Drinking and Driving vs. Texting and Driving

As if drinking and driving isn’t dangerous enough, now we’ve entered a world where texting and driving is just as big of a concern. In an article from USNews.com, Bret Schulte writes, “An estimated 20 percent of drivers are sending or receiving text messages while behind the wheel, according to a Nationwide Insurance study. And, according to another poll, that number skyrockets to 66 percent when drivers 18 to 24 are isolated. The practice, especially popular among young people, is exacting a deadly toll.”

Why is it that drinking and driving and texting and driving are being compared when each instance involves different distractions? Perhaps the reason may be that the results of the distractions are equally as fatal.

Studies show that talking on a cellphone while driving is as hazardous as driving with a .08 blood alcohol level  and that the danger of driving while texting is at least twice that perilous. Research also shows that many people are conscious that the behavior is risky, but they assume others are the problem.

Can that actually be true?

A graphic British Public Service Announcement has been populating over the internet leaving many people mortifyed as it portrays adisturbing and realist occurrence of a girl who causes an accident that results in the death of her friends, just by texting behind the wheel. It was also a British study that confirmed texting reducing the reaction time of drivers. I’m not sure why the British are the first to realize this, as the study was published back in 2008; however America can sure learn from them.

On msnbc.com, TODAY posts an article that states:

“Produced by the Gwent Police Department, the PSA sends out a horrible visual to illustrate the dangers of texting while driving. But it currently isn’t being aired on U.S. television. For Americans to even view the ad on YouTube, they must assert they are at least 18.”

For those of you who haven’t seen it, TODAY explains the PSA vividly:

“Two teen girls giggle over a text message they are sending while driving along a country road. Distracted, the driver smashes head-on into another car, and while the bloodied girls exchange dazed glances, a third car careens into the passenger side.

The driver finds her friend lying dead next to her. Then the camera switches to another smashed vehicle and shows a young child inside, asking why her parents are not waking up.”

So why is it that it is too graphic for the U.S. to view when many people have been involved with text related crashes? According to txtresponsibility.org an 18-year-old teen died in a head-on crash that was the result of  text while driving. In a CBS report by Jen MacDonald a 46-year-old woman was killed in 2007 when another driver rear-ended her going 60 miles an hour. Furthermore, The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute concluded that people who send text messages while driving are 23 times more likely to be in a crash (or what they call a near-crash event) than nondistracted drivers. In the same study, CNET’s Jennifer Guevin reported that the institute also found that “texting took a driver’s focus away from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds–enough time…to travel the length of a football field at 55 mph.”

So it looks like America should be able to handle a graphic video if it’s going to scare people into not texting and driving….Especially because we’ve all watched graphic videos of the horros drinking and driving can bring.

No binge drinking at football games!

Michael McCarthy of USA Today, wrote an article two weeks ago that stated “The NFL will try to crack down on binge drinking by fans at games during the2009 season.”

My first thought? This is going to create  a huge stir as many fans drink, and even more, get wasted, during football games. Plenty people show up at the game already intoxicated; some fans admit that 50% of the reason they are there is so they can get drunk. Even if you do not have tickets to the game, you  show up and tailgate with friends and other fans of your favorite football team. Many fans associate football season with drinking and tailgating and

So while some may think that limiting the amounts of beer fans can purchase per transaction is bad enough, wait until you hear this one. The NFL is suggesting that all teams and stadiums begin to limit tailgating to 3½ hours before games. Furthermore, the league suggests that the stadiums’ security should try to improve the way they  monitor and enforce rules against excessive drinking in stadium parking lots.

All of these changes and monitoring of excessive drinking is due to the Fan Code of Conduct that the NFL implemented last season. To promote this safe change, beer cups will display the phrase: “Fans don’t let fans drive drunk” printed on nearly every cup this season.

H1N1: Enough is enough, right?

Some how I’ve managed to escape all the madness of the H1N1 virus.  Even though I’ve traveled to Aruba, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Haiti in the past 4 months, I’ve been able to shield myself from all the germs and people that affected by the deadly so-called “swine flu”. Nonetheless, I have not been able to escape the news of the virus and the CDC and White House updates on how many people it has affected and it’s status updates of who’s next to get sick, or even worse, die.

Today I noticed how the CDC’s twitter site is loaded with tweets regarding updates on hospitalizations and deaths from the virus,  adding informational H1N1 widgets to web pages or blogs and  even how to create a video PSA with the message of preventing or dealing with the flu!

Every where you look, someone is saying that thousands are goign to die from the flu. Now is this going a little overboard? Not according to a report released on Monday from  President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

“The report says the current strain ‘poses a serious health threat’ to the nation. The issue is not that the virus is more deadly than other flu strains, but rather that it is likely to infect more people than usual because it is a new strain against which few people have immunity,” the White House said.

So now I wonder, how far is too far? Some people are freaking out over the flu and thinking they are going to die. While others aren’t worried about it, because it simply hasn’t hit home or they will wait to see if these statistics add up.

Should you keep your kids home?

Should you call out sick from work at the first symptom of a cold?

Is enough ever going to be enough?

In an article written by Rob Lovitt, from msnbc.com:

“Last week, a White House advisory panel issued a report saying that 60-120 million Americans could become infected this fall and winter and as many as 90,000 could die. A day later, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the agency tasked with protecting public health, said that was highly unlikely.”

So who do we believe, the White House or CDC? And is it really necessary to alarm people that 90,000 Americans can die? I think statements like that are going to start getting this whole nation on a panic. Yes people should be informed but do people need to be scared, or just merely concerned?

Important Life Lesson: Learn to Spend Money You Don’t Have?

So I was listening to the radio the other day and they brought up a great topic: being taught to spend money you don’t have.  It’s funny to look at where we are in today’s economy. People are struggling to find jobs, prices for everyday goods have sky rocketed, and everywhere you look people are in debt. The ironic thing is, many of us were taught how to spend the money we don’t’ have instead of saving your money and balancing a check book. Why is it that we are taught at an early age, when you get older you must establish good credit?  We hear that without good credit, you cannot buy anything; however, no one has stopped to say, ” the real lesson is to save!”

Many people have built up a life that is surrounded by credit and in some instances debt. They are so consumed with spending money that they never stopped to consider, where is this money coming from and what happens when this money runs out? These so-called  “teachers” didn’t explain that in order to establish good credit you must: have and maintain a job, pay all your bills on time. All they did was stressed  how to get by with buying things with the money you do not have in your account.

It really amazes me that by trying to establish good credit, you have to be careful! You have to open up a credit card, use it for a bit, then make sure you pay off everything in time and hopefully in full. If you open up a credit card to gain credit and then you buy something that you cannot afford, you better make sure you have a backup plan to provide you with  money, because in this economy job security isn’t a luxury!

I think everyone should take a finance class that teaches them to manage their accounts, how to balance a check book, and something that secures good credit without making you break the bank!

Views on Social Networking

Well I finally joined wordpress. Its hard to pick what blog sites to use. I’m am in the middle of sorting out my life, from deciding where I want to live and what I ultimately want to do. One thing I know for sure is without goals, its going to be a lot harder to succeed.

I love how social networking has become such a popular new way to connect to others around the world. The fact that you can get paid to blog and update facebook and twitter sites is actually pretty amazing. If you’re like me and like to write and are constantly checking your networking site, I think this is the ultimate job!

I was browsing the internet for articles on social networking and I came across Andy Merrett’s article ‘Employers getting tough on social network use at work’ on The Blog Herald. This is such an interesting article because it involves companies banning social networking sites such as twitter and facebook from their company computers. Merrett asks at the end of his article whether or not these sites should be banned. –Talk about a good question!

I totally understand how these sites could cause distractions at the workplace. I think that if your company uses these sites for networking and promotional reasons, you obviously cannot partake in banning these sites. However, those companies who do not use social networking are most likely the ones who are experiencing people using these sites during office hours. I’m someone in the position of handling such communication related responsibilities will be much more expected to be on these sites, rather than an accountant or ales representative. Now you have to ask yourself, is it really fair to let some employees uses these sites and others not? I personally think social networking is a great technique that all companies should use. Clients like to see what their partners are up to and the companies in which they may invest money into or work with, are doing. Some of these sites provide the instant availability to allow updates on the company immediately.

At the end of the day, while I understand why and how these sites can potentially cause workers to utilize their time inefficiently at work, I think that companies should allow at least one computer to be able to access such sites for their own business updates, and I guess they can just block them on the other sites. If you are a true blogger or social network addict, you can updated your sites on your Blackberry like me, or any other PDA that you may have.