Three girls texting while walking.
The sound of metal on bone was horrific. Three young bodies, probably weighing no more than 100 lbs. each, flew in different directions. The girl that hit my windshield was the worst of all. The blood splattered across the cracked safety glass, and the once blonde hair turned red as her body rolled off my hood.
I screamed at the moment of impact. "No..No... No!!"
My world was torn apart in an instant. The sounds were terrifying. Bone hitting pavement; cars screeching; pedestrians screaming... I couldn't nail down the thoughts in my head much less what I was feelings. Horror, panic, anger, shock most of all. Trying to reckon with the reality of what just happened was impossible. I began praying "Dear God, let them be okay, please don't make this real". I was begging as I flung open my car door.
Were they dead? Injured? How badly? I could barely stand as I stepped out of my car. I didn't want to see the carnage in front of me.
Three girls... the lives they were to lead were no more. The life I thought I would lead was now stained; marred by this accident. The lives of parents, brothers, sisters, the innocent bystanders and eye witnesses, the other kids and classmates following behind the girls... all changed forever.
Sit down and absorb that. Try and imagine the feelings if you ever had to say "I killed three teenage girls who were busy texting and walked right into traffic."
This scenario was not a reality, but damn close. The only difference is I didn't hit them.
Four times in the last 6 months, a group of girls walked off the curb and into oncoming traffic. Each instant involved three girls. Each instant they were busy texting, shoulder to shoulder, focused only on the 3"x5" rectangular screen in their hands. And each time, I played out the above scenario as I saw them stepping off the curb.
I thank God I was the one they walked in front of. I drive constantly for work, often around schools, and I'm acutely aware of kids and what I perceive to be an epidemic and addiction to texting. I think "What if I had been a driver who was so proactive?"
Let's compound the problem even more: "What if I was a driver texting at the moment these girls stepped off the curb?" The reality is there would be twelve dead or seriously injured young girls.
Could you live with that?
According to Margaret Haywood in her article Road Trauma: Dealing with loss and grief:
"Nowhere is the ripple effect of loss and grief felt as strongly as in the area of road trauma. It is often acknowledged that for every road death, an average of thirteen people are significantly affected; family and close friends, other parties to the accident, witnesses, service providers, and often where there is a multiple tragedy - whole communities."
Texting has become a horrible addiction in my opinion. Not just drivers texting, but pedestrians texting while walking as well.
Most people are aware of the video of the woman who was texting while walking and walked right into the mall pond. You can view that video here: http://youtu.be/NGJB9EG-E4o
You can hear the people laughing, and I joined in when I first saw the video. I thought it humorous but pathetic. Not so much so when it's three kids texting while walking in front of oncoming traffic.
Now I watch this video and think of that pond as an oncoming car.
ABC news did a short piece on texting while walking accidents that you can watch here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/30/texting-while-walking_n_1717864.html
We can't help but laugh at the guy texting while walking right into an oncoming bear, but stretch the imagination out five seconds more, and it becomes a horrific scene.
Though I often thing the government is getting too big, I can't help but agree with cities that something needs to be done about texting while walking. It should start with the parents, but unfortunately too many parents themselves are bad role models concerning texting - texting while walking, while eating, in the movies, while driving...
I watched a video of someone rant against the texting fines in Philadelphia. I found his arguments lame, self serving and simplistic.
Texting has become an epidemic and an addiction. I think about the 13 year olds like my daughter who are growing up with texting being second nature. Thousands of texts sent per month - they instinctively know where the keys are. It is habit; it is instinct to reach for the phone now. They are being conditioned.
So what happens when these 13 year olds, who have already formed a habit of texting while walking, start to drive?
Think about that scenario.
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