Good afternoon, Camaro Comrades and Firebird Friends..........


No - this is not another one of my rants about the use of seatbelts..........

...but I do want to share a couple of stories with you.

The first one hit way too close to home for me in the past week.

Literally.


A few years ago, my nephew Grant and his beautiful wife Stephanie purchased the first house my parents built - way back in the early 50s. Mom and Dad sold the house in the early sixties to a dear family friend - and when she passed away, the house 'came back ' to the Settlemires! Grant and Steph started a family and I'm so proud to say that I'm a Great-Uncle to Dylan, Alexandra, and Lilliana.

I love them more than life itself.

Last Friday morning, Dylan was already in school and Stephanie was getting Alexandra ready for her trip to Pre-school. By God's grace, they'd just left the driveway............

..........when a young man evidently was 'texting' while driving along the highway that passes by Grant and Steph's house.

..... he managed to clip a guard rail -- plowed thru the neighbor's lawn - hit a concrete culvert - (which shattered both front wheels) - his Grand Am then proceeded to cross the side-road (Grand lives on the corner) - became airborne - and crashed into the garage door and basement wall of the home - exactly where Stephanie had been putting Lexie and Lilliana into her Equinox minutes before.

I shudder to think what would have happened had Lexie forgotten her beloved "bunny" that accompanies her everywhere - thereby delaying their departure -- or that perhaps Steph's cellphone might have rung causing here to take the call rather than getting into the Equinox and heading for the school when she did......

We were lucky...........unfortunately too many aren't.............

...........................and at the time I thought - OK - once again, it's time for me to write something on the evils of texting while driving.......

As fate would also have it, our good friend, Mike G at Camaro5 posted a link to the following Documentary produced by A T & T.

No words can be written that are as powerful as this video.

I am begging you -

--BEGGING YOU---

....to watch this video -- from beginning to end - and then Pass it on to your family, friends, co-workers, and fellow enthusiasts

It's a powerful message and if it saves ONE life - or saves ONE PERSON for having to go thru the guilt and horror that these people are going thru, then it will have been well worth the few minutes it takes to watch.............


http://www.schooltube.com/video/4386...xt-Documentary


Let's make a pact RIGHT NOW: - -

>No more texting behind the wheel

>If you want to talk on your cell phone - PULL OVER and put it in PARK

>Seat Belts - each time - every time -

>You want to drink and then drive? Call a Taxi or appoint a designated driver.

The Men and Women at GM constantly strive to make our cars and trucks as safe as possible -- and several of you can attest to that.........however - no matter how well engineered the car or truck may be, we cannot always engineer for foolishness............and that, my friends, is what texting while driving is: FOOLISHNESS!

Pass it on.................

 

I've never been too bad about texting and driving. First off I can't stand that feeling when you glance down, back up, and miss even a few feet of road that was covered. But most of all my near sight is just about junk now a days so I almost always have to have reading glasses to text.. so it's easy for me to just wait cause it makes my eyes hurt anyway !

Some of my co workers cover more miles looking at the screen than the road I swear.

 

Excellent video. I will show that to all my classes (High School) this week.

 

I've almost been hit head on 3 times int he past 6 months by idiots texting, luckily I was able to blow the horn and get them to look up on 2 occasions and had to run off the road on the last one. I don't even drive down certain winding roads anymore because people are always down in their phone crossing over the lines into oncoming traffic on a regular basis. It's getting worse! The guy that ran me off the road crossed over 3 lanes of traffic heading right for me like a missile. Luckily I got stuck at a light going after him or I'd be in jail now.

 

I share this with a few of the people at work... that I know have done the whole text driving thing.

 

It seems like 90% of the time I see someone do something stupid/dangerous/just plain wrong on the road, they either have a phone in their lap and they are looking down or they have one stuck to their ear.

If you cannot use a phone and drive, HANG UP!

 

i'm sorry jason but you shouldn't be doing both no matter what.

 

A phone connected to a handsfree bluetooth interface in a vehicle is very safe and the only way that I will talk on the phone while driving. Texting or looking at a phone while driving is just plain dumb!

 

There was a study done that even with wireless headsets, it is still much more dangerous. I try not to speak on the phone when I am in the car unless it's an emergency.

 

is emailing concidered texting........

 

The way I see it...doesn't matter what it is called, if it is taking any of your attention off the road and the other cars and that 8 year old kid who chased his baseball into the road, it should be called wrong and is tragic when it is called "the cause of the accident".

 

I am not even talking about the actual bluetooth head devices, just built in manufacturer bluetooth feature. It is just using steering wheel controls, but yes you are correct, even that or anything you do in a vehicle, 100% of your attention is needed while driving, period!

 

does changing stations on the radio fall under this catagory? or putting in a cd?

 

I agree with where you are going with that one.

My wife says they should outlaw cell phone talking while driving. I disagree. They should outlaw the ability to effectively speak on a phone and drive safely simultaneously.

I believe it is already outlawed and they call it "distracted driving" here in Michigan if I am not mistaken. Playing with the HVAC, changing the radio station, reading a newspaper, putting on mascara, reaching into the back seat to slap your kids around all fall under the same thing...if you cannot do it safely while driving, you shouldn't.

I suppose that raises the argument of what is the difference between texting and turning up the heater. I think it is a semi-fine line, but texting takes SO much of your attention off the road. Changing the HVAC often doesn't take any more than a quick glance to look down...no more than it does to look in your rear view mirror at the car behind you. I know that anything can cause an accident, but texting seems to show that if you do it enough, it is only a matter of when it will bite someone in the ***. Texting is like driving with your eyes closed for several seconds (or longer at a time). There's isn't much else mentioned above that comes that close to it.

 

while racing???

Are you the kind to update your facebook while driving???