Car Talk

My husband often teases me that I’m usually not even out of our driveway before he sees my cell phone hit my ear. And he’s right. Honestly, I pretty much reserve all my time for talking on the phone for the time I’m in the car, whether it’s on the way to work and back each day, on my way to the grocery store, etc.

But yesterday I participated in a webinar given by Zurich North America that I initially thought was going to be about texting and driving, which, to me, is kind of a no-brainer not to do—but I thought it would make an interesting story and could be helpful to readers. However, the webinar also focused just as much on talking and driving as it did texting, and said someone talking on a cell phone while driving is four to five more times likely to crash. (Texting takes this number up to 23 times. An interesting video (see below) that the webinar referenced actually points out that someone texting and driving is just as likely to crash as someone whose blood alcohol content is twice the legal limit of what is allowed in the state of Utah.)

I personally am going to try to make a conscious effort to cut down my talk time—though I know it’s going to be tough. Already I am dreading the ride home today (though, as a bonus, at least I’ll actually get to hear the music from my iPod for a change). The gentleman giving the webinar, Jeff Chilcott of Zurich, kept likening getting employees (and others) to slow down on cell phone usage in the car to seatbelt usage, and how, in the late 1980s when they started passing laws requiring this, people were extremely resistant. I still have family members who resist this and don’t doubt that you do, too, so chances are cutting down on cell phone usage, in light of some of these recent studies about how dangerous it can be, will still be tough.

I hope you’ll read today’s story on glassBYTEs.com™ about this topic, and how many companies are implementing cell phone usage policies now to protect themselves in the event of a work-related accident (and, of course, to hopefully prevent cell phone-related accidents from occurring in the first place, too). But I have to wonder, in a business as mobile-based as the auto glass business is in many cases, how do you handle this? Again, I think texting and driving is an obvious no-no, but what about talking and driving? How do you handle this? I know many auto glass businesses are small, one-man businesses, who need that vehicle time to book future appointments. And, I know many people today utilize GPS units that are part of their BlackBerry® or other smart phone. Do you instruct your technicians to pull over before looking up directions on their smart phone? Do you utilize regular GPS units to combat this? And, do you encourage them to pull over before taking a phone call?

I’d really like to hear your thoughts—and company policies—on this topic. Please e-mail me at pstacey@glass.com, and be sure to participate in our survey on this topic as well.

Lastly, the video below was mentioned in the webinar, and, though it’s a bit lengthy, is an interesting one to view—and definitely is one everyone tempted to text and drive should see.