Ernst: Texting, driving lethal combination

Texting and driving can be a lethal combination, a first responder told a group of students recently.


The message seems so innocent: "what u doin."

It's a typical text, a salutation repeated in some version thousands of times a day by fast-moving thumbs.

On Tuesday at Lemon Bay High School, Dee Hawkins put it into a chilling context.

Hawkins, a 24-year veteran of Charlotte County Fire/EMS, was presenting a program called SMART, or Smart Methods and Attitudes Regarding Travel, to about 700 students throughout the day.

SMART comprises a mix of videos, still images and Hawkins' personal experiences, all designed to get young drivers and passengers to think about what they're doing when they get into a car.

She told the students she often works with a Florida Highway Patrol homicide investigator. One day she asked the investigator for a sample of the text messages drivers had been sending or reading when they were involved in fatal accidents.

"Was it like, 'Grandma's dying, get to the hospital quick?'" Hawkins asked.

The investigator pulled out a folder, with 10 entries, reading aloud texts such as "what movie u going 2c" and "bring home milk, bread" and "what u doin."

These are real-life examples, and as Hawkins pointed out, they became evidence in vehicular homicide court cases because the driver, distracted by sending or reading a text message, killed someone. "We know better than to talk on the phone and text while driving," she says. "If it takes someone's life, it's homicide."

In the courtroom, prosecutors routinely display these messages on a big screen for all to see. Imagine having to face the parents of your best friend, who are sitting in the courtroom, trying to come to grips with the realization that "what u doin" killed their son or daughter, Hawkins told the students.

The image was striking. The early morning audience sat silent.

Hawkins said she carries five communications devices, a work Droid, a personal cell phone, a pager, an EMS radio and a fire radio. They're with her 24 hours a day, every day. Of all the messages she's received and sent, she said, "Not one was worth killing someone over."

Most local car trips last no longer than 20 minutes, she said. Just about any communication can wait that long to address. If not, the driver should pull over, or as a last resort, read or send a message while stopped at a light.

The SMART presentation has elements of "Scared Straight" blended with those old driver's education videos of a generation ago. Alcohol abuse is not ignored (31 percent of the traffic fatalities of those ages 15-20 involved drinking, Hawkins reported) but it has taken a back seat to texting, cell phones and other distractions as dangers for young drivers to beware. Perhaps that's because texting and cell phone use are relatively new, and unlike alcohol abuse, benign, except when the user is driving a car.

The interspersed videos drove home points on a number of subjects.

One showed passengers in the bed of a pickup truck being strewn along the road as the driver lost control at 25 mph. As Hawkins noted, an out-of-control vehicle and anyone ejected from it often follow the same path. Sure enough, the flipping truck did land on someone.

Another video demonstrated the tremendous force, even at slow speed, that a collision can exert. Weight x speed = impact force. So, a 120-pound body, traveling at 30 mph creates a 3,600-pound impact. It all happens so fast, Hawkins said, that victims have told her, "'I don't know how I hurt myself. I never left my seat.'"

"That's your head print on the windshield," she'd respond.

And you know how people take a nap, leaning against the passenger door? Well, don't, Hawkins said. The side air bags deploy at 500 mph. They can do some damage to someone in an awkward position.

At the very least, Hawkins provoked thought. And, her program could save a life or two, maybe yours.



▲ Return to Top