On the road

Why is it that we Americans think multi-tasking is the great way? In Europe, they stick to one thing at a time. For example, driving. In Italy, they drive a bit more wildly than we do here in the U.S., but when they drive, they are focused on driving. Italian drivers tend to look up when they drive. So while their driving skills might not be as focused, their drivers are much more so. In Europe, the car is for driving.

The other day on my way home from work, a Honda CRV pulled onto the highway behind me. I glanced in my rearview window to check safe following distance. The driver, a young woman - probably about nineteen years old - was looking down. Not up at the road, but down...at her cell phone. The driver was clearly in the midst of a texting conversation. When I checked my rearview mirror again, she was right on my tail - not a safe following distance, so I sped up a bit. When I checked again, she was way behind me and riding on the shoulder of the road. She was obviously quite engrossed in her conversation as she was still looking down, not up at the road.

The traffic in front of me began to slow, and I tapped my brakes gently. I checked my mirror to see where my otherwise occupied driving counterpart was. Her vehicle was once again right on my tail. I became a bit panicked thinking that if I had to suddenly hit the brakes because of the traffic situation that she would be in my backseat. The traffic obviously didn't phase her. She was concentrating on her phone.
I noticed a State University banner sticker across her rearview window. She was probably a student at that college. Then I thought about her parents. I wondered if they knew the risk their daughter was taking. Not only with her own life, but with all the lives of the people sitting in that traffic. I wondered if she had seen the recent television ads where young people were dying in the accidents because of preoccupation with texting.

For the next ten minutes or so I was continually checking my back window for the safety of myself and this young woman. Then the next thing I knew, she was in an exit lane. And then she was gone.

I hope she made it home safely. When I got home, I turned on the news and watched the segment about automakers putting touch screen computers in the dashboards of cars. And I shuddered.