What is your behaviour as a road user?
If you take a look around you, you’ll be amazed at the number of people that are engrossed with their phones or are with their earpiece on. You’re probably a culprit too. It’s either the young man about to cross the road with his ears plugged or the lady in the other lane who’s not aware that the red light has changed because she’s busy texting away or the guy who just passed with his speaker blaring a trending song. Do you know that your behavior as a road user doesn’t affect only you? It affects others too!
The death of a female NYSC member was in the news last week. She was hit by an incoming train. It appears that she was not aware the train was approaching because she had her earpiece on. According to eye witnesses;
“The train was not moving at high speed. People tried to call her attention to the oncoming train but she didn’t yield to the call. She continued pressing her mobile phone”
“I was looking at her from where I stood and saw her with her earpiece plugged into her ears which made her unable to hear the sound of the incoming train.”
This is not the first time we will hear such disheartening news, hopefully it will be the last. Most times, we are preoccupied by our phones or earpiece while crossing and we don’t give any thought to our safety or that of others. Are we waiting until something drastic happens before we know we have to be careful?
Headphones, earpiece and smartphones appear to be our one saving grace when we’re stuck in traffic or taking that lonely walk across the street. They make travelling easy and working out more fun, they also appear to help us get to our destination faster. However, being preoccupied while driving or crossing the road is unsafe.
Texting while driving or making use of headphones or earpiece while driving and crossing the road are distracting and may sometimes lead to “inattentional blindness “. In this case, it becomes easy to miss details when you’re not looking out for them.
Drivers look but don’t see because they are distracted by conversation. Interruptions to driving, such as answering a call, are likely to be more dangerous if they occur during maneuvers like merging to exit a freeway. You focus on your phone and become blind to the unexpected. You could get stuck in the middle of the road and not know where you were heading.
There are lots of scenarios we could paint but God forbid that these things happen to us because we are not careful enough.
Therefore, we need to have the right behavior as road users. Always pause the music and cross the road like a responsible pedestrian. When driving, avoid distractions.
Remember that we are role models and our kids tend to do what they see us doing.
We need to be more careful. Avoid using earpiece/ headphones while crossing the road and avoid being distracted while driving.
Stay safe!
