Driving and texting can lead to disaster for those working in contruction zones.
ALABAMA'S ASSOCIATION OF GENERAL CONTRACTORS, OSHA, AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ARE CALLING ATTENTION TO THE DANGERS OF CELL PHONES AND DRIVING DURING NATIONAL WORK ZONE SAFETY WEEK MARCH 23-28, 2009
It is a test of one's driving skills... a real highway construction site.
But I am about to take an artificial test of one's driving skills... a series of cones, set up at my request, by members of the Mobile Sheriff's department. I'm about to drive the course for a very important reason. I'm driving the course to demonstrate the dangers of driving through sudden obstacles... like a construction zone. And I manage to do it without any problem. But what if I tried to do the same thing while trying to perform another task? One many of you do every day? What if I tried to navigate this same course... while text messaging?
"It's a dynamic situation and it's always changing."
Matt Ericksen is with the Alabama Department of Transportation, which is part of a group called the Struck By Alliance. The goal? Encourage us to pay attention when we drive through construction zone, which are always changing.
"You've got other situations where you have to shift a lane or you have narrow lanes that require drivers to be attentive to the situation," SAYS Ericksen.
And driving and texting is bad news... especially here... prompting safety officials to coin the phrase... "Driving while intexticated"!
I had no problem driving this course... But Texting? Can I still make that lane change and not lose control while trying to send a message on my phone?
I'm trying to text the simple message, drive safely. But I know the cones are there... still,
I hit two of them. But listen to what happens when my photographer comes along for the ride, and I'm forced to focus on my texting. I get into the middle of the course and that's when I hear the thump, thump thump of rubber cones being squashed by my tires. The proof is undeniable. I can't text and drive safely if I encounter something unexpected... like a construction zone!
Mobile Sheriff's Department Sgt. Rassie Smith is right there to show me the "errors" of my way!
"Obviously you veered to the right and hit these cones and not that you hit the cones, but the center of your vehicle hit these cones," he says. "So you were pretty far of the center of the roadway into the construction zone where workers would be present."
Driving while Intexticated. Not good. I'm convinced.... I hope you are, too. In Irvington, Here's Darwin, NBC 15 News.
