Feet per Second, or FPS

Technology, it is all around us. We use it every day. It is a useful tool when we use it correctly, and so today we discuss FPS, or feet per second. This subject involves math calculations, so non-techy beware. What can you do in 3.41 seconds, which could alter your life and the lives of others around you? You would need a very small computer to do this task, about the size of your cell phone will do.

100 yards = 300 feet. 1 mile = 5,280 feet, traveling at 60 miles per hour you travel 1 mile per minute, divide 5280 x 60 to determine how far you will go in 1 second, which is 88 FPS, now divide that by 300 feet, or (100 yards), and you get 3.41 seconds.

Talking on a cell phone quadruples your risk of an accident, about the same as driving drunk. That risk doubles again, to 8 times the normal, if you are texting, text messaging creates a crash risk 23 times greater than driving without distraction, Answering a text takes away your attention for about 3.41 seconds, Traveling at 60 mph, that’s enough time to travel the length of a football field in which the car is essentially out of human control, driving itself.

But what bothers me the most, is that One-fourth of teenagers respond to at least one text message every time they drive and 20% of teens and 10% of parents report having multi-text message conversations while driving. Using technology this way is very bad for all of us. According to a AAA poll, 94% of teen drivers acknowledge the dangers of texting and driving, but 35% admitted to doing it anyway. A teen driver with only one additional passenger doubles the risk of getting into a fatal car accident. With two or more passengers, they are 5x as likely. 11 teens die every day as a result of texting while driving. If this bothers you to read, then you can imagine how I felt being run off the road by someone who was clearly texting while driving. I am all for technology, I use it every day, but, if you call me and I don’t answer on the first ring, chances are I am driving, texting however, my fingers won’t allow it, like Vienna Sausages, and the predictive text always messes up what I want to say. So with summer upon us, let’s be safe out there. Use technology for good, not evil.