'Distracted Driving', i.e. driving with your attention (intentionally) distracted by phones and other devices, is predicted to become the biggest cause of deaths on the road. For this reason, police have released shocking footage of a tragedy which claimed the lives of a mother and three children.
Credit: Surrey Police
Advert
Tomasz Kroker, of Andover, Hampshire, was looking at his phone while driving on the motorway when he crashed his lorry into stationary traffic in 2015. Ploughing into Tracy Houghton's car, the 30-year-old killed the driver, her sons, 13-year-old Ethan and 11-year-old Joshua, and her partner's daughter, 11-year-old Aimee Goldsmith.
The harrowing clip, released in the hope of making drivers think twice about the dangers of driving without paying full attention to the road ahead, shows the moment the driver looked at his mobile. It was released by Surrey Police in a bid to stop drivers doing the same. It was also later revealed that Kroker had been scrolling through music selections for nearly a kilometre on the A34 near Newbury when the tragic accident occurred.
Credit: Surrey Police
Advert
The footage shows Aimee's mum, Kate, saying: "I continue to see drivers using their phones. It sickens me. If they had seen the devastation they brought my family, or to other families, by using phones, illegally... distracting themselves from driving a potential weapon... Would they be as sickened as we are?"
Kroker received a 10-year jail sentence at Reading Crown Court after pleading guilty to the charge of causing death by dangerous driving, as well as a single count of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Credit: Surrey Police
Advert
Throughout the country, the number of mobile phone users who make calls, send texts and check their social media accounts has risen, causing a spike in accidents. Gloucestershire Police Chief Constable Suzette Davenport said the public were responsible for making it socially unacceptable to use your mobile at the wheel.
While it's not possible to tell exactly how many accidents are caused by distracted driving (not everyone will admit to having been distracted at the time of an accident), the numbers have certainly risen since the popularisation of mobile phones.
Research shows that you're four times more likely to be in a crash if you use your phone while driving, and that your reaction time is two times slower if you text and drive than if you drink and drive, three times if using a handheld phone.
It is also illegal to use a handheld mobile while driving to send texts, check maps and check social media, which includes periods when you are stationary, such as at lights.
Advert
Words: Ronan O'Shea