Tennessee just came up with a VERY creative way to catch people texting and driving
We all know that texting and driving is completely dangerous and completely against the law, but somehow that doesn’t prevent a crazy-ton of people from doing this scary, illegal thing every day. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention just released a new study showing that most people say they talk on the phone while driving while 1 out of 3 people confess to texting while driving. Yikes and more yikes.
As the Times Free Press reports, the Tennessee Highway Patrol recently got super-creative re: catching texters-and-drivers. No, they didn’t suddenly get their hands on futuristic robot tech from a Philip K. Dick novel or employ a fleet of psychics to suss out texters. No, in order to catch drivers whose eyeballs were on their phones when they should have been on the road, the Highway Patrol used (wait for it) semi-trucks.
You see, from the cab of a Tennessee Highway Patrol-owned tractor trailer, a patrolman can see down into cars and spot all kinds of lawbreaking is much more difficult to see from a regular patrol car. You know, things like unbuckled seatbelts, open containers of alcohol, and, of course, texting while driving.
Unfortunately for public safety, this troopers-in-semi’s is not going to be a forever thing, it’s a part of a Tennessee Highway Patrol campaign “Stay Alive on 75,” a promotion designed to raise crash-prevention awareness.
Still, big ups to the THP for finding a creative way to catch those who text and drive. This is a serious problem, and we applaud these troopers for their inventive solution, and hope that those who hear about this campaign are reminded of how important it is to be ever-vigilant while driving. So think about those troopers in semis next time you reach for your phone to text someone while driving. You can text when you’re parked. Whatever it is, it can wait.
Related:
Yikes! One-third of teens are still texting and driving
Texting and driving is bad, but this is worse
Image via Fox Searchlight
