Decide to Drive Campaign
In the health section of the New York Times, a follow-up piece was recently published in reaction to “widespread publicity about the hazards of distracted driving, including a Pulitzer-prize winning series in this newspaper,” whereby medical groups are currently working hard to make patients increasingly aware of the problem.
In fact, “the most recent effort was started last week by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the Orthopaedic Trauma Association, whose “Decide to Drive” campaign calls attention to the increasing number of distractions engaged in by multitasking drivers and the resulting toll on people’s lives,” according to the story.
The idea works like this: since these doctors already take care of people injured in car accidents, and distracted driving is a substantial contributor to these accidents, spreading awareness about the issue may help eliminate the high concentration surgeons are forced to focus on car accidents each year within their practice.
Although, Orthopedists claim they “would do very well, thank you, without the business generated by the 307,369 crashes that have occurred so far this year,” (according to estimates from the National Safety Council involving drivers talking on cell phones or texting) the numbers are keeping them busy.
For example, “last year Aaron Brookens of Beloit, Wisconsin, then 19, was driving home at 75 miles an hour after spending a weekend with his girlfriend when he decided to send her a text message — and wound up pinned under a semi,” according to the story. The price for the accident for the young man was “two broken femurs, a broken kneecap and ankle, nerve damage to both legs, and a lacerated spleen, kidney and liver,” the Times revealed.
“After numerous operations and a lengthy rehab later, Mr. Brookens knows he’s lucky to be alive,” the story indicated. Because, “No one thinks it will happen to them,” the young man said at a recent news conference convened by the orthopedists. In sum, the child wants others to learn from his mistake by sharing his story and getting involved with Decide to Drive.
Finally, “among those beating the drums are the parents of Eric Okerblom, a 19-year-old college student who was struck by a car and killed in 2009 while cycling near his home in Santa Maria, California, the driver, a teenager, was traveling 60 m.p.h. while texting on her cell phone,” according to the report. His father, Bob Okerblom, “is now on a cross-country bike ride, blogging along the way in order to spread the word about distracted driving,” the Times reports.
For now, the story says, the Decide to Drive campaign will continue to “try to raise the national consciousness and change future driving behavior by taking their message to schoolchildren, especially those in grades 5 through 8, who may discourage their parents and siblings from driving distracted and refrain themselves when they become drivers.”
For more information, please visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/health/12brody.html?_r=1&scp=9&sq=driving%20safety&st=cse.