Batesville Casket Company has been painting a rather grim warning about the dangers of texting while driving onto the back of its delivery trucks.

And who says morticians don't have a sense of humor?

Batesville Casket delivery truck advertisement pokes fun at dangers of texting while driving

People have enough distractions in their lives. Very few people will make it through a day without being distracted by something or somebody.

Make no mistake: it’s going to happen. A person who is not distracted at least once during the day lives a charmed life.

Most of these distractions are common place, and in most situations, can’t be helped. A crying baby, a telephone call, someone dropping by unexpectedly, there are any number of things that can distract a person.


Don't Become Another Distracted Driving Statistic

The one time that you should never be distracted is when driving.

This is the one time when absolute concentration is necessary. Your eyes should never leave the road for any longer than it takes to glance into the rearview mirror or check out a side street! Thousands of wrecks and many deaths now occur because people cannot leave their phones alone.

So much of driving deals with reaction time, which is the process of seeing something and reacting to it as quickly as possible. You need both eyes on the road to make this work successfully. Texting or even talking on the phone while driving puts you and every driver and passenger around you in potential danger.

Scores of automobile accidents have occurred since the invention of the cell phone, many of them fatal.

In this day and age, people feel that they cannot be without their cell phones. People make it half way to work, realize that they have forgotten their cell phones, then turn around and go get them believing that they can’t function without it.

100,000 crashes occur annually due to distracted driving, causing thousands of people, either the people who are distracted or the people that they hit to die…all because they couldn’t stay off of their phone.


Texting While Driving

It’s bad enough that people talk on it while driving, but texting and driving has opened up a whole Pandora’s box of potential dangers.

When the average person texts and drives, they look away from the road for up to five seconds. At 55 M.P.H., five seconds of traveling time is the length of a football field!

Many things can happen over that distance.

  • There could be a wreck ahead of you causing everyone in front of you to suddenly slow down.
  • A sudden change in the speed limit could occur because a road crew is working on the highway.
  • Something could fall off a truck causing everyone to have to swerve.
  • The road could go from two lanes to one.
  • The road might have a slight curve in it.

The possibilities are countless.

Most states have begun cracking down on drivers who use the phone while driving. Many states have banned texting while driving, and the driver can only use the phone if they have a ‘hands free’ device, meaning they can talk but must have both hands on the steering wheel while doing so. Citations for ignoring these rules can be extremely expensive.

The problem with texting and talking on a hand held phone is that many people treat it the same way they do drinking and driving: They ignore it and do it anyway.

Texting is considered more dangerous that drinking and driving because to text, you must look away from the road.


Is that call or text that important?

If it is, pull over. Don’t put yourself or others in danger.






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1 Comment

  1. Mike Christophers on 07/19/2012 at 2:07 pm

    Wow! That’s certainly one way to make a point. It might actually make a difference because it’s a reminder right then and there to put your phone down.