I had a near death experience just the other day. It happened while I was chauffeuring my daughter, Kendall, and four of her friends from their school to the swimming pool. The fog was so thick that I could barely see the lines on the road. I found myself really having to concentrate, which is not something I'm used to doing while behind the wheel. I'm just being honest.
Surely, any of you who has been driving for a while has had those occasions when you end up at your destination but can't recall having passed the buildings and other landmarks along the way. It's like our minds switch to a different gear and go on cruise control. I must say though, that the best cure for the epidemic and dangers of associated mindless driving is texting. I'm not admitting to ever doing this illegal act, but wouldn't all of one's senses be working at their ultimate best when the risk of death is a mere key stoke away? Taken a step further, then it's reasonable to suggest that a texting driver is a mindful driver. Mindful drivers are certainly preferential to mindless ones. Therefore, texting while driving makes perfect sense.
I don't believe a word of what I just wrote. It seems that that kind of ludicrous reasoning is used more and more these days by people or groups who have an agenda. Advertisers stretch the truth to get us to buy their products, politicians just outright lie, and writers take things out of context in order to make a story more interesting.
Okay, okay.....I may not have been as close to death as I first lead you to believe. It was foggy and I did have a car full of kids, but it wasn't like I almost went off the road or gave a moose a close shave with my car fender or encountered anything even remotely close to being that life shattering. The only things that were shattered were my eardrums. Kendall was next to me in the front seat and she let out such an ear piercing scream that my heart skipped a few beats and went up in my throat. My senses went right to DEFCON 1, not bothering to even stop at 5-4-3-2, as it seemed that the end of my world was at hand. (I wonder if that is how texting drivers feel?)
To understand why Kendall screamed, you first have to know something about her. She is twelve years old and a fairly typical "tween-ager". That little bit is more than enough to explain the shrilling scream ---- a One Direction song began to play on the radio. If you haven't heard of or heard 1D, then you've been living under a rock. These five Brits are the hottest boy band since The Bay City Rollers of my youth and perhaps even bigger than the Bee Gees. Kendall is One Direction all of the time. Her room is a shrine and she never leaves the house without wearing something dedicated to 1D. Her infatuation is cute and creepy at the same time. Of the five boys, young men actually, Kendall has chosen Niall as the one she likes the most. He seems nice enough and he wears his pants at a height so that his underwear don't show. Kendall could do worse.
As parents, Lynda and I have chosen to embrace Kendall's enthusiasm. Actually, it's kind of infectious and even Kendall's younger sister, Avery, seems to have been won over. Their music is catchy and it seems appropriate for kids.....at least relative to some of the lyrics being put out there by Lady Gaga and her compatriots. These boys don't show much skin either. I guess their managers realize that young girls may be the fans but moms and dads still handle the family finances.
So, what is the moral of today's story? We have learned that texting while driving is dangerous, moose in the middle of the road are a hazard, and pea soup thick fog causes near zero visibility for drivers. Yet, the most important lesson I hope to impart on you has to do with the amount of attention paid while driving. Whenever you have a twelve year old girl in your vehicle and the radio begins to play a One Direction song, you are in imminent danger of losing control of your vehicle. Therefore, it goes to reason that the less attention you give to driving, the more mindless you are while behind the wheel, then the safer you and your passengers will be.
Drivers need only to let their minds go off in one direction and make sure not to interfere with a young girl's enjoyment of her favourite boy band. The one sure way of doing that is to have your smart phone on vibrate while you are texting and driving.
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