For students rationalization overrides risk when it comes to texting and driving
Aaron Noel knows what it’s like to lose a friend.
Six months ago, Noel’s friend died in a car accident in Mirimachi. The culprit? Texting while driving.
Texting and driving kills New Brunswickers every year, many of them young adults. Just three weeks ago, 19-year-old John Sommerville died in a car crash on his way back to Fredericton. A surviving passenger said Sommerville was using his cell phone to text at the time of the accident.
According to a 2007 study done by the Royal Automobile Club, 37 percent of young adults text and drive, making “instant messaging…the greatest in-car distraction.”
While most students openly admit they text while driving, others prefer to steer clear of the risks.
“It’s stupid,” said St. Thomas University journalism student Matt Tidcombe. “It doesn’t make sense.
“I think, although most say it’s not smart, people do it more than they’ll admit [it].”
Sociology professor Matthew Hayes says students don’t acknowledge the potential risks of texting behind the wheel.
“Individuals don’t think in percentages. They always place themselves outside the numbers,” he said.
Hayes compared texting and driving to drunk driving, saying those who do it often don’t think about the dangers associated.
“They’re not doing it thinking they’ll get in an accident,” he said. “They’re rationalizing it thinking that there won’t be an accident.”
Mark Atkinson, a student at the University of New Brunswick, thinks its more than rationalization. He says it has to do with the culture young people have grown up in.
“People text and drive because we constantly need to be connected,” he said.
Today, cell phone companies are trying to keep people disconnected while on the road. “Otter” is an application for Android phones. It uses the phone’s GPS system to detect if the user is moving faster than pedestrian speed. If so, it saves and deactivates any incoming messages until the vehicle is no longer moving.
Noel says the choice is still in the hands of the texter.
“It is something I just don’t do anymore,” he said.” I used to, but I don’t now. The reasons are obvious.”
New Brunswick and Alberta are the only provinces that have yet to ban hand-held cell phones while driving.
