Driving and texting is a bad combination. Save a life, maybe yours!
I was driving my new 50th Anniversary Ruby Red Mustang with my husband in the passenger seat on a clear, sunny day with temperatures in the 40s on April 18, 2015. We were waiting patiently for a yield sign. cleared the traffic when we felt a strong jolt in our seats. The SUV behind us had crashed into the back seat of our new Mustang. My husband immediately called the police. I quickly got out of the Mustang and walked behind my mustang before the driver backed up and left the scene of the accident. I looked at the driver, a young woman of about 21, and noticed that she was texting!
I quickly took a picture of the back of my new Mustang that had its license plate embedded in the bumper of my car. His SUV sustained no damage other than the missing license plate stuck in the back of my previously new, now damaged Mustang. The back looked like a folded accordion. At least no one was hurt.
Police and firefighters arrived there within 10 minutes of the accident. We showed the cop his license embedded in our Mustang. The cop pulled it out of the back of the Mustang with great force and returned it to the driver of the SUV, instead of confiscating the evidence!
The young woman, a few minutes later, told me how sorry she was for damaging my new Mustang. She said, “I was on my way to the university to take my final exam because I was sick. My final exam was postponed until today!”
The young woman’s mother showed up and did not want her daughter to sign the police report admitting her guilt.
My damaged new Mustang was taken to the dealership and then to the local repair shop.
Meanwhile, the young woman who hit my new Mustang with her SUV while texting had her insurance company representative call me. She said: “It was your fault and the police don’t count as witnesses. Our insurance company won’t pay the claim!”
I told his insurance agent that I had a passenger in my car who witnessed what his client had done to my new 50th Anniversary Mustang and that his client’s license was embedded in the back of my car. I had taken a photo to prove it!”
After her call, I called my insurance agent, told her what she had said, and asked her to take care of it.
It took me 6 months and over $12,000 to repair my 50th Anniversary Mustang to look like new! The fire department sent me a bill for $200 and the repair shop gave me a bill for $200 after paying the insurance.
My insurance company paid the claim and ultimately forced their insurance company to reimburse them for the damage their client caused to my Mustang.
Most people are conditioned to respond immediately to other people’s needs, alerts, and messages. Like a drug-addicted lab rat, our brains have been rewired to respond.
In the United States, distracted drivers cause 1 in 4 traffic accidentss. That is 1.6 million accidents every year causing 330,000 injured and dead every year.
Is it worth your life to not be able to wait a few minutes to respond to the ping or alert you just received?
One thing I have found helpful is to turn my cell phone to the “off” position and place it out of reach.
If you need your phone to navigate, turn off alerts for all apps other than your maps app. They will be there when you arrive at your destination. More importantly… you will reach your destination in one piece!
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