What Parents Ought to Know About Teens, Driving, Cell Phones — And GPS
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNewsIt made national headlines, five cheerleaders killed in a car crash after going out to celebrate their graduation. But cell phone records show the phone was being used for text messaging right before the accident.
Cell phone records show a text message was sent from the phone belonging to the driver, Bailey Goodman, at 10:05:52. A reply was sent to her phone at 10:06:29. Thirty-eight seconds later, someone called 911 to report the accident that killed Bailey and her friends.
“Cell phone records indicate the phone was in use,” Povero said. “We’ll never be able to clearly state that she was the one doing the text messages.” Source: ABC News
We Say: Because there was more than one person in the car, there’s no way to say who was doing the text messaging. We’ve see this before, though, someone killed, though not the driver, because of an accident caused by text messaging while driving. As someone who is connected via email and a PDA phone to his office, I will admit that I have emailed while driving … I will also admit it’s not a smart thing to do, and it should be outlawed nationally, IMHO.
Can’t say I agree with Michael’s last sentence … I think we in the United States … and most countries for that matter … already have far too many things “outlawed nationally”. Laws can not replace parental guidance. Laws can not cure the problems of the “hard of thinking” which seems to be the case in this tragedy. But I fully agree with his frustration and horror at the tragedy here. Yes, we adult, experienced drivers have all done things behind the wheel we’re not proud of. And we, too, could have killed people “on mistake”. But we generally think a little longer and harder now before we do, we often don’t repeat the same idiotic maneuvers and we can at least pass on the knowledge we’ve gained to those “coming up”. Do we?
Talk to your kids. Set a good example. Warn them of the dangers when there are more than one in the car … who hasn’t seen 5 teenage girls “carrying on”, laughing, joking, teasing, having a great time, yet oblivious to their surroundings … before another tradegy happens, impress upon them that even though fun is fun, and life is wonderful when you’re 18 and the whole world is spread out before you … one person has to keep their mind on driving.
And put a GPS tracker in their car and use it for it’s best and highest purpose. Go over the records with them every week … praise the good things you see, highlight and give guidance about the places they seem to be straying from your bounds. You are not being an ogre, and you are not playing “big brother” … you’re doing what you should be doing as a parent to protect the great blessing you have been entrusted with. Remember, “Big Brother” was built upon “Big Lies”, GPS and parental love are built on truth.
As always, I welcome comments, compliments, disagreements or clarifications. You can leave a comment or email me direct at: davestarr (at) gmail (dot) com or call me on 1-719-423-8872. If you liked this article, please subscribe to my RSS feed so you get all my news and views.