Thursday, August 07, 2008
This past weekend, I returned home to visit my family and as I was passing through Boerne, I was listening to NPR. They sometimes give the most interesting stories.
A report was given on "Text Walking". An ER doctor was interviewed and she mentioned that the first patients she took care of were victims of 'text walking'. The first victim, or better said, the delinquent, was a young woman in her early 20’s. She was on her way to who knows where and she was texting while walking. Apparently, she was so involved in it that she missed the end of the sidewalk, fell to the street onto an oncoming car. The man driving the car (who was on the phone, by the way) saw her, and then swerved to end up hitting a lamppost. Nothing serious happened to them, but pretty embarrassing nonetheless. So, as we can see, there are two parties involved in these accidents: ‘text-walking-victims’ (TWV’s) caused by ‘text-walking-delinquents’ (TWD’s).
It looks like a pretty serious thing, because in Indiana or Illinois, (I can’t remember which) a law was passed and fines of about $25 are now, or going to be issued to TWD’s. The reported asked the doctor what she thought about that, if it sounded a bit silly that a health type emergency had to be called to take care of this problem. The doc answered that she agreed with it, because this was not an isolated incident and that about once a week, she receives TWV’s and sometimes the TWD’s. So, the question is: have you ever been a TWV or a TWD? I admit I have been a TWD. :(
The reporter lady asked the doc lady how people could avoid these silly accidents. Her response ASTOUNDED me. She said: when you are going to text, you should stop, get out of the way, and send your text. How clever!
Even though these steps are not complicated, we sometimes do the opposite, thinking that nothing will happen. The same goes for ‘text driving’. Time magazine has the details: Time?
“A new survey found that 18% of cell phone users type text messages while driving, despite mounting evidence that it leads to accidents and fatalities. Nearly 600 young people have joined a Facebook group called “I Text Message People While Driving And I Haven’t Crashed Yet!””
How interesting is that? So, let’s be careful on the road, on the sidewalk, and in life.
*****
You know, you’re one of Jehovah’s Witnesses if…
If you know when Nisan 14 of the Jewish calendar lands in the Gregorian calendar from year to year, and yet you commonly forget your own birthday.
Have a great day!
