Now, we caught this news in the web that didn't quite make it to the headlines about a teen in Idaho whose last activity was updating her Facebook status while driving. Evidently, in this generation, too much attention to Facebook not only causes emotional riptides but has risks as well in preservation of lives.
www.collisionguard.com
As you read this tragic story below, here are some friendly reminders from us:
- Eyes on the road! Focus all your attention in driving. It is beneficial not just for you but for others on the road as well.
- If possible, turn off all mobile phones while driving.
- If you are expecting anything important that you can't turn off your mobile phones, create a custom text message/reminder to incoming texts that you are driving and that you will respond right away once you are in a safe and secure location. Some phones text this automatically to incoming texts. Research about your phone's features in doing so.
- Drive to a nearby side area and park safely to answer text messages/ emails/ social media updates.
- Do social media updates/ emails/ texts/ calls when waiting for the green light or when in heavy traffic.
- Wait until you are in the safety of your home/office/destination to do the rest of your web and phone browsing.
Read on about this story and may this be a reminder that our lives are much more important than social media updates.
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Source: HufftingtonPost
Taylor Sauer knew facebooking while driving was a bad idea.
The 18-year-old college student said so in her last status update: "I can't discuss this now. Driving and facebooking is not safe! Haha."
At the time, Sauer was driving 80 mph from the Utah State University campus in Logan to visit her folks in Caldwell, Idaho, and was passing the time on the four-hour drive by messaging her friend about the Denver Broncos, according to MSNBC.com
Moments after her last update, she crashed her car into a tanker truck that was going 15 mph up a hill and was killed instantly.
Sauer's car after the accident
Investigators weren't able to find signs that Sauer applied the brakes before her fatal crash, but, after checking cell phone records, they did discover she was posting about every 90 seconds during her drive, according to Idaho State Police Lt. Sheldon Kelley.
"The text messages were both incoming and outgoing during her trip between Logan, Utah [and the accident scene]," Kelley told the Salt Lake Tribune. "In addition to the texting, there were multiple Facebook communications to and from Taylor Sauer during the minutes immediately prior to the crash."
That was January 14 and her parents, Clay and Shauna Sauer, are trying to make sense of the crash and prevent future tragedies.
"I think she was probably (texting) to stay awake, she was probably tired," Taylor's dad, Clay Sauer, told Today Show host Ann Curry. "But that's not a reason to do it, and the kids think they're invincible. To them, (texting) is not distracting, they're so proficient at texting, that they don't feel it's distracted driving."
The Sauer family is now lobbying Idaho legislators to put a ban on texting while driving, according to the Daily Mail,.
Idaho is one of 13 states which hasn't made texting while driving illegal, but Shauna Sauer believes Taylor would approve of the new law.
"This is what she would want us to do," she told Curry.
The texting and driving ban has already passed through Idaho’s state senate, and it could travel to the house as early as Tuesday.
Taylor's father, Clay Sauer, said he hopes such a ban would teach drivers that texting and driving is unsafe and unacceptable from a young age, "like the importance of wearing a seatbelt," reported KTVB.com.
"I think every state should have this law," he added.
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