Ask Officer Helbig: DWD=Driving While Distracted
Officer Oliver Helbig
March 29, 2010
Filed under Blog, Opinions
A new Missouri traffic law that passed last year makes it a violation for drivers under the age of 21 years to text while driving a motor vehicle.
As a police officer, I have to enforce the laws of the land as written. As an individual, I do agree with many of our students that this law should not be age specific.
Several Missouri legislators tried to erase the age limits on this law recently, but no amending legislation has yet been passed to formally change this law.
That being said, I think the more important issue regarding this law is reducing the large number of vehicle accidents that are the result of drivers being needlessly distracted.
The old distractions are still there, like drivers who are applying eye makeup, balancing hot coffee on their lap while munching an Egg McMuffin, avoiding a lit cigarette that they dropped on their lap, or trying to reach behind to separate misbehaving children wrestling in the rear of a mini-van.
Electronic devices in recent years have added a new group of driving distractions that seriously impair a driver’s ability to react quickly to avoid accidents.
Anything that takes your mind off driving can be dangerous, but this is especially true when your eyes are off the road and when you are using motor skills for another task while you drive. If you are a new driver, distractions are even more dangerous.
Distractions prevent drivers from detecting hazards and they delay the normal reaction time for avoidance. Auto accidents can happen in an instant and the consequences can be death, injury, arrest, lawsuits, property damage and a whole list of other tragedies that no one wants in their life.
Be safe, be smart, don’t be a DWD.
Next week, I’ll write about electronic devices and driving and try to give you some ideas about how to reconcile their use in the safest way. As always, your comments and questions are welcome.
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