Phones, plain and simple.
What started out as the addenda of the yuppy brigade, with briefcase sized batteries, has evolved into something that so many people simply can not go without. I get it, I find it equally difficult to not interact with my phone/cell/mobile, whatever you want to call it. These devices have become so ingrained in our lives, packed with features and availability of apps for almost anything you can think of. A lot of those apps are aimed at motorists, from software that allows you to monitor data from sensors or read faults, to more commonly used things like maps or traffic updates. All this on top of social media that is created to be addictive, plus the basic text and call services of most/all phones.
These devices take so much of our attention. We are almost trained to reach for it when we hear a ping.
I remember a time when a call to someone while on the road required finding a public payphone (often called a phonebox here). You’d have to have coins to make the call or speak with the operator and ask to reverse the charges, provided the person on the other end agreed to pay. Then came phone credit in the form of a card, very similar to a bank card. You would buy these to the value of credit needed and use them in the phones that were compatible. At the time, we felt like this was highly convienient. How things have progressed in a relatively short time.
Back to the danger on the roads.
I’ve seen stickers on the back of cars asking people to “Please drive carefully, baby on board”, with said vehicle being driven by a parent holding a coffee in one hand and a phone in the other, while steering using their wrist, I kid you not. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve had to take evasive action to avoid a head on crash with someone who was looking down at their phone. We have all seen accidents where the driver wasn’t paying attention, most often using a phone.
It can be tough if you are trying to make it somewhere, while under time pressure and then receive a call/text that is urgent. Some will pull over to the side of the road, but most will simply pick up the phone and continue driving, while trying to multitask.
Personally, I’m not great at multitasking. Driving has enough risks attached to warrant not adding more, so I leave the phone in my pocket or put it into a storage compartment, with it set to silent. If I can’t hear a call/text/alert, then I don’t think about it. When I get to my destination or stop along the way, then I’ll check it. Nothing is worth loosing my life over, or worse, being responsible for the death of someone else, especially not the latest shared video of someone’s cat falling over.
Put the phone away, on silent. Be a better driver, focus, enjoy the drive.
Diesel is for tractors 