Recently, I was sitting at a dinner table at a seniors’ lodge, enjoying a great homemade meal. Conversation was flowing along nicely among the 8 or so of us eating. I noticed though, that the guy sitting to my immediate right was on his phone, scrolling through Facebook.
Before I go any further, I need to tell you something. I’m a senior, but not senior enough to have raised children in the pre-cell phone era. My wife and I had a ‘table rule’ that phones were forbidden at the table during meal times. This created a few battles during our ‘parenting years’, but it’s a rule that we stood firm on.
Incidentally, we still do. My wife and I continue to enjoy cell-free meals…most of the time!
Back to the story. On this particular day, in the midst of the table chat, the younger guy to my right suddenly piped up, speaking to me. And he showed me a Facebook video.
I wished the cell phone rule had been in effect that particular meal. The video was taken in Winnipeg, where a pick-up truck drove full speed into a school bus that was unloading children. I’m sure the driver of the truck had to have been killed, as the accident took off the top of the truck, from the windshield wipers up.
Not exactly the type of thing that enhances the taste and pleasure of food!
I responded to the guy who had wrecked my appetite. I asked, “How in the world could someone not see a big yellow bus?” I drive a school bus myself – maybe that’s why he felt obligated to share the video with me – and I know that when a big yellow bus is stopped to let children on or off, there are all those warning flashers and signs just in case you happen to not notice the big yellow bus.
He didn’t answer verbally at first, but his fingers started wiggling up and down. I’m not the swiftest guy to pick things up, so he explained his finger actions to me. The driver was likely driving with his head down, texting, and failed to see the bus.
I don’t know if that was the cause of the accident or not, but if it wasn’t, it still does happen often enough. Why do people continue to text and drive when there is so much evidence that it is such a dangerous thing?
The answer, I believe, is this – “Yes, I know it’s risky but…it will never happen to me!”
And you may be right…but you may also be wrong!
CAA has some pretty sobering statistics on its website. For instance, they cite a National Safety Council study that shows that there are 1.6 million accidents stemming from driving while using a cell phone. Do you realize what that means? 1.6 million people who said that it will never happen to me found out that they were wrong!
In 2021, 1768 Canadians were killed in vehicle accidents. About 350 of those death were attributed to ‘distracted driving’, mostly by cell phone distraction. Do you realize what that means? Three hundred and fifty people found out the hard way that it can happen to me!
I found this interesting – the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration tells us that if we’re traveling at 90 kph and take our eyes off the road to look at a text for just five seconds, that’s equivalent to driving the length of a football field with our eyes closed!
A lot can happen in 5 seconds and yes…it can happen to any of us!
Why do we keep taking the risk? Why do we keep assuming it will never happen to us, when it happens to others far too often? Why put ourselves at risk? Why put others at risk?
It’s just not worth it. It can happen to you!
