Narrowly missing being struck by a semi truck, you leave a busy intersection and hear the sound of screeching brakes and crunching metal. The car behind you was just hit broadside by a driver that inadvertently ran a red light. Later that night on the television news, you find out that one of the people involved in the horrible crash was pronounced dead.
As a way to raise awareness about the risks of distracted driving, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has announced that its Video and Photography Services unit was selected to produce a mock-crash video and 30-second public service announcement for the Traffic Improvement Association of Michigan (TIA).
“Distracted driving is a serious, life-threatening behavior that steals loved ones from us and puts innocent drivers and passengers at risk every day,” said Jim Santilli, TIA executive director.
The videos are being developed for the “Remembering Ally: Distracted Driving Awareness Campaign” the TIA plans to kick off in late February. Ally Zimmerman, a 16-year-old Romeo High School student, was a passenger in a vehicle hit broadside by a distracted driver. Ally later died from her injuries.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), nearly 5,500 people were killed and almost a half million injured in distracted driving-related crashes in 2009.
The TIA, in partnership with its corporate sponsors and other traffic-safety partners, created the “Remembering Ally: Distracted Driving Awareness Campaign” to raise awareness and change dangerous behavior in all drivers in hopes of saving lives and reducing injuries on Michigan roadways.
MDOT reminds drivers: Snowplows need room to groom.
Source: News release from Michigan Department of Transportation
I just hope no one was reading this this article on their I-phone or Blackberry while driving.
“According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), nearly 5,500 people were killed and almost a half million injured in distracted driving-related crashes in 2009″……
Last time I checked we are just now starting 2012….What? No statistics from the more recent two years to support this or is this simply the peak year of such tragedies and some want to project the worst case scenario to rationalize the expenditure of fund (never fail to take advantage of a perfectly good tragedy right?). Alot of the larger municipalities (especially over here on the East Side of the state) have passed laws that actually are enforced about use of cell phones, texting while driving etc., (look up the penalty schedule for texting or use of cell phone while driving in Troy Michigan as an example…its steep for the first offense and it gets really ugly for repeat offenses in short order. And it does get enforced…which is key otherwise such laws are useless. And cars are starting to become more equipped for hands free options. Onstar has its own satellite calling service which is hands free (and works very well) and other cars nowadays offer ports to allow your cell phone to hook up to the car so you can operate hands free). Sounds like alot of other initiatives in place with more pending to already help with this problem.
Education is always a good part of any solution, and I’m not saying this isn’t important but I’m not sure why another state agency isn’t tasked with such educational items when MDOT is supposedly so underbudgeted for road repairs and bridge repairs, yet their resources and budgets are tasked with this. RCJ published an article within the last year about this and if you did the math on the bridges and overpasses already identified as in need of attention vs how many bridges and overpasses a year MDOT actually can fix…The math came out to at least 11 years for them to catch up and that assumes no other bridges would be added to the list in that 11 year span (which of course more bridges will fall in that category in that timeframe).
I dunno, driving under crumbling overpass and into cavern sized potholes and such in my roads and highways I find pretty hazardous too (and a distraction also). So I’m not saying this isn’t important but seems to me if you load up MDOT’s plate any more some folks in Lansing better be paying attention to the items that fall off the edge of the plate as a result.
….and BTW, although well intentioned it will do NOTHING for all of the out of state drivers that will drive on our highways distracted also. I mean we are really pushing for that right with all the millions spent recently approved by both former governor Jen and Gov Snyder– ads for Pure Michigan and the like to draw out of state tourism dollars to our state. And that doesn’t count all the commercial trucks coming from out of state.
Like my 19 yr old foster daughter making a LH turn between WP and Constantine on US-131 and getting plowed in to the rear end going full highway speed by an out of state semi truck….nothing left of her car and frankly I don’t know how she walked away alive much less with as few of injuries as she did.