Josh Mossotti

There seems to a growing trend among the humans to annihilate one another on the roads while texting from their mobile phones. My research has not produced a pinpoint time or place where the inception of this ritual began, but it seems to me it would be around the date and place that texting was offered as a feature on mobile devices.

The current anti texting while driving campaign looks to be organized by the same people who have launched a holy war against drinking while driving. The groups have a new outlet to fill medias with grotesque images of the results caused by gitty little girls texting while driving and having a down right good time doing so. In all fairness I stand behind such attempts to engage individuals in the gravity of their decisions, but I still read and watch daily doses of local and national news coverage telling of tragic accidents caused by people drinking up their courage to make their commute home from the bar into an NASCAR race. Their hangover involves a jailhouse breakfast filled with sorrow and remorse followed up with a lifetime of guilt for the family of five they swallowed with their last shot of alcohol as they exited the bar. The punishments never seem to fit the crime.

As you take a step back from the situation you can say those several thousand incidents per year are simply isolated events, but at some point in your argument you will have to draw the conclusion that the foundation of the system is flawed. We know for a fact humans are flawed. We make poor choices all the time. There needs to come a time when we can all look at the situation honestly and understand that people are not able to manage their behavior flawlessly to create a safe and civilized society. In the end the fear tactics campaign fundamentally can never work because it still puts the responsibility back into the hands of the individual to make smart choices. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

The only way to combat this plague is to take proactive steps to cut off the problem at the choke point. If mobile devices are able to be detected as they enter or approach a vehicle and disable texting capabilities, we will no longer have to trust that people are going to make the right choice this time. I know what you’re thinking. This is too far fetched, I mean whats next, hover boards like in ‘Back to the Future II’? In fact, most bluetooth devices are already able to recognize cell phones when they are in a certain perimeter of a vehicle and can automatically switch your phone to alternate mode when the ignition is on. Of course the second a plan like this would be implemented, some computer savvy rebel will offer work around solutions that bypass normal device functions. If it is made a matter of law however, it will be easier to dismantle the distribution of such applications and will put some responsibility on the device makers and service carriers to monitor and disable the functionality of the applications without having to deal with the current issues of breaking FCC regulations for openness. Since the original direction of this argument was directed at the trend of texting while driving I will keep from delving too far into similar features that detect BAC levels in every single car to prevent drinking while driving. The practice of individuals having the sober friend offering up untainted BAC in order for their drunk friend to start the car needs to be carefully handled.

For these campaigns to truly work we need a collective societal consensus to take action and afford a few minor inconveniences in everyone’s daily routine to combat the problems that create unsafe conditions and tragic results. These minor sacrifices can make a massive impact on driving related casualties and as a society we need to demand that it is worth it.