One of THE stupidest things people can do

Last weekend Casey and Katherine and I drove down to visit one of my college friends and meet her husband and cute daughter. It's about a 45 minute drive from our house to hers. Casey was driving so I had the opportunity to gaze aimlessly out the window. I was shocked to see a man driving in the lane next to us, texting and (kind of) driving. Moron was in the car with his toddler in the car seat behind him. I wanted to roll down my window and tell that man to grow a brain.

I must say that texting and driving is almost the stupidest thing any human being can do. I think swimming in shark-infested waters with a gash on your arm is dumber, but only just. You are 23 times more likely to get in a car accident if you are texting and driving than if you're just plain old driving. Not 23 percent more likely, 23 times more likely.

I saw a piece on the news today that said the fine where I live for texting and driving is $750 (the fine gets higher and includes jail time if you cause an accident). Clearly it is not enough. I mean, there is always going to be a group of people who do whatever they want with no regard to the people around them, but I would think a father who drives a minivan with his baby in the backseat would not be in that group. It angers me to no end that otherwise intelligent people leave their brains in the driveway when they get in the car.

I don't think that guy thought to himself, "Let's see what reckless thing I can do today to endanger the life of my son and me and all these other drivers." He was probably thinking, "Gosh, I forgot to tell my wife that I'm on my way home. I should text her." There was also probably that little voice in his head that told him, "Gee Bill. Maybe you shouldn't do that. Maybe you should focus on the road. The traffic is pretty bad," but that one got ignored. That is the problem. The voice of responsibility and self-preservation gets ignored a lot, especially where cars are involved. If people listened to it more, you wouldn't have people eating and driving with their knees (I was in the car while someone did that and I honestly thought I was going to die), or applying mascara while driving.

Then there's the excuse I have heard about multitasking. There are lots of people who think they can multitask, but guess what? You can't actually do it! TONS of studies out there by reputable universities show that normal humans can not "multitask". In the official Kirsten Dictionary, the word "multitask" really means "a fictional ability that people believe they have wherein they can do two focused tasks at the same time." Your brain can only REALLY focus on one thing at a time. When you're trying unsuccessfully to do two things at once, it's called attention blindness. If you're texting--even if you're NOT looking at the phone--your brain is still focused on what you are typing and not that semi truck who just changed lanes in front of you.

If you or someone you know texts and drives, please refer them to this YouTube video. I didn't post it here because it's really graphic (like seriously graphic. Don't watch it if blood or slow motion whiplash bothers you). The clip is a portion of a CNN broadcast. I haven't seen the whole 30 minute video, but this short portion gets the point across pretty clearly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVQVkwKVs8Q

And by the way, if you are one of my friends who texts and drives, just do us both a favor and don't ever tell me. I don't want to lose my respect for you. And stop doing it, k?