TEXTING, ‘TALKING’ WHILE DRIVING KILLS 16,000

TEXTING WHILE DRIVING CAUSED TOTAL
‘DISTRACTED DRIVING’ DEATHS TO RISE, STUDY

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A study released this week found that at least 16,000 deaths between 2001 and 2007 can be attributed to distracted driving, Reuters reports. The drivers were either texting or talking on cell phones when they caused these deaths. “Our results suggested that recent and rapid increases in texting volumes have resulted in thousands of additional road fatalities in the United States,” Fernando Wilson and Jim Stimpson of the University of North Texas Health Science Center wrote in the American Journal of Public Health. For their study, Wilson and Stimpson relied on state-by-state details on road deaths and cell phone ownership, as well as data on text message volume from the Federal Communications Commission and reports from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on deaths caused from distracted driving. For every 1 million new cell phone subscribers, however, Wilson and Stimpson estimate a 19-percent rise in deaths due to distracted driving.

“Since roughly 2001-2002, texting volumes have increased by several hundred percent,” Wilson said in a telephone interview with Reuters. “Since 2001 our model predicts that about 16,000 people have died since then that we attribute to the increase in texting volume in the United States.” In 2002, 1 million texts were sent every month; this rose to 110 million in 2008, according to Reuters. Despite this, traffic deaths are down in the U.S. and hit their lowest level since the 1950s in 2009 with 33,963 deaths. “In 2008, approximately 1 in 6 fatal vehicle collisions resulted from a driver being distracted while driving,” the report said. Wilson told that currently 30 states ban texting while driving. A new law banning texting while driving for all drivers and talking while driving has taken effect in Massachusetts.


Talking on cell phones can distract the driver and several studies have shown, even when using devices called "hands-free". More dangerous is texting and the use of so-called "smart phones" that provide Internet access and other applications, while you are driving a car. We are living a crazy life, running from side to side. We should stop and find a spiritual master who awakens inside us the desire to find harmony and peace in our lives.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

We were standing in the barn and there were elders and children, cows and calves, there was a dog and a cat, and a mouse ran by. Everybody noticed the mouse. It ran right in front of Prabhupada. Suddenly Prabhupada turned and said with big eyes, “Did you see it? The adults and the children, the cows and calves, the cat and the dog, and the mouse, all living harmoniously - this is Vrindavana.” The next morning Prabhupada turned to me again and asked, “Did you see it?” “See what, Prabhupada?” I asked. He said, “There were the cows and the calves, the adults and the children, the cat, the dog, and the mouse - all living harmoniously. This is Vrindavana.” A few minutes later, as we were stepping onto the bus to go back to New York, Prabhupada turned to me a third time and said, “Did you see it?” This time I replied, “Yes, I saw it.” And I thought, “I’m seeing you, and this is Vrindavana. Wherever you are, that is Vrindavana.” This harmony that is realized in selfless love is Vrindavana.

Śrīla Bhakti Vedanta Tripurari Mahārāja :
“This Is Vrindavana”
Excerpted from a discussion on Brahma-vimohana-lila.
“Q & A with Swami B. V. Tripurari” - Vol. I, No. 22
http://swami.org/
Sri Caitanya Sanga - http://www.swami.org/pages/sanga/