On Monday, October 17, 2011 a 51 year old Warren County man, Gary Schuster, was killed while repairing the mailbox in front of his home. A female teen driver, whose name has not yet been released, is being questioned after returning to the scene where she thought she hit a mailbox. The driver had been talking on her cell phone and after the collision continued on her journey to pick up a passenger.
When she realized she had damage to her vehicle and headed back to the scene, she found emergency vehicles there tending to Mr. Schuster, who had already been pronounced dead. The accident happened on Cappeln Osage Road in the Marthasville area, just outside St. Louis. No charges have been filed yet.
This tragedy is yet another reminder of the danger of cell phone usage while driving. The U.S. Department of Transportation states that as of 2009, nearly 5,500 people were killed and almost half a million were injured in accidents that involved distracted driving. Considering that each year, more people obtain mobile devices, the risk is ever-increasing.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's research shows that whether you are talking, listening or texting on a cell phone, your chance of collision is increased by up to 400 percent. Drivers who use a cell phone while on the road may feel like they are in control, but studies show that reaction time is greatly reduced, much like that of an intoxicated driver.
Distracted Driving has become such a crucial issue that the U.S. Department of Transportation has even established a website to help educate people about the dangers of driving and talking or texting. The website shares useful data, tests your knowledge of the facts and shares stories of those who were killed while driving and using a cell phone or who were killed by someone else who was.
For more information on the dangers of using your cell phone while driving, visit www.distraction.gov.
Follow Jaelyn Jamik on FACEBOOK, Twitter, and all your other favorite social networks. See the Preferred Links list at the bottom right of this page.
To receive Jaelyn's articles via email, simply click Subscribe at the top of this page.
Comments