Distracted Driving: Through the Eyes of a Trooper

[Lzen]

It is Put The Brake On Fatalities recognition at KDOT. Just thought I'd pass this along. This is a subject that is very near and dear to me as I have been on road projects in the past. My son is now an employee at KDOT in Olathe. On Friday, someone slammed into the back of one of their trucks on a road project in KC. He was okay, just shaken up about it. I told him you gotta keep your head on a swivel out there.


Remember that the highway work zone is a person's work area. They have wife, husbands, kids, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters that love them and would like to see them again just like the rest of us.

http://ksdotblog.blogspot.com/2014/1...h-eyes-of.html


Distracted Driving: Through the Eyes of a Trooper



By Sage Hill

As a Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper assigned to the Turnpike, you might expect my story to involve an accident that I personally worked. While it’s true that I have worked many horrific crashes, my personal involvement in this piece doesn’t place me at the scene of one. Let me explain.

On July 1, 2014, I was working a voluntary overtime day as part of federally funded program to enhance roadway safety during major travel holidays. Pretty early in the shift I noticed KTA maintenance crews were busy painting new roadway lines and stripes just north of the Oklahoma state line. Throughout the morning and early afternoon I stayed in the area so motorists could observe a patrol unit close to the crews, and I stopped several cars for various violations.

Later in the afternoon I was in a line of slow moving traffic passing the paint crew when I noticed a vehicle coming up from behind them very fast. The maintenance personnel were in the right lane painting, while multiple conspicuous warning signs and flashing lights directed traffic to slowly pass in the left lane. I looked at my own speed, under 40 mph, and then checked the vehicle I had been watching with radar. I was terrified by when I saw it was going 76 mph, and still in the right lane screaming up behind the maintenance vehicles.

“Unbelievable,” I thought to myself. How in the world could this guy not see all the flashing lights, warning signs, and other traffic that had slowed and moved to the other lane? As I paid closer attention, I thought I saw something in his hand above the steering wheel.

I continued to watch and observed no change. My radar gave a solid tone of 76 mph as the car was now only a short distance from the back of the rear truck in the consist of work vehicles. I was unable to warn the maintenance crew, and a very unusual sense of helplessness struck as I realized there was literally nothing I could do to change what I was seeing. Nausea began to settle into my gut and I took hold of my radio mic, preparing to place the request for additional help that I was sure I would need.

Then, with what I still believe were literally inches to spare, the vehicle jerked to left lane, narrowly missing the maintenance truck. The tone on my radar unit heaved and the display told me it had suddenly decreased speed in order to not strike the rear of the car in front of it. Swaying movements within its lane told me the driver was still trying to regain complete control after the sudden jerk to the other lane. As we passed the line of maintenance vehicles, I made an effort to calm down. Even though I was disturbed with what I had just seen- I would still need to be courteous when I stopped the driver of the vehicle.

Once we reached a safe spot past the work zone, I slowed to the shoulder and allowed the car to pass before turning on my red and blue lights to stop him. When I walked up, I saw a young man that was out of breath and had trembling hands. I was actually pretty pleased to see that he understood the gravity of what had just taken place. After making sure he was okay, I asked him what had happened. He was unable to construct a concise sentence due to his excited mental state, but nodded toward his phone that had been thrown to the other side of the car. I prepared a citation for failing to yield to a roadside maintenance crew, and soon he was on his way after assuming responsibility for over three hundred dollars in fines and the knowledge that he nearly killed himself.

The next morning I was drinking a cup of coffee in my home preparing for a day off when I saw something miserable on the news: A young woman had rear-ended a KTA paint crew in the very same area, and had lost her life as a result. Images from the scene depicted her destroyed car, and my fellow troopers that worked the crash said they strongly believe that texting was a contributing factor. All I could think about was how close the guy I stopped had come to suffering the same fate.

Driving is something many of us take for granted. We do it routinely for so many different reasons; it’s just another facet of our everyday lives that can seamlessly blend with the others. The same is true for our almost inexplicable need to be “connected” to the rest of the world. We simultaneously use our phones while we carry out countless other daily tasks, so it’s easy to allow it into our world while driving. I’m pleading with you – don’t. As a single 24-hour period in July can prove to you, the results can be horrendous.

I hope you never make us write that ticket. Even more, I hope you never make us work that crash.

Sage Hill is a Master Trooper with the Kansas Highway Patrol – Troop G (KTA)

[Donger]

Originally Posted by Guru

I just can't imagine ever getting to the point I would trust a computer to drive for me.

Do you fly commercially?

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Donger

Do you fly commercially?

Already been covered.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

Originally Posted by rabblerouser

I have that on my phone - 'Drive Mode'.

yeah, through Google Now my phone knows I'm driving via gps and will ask me if I wish to have text messages read to me or if i want to answer a call via voice.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

Driving while texting is illegal in 38 states now.

I'm sure that totally stops people from doing it.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by loochy

you trust them to fly for you

A lot more shit to deal with on the ground.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

Driving while texting is illegal in 38 states now.

38 states where the government should **** off.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Baconeater

I'm sure that totally stops people from doing it.

Florida just made it illegal very recently.

I'm a pretty nosy driver. I like to look over at people at red lights or otherwise.

It's just a rough estimation but I'd say at least 15% of drivers have their phone in their hands while driving. It's easier to see at night with the glow, but even in the daytime you can see people's heads facing downward.

[BWillie]

If they really care about the safety of others how come they give people so many tickets for going 6 over, but let people follow others too closely every second of everyday which probably cause 25 times more accidents. Cops seem to love giving speeding tickets for one reason, it's really easy and simple, and there is no judgement required.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Florida just made it illegal very recently.

I'm a pretty nosy driver. I like to look over at people at red lights or otherwise.

It's just a rough estimation but I'd say at least 15% of drivers have their phone in their hands while driving. It's easier to see at night with the glow, but even in the daytime you can see people's heads facing downward.

Shit, I can tell who is ****ing with their phones just by the way they're driving. And I don't really have a problem with people using them when they're stopped at lights, hell I do that.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by BWillie

If they really care about the safety of others how come they give people so many tickets for going 6 over, but let people follow others too closely every second of everyday which probably cause 25 times more accidents. Cops seem to love giving speeding tickets for one reason, it's really easy and simple, and there is no judgement required.

I've never heard of anyone getting a ticket for 6 over.

But to expand on that point, out of the states that have banned texting while driving, I wonder what ratio of texting vs speeding tickets are being handed out. I know which one I feel more endangered by.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Baconeater

I've never heard of anyone getting a ticket for 6 over.

But to expand on that point, out of the states that have banned texting while driving, I wonder what ratio of texting vs speeding tickets are being handed out. I know which one I feel more endangered by.

I don't quite understand how they can enforce texting while driving. Phones are used for more than one thing, just because someone is looking at their phone doesn't mean they are texting. They might be using GPS, looking at the time, listening to music and glancing down to see who is playing. Not saying you should do that while driving, but it seems almost unenforceable.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by BWillie

I don't quite understand how they can enforce texting while driving. Phones are used for more than one thing, just because someone is looking at their phone doesn't mean they are texting. They might be using GPS, looking at the time, listening to music and glancing down to see who is playing. Not saying you should do that while driving, but it seems almost unenforceable.

Exactly. It's a useless law.

[jd1020]

Some people make it blatantly obvious that they are texting. I've seen a girl driving with her forearms as she held her phone above the steering wheel typing away.

There's always a time stamp on text's so if you do get pulled over for texting when you weren't, you have proof when you go to court.

[Bearcat]

Good job, Alaska... (it's actually $10,000 and a year in jail).

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

38 states where the government should **** off.

You're on a govt built and paid for road or highway. Sorry, you can't tell the govt to **** off when you're on their property. Personally, I think texting while driving violates the rights of others since it puts them at risk. It causes accidents.