Phones are just one form of distracted driving

Published 8:15 am Monday, January 25, 2010

Oprah is taking a stand on texting and cell phone use while we are driving. I am going to take a stand with Oprah. I am asking you to take a stand with me. Texting and talking on our cell phones while we are in control of a car is dangerous.

I admit I have used my cell phone while driving, and I don’t know why. I like to talk to my friends. I like to keep in touch with my family. Driving long distances gets boring so it is nice to be able to chat with someone. I am aware that when I am talking on my cell phone my focus is not always on my driving.

I also have to admit I don’t like to use cruise control, but I do because it is easier. The reason I don’t like to use cruise control is the fact that my attention wanders while my speed control is maneuvering my vehicle. I don’t have to think about my speed. I can relax my feet, and I tend to daydream. So usually I don’t use cruise control because of that fact. That is weird, I know, but I don’t like the daydream feeling when I am driving. To me, my cruise control distracts me from my driving.

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There are so many things now in our cars to distract us. We have to change the CD or DVD. We have to search for the right radio station. We can even get on the Internet with our BlackBerries and check our e-mail while we are driving. They make small TVs that will work in our vehicles. We can attach music to our ears so we drown out the outside noises. And they are building cars with more and more media experiences to distract us. Some cars have dashboards that light up and show everything that is happening while your car is moving. You get a sideshow to watch right next to your steering wheel.

I haven’t tried texting while driving. I have a hard enough time texting while I am sitting in a non-moving position. I cannot imagine texting while driving a car, but it is being done at an increasing rate every single day.

According to statistics, talking on a cell phone is equivalent to drunken driving. While many of us would not drink and drive, we don’t think of using a cell phone as being as dangerous. The accident rate from cell phone use is increasing. Just as a person that has been drinking fools themselves into thinking they can handle a car while intoxicated, we also think we can handle driving while using a cell phone. We fool ourselves into thinking we are under control, but in reality our brain can’t keep up with multi-tasking while we are driving that car.

Recently on one of our many trips to Ankeny, Iowa, to visit our family, we decided to snoop on other drivers who were on the road with us. Almost every car we encountered, either in front of us or behind us or beside us, had a driver who was using their cell phone. Sometimes it was obvious as the cars would weave in and out of the lane or weave closer to the edge of the highway.

We should be scared. We don’t like our kids being on the roads late at night because of drunken drivers, but we should be scared to have our kids and ourselves on the road at anytime because of the escalating cell phone use.

I love technology. I love gadgets. I love my cell phone. I love the fact I can reach my family and they can reach me in an emergency. Somewhere in all the fun, somewhere in all the latest gadgets we have gotten caught up and have forgotten common sense.

Because I am of the “older” generation, I remember what it was like to have a conversation with other people in the car. I remember what it was like to have quiet while I was driving. Many years ago we didn’t need to have to be in touch with someone 24/7. My kids rode in the car and read books or talked to each other, or sometimes they screamed at each other and we dealt with it. They learned how to behave in a car without all the media. If we needed to talk to someone, we waited until we got home or we found a pay phone. It is amazing. We survived.

As I was growing up, phone time at home was somewhat limited as we only had one phone and everyone took their turns. The same thing happened with my kids. The phone was not readily accessible. They had to share phone time. I can remember many times limiting their time on the phone as we felt kids didn’t need to be on the phone all the time. Now we are giving kids cell phones while they are in grade school.

So I am joining Oprah’s campaign. Go to Oprah’s site and sign the No Phone Zone Pledge. If you don’t want to do that, just make the pledge to yourself. Talk to your teenagers and urge them to do the same thing.

By making the pledge you may be changing someone’s life.

Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send e-mail to her at thecolumn@bevcomm.net .Her blog is paringdown.wordpress.com. Listen to KBEW AM radio 1:30 p.m. Sundays for “Something About Nothing.”