Billboards: Death by cell phone
The National Security Council wants you to know that driving while talking on your cell phone can be deadly.
Billboards went up in 67 markets across the country today to alert drivers to the danger of driving and phone talking. They show two people — a 61-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy — who died in crashes caused by drivers on cell phones. Six of the billboards are up in Illinois. Three are up in Missouri. None, however, are in the St. Louis area.
The agency has called for an all-out ban on cell phone use while driving. The video here came from its website. It tells the stories of Linda and Joe, the two people people pictured on the billboards. For more information about the campain, or to see what the billboards look like, click here.
How many people died while trying to read a billboard in a moving vehicle?
I guess no one dies by eating, drinking, texting, arguing, shaving, adjusting the radio, changing a CD or adjusting an iPod, etc., while driving, so why aren’t all these things banned as well? And let’s not say that these things are different as they all take the focus away from driving. I am against these bans as people should be held responsible for their actions where an accident could reasonably have been avoided and accidents caused by the above could reasonably have been avoided.
It is not guilty until proven innocent, but innocent until proven guilty, so give people the benefit of the doubt unless they cause an accident. It’s also amazing how some people can do some of the above items and drive safely, yet others can cause accidents without any distractions.
I think there are people out there who are perfectly capable of talking a phone and driving safely, provided they do it the right way. Let’s face it…is it really any different than talking to someone in the seat next to you? I’ve seen drivers trying to have a face-to-face chat with people sitting next to them.
I think there are far too many multi-tasking idiots out there doing far worse things than talking on the phone.
Here’s what I saw this morning: 1) A woman eating something out of a cup with a spoon. The cup in one hand, the spoon in the other. 2) A man reading from some notes resting against his steering wheel. 3) A teenager texting with two hands, driving with his knees, for at least 1/4 of a mile.
Yes, talking on a cell phone is different than having someone sitting next to you. You have the other person looking out for your and the rest of the road’s safty whihle the driver babbles on and on. A person on a cell phone is a selfish person who doesn’t care about what is going on around them, be it on the road, in the grocery store, in line at the Starbucks….I don’t care what your private conversation is and I do not want to hear it but that doesn’t matter. I can pick out the loser driving while on the phone just by the way they drive: no signal, no courtesy wave when I let them out/in, driving 30 mph in a 35 mph zone in the left lane, leaving 15 cars space between them and the car in front of them, weaving etc.. Driving while doing anything but that is dangerous and should be outlawed if not outlawed already. And what’s with the texting age minimum?? Really????
@ugotta, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I do all those things even when I’m not on the cell.
Generally speaking I am against bans that infringe on personal rights and have no affect on others if someone chooses not to follow them (sealbelt laws, helmet laws). A ban on cell phone usage does not fall in that category in my mind. Cell phone use leads to accidents, which often involve another car with another person inside.
In theory anyway. Dan S is right, there are hundreds of other ways to get distracted too, and so wouldn’t we have to ban them all? How would we enforce that?
For now all I can do is my best to stay focused on keeping my half ton of steel moving at cheetah speeds from running into anyone else doing the same thing, and hope they are as considerate…