Cellphone use and texting while driving -- a wakeup call [Telecom]

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One of the daughters of my best friend was recently rear-ended by a texting driver while she was stopped at a traffic light. Though both cars were totalled per the insurance companies, incredibly no one was injured.

A 31-second video produced as a Public Service Announcement by the National Highway Traffic Safety group is sobering and highlights what frequenctly happens when using a cellphone while driving and it was recently cited in Gary Richards' ROAD KILL, er, SHOW column in Silicon Valley's San Jose Mercury News on April 13, 2014 in this article:

and here's the video:

While doing some sleuthing on the 'Net, I encountered this article from the New England Journal of Medicine dated June 10, 2010:

which is referenced by this article:

aka:

which in turn is referenced by this article:

aka:

As a reminder of how so-called smartphones have captured and ensnared so many people, I refer you to my December 6, 2013 comp.dcom.telecom article entitled "12 reasons why society is crumbling -- smartphones" to which Bill Horne commented "The language may not be fit for young children, but the pictures *are* worth 12,000 words, so I'm allowing this post."

I just now checked again and additional comments appear that are Not Safe For Work, so just scroll down viewing pictures and stop after viewing the 12th picture of the lady holding an iPad -- this photo essay is a very sad commentary of our times:

Thad