Kasi Nagse-cellphone Ka.

Let's face it, no matter how strongly we feel against texting while driving, there will be circumstances when it cannot be avoided; that's one of the perks of mobility, see, you can take a phone call on your way to your meeting and know that it has been cancelled before you hit the massive parking lot that is EDSA.

But not all of us are good with multitasking, and at times, those who are proficient in texting while driving fail to uphold safety. Just a few days ago, had a fender-bender with my Boss's parked car on our office's driveway. I was backing up while texting a friend to tell her I was on the way. I was so used to that driveway being free of obstacles other than the gate that I forgot about my boss's car in there. I scratched his car, and that was the first bump I've ever had in my car that was my doing/fault. It was vaguely funny, but a scratch should never be.

So most of us who use our phones while driving are very good at justifying why we do so. "Traffic naman e, hindi naman ako babangga," or "I'm good with multitasking," or "I just really need to get this," or "I rarely do this". In the spirit of safety, we all shouldn't.

Photo lifted from http://www.towtimes.com/

There are some who even do this while driving on a fast street, say Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City. They think their feet are human cruise controls, and that their cars have automatic lane-guiding abilities, that they leave their cars' controls and focus on text messaging, or being on their phone for something else (nowadays we really can't assume they're texting, because a lot more can be done with mobile phones these days). This usually makes them ride slightly out of the lane, and slower than they should be, and catch my ire.

In traffic jams, texting or using your mobile phone seems to be the best way out of boredom. You pick up your phone and tweet "omg it's so #traffic here at #fairview!", or instagram a photo of the tail lights of the car in front of you, or browse your facebook feed for anything funny. Most of us lose the attention, and when the pack moves, we are left behind, with the driver behind us honking furiously (this usually is me, honking at you) and flashing their lights because screw you, our line is getting left behind.

E paano naman natin iiwasan 'to?

Simple lang. Kung gusto mong magtext, lalo na kung medyo mahaba, tumabi ka muna at mag-hazard. O kaya mag-set ka ng auto-reply messages sa cellphone mo na nagsasabing nagddrive ka, kaya mas late ka makakapagtext. Pwede rin namang 'wag na munang magtext kung hindi naman kailangan talaga. Kung hindi maiintindihan nung katext mo na nagmamaneho ka, hindi rin niya maiintindihan kung bakit 2 ang sagot sa 1+1.

So, should we still do it?

As a "responsible" driver, I'm gonna say no. But I'm pretty sure I'll be doing it once in a while, when necessary, but I'll keep safety in mind of course.

So sa susunod na magtatanong ka kung bakit matrapik, tignan mo yung nasa harap mong sasakyan, baka nagse-cellphone.

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