July 15th, 2007
Did Text Messaging While Driving Play a Part in a Fatal Crash?
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
It 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.
MissingFrame says:
I think SMS is illegal while driving in many states, yet I do it while motorcycling for the same reason why I break the speed limit.
Laws don’t make people better drivers.
July 16th, 2007 at 2:44 am
Mike says:
Why couldnt they check fingerprints on the device? I dunno if it matters to the insurance companies or not, but if her fingerprints are the only ones on it, or the ones on top, then she would have been keying it
Mike
No, laws dont make people better drivers, but hopefully they will take morons off the road at some point in time.
Local paper - guy went to Maryland (from PA) to buy a motorcycle, road 3 miles, crashed into a tree and killed himself because he couldnt make a turn at the rate of speed he was going.
1 moron off the road, how many others will follow.
July 16th, 2007 at 3:32 am
John Corliss says:
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It’s been proven over and over that using a cell phone while driving reduces driving skills as much as drinking while driving does. When is this country going to wise up and outlaw cell phone use of all kinds while driving? Does a “mothers against cell phone driving” need to be created?
July 16th, 2007 at 3:37 am
What Parents Ought to Know About Teens says:
[…] By Michael Santo Executive Editor, RealTechNews […]
July 16th, 2007 at 4:02 am
Nasty Old Geezer says:
Good idea MISSINGFRAME, keep speeding and texting while on your motorcycle. We need to thin the herd, and self-selection by the stupid ones spares the rest of us.
Just don’t take anyone important when you go.
July 16th, 2007 at 6:54 am
Mikey says:
I believe it. Ever see a fool try to read and drive at the same time? I see that all the time…
So yes, this is not hard to believe. To say that this carload of cheerleaders was doing this is not far from the truth, I’d have to say it’s a given that at least one of them was on the phone at the time of the accident.
July 16th, 2007 at 7:59 am
Mindy says:
Mike, they can’t check fingerprints on the cell phone because the device was never found after the crash. The crash caused an unbelievable inferno. The black box in the SUV’s air bag compartment was also destroyed by the fire.
The teenage driver of the vehicle all the girls died in was TALKING on the phone to a group following behind in another car, just seconds before the text messages - a minute before the crash. She told her friend she was getting ready to pass a sedan. As all the other girls in her car had their own cell phones and considering the other calls and text’s made by her on her phone, it’s more than reasonable to say she, the driver, was the one texting at about the moment of impact.
July 16th, 2007 at 8:28 am
MissingFrame says:
If you’ve actually tried texting while driving a motorcycle you’d realize it’s damn near impossible, illegal or not. What I said was to provoke thought … seemingly lost here. Speeding is illegal, quite a few drivers do it regularly, so how would make something illegal prevent it from being done.
The problem isn’t whether there needs to be a law, the problem isn’t text messaging, the problem is people are bad drivers and fail to recognize that as the problem. Especially when they can blame something else, like OMG SMS SUX!
Are eating or reading while driving illegal?
July 16th, 2007 at 11:17 am
Charles says:
Michael… we’ve definitely been over all this before.
How many times do I have to say it… using a cell phone while driving IS NOT the greatest distraction. Eating while driving, playing with the stereo, and kids in the car are a greater distraction that the cell phone. All the studies bear this out.
Police talk on a cell phone constantly while driving as do truckers. And delivery drivers, and millions upon millions of other drivers on the road.
It’s NOT the cell phone. It’s the Driver!!!
July 16th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
idiotdrivingwithcellphone says:
Get the hell off the sidewalk when I’m trying to drive & talk dammit!
July 16th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
hang up and drive says:
I carry a brick in my car to use with ignorant people that can’t drive when on the phone. I’ve thrown many bricks since the advent of these distracting devices.
July 16th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Pyrial says:
I just want to build a jammer so I can piss off other drivers talking on their cellphone as much as they are pissing me off by driving like idiots
July 17th, 2007 at 5:00 am
Nasty Old Geezer says:
“Stupidity has always been a universal cpaital crime. Sentence is carried out by Mother Nature, with no pity, no appeal, and no delay.”
– Robert A Heinlien
Making some activities illegal provides a way to avoid SOME — never all — senseless deaths. I am not allowed to hunt the rabbits in my back yard becasue I live in a subdivision surrounded by other houses.
Sure, I can still pull out the shotgun and pick off a few — but there are immediate consequenses — arrest, fine, maybe jail — if I am too stupid to see the risks to others.
I care not at all if someone chooses to take a risk — as long as they alone bear the consequenses. Distracted drivers force others to share the risk, and so should be illegal.
ANY FORM of distracted driving should be illegal, but that will place too much reliance on law officers’ judgement. The only option is to make lists of banned activities, so they have probable cause for stopping someone for a verifiable reason.
July 17th, 2007 at 6:07 am
Alice says:
I have to admit that when I was a renegade teen smoker (now reformed thank God) lighting a cigarette almost resulted in a fireball crash many times. Same with tuning the radio and so on until you get the hang of it. I’m not saying that you get used to texting but there are many distractions a driver faces, and the younger and less experienced you are, the easier it is to crash.
July 17th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Freud says:
A professor in college (way way back in time) showed up for class all banged up. I asked him after class what happened. He was driving to a friend’s home with a house plant as a house warming gift. He had it on the front passenger seat. Took a left turn - plant started falling. He reached over to ’save’ it. Hit a telephone pole.
All house plants should be banned from the front seat and be required to be belted into ‘plant-seats’. Also, no smoking in vehicles when transporting house-plants.
July 17th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
» 89% say texting while driving should be banned » Blog Archive Alice Hill’s Real Tech News - Independent Tech says:
[…] A recent story I wrote asked the question ” Did Text Messaging While Driving Play a Part in a Fatal Crash?” A Harris Interactive survey commissioned by mobile messaging service Pinger Inc. found 89% of those surveyed believe texting while driving is dangerous and should be banned. More on Pinger later. […]
August 7th, 2007 at 11:01 am
» “Jott” It Down » Blog Archive Alice Hill’s Real Tech News - Independent Tech says:
[…] At any rate, does it work? Yes, it does work. And in this age of concerns over text messaging while driving, and possible fatal accidents caused by it, this is a great idea. […]
October 7th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Textecution.com says:
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January 27th, 2009 at 1:10 pm