A New Device May Help Reduce No. 1 Cause Of Teenage Deaths
Posted: Friday, January 02, 2009
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
As a child, one of the first things we learn is that some day, we have to die. We are fortunate to live in an age when medical and technology discoveries have extended the average life expectancy here in the U.S. It is now between 77.5 and 80 years. Amazing. That is almost twice the average in some countries, not all, on the African continent.
But did you realize that auto accidents are the number one killer of our teenagers? Most teenagers do not consider dying, and the good part is that their chances of dying are truly much smaller than us old characters. But how tragic that so many of them do die far before their natural time comes. In our own small town here of around 5,000 population, within the past one year, there have been two extremely tragic accidents involving teenagers. One car had four teenagers when the driver, at very high speed, lost control of the car, it left the road and flipped two or three times. The driver was killed and the other 3 seriously wounded. The next car had two girls (sisters) in the front seat and a younger neighbor boy in the back seat when, again at excessively high speed, the driver lost control and careened off a power line pole and then wrapped itself around a tree. The two sisters were killed instantly. The young boy was airlifted to Children's Hospital in Birmingham where he still, (after three weeks) remains in critical condition.
And to add to the self inflicted danger many place themselves in, we now have the added danger of the cell phone in almost all teenage drivers ear. I don't have figures, but I am told that the number of teenage accidents has risen recently and much of the increase is caused by those phones.
Scientists tested 40 volunteers driving a virtual vehicle, while talking on a cell phone and again while under the influence of alcohol with a blood alcohol level of 0.08%. There were some that crashed while sober and chatting on the cell phone, yet none did while drunk. Other studies show that as many as 2,600 people have died in one year while talking on a cell phone. And, a hands free phone proved as dangerous as a hand held one. The distraction of conversing seems to be the causative factor.
Two researchers from the University of Utah, Xuesong Zhou, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering and Wally Curry, a former University of Utah graduate now practicing medicine in Hays, Kansas have devised an automobile key and without trying to explain the technicalities of it, in order to start the vehicle, it disables their cell phone. They contend that it not only will save lives, but has the potential for lowering insurance rates, especially for teens.
Surveys have shown that 6% of people traveling are talking on a cell phone, while 10% of teenagers are at any given time, either talking or texting while driving. Parents, if you treasure your child's life and health, stop them from using those phones and driving too fast. Stop them somehow. Next week could be too late.
This Article has been viewed 372 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Joel, Good article and great idea! I heard recently that one of the big 3 will have a car with a special key for teenagers, which will limit their speed as well as the volume of their music. Isn't it a shame that the car makers have to enforce the rules for our kids instead of the parents?Yes it is Nancy. Thanks for reading and commenting. I don't understand why the authorities are so hesitant to pass a law that one must not drive while using the cell phones. If a dire necessity arives, simply pull over and call.But as you say, parents should either refuse to allow the teenager to have the keys or the cell phone at the same time. It could mean their very lives.Unfortunately, many parents rely on the cell phones of their teenagers to keep track of where they are and what they are doing, so taking their cell phones away before they get in the car isn't always an option. And a parent that provides this special key to their teenagers is taking matters into their own hands. No matter how well you raise your kids, at some point they will rebel in one way or another and assert their independence. Personally, I think all cars should be equipped to disable cell phones when they are in any gear other than park.Yes, you're right Dianne they do need their cell phones to call if needed. That is the good part about the key thing they have come up with. It doesn't harm the phone but simply disables it as long as the key is inserted in the car. Thanks for commenting.
Good argument, Joel. I needed a tear-jerker in my novel. I set up the reader to admire, adore and love the two characters I had killed in a car accident using the emotions and details from such an accident I experienced as a young policeman. How many of your pleadings and my stories will be required to counteract the rambunctiousness of our youth?By the way, I learned to drive in a police car. When I became a civilian, I had to learn how to drive sensibly. This was accomplished when, at age 70, my reflexes became slower.Hi Gerry, thanks for your comment. It appears that the youngsters will never learn. It's been a problem since cars came into being I think. And seems to be getting worse.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.