I just got off the phone with my friend Kelly, who is incredibly lucky to be alive. She flipped her car on the highway last Friday and ended up upside down in the ditch with just scrapes on her arms and cracked ribs. She was talking on her cell phone, and in going to change lanes, realized someone was in her blind spot and swerved to avoid them, losing control of the car. Her husband heard the whole thing. Geez louise.
She says she’ll never talk on a cell phone while in the car again, and studies have, in fact, shown that it’s not the PHONE itself that is dangerous, it’s the conversation. It doesn’t matter if you have a handsfree kit in your car, because when you are in the middle of a phone conversation, your mind is elsewhere. At least when you’re talking with someone else who is IN the car with you, there is an extra pair of eyes.
Also, last Friday, my friend Annelott found out that one of her 18-year-old students had died in a car crash the evening before, the second fatality among the student population this year. She was driving too fast and lost control. 2 others in the car were seriously hurt.
I’ve only been in 2 car accidents in my life, and neither one was serious, although both of them could have been.
I spent most of the morning dozing on and off while the kids rampaged, and feel marginally more human. I’m going to go take a shower now and count my blessings.