Texting while driving or driving while texting, whichever you call it, is something which I absolutely hate to see people doing. As if calling without a hands-free while driving is not bad enough, some people just have to take it to the next level by texting while driving. I recently took a photo of a guy making a call, without a hands-free and driving at the same time. I was questioning myself, “Should I submit the shot to the relevant authority to take action against the guy?” In the end I decided not to.

And hey, if you were guessing if I was on the wheel while taking the photo, sorry to disappoint you, my brother was the one on the wheel. At the point when I took the photo, I was piping hot with fury and I told myself, “You are busted, for making call without a hands-free while driving!” I simply cannot tolerate such act of selfishness and irresponsibility. However, I decided not to report him to the authority as everyone deserves a second chance. I naively want to believe that it was his first time doing that. And I believe he saw me taking the photo; we were moving side by side. Let this be a gentle reminder for this round. I certainly hope that I would not live to regret that decision to let him off.

To the video above, I applauded Utah’s decision to get tough with texting drivers as drivers can get up to 15 years in prison and a $10,000 fine when they kill someone. There should be continuous effort by all parties involved, the relevant authorities, the drivers, driving schools etc, to make the road a safer place for all users. And most importantly for drivers, including myself, we should take the safety of ourselves and other road users seriously. I couldn’t have stressed it more that we must practice responsible driving at all time.

Just a moment of selfish thought plus irresponsibility, and we could live a life in deep regret. This is probably so for Reggie Shaw. He caused an accident in September 2006 which killed two men, both scientists and fathers. He was driving — texting while driving.

As I put forth this message of responsible driving to you, I am also holding myself accountable for the words. Let us all be responsible drivers and if you are not one yet or not planning to be one, you can still act as a role to gently remind. Together we can make our road a safer place for everyone.

Quoting from National Safety Council: Driver inattention is a leading cause of traffic crashes, responsible for about 80 percent of all collisions, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Cell phones are the #1 driver distraction, contributing to hundreds of thousands of crashes and thousands of deaths each year. This affects real people, real lives. Watch and hear the stories of the families featured

During this time, you’ll see a lot of commercials, banners and posters to remind individual to drink responsibly. I believe that most people are responsible … at least all my friends drink responsibly. When they are drunk, they always make sure that someone else who is sober will be at the wheel. Probably next time, if you know that your friends are drunk or have been drinking a lot, you may also want to exercise a little social responsibility to stop him/her from driving.

Drunk driving is an offence in most countries around the world. Anyone who is convicted of injuring or killing someone while under the influence of alcohol can be heavily fined, in addition to being given a lengthy prison sentence. In Singapore, repeated offence of drunk driving can cause you to be fined up to $30,000 SGD and three years’ imprisonment. For an offender causing death or serious injuries can also be caned up to 6 strokes.

In a report from CNN, a man in LA was charged with three counts of murder when he ran a red light and struck a car, killing a Major League Baseball pitcher and two others while under the influence of alcohol. Just for that split seconds he had caused lost and miseries to three families.

According to the Office for National Statistics of UK, “There were 8,724 alcohol-related deaths in 2007, lower than 2006, but more than double the 4,144 recorded in 1991. The alcohol-related death rate was 13.3 per 100,000 population in 2007, compared with 6.9 per 100,000 population in 1991.”

In the US, in 2006, an estimated 17,602 people died in alcohol-related traffic crashes—an average of one every 30 minutes. These deaths constitute 41 percent of the 42,642 total traffic fatalities (from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)

In Singapore, there was a significant rise in drink-driving arrests recording a 7% rise from 3,733 cases in 2006, to 4,009 cases in 2007. From a speech by Dr. Teo Ho Pin, dated 13 December 2006; he cited an accident which happened earlier in March that year. Two colleagues were on their way home together on a motorcycle and they crashed into the centre divider along Bukit Timah Expressway and their bodies were found lying along the road. It was found later that both men had a high concentration of alcohol in their blood. In that tragedy, two families lost not only their sole breadwinners but also their husbands and fathers. Indeed as what he mentioned, “The penalties of drink-driving are very high – with the ultimate penalty being death.”

Often time, you may think that you are still sober enough to drive after drinking but there are too many cases where drunk drivers caused death of their loved ones and innocent parties.

Some months back, a cousin was giving me a ride to the train station and while she was driving, a call came in. Naturally, she picked up her cellphone with one hand while keeping her other hand on the wheel. Yes, she was breaking a traffic offense. I asked her to end the call and not to use the cellphone while she was driving … especially without an ear piece. Her reply was, “you are really getting old.” Yes, I am getting old. I hope I am growing up too.

Now if you think talking on the cellphone without an ear piece is bad enough, people seem to get worse; they are driving while they are texting now. Sad to say, technology is advancing forward and yet we seem to be moving backward.

Are you one of those who uses the cellphone without an ear piece, while you are driving? If you are, probably right now you will be saying, “I can manage the car steering well with one hand and use the cellphone with the other hand.”

Before an accident happened, every driver thought he/she can handle the car with one hand. And some might say, “If I knew, I wouldn’t have use the cellphone without an ear piece, while I was driving.” In a report by CBS News.com, a man who was involved in a collision, because he was texting, killed a 63-year-old grandfather.

“There’s no words to say how sorry I am,” He laments. ” … I think about this car accident every single day of my life. I think everybody thinks it can’t happen to them,” He says, “because I thought the same thing. But obviously, it can.”

From a report in Cnet.com, “A recently released study (PDF) by the VirginiaTech Transportation Institute found that truck drivers who were texting were 23 times more at risk of a ‘crash or near crash event’ than non-distracted driving.”

Further from the study, “Sending a text message took a driver’s eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds over a 6-second interval, which equates to driving the length of a football field at 55 mph without looking at the road.”

So the next time when you are thinking of driving while texting, think again, “is it absolutely necessary for you to send the text? Most probably it will not kill you if you do not send the text message. But 4.6 seconds over a 6-seconds interval definitely increase the chance of killing yourself or other.

No big deal you may say. That was not what caught my attention anyway. What really grabbed my attention was the following passage:

The day before Thanksgiving in 2005, Kathy Sartore, married to photographer Joel Sartore, learned she had breast cancer. “Cancer is a thief. It steals time,” Joel says. “But cancer can also be a blessing, an amazing experience that forces us to set things right. My work had made me a stranger to my three kids. With Kathy sick, I knew it was time to stay put for a while.”

Kathy Sartore has beaten cancer and Joel is given a second chance to treasure his wife and kids. Life may not always be that generous and merciful; not everyone will get this kind of second chance. Some people did not even get the chance to bid farewell to their loved ones. A few years back, a friend shared with me an incident of his friend who regretted for not being able to rush back in time to see his father for the last time.

A quotation by David Grayson which I have always shared, “Looking back, I have this to regret, that too often when I loved, I did not say so.“ We certainly do not have the power to turn back time, to change history and to undo any regrets. However, we certainly have the power to create new history now and to leave no room for regrets.

Are there someone whom you care about and have not kept in touch with for a long time?

Joel Sartore said, “Kathy’s cancer made me realize how little time any of us really has.” Very true isn’t it? Quoting something from ‘The Last Lecture‘ by Randy Pausch, “Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think.” We are always thinking that there is always time to let our loved ones know how much we love them, but the truth is, we will never know if there is a tomorrow.

Sharing with you a beautiful poem composed by Norma Marek in 1989, in memory of a lost child. Norma Marek lost her battle with cancer on 17th July 2004. I first came across this poem at: Mature Not Senile.