When my local police force retweeted it, I honestly thought this was a joke. Do people actually do this? Would anybody be so stupid?
Sadly it seems that yes, there are people who do this. It’s not just watching movies or TV shows – something I see truck-drivers doing. It’s actually watching YouTube videos and even recording videos in the car. Some of these videos, according to the officer who has launched a social media thunderclap on Friday 8th April. The hashtag #DontStreamAndDrive will serve to highlight the problem.
Sadly some YouTube vloggers think that recording themselves talking to camera whilst driving is “cool”. Livestreaming it, answering questions as you go, making it into a more “interesting” backdrop for viewers to see. However, it’s – as you would expect – properly dangerous because you’re not concentrating fully on the road. Anything you do in your car that takes your attention off the road is, well, bad.
Here’s an example…
It makes me think, just a little, that this is perhaps why self-driving cars are a good thing. On motorways and other straight (and some would say, “dull” roads), there’s this strange urge for people to fill what is perceived to be “downtime”. Like queuing for coffee, it’s a task which is relatively easy, relatively monotonous. But sometimes, just sometimes, you can get scalded if you don’t watch what you’re doing.
Phew. Got through that entire article without mentioning this American policeman driving around without having proper control of his vehicle…