Convicted of murder for texting and driving?

Wow.

38 states have made texting while driving illegal, but it looks like Massachusetts will be the first to imprison someone for breaking this law.

Aaron Deveau has been found guilty of motor vehicle homicide by texting and faces up to four years in prison after his vehicle swerved into oncoming traffic and hit a pick up truck and killing Donald Bowley on Feb 20 earlier this year.

I’m kind of torn on this.  I agree that Deveau needs to be held accountable for driving carelessly and ultimately causing the death of another human being.

On the other hand, this man is going to have a murder charge on his record for the rest of his life for merely checking his phone while driving.

I guess ultimately, I agree with the ruling.  Texting while driving is dangerous and unnecessary.  Is there really a text so important that you can’t wait until you get where you’re going to answer it?  Is a text message worth a life?

This conviction and the subsequent sentence may seem harsh, but if people aren’t held accountable the message is never going to be heard.  People need to know that there will be consequences for driving negligently and putting other lives at risk.  Just like driving drunk is dangerous, texting or being otherwise disturbed by a cell phone is even more dangerous.   According to this article, distracted driving (which includes cell phone usage) ranks higher than drunk driving.  I checked a couple of other sites and cell phone usage ranked higher on those sites as well.

The bottom line is this:  driving while texting (or using a cell phone in any other capacity) is dangerous and can be lethal.  Yes, this conviction and punishment are harsh, but the message needs to get out there.  Don’t text while driving.  You shouldn’t even text while walking.  We’ve all seen the videos of people falling into manholes while texting while walking.  Hell, Ryan Gosling became a “hero” a month or so ago when he stopped a woman who was texting while walking from meandering out in front of a bus.

What do you guys think?  Is the punishment too harsh, too lenient, or just right?

Related articles

• Distracted Driving Month: Putting Texting in a Safer Context (parkingsigns.net)
• Simulator Shows Texting While Driving Is As Dangerous As Drunk Driving (baltimore.cbslocal.com)
• Homicide Charges In Texting While Driving Death (krdo.com)

Things I Should Not Be Subjected To: Everyone and their smart phones

My wife’s company had its holiday party tonight.  Don’t ask me why they have it 15 days into the new year.  I don’t know.  But it makes no sense to me either.

So we went to the party, which was at a country club.  I was uncomfortable right off the bat because I had to dress nice for the damn party.  Then we got there, and the place is crawling with pretentious snobs.  I can honestly say that until tonight I’ve never seen anyone dress up in expensive clothing, drink wine, and watch football.  Football should be watched in casual attire while drinking real alcohol (beer or liquor) while eating junk food and BBQ.  Or pizza and wings.  But that’s not what I’m here to bitch about.

I don’t really know the people she works with so I spent most of the time watching the Patriots/Broncos game while my wife mingled with her friends.   The party ended at 10 and her and her girlfriends wanted to keep hanging out, so we decided to go to an English Pub.

So we went to the pub and we’re all drinking and socializing and such, when I notice something:  every damn one of her friends (7 of them) had their damn smart phones out updating shit on Facebook.  Why?

Is this what society is coming to?  Is nothing valid or genuine unless it’s posted on that intrusive site?  What was so important that they all had to get on Facebook at the same time?  Why not put the phones down and actually talk to the people in front of you instead of the people of Facebook who probably won’t see whatever the hell you’re updating until tomorrow?  I’m all for using Facebook to stay in touch with people but when those people are in the same room as you I don’t really see the point.  It’s also extremely rude to just whip out your phone and do whatever it is you’re doing on it when someone is talking to you.

One of my friends had actually came to the Pub for a bit and she and I both agreed that it was somewhat sad and it annoyed both of us equally.  It was like a group of zombies that were just frozen, captivated by what was on their screens.  I just don’t get it and, quite frankly, don’t want to.  Ugh, this is so stupid I don’t even know how to end my post.  So…it’s over.