One, single traffic accident – if it’s bad enough – can change how things work in this country, surprising though that might be in today’s complicated world.
Today’s example: a bad, bad traffic pile-up down in Missouri last year, where a teenager who was busy texting on his cell phone while driving along a Missouri interstate highway in his pick-up truck ended up crashing into the rear-end of a tractor trailer semi truck. That would have been bad enough, the teenage driver was killed in this crash, but that’s not the end of this story.
It’s now known as the Gray Summit, Missouri crash, where the 19-year-old pickup truck driver had sent 11 texts in 11 minutes right before he drove right into the back of a semi truck, including one text that was sent “right before impact.”
After the pickup rear-ended the big rig, seems that a chain reaction happened and there was a big pile up that included two school buses crashing one after another into the wreck. Tragically, a local high school band was taking a field trip by bus to the Six Flags St. Louis amusement park.
Two people died that day (one of the kids on the bus along with the kid who was texting) and 38 others were seriously injured. It was a horrific accident, and it got the attention of the powers that be at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Today, pointing directly to that one, single crash, the NTSB has issued a federal goverment recommendation of a national BAN on drivers using any kind of “personal electronic devices” whatsover while they are driving a vehicle on American roads. Of course, the NTSB can only recommend this to the states – however, states are listening.
The Governors Highway Safety Association is keeping track of the state laws that are being passed against distracted driving: no handheld cellphones, no texting, etc.
To see what the current laws are for Indiana, Illinois, or our surrounding states, go here.
