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APRIL 4, 2014
BLINKERS A METAPHOR FOR LIFE ITSELF
APRIL IS NATIONAL DISTRACTED DRIVING AWARENESS MONTH The National Safety Council estimates that 21 percent of all vehicle crashes in 2012 — 1.2 million — involve talking on handheld and hands-free cell phones. An additional 5 percent or more crashes in 2012 — at least another 281,000 collisions — involve text messaging. Combined, a total of a minimum of 26% of all crashes involve drivers talking and texting on cell phones. Vision is the most important sense for safe driving. Yet, drivers using hands-free phones (and those using handheld phones) have a tendency to “look at” but not “see” objects. Estimates indicate that drivers using cell phones look but fail to see up to 50 percent of the information in their driving environment. Distracted drivers experience what researchers call inattention blindness, similar to that of tunnel vision. Drivers are looking out the windshield, but they do not process everything in the roadway environment that they must know to effectively monitor their surroundings, seek and identifypotential hazards, and respond to unexpected situations. Today there are more than 320 million wireless connections in the U.S. And although public sentiment appears to be turning against cell phone use while driving, many admit they regularly talk or text while driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that nine percent of all drivers at any given time are using cell phones, and the National Safety Council estimates about one in four motor vehicle crashes involve cell phone use at the time of the crash. For more information, visit AugustaRx.com/news and nsc.org +
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“Excuse me?” you may be wondering, “What possible connection could there be between how I live my life and using turn signals?” More than you might think. Let’s start with the blinkers. They are not universally used, and some would say that’s for good reason. “I’m in a lane that’s clearly marked Left Turn Only,” says one driver. “With or without a turn signal, I’m obviously turning, and every driver at that intersection knows it.” “Sitting in the suicide lane right by a major store entrance,” says another, “what else am I going to do?” “There was no other car around,” someone else says. “There’s no need to signal when nobody is there.” There is a term for that kind of reasoning, especially in the bigger picture, far beyond such mundane matters as using turn signals. It’s variously called situational ethics, moral relativism, and less often, consequentialism. They all describe a belief or philosophy that the ends — the consequences —justify the means. To take an extreme example, Please see BLINKERS page 2
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