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SUMMIT ON DANGERS OF TEXTING WHILE DRIVING
WPR News - Summit on dangers of texting while driving
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Wednesday April 25, 2012
by Shamane Mills
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(UNDATED) On Tuesday, 800 Wisconsin high school students learned about the dangers of texting and driving during a day long summit in Wisconsin Dells. Students were encouraged to sign a pledge not to text while behind the wheel.
As a high school teacher Amanda Drews is used to asking questions to get answers. And that's what the Oak Creek instructor did to find out why young drivers text. The first response she got? Boredom behind the wheel.
Texting while driving is illegal in Wisconsin, and three dozen other states. In addition, a new state law taking effect in November prohibits new/probationary drivers from using a cell phone at all---except in emergencies. Sandra Huxtable is director of the Wisconsin State Patrol Bureau of Transportation Safety. She says teens are singled out for good reason, "Everyone can be distracted. What we're talking about though is that this age group is the most vulnerable when it comes to traffic injuries, serious injury and traffic fatalities--in part because of their inexperience. You or I, because we are a little more experienced driving, might be able to multitask a little bit better"
A 2010 survey from the Centers for Disease Control shows nine percent of motorists in the U.S. text regularly while driving. The lower the age, the higher that percentage. 25 percent of 18 to 29 year old's report texting fairly often while driving.
Amanda Drews says adults influence habits behind the wheel. What kids see, they may do, "I think role modeling is huge. And I think we need to not only address teens. We all are texting because instant communication is wonderful it just needs to be taught when, when it appropriate, when is safe."
To show how unsafe texting while driving can be, the students at the summit watched post accident video footage and a documentary called "The Last Text", real life stories of people whose lives ended or were changed because of inattentive driving. Some also took part in an obstacle course. The "vehicle" was a bike with training wheels. The road, a two foot wide patch of carpeting. The cyclist had to balance on bike, stay in between the lines and type the message, "Hey, Serena. Meet me at the restaurant at 5 p.m. See you there. "
18 year old Lukas Kolasch of Monticello says he didn't make it far before being busted by colleagues veering off the road. Kolasch estimates he sends up to a hundred texts a day. He says his smart phone is an integral part of his life, "I don't know what I'd do without my phone. I do everything: emails, some schoolwork I have to do on my phone. It's just like a mini computer. "
The Wisconsin summit on teen texting and driving comes on the heels of a conference in Washington D.C. last fall. Wisconsin students who attended the D.C. summit were instructed to spread the word about distracted driving to peers. 18 year old Liz Pratt of Monticello says some take it to heart; others shrug it off, "Some are just like 'I've heard this before; it's the same thing.' But when you watch a video and see what has happened to people it's like okay that could happen to me if I was sending that text message So its really scary kind of."
Pratt says the crash videos unnerved her. She's considering turning off her phone while driving. There are also mobile phone "apps" that send an auto-reply message to incoming texts and emails...which a driver can respond to ...when done driving. AT&T offers one of these applications. Spokesman Jim Greer why it's preferable to people who don't want to turn off their phones when they get in the car, "Well I think in sort of the instant world of technology that we live in people want to respond quickly and people expect a quick response especially to something like text messaging and this allows you to offer that quick response without taking your eyes of the road."
Imagine driving the length of a football field without looking. According to the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute that's how long the average text message takes, 5 seconds going 55 miles per hour.
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