Oprah Warns People About Texting While Driving
In an Op-Ed column in last Sunday's New York Times, Oprah Winfrey warned about the dangers of texting while driving. Oprah compared the rise of cell phone and texting-related deaths to the rise of drunk driving deaths in 1970s and explained her own policy of forbidding her employees of using cell phones for company business while driving.
Oprah described her experiences as a reporter in the 1970s, when drunk-driving deaths became so common as to barely merit a mention on the nightly news. She also described how since 1980, drunk-driving deaths have been cut in half thanks to driver education and tougher laws. She then describes meeting with the family of a 9-year-old girl who was killed by someone who was texting while driving and argues that we need to crack down on texting and cell phone use in the same way we cracked down on drunk driving. She cites a Department of Transportation study that says that at least 6,000 people were killed by distracted drivers in 2008.
Oprah explains that she has forbidden her employees to use cell phones for business while driving. This follows President Obama forbidding federal employees from doing the same. She says that some of her employees initially complained but have adjusted. As Oprah says, "Life is more precious than taking a call or answering an e-mail message. Because even though we think we can handle using our cellphone in the car, the loss of thousands of lives has shown we can’t."
Distracted driving is a serious problem in Arizona, but so far only Phoenix has banned texting and driving. If you or someone you love has been injured or killed by a distracted driver, you should contact an Arizona auto accident attorney immediately.
For more information on the dangers of cell phone use while driving, visit Solomon and Relihan's Cell Phone Car Accidents information page.
