Church Bus Crash Linked to Texting

Another day and another headline involving a fatal crash linked to texting while driving. No matter how many times it is brought to the attention of drivers, the temptation to text while driving is apparently too great for many people who carry a smartphone while driving.

Reports are that a witness saw a driver of a pickup truck that collided with a church minibus in Texas on Wednesday, March 29th, 2017, killing 13 people, texting while driving. Apparently the driver who reportedly crossed the center line had been reported by another driver as driving erratically just minutes before the crash. The witness is reported as saying that the driver “kept going off the road and into oncoming traffic”.

We have written several blog posts about the subject of texting while driving, or what could be called distracted driving. But were not alone in writing about this danger. You can do a search of the Internet and find article after article indicating clearly that texting while operating a vehicle is a hazard tantamount to drunk driving, or otherwise driving under the influence of a drug or narcotic. It may even be more dangerous.

If people cannot control their own actions and break the dangerous habit of attempting to text while operating a vehicle, then a reasonable option would be to require automakers to sell vehicles with the ability to suppress all mobile equipment functions that permit texting while the device is in a moving vehicle. Could this be done? Yes, all it would take would be an app that would prohibit any incoming or outgoing text messaging while a vehicle is in motion. It may be that in order to save lives this is something for which government regulation is needed, just as seatbelts are required in vehicles by government regulation.

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