While driving on the highway the other day, I looked over at the car in the lane next to me. The driver next to me and I were both driving about 65 miles per hour. He looked to be about 16 years old and incredibly talented at multi-tasking. As we’re both speeding down the road, he had one knee on the steering wheel to direct the car and both thumbs on his phone. I’m assuming that he was texting; however, maybe he just had to finish playing Rock Band before reaching his destination. Regardless, he put me, my children, and every other driver near us in danger.
I’m not a saint. I’ve texted at stoplights. I know the desire to get info back to someone right away. Our phones today are like mini-computers; yet, I doubt most folks would think about popping open their laptop on their car’s dashboard and sending off a few quick emails while cruising through the neighborhood. My 3,000 pound small station could be quite a weapon if I chose to not pay attention to my surroundings while driving.
So, what to do? We’re all so hyper-connected today that not getting back to some folks can make certain relationships strained – for an adult, their boss; for a teen, their current soul mate. I know the simple answer would be to ignore the allure to be extremely connected; but, that’s a preference that I’m not prepared to debate or to practice.
A few suggestions to be safe while texting in the car:
1) If another literate person is in the car with you, dictate the text to that person and have them send it.
2) Add a voice-recognition text program to your phone and use your hands-free set to dictate the text. Google has a program out called Google Voice Search.
3) Or, simply pull over, send quickly, and be on your merry way.
Love to hear your ideas for keeping connected safely while driving. What do you do?
by Lena Cox, aka MomOfSuperheroes
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