The driving while texting teenagers, that is.
We're the smushed gray car on the left. Which shockingly, is actually NOT totaled, as I once thought. It is under repairs.
The tri-colored teen-mobile on the right belongs to a 16 year old who thought he'd cultivate his multi-tasking skills by texting a message on his cell phone while veering directly over the yellow line and into our lane.
Whiplash and scrapes and bruises aside, we are all okay. Gianna was rear-facing in her Britax Diplomat, and her only after effect so far is a loud, screaming cry when she's startled. Whiplash really hurts, readers. Planning a funeral would have hurt a whole lot worse, though.
The car seat has already been replaced, and I'm planning on rear-facing her until she's old enough to complain about it using full, properly tensed Latin sentences.
So, now I begin to collect info on other states that have better NO CELL PHONE laws. As if I needed another cause!
Where on earth did I put that arnica? And why does this spell checker try to helpfully suggest that arnica is better spelled, "fornicate?"
5 comments:
I've certainly missed your posts recently. Yet I'm so sorry that your most recent was about a car wreck. YEARS ago (well before children) I was in a wreck, my fault, which happened at least partly due to my distraction from a cell phone. Since that time I've shouted loud and far about how overrated multitiasking is--specifically with cell phones. When we moved from big city, Texas to small town, Nebraska, we finally got rid of our cell phones (all three of them--don't ask). Life has never been so uncomplicated. Seriously. I was thrilled when our state make it illegal for a teen to drive and talk on a cell phone. But I shouted "Why just a teen? Don't adults get distracted, too?"
Anyway, glad to have you back blogging and so happy to hear that you and sweetpea are safe and healing.
BTW, I had to look up arnica (I already knew what fornicate meant--snicker).
Thanks! Gianna's been busier than a beehive lately, and thinks she can type wayyy better than I can! I hope to blog a bit more, but summer is just so much more fun outside!
I'm so glad we're safe. I am going to bang the rear-facing car seat drum extra hard from now on. We always knew we weren't going to rush the "One year and 20 lbs" thing, but as far as I'm concerned, we're going to the max of her new Decathalon- 33 lbs (2.5-3 years?)
I'm so sorry this happened to you. Even if no one was injured at all, it's still a huge pain in the butt to deal with. But you were injured, and you need to pay special attention to the whiplash. It can come back to haunt you years down the road. Don't ask me how I know this. :)
I'm glad Gianna is alright.
All that said... to be hit by a texting teenager? When that was what you predicted would happen? I mean, you could have been hit by anybody -- someone old and unsteady, someone whose tire blew out unexpectedly -- but to be hit by a texting teenager!
Clara, stop making predictions!
Unless they're about good things.
Take care.
Having lived in NY, IL, and now MI as a driving adult, I thought I had witnessed some terrible driving practices. In IL, I had someone pass me on the right in after school traffic, going all the way onto a curb and into the grass. In NY, I had a man road rage my car almost into a median in the middle of Rochester during morning rush hour, even though I had no where to go (except square into the car in front of me).
Michigan has got to be the absolute worst, though. Drivers here must send away for their licenses with three box tops from their favorite sugar cereal. It's so ironic, as Detroit is the "Motor City!" Each and every time I drive, I see people doing such charming things as reading a book at a stop light, flipping through paperwork, lots and lots of cell phone use (and tons of texting)... the list goes on and on.
Thanks for the well wishes (and love the haiku!) I predict that soon, Gianna's molars will finally push through, and we'll all get some sleep for a change!
=Drivers here must send away for their licenses with three box tops from their favorite sugar cereal.=
;)
It can be worse in other places, though. I have been a passenger (though not a driver) in Mexico, and that was... um... fun. In Sorrento, in southern Italy, an Italian lady informed me that "traffic lights are merely a recommendation, and stop signs are decorative." My own worst experiences in driving were in Puerto Rico, which you can read about in my album here, if you are bored out of your skull and have nothing better to do:
http://beaglewriter.com/albums/sxmpr904/index.php?topic=puertoricodriving
It does make sense, actually, that the Motor City would give away drivers licenses for box tops -- it encourages driving. It's much the same as the Carolinas having no restrictions at all on smoking.
Go, molars, go!
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