Don’t kill yourself for sake of a text
MY heart froze. I was driving along a narrow country road and suddenly the car approaching veered over the white line and was heading straight for me at about 80kph. I pulled the wheel to the left, just as the other driver looked up and saw what was happening, and rapidly made a correctional movement himself. He missed me by a whisker. I blasted the horn and he looked up and mouthed ‘sorry’, but what really annoyed me was that I clearly could see he was using his mobile phone.
That’s why I was less than surprised at this week’s survey by insurance company Allianz Ireland. It revealed that 25% of us, one in four, have checked themselves behind the wheel. How stupid is that? The figures were sobering. One in ten admitted to googling something while driving – like, what exactly was so important you had to know the answer immediately?
The Road Safety Authority says a distracted driver is four times more likely to be involved in an accident. Distraction plays a role in up to 30% of all collisions and is a significant contributory factor in over 1,400 fatal and injury collisions annually.
Fortunately, modern communications systems such as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto make accidents less likely. If you get an incoming text, you simply ask Siri to read it to you, and dictate a response without ever taking your eyes off the road, though some might see even that as a distraction.
My own bugbear is the migration of so many functions to touchscreens, such as temperature control for the airconditioning. I’d much rather there just was a knob to twiddle, because muscle memory usually guides you to it without ever having to look down.
If you can’t be sensible for its own sake, at least be aware of the punishment. If you’re caught holding your phone while driving, you’ll get three penalty points and a €60 fine. If you’re caught texting or emailing, there’s a fine of €1,000 for a first offence.
That shouldn’t be the reason you stop. The primary one is simple. Don’t kill yourself for the sake of a text and, much more importantly, don’t kill someone else. Especially me, thanks.