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)

[loochy]

People don't use headsets or in-car systems?

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by loochy

People don't use headsets or in-car systems?

A new study conducted on the behalf of AAA has brought the debate back to life by saying that hands-free devices aren't a safe alternative to chatting while driving. The study headed by University of Utah psychology professor David Strayer concludes that it's not a lack of free hands that makes talking and driving dangerous, it's the simple fact that you're splitting your attention between the road and arguing over dinner plans.

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/tal...n-your-phone-1

[Lzen]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

No doubt about it.

Everyone I know texts and drives. Shit won't change.

Sounds like everyone you know needs a swift kick in the groin.

I forgot to mention that this is also a near and dear topic to me because my cousin's daughter was hit by a car last year while riding her bicycle. The driver was texting. She lost a leg and she is a little slower than she used to be. It is a miracle that she survived, albeit not without major injuries and rehab. That's not an exaggeration, either. The doctors didn't think she was going to live through it. If you never believed in miracles before, this story should.

http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showt...ousin+daughter

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/tal...n-your-phone-1

please outlaw SUVs full of kids and bitching wives please

hell, just remove all passenger seats

ban radios



and old people

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by loochy

please outlaw SUVs full of kids and bitching wives please

hell, just remove all passenger seats

ban radios



and old people

They're laying the groundwork for laws requiring all cars to be automated.

[KevB]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

Texting, singing, talking, eating, just plain being a shitty driver. Whatever the excuse, and whatever is blamed, it's all the same in the end.

Bad driving is bad driving.

I believe this to be the truth. People that are willing to allow themselves to be distracted will do so regardless the technology available. Before cell phones, it was distraction due to the radio, or eating, or doing makeup or reading. I've literally seen people driving down the road holding a book at the top of their steering wheel. Cell phones have made it that much easier to become distracted, certainly.

[Amnorix]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

They're laying the groundwork for laws requiring all cars to be automated.

This may well happen during our lifetimes, and will probably greatly improve traffic, parking and many other headaches of daily driving.

On the downside, a computer glitch could kill dozens if not hundreds, or thousands, but hey, best not to think about that.

[Amnorix]

The Boston Globe had a front page, top of the fold, story on the many, many accidents police are involved in and cause. I am not one of those who bashes cops all the time, but this article was definitely disturbing.

You can adjust for miles driven, and all that, but the bottom line is that too many cops think the rules of the road are irrelevant to them, and therefore speed, or run lights, or just aren't sufficiently cautious, and get into very, very serious accidents, sometimes ruining the lives of those they are sworn to protect and serve.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/201...QsI/story.html

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Mr. Flopnuts

I won't type while I'm driving, and I won't read while I'm driving. I do however talk on the phone while driving and have been for years. If I approach heavy traffic I end the call. Why? Because I don't want to get hurt. Seen and read too much...

Originally Posted by KevB

I believe this to be the truth. People that are willing to allow themselves to be distracted will do so regardless the technology available. Before cell phones, it was distraction due to the radio, or eating, or doing makeup or reading. I've literally seen people driving down the road holding a book at the top of their steering wheel. Cell phones have made it that much easier to become distracted, certainly.

These are the two issues... idiots who don't realize they could wait until after they pass that semi or go through that intersection before texting or calling someone.... and idiots who are oblivious all the time, like the one in the story. Cell phones, maps/GPS, etc; just give those idiots more to choose from.

[BucEyedPea]

I was just behind someone in the speed lane going about 40 miles an hour on a three lane highway in one direction. (The other three lanes were going in the opposite to give you an idea.) Finally had to pass her. What was she doing, talking on her phone. Routinely, I find drivers going too slow as in too far below the speed limit talking on their phone and not paying attention to how they're affecting others.

[007]

Yep, it was a phone user that rolled my minivan back in 2009. I don't care how proficient you think you are with a phone you are not proficient enough. Put the damn phone down.

[TinyEvel]

Phones should have a "driving" setting. You just press one button when you get in your car and everything -- calls, texts, emails, alerts -- are sent to a holding bin and delivered to you when you disable the hold. People who send you texts or calls are given a message that you are driving and it's dangerous to pick up or reply. There could be an emergency override of this if it is truly an emergency.

[Rudy tossed tigger's salad]

Don't care, **** cops

[loochy]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

They're laying the groundwork for laws requiring all cars to be automated.

That would work for me. I could take naps, do work, read books, etc

[007]

Originally Posted by loochy

That would work for me. I could take naps, do work, read books, etc

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