Texting and driving: deadly combination

A silver sedan sits in the parking lot of Falconís Fire Station No. 3, near the intersection of Highway 24 and Old Meridian Road. The carís left side is mangled and crushed. The driverís seat ism twisted; the steering wheel oblong instead of round.What canít be seen through the shattered windows is the death that occurred in this car because someone else chose to pay attention to a cell phone rather than watch the road ahead.The Falcon Fire Protection District has teamed up with the University of Colorado Hospital to host this sobering display, which is part of the P.A.R.T.Y. (Prevent Alcohol and Risk Related Trauma in Youth) program sponsored by UCH. Matt Gibbs, Falcon firefighter, is a coordinator for the program. He said P.A.R.T.Y. was started about 25 years ago by a group of Canadian nurses who were tired of seeing teenagers dying in car crashes. The program focuses on distracted driving, with an emphasis on cell phone use while driving. More information can be found at http://uch.edu/PARTY and http://partyprogram.com.Some facts about texting and driving:

• Texting while driving is illegal in the state of Colorado for drivers of ALL ages.
• Five seconds is the average time a personís eyes are off the road while texting. At 55 miles per hour, thatís the equivalent of traveling the length of afootball field while blindfolded. (http://distraction.gov)
• Nearly half of all U.S. high schoolstudents age 16 years or older text or email while driving. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• A quarter of teens respond to a text message once or more every time they drive. Twenty percent of teens and 10 percent of parents admit that they have extended, multi-message textconversations while driving. (University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute)
• Texting while driving is six times more likely to cause an auto crash than driving while intoxicated. (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute)

The members of the Falcon Fire Protection District want to remind drivers of all ages to be safe on the roads. Pull over to a safe place before using a cell phone. Pay attention to the road and traffic. Always use seat belts. And keep children safe by using car seats or booster seats.Speaking of car seat safety …Colorado state law mandates that children under the age of 8 must be restrained in booster seats or other appropriate child car seats. However, FFPD firefighter AmyWebb, a trained car seat technician, told The New Falcon Herald that age is not the only criteria for determining whether a particular car seat or booster seat is appropriate for the child using it. ìIt goes by the childís height and weight now,î she said.(See Lara Freemanís article on this page about free car safety checks offered through the FFPD.)Webb also encourages parents to sign up for notices about consumer recalls that can affect infant and children products such as car seats. Go to the Consumer Product Safety Commission website at http://cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx.