Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Mobile Use as Bad as Drunk Driving
So says a 2003 study a copy of which was released in the New York Times today. The report which can be read here estimated that multitasking behind the wheel was responsible for about 1,000 deaths and 240,000 accidents in 2002 in America. Or if you prefer, taking a call while driving will make you 4 times more likely to crash compared to ignoring it. So will texting messages. And no, that little thing you wear on your ear doesn't make the roads any safer.
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10 comments:
Unfortunately not many people understand statistics and will still be unfazed by this post.
Way too many people die on our roads. Mauritius has one of the highest number of fatal car accident rate per capita in the world. We need to start somewhere.
If we apply the test, each one of us who has ever been involved in an accident will recall that it was often due to some nasty multitasking. So when will the law banning mobile use while driving be finally enforced with some severity in Paradise Island?
I doubt people would stop doing this just because it might kill them. It's just like with cigarettes, no matter how much warning they are given, smokers continue to smoke. Humans haven't evolved that much to know what they should or should not do...
We should definitely step up the enforcement.
Anti-smoking campaigns have been quite successful in Canada for example. The problem here in Mauritius is that we don't even have a campaign or if we have it it's a very timid one.
Smoking may also be a substitute for a lack of healthy hobbies.
Blog has been added to Island Website. http://www.islandwebsite.info/kozelidir/
People in Mauritius always think that the sky will spare their heads and fall on others. Given the gravity of the situation and the impotency of laws and fines, there should be a very aggressive campaign using the framework adopted in the UK. TV spots showing sometimes crude mental and physical effects of accidents and driving negligence can effect on people. People only hear about accidents and should now meet eyes with them.
Agree 100% with Rebel. MBC should have another channel where Ramgoolam can talk about his dad 24/7 and he can bore us with his dumb stories about Andre Masson and other blah blah blah. Good place also to see him attending all these religious functions as PM of secular mauritius.
Getting distracted can be quite unforgiving.
I can safely bet that if our Police Force would stop with 'action coup de poing' and work regularly (as they are paid for, in fact), especially Friday and week-end evenings, there would be more like this getting caught and punished accordingly. Without a sustained enforcement of existing laws, we'll still see innocent ones getting maimed/killed by the others.
Er, by the way, how much is the death toll at already?
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