The weather is warming, and soon it will be time for outdoor fun uninterrupted by frigid weather. That means many Americans will be boarding their ATVs, or all terrain vehicles, for adventurous romps and rough rides on off-road tracks and trails.
ATVs aren’t designed to drive on America’s streets and highways, and are, in fact, illegal to operate in such a manner. But for sheer entertainment purposes in the great outdoors, they have many ardent fans.
Maybe you recall seeing drivers education footage showing what not to do behind the wheel. Often such lessons start as fun, with a clownish actor frantically shaving, eating, consulting maps and even reading a book while doing a lousy job of driving a car. But even with a sobering punchline about car accidents, the real joke is on all of us, now that texting while driving has entered the equation.
A recent survey for Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. reveals that 19 per cent of motorists admit to texting while driving. The real amount is probably higher, since not everyone will admit doing something so stupid. In fact, another survey in Massachusetts indicates that 28 per cent of people text while driving.
Another survey shows that 26 per cent of mobile phone users tend to text while driving — and that 60 per cent of drivers 16 to 19 years old text while operating the two-ton machine known as a car.
Such behavior, in effect, is unleashing millions more drunk drivers on America’s roads. That’s because text-messaging distractions, as studies show, are the equivalent of being drunk while driving, hampering attention, reaction and overall ability to drive.
The weather is warming, and soon it will be time for outdoor fun uninterrupted by frigid weather. That means many Americans will be boarding their ATVs, or all terrain vehicles, for adventurous romps and rough rides on off-road tracks and trails.
Maybe you recall seeing drivers education footage showing what not to do behind the wheel. Often such lessons start as fun, with a clownish actor frantically shaving, eating, consulting maps and even reading a book while doing a lousy job of driving a car. But even with a sobering punchline about car accidents, the real joke is on all of us, now that texting while driving has entered the equation.