I don’t know how many times I’ve caught myself in the past texting while driving, and then realized I had little memory of the past several blocks. I realize this is a complete dangerous and “likely to kill” craziness way to operate a vehicle, so I support severe penalties to those who do it. Like a DUI, but call it a TWD. Texting while driving kills…simple. I am now trying to not pay attention to my phone at all while driving; however I have not yet gone as far as turning it off or putting it in the trunk. Soon though I’m sure.
In light of not being aware of what you’re doing, I noticed a “mom” the other day speeding through an elementary school zone while lights were flashing. She was texting. My experience in this field told me she had no idea what she was doing. Because of the school zone, and I’m sure the fact that my son just spent seven years there, I was immediately ticked off. My protective armour kicked in. This area, I might add, just experienced the deaths of two crosswalk pedestrians a couple months before. They were run over by an inattentive driver. I also just got through, a few days ago, jumping on a friend who got a speeding ticket there. Hellooo people, wake up. Children are watching and playing!
Instead of honking, rolling my window down and yelling or even reporting the plates to the police, I decided to tweet. By the way, I was not driving. I was a passenger in a vehicle doing the allowed 20 miles per hour. Well, anyway, I thought I’d ask my network of friends what they thought the penalty for TWD behavior should be. I have to say, I was shocked at the response. People were pissed, to say the least. My only regret was that I listed the license plate. I didn’t even really mean to, but I guess the 2 letter vanity listing just made it easy. If one doesn’t want to be noticed, why have vanity plates?
The texting mom just happened to be in my network of friends…oops! She took it as a personal attack on herself. Well I can’t take it back. What’s done is done. She’s really a very nice woman, really. She just made a mistake. I didn’t mean it as a personal attack, but….. Wait a minute. What the hell did I do wrong? TWD – Watchout!