Absurd Texting-While-Driving Stories

Posted on Feb 19, 2018 in Safety | 1 comment


Here she is, folks, the texter of the week, maybe of the year. Her name is Shawndeeia Bowen, and she got pulled over on an L.A. freeway after texting with a baby on her lap while driving. Two small kids were in the back, unsecured and without seatbelts.


Over the past three years, Ms. Bowen


has had two accidents and numerous citations, including not using child restraints, not having insurance, not wearing a seat belt and not having a valid license. She also has missed nine court dates.


Her kids were taken into protective custody.


The stories go on and on. One recounts the tale of an Illinois man driving drunk at 3 in the morning, texting his brother and hitting the wall of a building. A New York state lobbyist, Allison Lee-Hinchey, also was drunk while texting and smashed her 2010 BMW into a 2002 Nissan. No report on which car sustained the most damage.



Lee-HincheyAnother story (scroll down in comments) describes


a girl who was probably in her early 20s driving on the Turnpike. She had a cigarette in her left hand, dangling it out the window and with her other hand was texting with her thumb while holding onto the steering wheel.


Or the guy eating a Whopper who got upset because he was dripping ketchup onto the keys of his BlackBerry while sending an important message to his boss while looking into the rear-view mirror for cops as he was about to rear-end the car in front of him. Okay, I made that one up.


It’s not just teens who do this stuff, as any aware driver knows. A Pew Research study reports that 47 percent of “adults” (not defined) have read or sent texts while driving. Just talking on the phone was reported by 75 percent of adults with cellphones. Hands-free devices were not measured.


Even when not driving, adults are still engrossed in their phones: The study said that 17 percent of adults who have cell phones reported walking into other people or things because they were so busy using their phones to text or chat.


We are becoming a nation of zombies.

One comment

  1. Ed Abbott

    Being an old geezer, I have never sent a text and have no idea how to do so or why anyone would want to do so. However, I spend plenty of time dodging idiots, who invariably seem to be playing with a phone.

    The police can deal with this the same way they deal with seat belt use. Set up enforcement zones and pull over people by the dozens who are using cell phones, and make the fines realistic. Given that cell phone use is the equivalent of drunk driving, and texting even worse, fines should start at $500 or so and go up from there. Of course that won’t phase an outlaw like Shawndeia, who is apparently even dumber than her name. She just plain needs to be in jail. The real shame is that anyone can miss that many court dates without being arrested, which is a good demo of how law enforcement officials actually enable some people to continue to endanger the public.