Today marks eight years since Reid’s crash. No doubt, time has dulled some of the pain. Meanwhile, today, with Thanksgiving in the rear view mirror, I find myself focused on two very different aspects of my safe teen driving journey.
I am, first, grateful to so many people and organizations with whom I have worked this year on the cause of safer teen driving. I will mention in particular Cathy Gillen, Pam Fischer, Sandy Spavone, Matt Richtel, Jeff Larason, Karen Sprattler, Candace Lightner, Brandy Nannini, Jaime Alvis, Devin Burke, Erin Holmes, Anita Boles, Karen Patti, Erin Meluso, Jennifer Smith, Joel Feldman and Dianne Anderson, David Resnick, Angela Brooks, Steve Rourke, and everyone at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, CT DMV, CT DOT, NHTSA, NTSB, GHSA, FAAR, State Farm, AAA and the AAA Foundation, NOYS, NSC, NETSEA, Chicago Review Press, the Hallmark Channel, KMOX, !MPACT, Safe Kids, Kids and Cars, and Lifesavers. Glastonbury High School’s recent win in the State Farm Celebrate My Drive was a year highlight – an entire town dedicated to safer teen driving. Thank you all.
Nonetheless, I remained concern about the never-ending march of electronic distraction in our cars. A recent news article talked about manufacturers trying to attract buyers with “an increasing array of smartphone connectivity features” that allow drivers to “access Internet radio services, dining and travel information, news headlines, and sports scores.” Several models are described as making vehicles “rolling Wi-Fi Hotspots.” Another article talked about a program that allows a driver to display the family photo album on the dashboard. All of this while driving.
I read articles like these in newspapers and online sources – and then I go to my Twitter feed, with its regular tweets about fatalities resulting from electronic distracted driving.
A frequent, recent question in our society has been “Where is the outrage?” This has been applied to law enforcement tactics, domestic violence, sexual assault on college campuses, climate change, and many other problems. May I ask: Where the outrage is for electronic distraction while driving? Matt Richtel’s new book A Deadly Wandering explains very well the contradiction – we increasingly embrace in-vehicle electronics and use them when we know doing so is dangerous, because these devices gives us a momentary, pleasant feeling of being connected to others. As I have written before, I wonder whether it’s going to take a horrific, multiple-fatality crash to make us realize that these moments of connection are killing and injuring thousands.
