By Frederick R. Bedell Jr.
Cambridge Mobile Telematics, which offers an app to motorists to track their road habits, says 50 percent of New York drivers are reported to be speeding while on their cell phones as they drive.
According to the NYPD, this has added to the number of accidents due to driver distraction. This I find sad, troubling and dangerous.
The other day my wife, Eva, was driving while I was in the passenger seat in Glen Oaks Village when the driver of a car in front of us all of a sudden decided to change lanes without signaling as she was on her cell phone. Meanwhile, this young woman had two kids and a dog in her car.
“What could this woman be thinking?” my wife asked me.
Was this phone call so important that she was willing to risk everyone’s life? Now, I’m a senior citizen and fully realize the dangers on the road and the need to maintain my full attention while driving. When my cell phone rings and I’m driving, I reach a spot where I can pull over and stop and then respond to that call. I wish more people would do the same.
I believe Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Vision Zero program ought to be extended to drivers who are on the phone while driving. I don’t really care if it’s hands free, because the person’s attention is not on the road but on that phone call. Our roads need to be kept safer with people using common sense.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.
Glen Oaks Village
