MCCPTA Presentation: Distracted Driving: The Accident Waiting To Happen

[Howard Hartman]

Remind Me

Distracted Driving: The Accident Waiting To Happen

Tuesday, March 27, 2012
6:30pm to 7:30pm

Carver Education Center Auditorium
850 Hungeford Drive
Rockville, Maryland

Presented by Washington Attorney Sal Zambri from Regan Zambri & Long, PLLC

Sal Zambri

There are all kinds of distracted driving, including eating, putting on makeup, playing music too loudly, texting, cell-phone use, map-reading, rubber-necking, and drinking while driving. Any kind of distracted driving can be lethal. My presentation focuses mostly on the devastating consequences of texting and cell-phone use while driving. As part of my presentation, I speak to my audience about body mechanics and how much time it takes to react to emergency situations. Those in attendance are often amazed to hear how long it takes to stop a car, even on dry pavement, at 55 mph. In most circumstances, believe it or not, it takes nearly a football field (or 100 yards) to perceive an emergency in front of you, determine how to respond to it, move your body as necessary to change the course of your vehicle, and then allow time for the vehicle to come to a complete stop. The science is not debatable. Therefore, the notion that someone can drive safely while being distracted is simply nonsense.

I also focus on the wide array of consequences of distracted driving: injuries, guilt, civil and criminal penalties, impact on education and job opportunities, etc. The message to the students is simple: you owe an obligation to yourself, your passengers, others on the road, as well as to your families and friends who would be devastated as a result of any injury you caused, to drive safely. Cars are lethal weapons. If you don’t drive to stay alive, life as you know it can change in a flash. My goal is to empower audience members to be disciplined enough to drive appropriately and be strong enough to be sure operators of vehicles in which they are passengers are not distracted while driving.

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