TOM GOMEZ February 20, 2023 All Feature Vehicles
This is a direct quote from the Motor Vehicle Safety website, the stats are scary and could happen to anyone.
At 55 mph, sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for approximately 5 seconds, long enough to cover the length of a football field.
Each day in the United States, approximately 9 people are killed and more than 1,000 injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver.
Distracted driving is listed as a traffic violation. “ Doing another activity that takes your attention away from driving.” Distracted driving can increase the chance of a motor vehicle crash.
At 55 mph, sending or reading a text Takes your eyes off the road for Approximately 5 seconds, long enough to Cover the length of a football field
On a recent trip coming back from the Mickey Thompson warehouse with a new set of wheels and tires,it was a beautiful sunny day in Southern California cruising the freeway home when we encountered “Driver X”. We call him that for obvious reasons.
Driver X is in a Toyota Tacoma with a ladder sticking out past his tailgate, no red flag or safety indicator that is required by law, and we can clearly see he is on his cellphone. Driver X is changing lanes without using his turn signal.
We watch in horror as he dives into our lane and hits the brakes, no traffic in front of him he just hits the brakes. In a panic we quickly look in all the mirrors for a split second to change lanes but the lanes are full with a 18 wheeler on one side and a Minivan on the other. All we could do was apply steady hard pressure on the brakes, the ABS system came on, the mighty Suburban was doing its job and slowing down fast without any jerky motions. Traffic moving in all lanes, except Driver X who was now at a complete stop with his head down texting. No one was in front of him, and traffic had moved on. A frantic glance in both outside mirrors to possibly make a quick lane change. With no options we ran out of road and braced for impact. BOOM !
We hit the Tacoma and shot him down the road. We knew that we couldn’t come to a complete stop or we would be hit from behind by another so we creeped forward in our lane. Driver X, with cellphone still in hand, changed lanes and had cars honking and swerving to miss him. We fully expected to see him get obliterated by a 18-wheeler or a minivan, fortunately for him he drove to the far right lane without incident.
We thought he was going to pull onto the shoulder and wait for us. Not so. He took off down the freeway. Yes he was leaving the scene of an accident. After we quickly checked all our gauges and miraculously everything was operating normal we proceeded down the freeway.
We made our way to the far right lane and drove for another mile or so looking for Driver X. We found him, and guess what? Yeah, he was on his cell phone. We eased up behind him and honked the horn. The look on his face when he saw the mangled front end of our Suburban and it was behind him again was a look of disbelief and horror . Because of heavy traffic there was nowhere for him to go and by then we had gotten his license plate number.
With nowhere to go Driver X pulled over to the shoulder and just sat there. We got out and inspected the front of the Suburban. We were sick to our stomachs because in the 22 years, we have never had an accident with the Suburban. Original paint and pristine condition, not anymore.
No fender damage or radiator damage, the bumper did what it was designed to do and the front brackets did their job which was to bend downward upon impact. Those front brackets saved our front fenders and radiator.
We approached Driver X on the passenger side and yeah he was still on his phone. We asked him what his problem was..? He sat there for a minute speechless and never once looked at us and replied, “I don’t know?” We were furious.
He was still on his phaone we asked him if he called CHP (California Highway Patrol), he said no. Then he said, “No Police”. So we called the Police.
The CHP showed up within 20 minutes. After the officer spoke with Driver X he came back to the Suburban and said “Are you okay?” We said yeah, we’re fine. The officer inspected our front end and said, “Do you need a tow truck?” No, we replied, happily. The officer was confused and said “It still runs?” Hell yeah, this is a tank. We took a direct hit and other than the mangled grille and bumper this baby runs fine!
We asked the officer about the other driver and what was going to happen next? We found out Driver X had no insurance and a temporary license. He was cited for “no insurance, inattentive driving, cell phone use while operating a vehicle, and leaving the scene of an accident. But to our surprise, he was just issued a ticket with all the violations and was free to go. We asked the trooper, “shouldn’t he go to jail?” He said no, his temporary license will be revoked and his fines are enormous, and he can’t pay his fines if he’s in jail.
Because Driver X had no insurance we had no choice but to accept the fact that we would be responsible for our own repair. Oh yeah we almost forgot, because we tried to avoid the accident and had a controlled emergency stop before we hit Driver X, Driver X’s and his Tacoma walked away with minimal damage just to his tailgate. His ladder survived.
We explained to the trooper what had happened and because you hear the old rule, that if you hit someone from behind, you’re at fault, we didn’t get charged with anything and was told it wouldn’t show as a “moving violation” on our driving record or insurance. Yeah, some good news!
Having an accident can ruin anyone’s day and thank god no one was injured in ours. It could have gone terribly bad and both us and Driver X were extremely lucky that we didn’t get hit from behind by other drivers on the busy freeway.
Yeah we were lucky.
One thing we would like to tell you readers, especially if you own an older truck like ours, if you go to your insurance company and you have more damage than what your truck is worth they want to ‘total it out.” Meaning you get a few bucks and they take your truck. Sometimes you can buy it back, but each case is different so ask your insurance what would happen in your particular case.
This is a press release from the California Highway Patrol:
Distracted driving can be a life-changing choice resulting in crashes and the deaths of thousands of people every year in the United States. Driven to make a difference, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) has implemented a yearlong Adult Distracted Drivers grant designed to keep California roads safe through education and enforcement.
CHP officers throughout the state will host in-person presentations and use Web-based or virtual platforms to conduct distracted driving traffic safety presentations. In addition, the CHP will conduct several distracted driving enforcement operations through September 30, 2021.
“Distracted driving continues to be a serious issue on our roadway, and it is entirely avoidable,” CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley said. “With the support of this grant, we can implement lifesaving efforts throughout California that will raise awareness and hopefully change dangerous behavior behind the wheel.”
Multitasking behind the wheel places extra demands on the driver, which can have tragic consequences.
On average, there are more than 20,000 drivers in California involved in a crash every year where inattention is a factor. “These statistics are likely much higher and are often under-reported to law enforcement since motorists do not always admit to driving distracted,” Commissioner Stanley added.
While there are many forms of inattention, cell phones continue to be the main source of diversion. Using a handheld cell phone while driving is not only a violation of the vehicle code, it is also an unsafe activity behind the wheel. Drivers should only use a phone when necessary and in a hands-free mode.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The mission of the CHP is to provide the highest level of Safety, Service, and Security.
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