Cell Phone Danger – Walking and Talking

Recently, an average, everyday person – someone just like you – was killed while using her cell phone.

We’ve all heard the horror stories about how overuse of these devices has been linked to brain tumours. But as Arnold Swartzenager famously said in one of his movies: “it’s not a tumour.”

This person was killed when she walked into the back of a truck stopped at an intersection. You read it right – she collided with the truck – not the other way ‘round. The driver of the truck didn’t see her, and drove off, trampling her under the wheels.

How could someone simply walk right into a vehicle? In this case, the blame is partly due to her cell phone. She was chatting on the thing, not paying attention to where she was going, and now she’s dead.

Though some of the blame must be put on the truck driver for not noticing something odd – you’d figure there would have been some sound when she struck the vehicle, and definitely when she fell under its tires.

The real culprit here isn’t the cell phone, but the poor victim herself. There have been far too many stories about people getting into accidents while driving, walking, even cycling, all while they talked, surfed or typed on their mobile devices.

With so-called “Smart Phones” taking over, there are even more distractions on these little wonders. You can watch live streaming video, play your favourite songs, check the latest weather forecasts, even participate in an interactive video conference (assuming your mobile device has a camera).

These new communications devices make it all the more possible to do just about anything anywhere. I remember hearing one guy break up with his girlfriend over his cell phone, I couldn’t help but listen, I was sitting in the bathroom stall next to him.

And these devices have been marketed to us as time savers, allowing us to do just about anything anywhere.

This is why we do use these things to do just about anything anywhere.
But there are many situations when doing just about anything anywhere is not only inappropriate, but dangerous as well.

Although breaking up with one’s girlfriend while sitting on the toilet may be inappropriate, it’s hardly dangerous – unless you fall in I suppose.

But walking along busy streets and sidewalks can be quite dangerous, as we’ve seen most recently. Far worse about these types of accidents, is they are so preventable, because we are in control of the situation.

If we get so involved in something on our mobile devices – be it a game, a cool application, a conference call, or just a simple person-to-person call, we should be bright enough to stop whatever else it is we are doing.

I mean really – dying from walking into a truck!?!? That’s a pathetic way to go, and chances are all this woman had to do was stop move off to a coffee shop, or even just a secluded part of the sidewalk and she’d still be alive today.

But now she’s dead, simply from talking on her phone.