Driving and texting are a bad mix. Save a life, maybe your own!
I was driving my brand new 50th Anniversary Ruby Red Mustang with my husband in the passenger seat on April 18, 2015 on a bright, clear, sunny day with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees. We waited patiently at a yield sign for traffic to clear and felt a sharp jolt in our seats. The SUV behind us had slammed 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 reversed and left the scene. I looked at the driver, a young woman around 21, and noticed she was texting!
I took a quick photo of the back of my new Mustang, with the license plate embedded into the bumper of my car. There was no damage to her SUV except for the missing license plate that was stuck in the back of my once new, now damaged Mustang. The back looked like a folded accordion. At least no one was hurt.
Police and fire departments were on scene within 10 minutes of the accident. We showed the police officer her driver’s license embedded in our Mustang. The police officer used great force to remove it from the back of the Mustang and gave it back to the SUV driver instead of confiscating the evidence!
The young woman told me a few minutes later how sorry she was for damaging my new Mustang. She said: “I was on my way to college to take my final exams as I was ill. My final exam has been 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 driven to the dealer and then to the local repair shop.
Meanwhile, the young woman who drove through my new Mustang in her SUV while texting had her insurance agent call me. She said: “It was your fault and the police are not counting as witnesses. Our insurance won’t pay for the damage!”
I told their insurance agent that I had a passenger in my car who witnessed what their client had done to my new 50th Anniversary Mustang, and his client’s driver’s license was hidden in the back of my car. I took a photo to prove it!”
After her call, I called my insurance agent and told him what she said and asked him to take care of it!
It took 6 months and over $12,000 to repair my 50th Anniversary Mustang to look like new again! The fire department sent me a bill for $200 and the repair shop gave me a bill for $200 after the insurance was paid.
My insurance company paid the damage and eventually forced their insurance company to reimburse them for the damage their customer sustained to my Mustang.
Most people are conditioned to respond immediately to other people’s needs, warnings and messages. Like a drug-addicted lab rat, our brains have been rewired to respond.
In the United States, distracted drivers are the cause 1 in 4 traffic accidentsS. That is 1.6 million crashes caused every year 330,000 injured and dead each year.
Is your life worth not having to wait a few minutes to respond to that ping or alert you just received?
One thing I have found useful is to turn off my cell phone and place it out of reach.
If you use your phone for navigation, turn off alerts from all apps except your Maps app. They will be there when you arrive at your destination. And what’s more important: you arrive at your destination unscathed!
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