Photographs show the results of an automobile accident caused by an 'intexticated' driver.
Ever since the earliest days of the automobile, drivers have been prone to distractions that divert their attention from the process of controlling their vehicles and thereby cause accidents - everything fromchattering passengers, spouses, and children; to radios and stereos; to all sorts of activities that motorists should not be attempting in moving automobiles (eating, reading, shaving, applying makeup).In recent years, cell phones have been added to the list of potential motorist distractions. Although the use of hands-free cell phone devices can ameliorate the problem of drivers' using such devices to make or receive phone calls in moving automobiles (and some states have already passed laws banning use of non-hands-free cell phones by drivers), texting remains a problem - it's a process that inherently takes both a motorist's mental focus and his hands away from controlling his vehicle. The word intexticated has been coined to describe 'people (mostly teenagers) who drive while texting on their cellphones,' and the photographs displayed above purportedly illustrate the results of an accident caused by just such an 'intexticated' teen.These pictures do indeed chronicle the aftermath of a collision that took place along Highway 21 in Bastrop County, Texas, on 19 October 2008, when an SUV driven by an 18-year-old girl slammed into the rear of a vehicle belonging to Dr. Mason Jones of Austin, Texas. The Joneses' three-year-old son, Griffin, was critically (but fortunately not fatally) injured in that accident:'[Griffin's] head was badly misshapen and he said 'mommy my head hurts,'' Dr. Jones said. 'I called 911 myself.' Griffin had several skull fractures and had to undergo emergency neuro and facial surgery. After learning their son would fully recover, his parents' emotions shifted from heartache to anger. 'How can you miss a car sitting in the freeway and have two cars pass on the right and still hit us so severely without even braking,' Dr. Jones said.Although news accounts of the accident reported that the 'Joneses believe the 18-year-old driver who hit them was text messaging,' we have listed this item as 'Undetermined' for now because we do not yet know if investigators have definitively determined that the other driver was indeed texting at the time her SUV struck the Joneses' vehicle.A few weeks after this accident, however, a Texas legislator filed a bill seeking to ban the operator of a motor vehicle from using 'a wireless communication device to read, write, or send a text message while operating a motor vehicle unless the vehicle is stopped.' That bill (SB51) has apparently been referred to committee and not yet brought to a vote.For those concerned about Griffin's current condition, Dr. Jones told us that 'By the grace of God, Griffin seems to be his normal, happy, healthy self. To my eye, and those of his other doctors, he seems to be 100%.'
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