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| Photo by Claire Benois |
by Jonathan Siger, menshealth.com, 24 August 2015
It’s dangerous. It might kill you. But you do it anyway. Here’s why
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Your final act on this planet may well be reaching for your phone.
Every day, nine drivers buy it that way. And we all know what they’re distracted by, don’t we? That oh-so-clever text they just can’t avoid reading. That request to buy milk. Or that (not in any way) urgent inquiry: When will you be home?
How about never?
In the time it takes you to locate the phone, pick it up, read the text, register the one-liner, and put the phone down—say, four seconds—there’s ample time to drive into the back of a parked eighteen-wheeler.
A few weeks ago, a 40-year-old woman died like that. I know, because I’m part of the sheriff’s team that responds to emergencies in Houston.
Every day, nine drivers buy it that way. And we all know what they’re distracted by, don’t we? That oh-so-clever text they just can’t avoid reading. That request to buy milk. Or that (not in any way) urgent inquiry: When will you be home?
How about never?
In the time it takes you to locate the phone, pick it up, read the text, register the one-liner, and put the phone down—say, four seconds—there’s ample time to drive into the back of a parked eighteen-wheeler.
A few weeks ago, a 40-year-old woman died like that. I know, because I’m part of the sheriff’s team that responds to emergencies in Houston.