Shepherd
12-23-2010, 01:47 AM
SONOMA WEST TIMES & NEWS > OPINION
Driving while phoning
by Shepherd Bliss
Published: Wednesday, December 22, 2010
I have a few special friendships with two-year-olds. We like to play together. I appreciate their curiosity, tenderness, sustained eye contact, and quick learning. Two-year-olds can teach the rest of us. I feel protective of them and am concerned about how their lives might develop in our contemporary fast-moving, machine-driven society.
Since hearing about two-year-old Calli Murray dying on Dec. 1 when hit by a car, I cannot get my dear, vulnerable friends out of my mind and my nightmares. So I called each and managed to have dinner with one, Winter Solstice with another, and share a holiday event with a third. Their hugs went especially deep into my heart, bringing me joy, thus balancing my recent tears at our losses.
The college student driving the car admits that she was using her phone at the time of the crash. I have been talking to my students at Sonoma State University about the crash and trying to learn from it. We have been trying to make sense of this tragedy-for-all, which provides an unfortunate “teaching moment.”
One lesson is to not use a phone while driving. It is against the law, unless it is hand-free (though still distracting), and can have terrible, permanent unintended consequences. Texting in class, which is far too common, is bad enough, but texting while driving is criminal.
It’s sad when one human causes the death of another. It is difficult if you live or work in the community where that happens. It is even sadder when the person responsible for the death is a beloved college student where you teach. It’s worse when the victim is only two-years-old, now never to grow up, and her mother was so severely injured that she was unable to leave the hospital to attend the memorial service.
The SSU student apparently was not speeding or otherwise impaired. She stopped immediately. It is hard to imagine how she might be dealing with this scar; she is apparently devastated. As with my two-year-old friends, my adolescent students tend to be tender, inquisitive, sweet, and eager to learn, as well as vulnerable.
Cell phones and texting have appropriate uses. The issue is how to employ them consciously and responsibly. Texting, which many studies describe as an addictive process, is inherently distracting and can be dangerous. Yet excessive playing with this new gadget persists, sometimes with fatal consequences.
Steps need to be taken to avoid future such disasters. Rohnert Park can improve crosswalk safety and pedestrians can be more careful. The focus of my concern is to engage those young people, and others, who drive while talking or texting on their phones. Such distractions greatly increase the possibility of accidents.
“Friends don’t let friends drink and drive” is helpful advice. Nor should we accept phone use while driving or dismiss such use as inconsequential. If you are in a car and the driver takes out a phone, ask him or her to pull to the side or put it down to focus on driving. Pedestrians should also “look both ways” and refrain from using phones while crossing streets. Such practices could prevent a crash and even save a life.
The law against using phones while driving should be strictly enforced and strengthened, or we will surely experience numerous such tragedies. I see people on their phones while driving all the time. Phone addictions can have as serious consequences as alcohol addictions. A large fine for phone use while driving might help. Road signs, like those for littering and not using seat belts, could also be added.
Christmas Day would have been Callie’s third birthday. Instead, Dec. 1 was her death day. It’s a good time to visit the touching memorial on the parkside of the crossroads crash at Snyder Lane and Medical Center Drive. Take a handkerchief. The community has responded with photos of Callie, teddy bears, flowers, loving words, and bank accounts to help pay medical bills.
Callie was a precocious child given to smiles. She spoke both English and Mandarin, could count up to ten in both languages, and said she was ready to go to school. I think of a friend her age who speaks both English and French and loves to chat.
- Shepherd Bliss teaches at SSU and can be reached at [email protected].
Copyright © 2010 - Sonoma West
Driving while phoning
by Shepherd Bliss
Published: Wednesday, December 22, 2010
I have a few special friendships with two-year-olds. We like to play together. I appreciate their curiosity, tenderness, sustained eye contact, and quick learning. Two-year-olds can teach the rest of us. I feel protective of them and am concerned about how their lives might develop in our contemporary fast-moving, machine-driven society.
Since hearing about two-year-old Calli Murray dying on Dec. 1 when hit by a car, I cannot get my dear, vulnerable friends out of my mind and my nightmares. So I called each and managed to have dinner with one, Winter Solstice with another, and share a holiday event with a third. Their hugs went especially deep into my heart, bringing me joy, thus balancing my recent tears at our losses.
The college student driving the car admits that she was using her phone at the time of the crash. I have been talking to my students at Sonoma State University about the crash and trying to learn from it. We have been trying to make sense of this tragedy-for-all, which provides an unfortunate “teaching moment.”
One lesson is to not use a phone while driving. It is against the law, unless it is hand-free (though still distracting), and can have terrible, permanent unintended consequences. Texting in class, which is far too common, is bad enough, but texting while driving is criminal.
It’s sad when one human causes the death of another. It is difficult if you live or work in the community where that happens. It is even sadder when the person responsible for the death is a beloved college student where you teach. It’s worse when the victim is only two-years-old, now never to grow up, and her mother was so severely injured that she was unable to leave the hospital to attend the memorial service.
The SSU student apparently was not speeding or otherwise impaired. She stopped immediately. It is hard to imagine how she might be dealing with this scar; she is apparently devastated. As with my two-year-old friends, my adolescent students tend to be tender, inquisitive, sweet, and eager to learn, as well as vulnerable.
Cell phones and texting have appropriate uses. The issue is how to employ them consciously and responsibly. Texting, which many studies describe as an addictive process, is inherently distracting and can be dangerous. Yet excessive playing with this new gadget persists, sometimes with fatal consequences.
Steps need to be taken to avoid future such disasters. Rohnert Park can improve crosswalk safety and pedestrians can be more careful. The focus of my concern is to engage those young people, and others, who drive while talking or texting on their phones. Such distractions greatly increase the possibility of accidents.
“Friends don’t let friends drink and drive” is helpful advice. Nor should we accept phone use while driving or dismiss such use as inconsequential. If you are in a car and the driver takes out a phone, ask him or her to pull to the side or put it down to focus on driving. Pedestrians should also “look both ways” and refrain from using phones while crossing streets. Such practices could prevent a crash and even save a life.
The law against using phones while driving should be strictly enforced and strengthened, or we will surely experience numerous such tragedies. I see people on their phones while driving all the time. Phone addictions can have as serious consequences as alcohol addictions. A large fine for phone use while driving might help. Road signs, like those for littering and not using seat belts, could also be added.
Christmas Day would have been Callie’s third birthday. Instead, Dec. 1 was her death day. It’s a good time to visit the touching memorial on the parkside of the crossroads crash at Snyder Lane and Medical Center Drive. Take a handkerchief. The community has responded with photos of Callie, teddy bears, flowers, loving words, and bank accounts to help pay medical bills.
Callie was a precocious child given to smiles. She spoke both English and Mandarin, could count up to ten in both languages, and said she was ready to go to school. I think of a friend her age who speaks both English and French and loves to chat.
- Shepherd Bliss teaches at SSU and can be reached at [email protected].
Copyright © 2010 - Sonoma West