A deadly driving habit

I am a busy mom. I work from home and have three children. I am always taking someone to dance class or football or ballet. With my mobile phone I am able to multi-task to the point of absurdity. I can answer emails or talk to clients while watching the kids play football or as I sit outside the ballet class. It’s great, no doubt. But all too often, I’m tempted to take a call in the car, I have hands free, and invariably I answer and quickly say that I’ll have to call them back so no big deal eh? I was stopped in my tracks last week when I read a heart breaking story of Emy Brochu which reminded me how dangerous these tiny actions can be.

 

Emy was just 20 years old. She was driving to school in January of this year, and was texting her boyfriend Mathieu Fortin. While texting she drove into the back of a tractor trailer and was killed. This beautiful girl’s life was cut extremely short because of a few seconds of texting. This is a harsh reminder that even the smallest distractions can be deadly on the road. And she has left behind her a devastated family and boyfriend.

 

I think the very least thing that can come out of this horrific accident, is to remember to switch off my phone (or put it on silent) before I sit in the car, so that there is no temptation to answer it (even if it is on hands free - a distraction is a distraction). Emy’s boyfriend Mathieu, has set up a Facebook page in memory of his girlfriend and to remind people of the dangers of using a phone while driving.

 

I can't imagine my children being told, “we’re very sorry but your mum has died. Unfortunately she felt her texts/emails/shazam'ing a song were so important, she couldn’t possibly stop and sit to read and reply to them, so she kept driving and drove straight into another car”.

 

The simple fact is, I can return calls, answer emails and respond to texts once I'm out of the car. Unfortunately, I can never turn the clock back. And there is no message, email or voicemail that is more important than a life, mine, my children, or that of another road user’s.

 

This also got me thinking about how our phones are actually disconnecting us from life. What I mean is that when we are connected to our phone, we are NOT connected to the people with us.  You may be ‘present’ with the kids and your other half, but are you really there as the real world unfolds right in front of you? Whilst you were ‘checking in’ on Facebook, you missed your little girl skipping happily into that restaurant, because her WHOLE family was together, having dinner, at a special place. Whilst you replied to that text, your son tried to tell you a joke and gave up after you said “hang on sweetie, in a minute, just let me reply to this text”. Your son is actually really funny, if you would only switch off from the distractions and switch on to his view of the world. Is the contents of that text, really that important? More important than paying attention to your family, the ones you declare you love most?"

 

So, what do you think?  Are smart phones making us dumb?