You probably wouldn’t expect a hit song to be the central to a distracted driving story, but unfortunately that was exactly the case recently when a 32-year-old woman was killed after she drove her car head-on into a truck. Apparently the woman was posting something to Facebook about the song “Happy” by Pharrell Williams while she was driving.
The Facebook post was timestamped at 8:33 a.m. and the police got an emergency call about the fatal car accident at 8:34 a.m. It is believed that the woman’s decision to post to Facebook caused her to lose control of her vehicle and cause the crash. The driver of the other vehicle was not hurt in the wreck.
While that may be the only uplifting aspect of the entire incident, this story is a very unfortunate reminder about the dangers of distracted driving. Taking out your cellphone and using it to send text messages, take photos, update social media profiles or even just to make a phone call is a reckless decision, and that choice dramatically increases your chances of getting into a car accident.
Distracted drivers are everywhere nowadays. It’s upsetting how often you can drive down Nebraska freeways and see a vehicle that is swaying in its lane — and when you drive past it, you see a driver looking down at his or her lap for an extended period, probably because there’s a cellphone there and they are typing away. It’s dangerous and negligent, and those who cause such accidents can be subject to a civil lawsuit by victims of any accident they cause.
Source: WGHP, “Woman posts about ‘Happy’ song on Facebook seconds before fatal Business 85 crash,” Lindsey Eaton, April 25, 2014
