Here’s a trend we hope isn’t catching on. A woman was caught texting while speeding along the Schuylkill Expressway in Philadelphia, except it wasn’t in the way you’d expect.
The driver, seen in the video below, was videotaped texting on her phone while steering the car with her feet, as if lounging in the passenger seat. The footage, which was captured by Sarah and Shawn Delong, lasts less than 30 seconds but the Delongs told Action News in Philadelphia that they continued to follow the woman for a good 20 minutes before finally getting her attention.
“At one point we beeped at her and I yelled ‘get off your phone!’ Sarah explained to Action News. “And she looked and smirked at me and went right back to doing whatever it was on her phone.”
The Delongs recorded the woman’s license plate and passed it along to the Pennsylvania Sate Police. No word yet on whether the woman faced any consequences.
It’s hardly the first time this has happened. Last week, a Colorado woman was caught texting while speeding down I-25 with one leg propped up on the dashboard. The sequence was captured by another driver and shared on Facebook. The video was picked up by several local news outlets and has been viewed thousands of times.
The lack of awareness or care for themselves or their fellow drivers is astounding. Distracted driving accounts for a significant number of fatal crashes in the United States. One out four car crashes in the U.S. are caused by texting while driving; and every year, roughly 421,000 people are injured in crashes that involves a driver who was distracted in some way.
But what’s shocking about these videos is the recklessness that makes these dangers all the more real and terrifying. It’s an avoidable situation that continues to be more troubling as people disregard the fatal potential of their actions. I doubt the clients we’ve worked with, who have lost loved ones because of distracted driving, would disagree. There’s just no excuse for this kind of behavior.
Let’s hope it stops.