From Maryland State Police:
On Tuesday, August 14, 2012 at approximately 2:14 p.m. troopers responded to MD Route 152 (Mountain Road) and Old Joppa Road, Fallston, Maryland, for a serious motor vehicle crash.
Preliminarily investigation revealed that a 1999 Saturn, operated by Hanna Mackensie Kriss, 18 yoa, 100 block of Theodora Court, Forest Hill, Maryland, was traveling northbound on Route 152 prior to Old Joppa Road. The Saturn crossed the double yellow center line and sideswiped a 2011 Toyota Avalon, operated by Sandy Lee Rohe, 44 yoa, 2500 Beverly Drive, Joppa, Maryland. After striking the Toyota, the Saturn continued traveling on the wrong side of the road subsequently striking a 2004 Chevrolet Suburban head on. The Chevrolet was operated by Dereke Michael Hoch, 28 yoa, 900 block of Palm Tree Circle, Glen Burnie, Maryland. The front seat passenger of the Chevrolet was identified as Michael Craig Burke, 34 yoa, 7700 block of Woodlawn Ave, Pasadena, Maryland. After the collision the Chevrolet caught fire and became engulfed. Both occupants were able to free themselves from the vehicle prior to emergency personnel arriving at the scene.
Investigators have been unable to determine why Kriss crossed the center line. Kriss was pronounced deceased at the scene by medical personnel.
The operator of the Toyota, Sandy Rohe, was not injured.
The operator of the Chevrolet (Dereke Hoch) was transported to the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center with non-life threatening injuries. The passenger (Michael Burke) was transported to Bayview Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.
Troopers are continuing to investigate the crash. Route 152 remained closed for several hours while the scene was investigated. A personal injury lawyer has been contacted to help with the investigation.
Before the Dagger “Cast the first stone” crowd shows up to make assertions as to what happened. Please remember to pray for the family as this was someones child. No one, except those who have lost a child, knows what this is all about.
I don’t give a crap about your thumbs up or down, just practice some civility please.
Amen. Well said.
So sad. Prayers for all those involved and their families.
Texting or Talking?
Censored by the press. 1984 is here.
When enough people give your comment a “thumbs-down,” the system automatically hides it. We have nothing to do with it and couldn’t even un-hide it if we wanted to.
The comment is still there in its entirety by clicking on the “Click here to see.”
Anecdotal observation has shown that hidden posts actually draw more idle curiousity from those who just can’t help rubber-necking to get a peek at the trainwreck behind the curtain.
Well said Brian! not daggers fault
Because your comment is hurtful and uncaring and inappropriate at this time…..were you there?? Were you in the vehicle? Was she I’ll?? Did something on the car fail??? Don’t judge least you be judged…..
Old Skool. Where you in the car with her? If not what is your point, let the family have their time time to deal with this. You are an idiot for talking crap, no way you have kids. Come on man or lady keep your mouth shut. AGAIN NO I DONT KNOW THE FAMILY BUT THEY JUST LOST THEIR DAUGHTER LET THEM BE!
NO,but I know people who were there.
How rude . Texting or talking ? Alittle quick to judge . Pay your respect to the family who just lost their daughter .
So my comment was hidden, if it is found to be a cell phone issue will it be reposted? Why did she just get permission to drive again? What did she do wrong to lose he driving privileges?
It’s not really so rude folks, this is a newspaper not a funeral parlor. It’s for posting opinions, not prayers. It’s a very sad story and a terrible loss, and sure it could have been a tire blowout. Sad truth is, and I drive hundreds of miles a day, is that people risk their lives (and others) with their obsession with their phones. I see it all the time, swerving back and forth, people hiding behind their tinted glass windows, eyes glued to their phones and not the road. Maybe that’s not at all what happened here but I have strong suspicions. Since I live around here too, it could have been me or my kids getting hit head on by a car on the wrong side of the road, then the cause of this crash is a concern for me, and my 40 years of driving tells me that a person will do anything to avoid crossing that double line, unless they don’t realize that they crossed it.
I agree since it was my son that could have been killed as well. He was driving the SUV that was hit. I pray that was not the case.
Actually – YES – it is rude.
It is rude because the article doesn’t make any mention of the cause. For all we know, she could have had a seizure. The steering could have gone out. It COULD have been 100 different things.
While I agree that texting while driving is a stupid idea, let’s not rush to judgement until we have some form of evidence. If the evidence is there, then it’s fair game.
Otherwise, let’s exercise some restraint, OK? Just imagine how you’d feel right now if you were the family, having lost your daughter, and some shmuck is assuming she was texting.
Good grief!
I think it’s appropriate to ask the question.
I don’t think it’s appropriate assume you know the answer.
It’s like the Boniface incident. I think a great many people suspected there was more to the story, and some of those people handled their speculation appropriately, and some did not.
I also think, in particular in this county at this time where we seem to have a real epidemic of fatal accidents almost all having similar circumstances, that it’s fair to have a conversation about what is happening and how we can try to prevent this– regardless of the cause of any particular incident.
Remember just a couple of months ago the HCPS employee who was killed on 152 in a head on collision. Then a few years ago on the Bel Air bypass, the family in the van hit head on. High speed roads with opposing lanes of traffic (50mph or more) in Harford like Route 1 and Mountain Road really require extra vigilance or in the case of the bypass – a guardrail straight down the middle. Maybe the longer straight aways on Mountain road could use that guard rail.
Every vehicular tragedy is not a reason to spend more of the taxpayers money bubblewrapping people. Pay attention to what you’re doing, and follow the rules of the road.
Yes, and no.
The catastrophic levels of personal irresponsibility (no reference to the above incident) displayed on a widespread basis across this country in recent years has compelled our government to act in many ways that we’d prefer it did not have to do.
But I do not think, despite my conservative tendencies, that government should be so hands off as to not protect the public from itself when needed.
With the relentless rate of fatal accidents on our local roads lately, I’m willing to discuss a lot of options to mitigate it.
Mitigation can include those already assigned to patrol (protect) actually do it. Certainly 152 isn’t the only road with issues, but almost nobody drives the speed limit and if you do the character behind you makes it known how displeased they are. I’m aware of a task force being developed over these very issues – how’s about we start with enforcement meaning actually issuing tickets, radar, and stiff penalties before we start stealing people’s property via emminent domain or spending millions on upgrades that won’t mitigate the aggressive driving problem. I’d much prefer speed cameras and auto tickets to millions in upgrades. This is a side conversation – not meant to point any fingers at this young lady but we do need to discuss as a community a real problem that will only get worse if something isn’t done.
You are correct Money Tree. I have lived on 152 for 15 yrs and in that time, I can honestly say that that I can count the number of times that I’ve witnessed police ticketing drivers on one hand. Yet, I experience the tailgating and excessive speeding virtually every day on this road. Like many of the problems debated here, let’s start by enforcing what we already have and pull back on the “more rules” mantra.
Pragmatism in relation to public safety where it does not intrude upon personal rights should be acceptable to most people.
Noble.
I have no idea what the cause was for this very sad accident and death and I hope it had nothing to do with cell phones.
That being said, I was one of the first to deplore and speak out against the law requiring hands free use of phones. Primarily because I hate to have government sticking its nose everywhere and anywhere all of the time. Plus I knew that it never stops once they get started. It is all a slippery slope.
But recently I have become so aware – and I am on the road a lot in HarCo – that we have many, many people who just can’t put their damn phone down and pay attention to their driving. I give up. I am now in favor of making it a primary offense and in making the infraction a moving violation. I would even support insurance companies cancelling coverage for multiple infractions. Further I would encourage vehicle manufacturers (all vehicles) to develop and deploy technology that renders a cell phone inoperable unless the car is in Park. I never thought I would ever get to that point but I have. I don’t care much what people do to themselves but when their repeated carelessness puts me and my family at risk I’m done with them.
And Alex the last sentence you’ve written here at least in my mind is the only reason to allow for such governmental interference. I want to arrive at my destination safely and as such don’t talk on the phone, monkey with the ipod, reach behind me trying to retrieve things, hang a foot off the next guys bumper, etc., but I can’t control what others do and they don’t take risks in a vacuum. I’d like to see auto radar if the roads cannot be patrolled better. Someone mentioned a technilogical ability to shut off cells phones when a car is in motion. Stiff fines for repeat offenders, but any monies generated from those fines go to pay for educaton in high schools and the injuries and damages of those affected as victims of accidents.
Alex, I desire to agree with you wholly, but I cannot. I agree with you that people can do whatever they want to themselves as long as they don’t hurt my family doing it… Well, that standard is used as justification for the zillions of laws and regulations that dictate and impact nearly every moment of our day.
I’d also like to agree that stiff penalties ought to be place. However, that overlooks one problem – for those remedies or punitive measures to take effect an injury has to occur to prompt them. And I’m not in favor of a greater police presence either… what next? Video cameras on every corner and straight and curved piece of road as back-up to ensure all the tickets necessary are written? Not for me.
Thus, I understand and appreciate your frustration and desire to see some reasonable measure taken to ensure safety where poor decisions rule the day and affect innocent bystanders.
I was rear-ended by a young person using a cell phone. Thankfully the most severe damage was to my vehicle and not my person – I heal well I guess. My immediate reaction was not for more regulation, but to lecture this young person in the importance of being responsible. The father arrived on the scene in minutes and did not interrupt my speech, and feel confident continued with it…
In other words people need to get over themselves. The phone call, text, change of radio station – whatever – can wait. Once we get our priorities in line and realize that ensuring the safety of others around us is more important than we ourselves – we’ll see more common sense.
To the family of this young woman and the others involved – I type these words not to discuss anything related to your loss. At this point we have no idea what caused this tragedy to befall you, and my comments in no way reflect any speculation one way or the other. You have my deepest sympathy, condolence and prayers.
“Once we get our priorities in line and realize that ensuring the safety of others around us is more important than we ourselves – we’ll see more common sense.”
I feel like I’ve been waiting for that to happen for a long time. My confidence that it will happen at all wanes considerably.
Oh, better yet, let’s just all live in bubble wrap 🙂
Seriously though – no matter how much you and @Noble would like to think it, we can’t save people from themselves.
If you want the government to step in, they might as well disable texting while driving (yes, the GPS feature in modern cell phones could accomodate this).
Oh, wait – you say “then passengers can’t text!” Now you’re seeing my point. We can’t save people from themselves.
And we have enough debt in our government already that we can’t afford to put guard rails everwhere. Let’s just hope people learn from those unfortunate incidents and help make our roads safer.
And remember – this may not be one of those incidents.
I don’t think we can save people from themselves in all cases, clearly not.
But obviously that’s not a reason not to make a reasonable effort where possible.
Repeated carelessness by a bunch of entitled scofflaws that put other people in grave danger.
This isn’t walking thru the mall with your head buried in your phone and bumping in to people which is just plain stupid and rude, this is putting someone’s life in danger because you think you are above the law.
what exactly is a reasonable effort? increasing my property tax rate to install center median gaurdrails is unreasonable to me.
wasn’t it just a few years ago that that stretch of 152 was re-surfaced? it wasn’t even in serious disrepair. I thought is was being widened to 4 lanes between 40 and bel air road… or at least a center turn lane. nope, just wasting money on paving.
there are roads and intersections that are far more dangerous than 152 that should be the focus of improvements when funds are available.
my thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved/effected by this tragedy, but let’s not go jumping to conclusions and plotting new ways to spend my donation to the county budget.
“what exactly is a reasonable effort? increasing my property tax rate to install center median gaurdrails is unreasonable to me.”
I don’t claim to have “the” answer to that question, but I am glad you asked. Maybe we can all ask that question.
Agree wholeheartedly,”reasonable effort” has a different meaning to each person. I think it is reasonable for drivers to just drive, not read, eat, text, put on make-up or do their taxes (ok, the taxes was maybe unreasonable) :). But I want to get from point A to B safely in my car. I think that is reasonable.
Would a well-known Bel Air attorney driving thru Bel Air drinking his coffee, reading a newspaper propped against the steering wheel and talking on his hand held cell phone qualify as a bit too far? Yep. I saw it just a few days ago.
Who knows what the cause of this actually was. Maybe we’ll find out, maybe we won’t.
That said, in general discussion while we lament the dangers of cell phone use while driving… I can’t think of one parent I know that will take their child’s cell phone away from them. Even pre-teens now carry them as if they’re a necessity.
The money we as a society spend on cell phone bills and their typical two-year contracts alone these days could go a long way to changing a lot of things. Really, if you’ve had a “family plan” with say 4 phones, data package, etc… for the last 5 years… do the math and figure out how much you’ve spent on it. Then ask yourself if you could have made due without it. Maybe yes, maybe no. What could you otherwise do with that money? I’d be interested to know whether a lot of people realize that they’ve probably spent in the ballpark of $10,000 in 5 years on cell phones… and if they can objectively see a world in which they’d have gotten by somehow without them. How many people would agree to live without them in exchange for a $2000 / year cash bonus. 🙂 It’s mind-boggling if you consider how many thousands of dollars per year many, many families spend on X number of cell phones / data plans.
I work with people, adults with teens / college-age children of their own, who can’t sit at a table and focus on the people sitting across from them for 30 minutes without zoning out and punching their phone for 5 minutes texting with someone half a world away.
Somehow I managed to grow up without a cell phone. My parents always knew where I was. They knew where I was going, if it wasn’t school or home, and either had the number of the house I was going to or could look up the number. Times to be one place or another were scheduled and understood. They picked me up, dropped me off, did whatever had to be done. They were attentive parents. They didn’t send me out to play in the neighborhood and hand me a cell phone just in case they needed to find me. There was no calling to find out where I was, there was calling a known location to CONFIRM where I was. 🙂 If I wasn’t where I was supposed to be, there had better be a tremendously good excuse, or my rear was in serious trouble. Yet today, virtually NO PARENT can say no to their child’s request for a cell phone, and they find a reason to justify it. Not saying there aren’t benefits, but this overwhelming DEPENDENCY on them is unhealthy in so many ways.
Do cell phones cause accidents? Undoubtedly.
Did a cell phone cause THIS accident? NONE of us know. That, of course, will not stop some from making assumptions.
Rest in peace, Hanna! Dance with the angels.
To everyone who has something to say about the accident that took Hannah from us all… Send thoughts and prayers to her family and loved ones, stop using the Internet as a means to “let out an emotion” or to try to act like you were there and you saw the whole thing. Assume to yourself
Honestly if you have this amount of time to write these comments, you have to much time on your hands.
Hannah was beautiful and talented in many different areas, she loved her family and had a heart of gold. She did not deserve to loose her life the way that she did.
Put yourself in the shoes of a close friend of family member who may read this posting. How would you feel if you were in the other end? Be considerate, stop now and remove your postings if you can. Think again if the tables were turned
If you’re such a good friend, why don’t you spell her name right?
Just about 45 minutes ago on my way home merged next to a young woman – must have been about Hannah’s age. She had the phone cradled between her neck and her ear so I guess you’d call that hands free (insert sarcasm). She wasn’t following the cadence with the rest of the traffic, cars backing up behind her and tailgating…I slowed down just out of curiosity to keep her in my rear view…chatted away she did oblivious to her surroundings. Then she turned her blinker on to go down Watervale; thats my route. She turned into a driveway half way down Watervale still chatting. Hey girl in the white two door Ford…did you hear about the fatality yesterday? Guess not. Again, we dont’ know what caused this accident but apparently nothing gets through to teenagers; almost nothing. She would have been so easy to ticket.
nicle for every COP I’ve seen with a phone in his/her face…….just sayin
Everyone needs to back off this young woman Hanna. Who cares what she was doing. She was a hard working girl, please stop talking crap and let her family grieve. Again lay of the bs about texting, calling,…etc You will never know what it is like to lose a kid, probably your baby girl for lack of better words and have people talking smack. Lay off for a bit let this girls family have their time to cry, scream and think about their baby girl. NO I DO NOT know this family but what I do know is that I would be (i dont know) if i lost my child. So please let them be!
Mark Whichever Cousin You Are,
If you could read and if you would read you would see that everyone posting has been very careful to say this is NOT about Hannah. So could I suggest you go back to the constant back and forth harrangue about Jesse Bane? This is about distracted driving and how it causes accidents, sometimes very, very serious accidents. This is also a discussion on what to do about it. When you do go back to the Bane harrangue maybe you could find out what he and the HCSO is doing about it or plans to do about it. If anything. BTW, the answer is nothing. And it will be nothing no matter who is sheriff.
About a week ago I pulled up at a red light next to a teen driver who was very interested in his cell phone and talking and texting – and had been for the several miles that I had been following him. I put my window down and very politely suggested he might stop using his phone – which is ILLEGAL (get that, Mark? ILLEGAL!) and for my trouble I was flipped the bird and treated to a few other choice epithets.
And Mark, tell me what I would have gotten if I had activated my own BLUETOOTH (that would be hands free, get it?) phone and called HCSO. I will tell you what I would have gotten – a very diplomatic version of ‘we can’t/won’t do anything’.
This is not about very occasional use of a phone in an emergency situation, this is about an ever more prevalanet “FU, I don’t care what the law is, I will do what I want” mentality that is creating a road hazard for us all.
One of these days we will have a young mom and a few young kids seriously hurt or killed by a distracted cell phone user and then we will all wring our hands and cry “What can we do? What can we do?”
And I hope someone has a better answer than to make it a primary offense and a revenue generator for local government because I really, really don’t like that one.
This conversation is not speculation on what happened to poor Hanna, which could have been anything, but it has evolved into a community discussion on inattentive driving.
Some dangerous driving can be automatically penalized so that it becomes a voluntary tax. I figure that if I am in a very desperate hurry, it is worth the financial risk of a ticket for me to speed. Otherwise, I obey the limit, because I don’t want to give any more of my money to the government.
Automatic speed cameras go a long way toward permitting you to drive faster if you are willing to pay the price for it. How could a similar automated system be implemented to gather funds from cell phone users who also put others at risk?
You raise an interesting point I’ve not considered before.
What if we use the GPS in cell phones, not to disalllow use of the phone, but to implement a surcharge on the use. 25 cents a minute/text/web usage over the speed of 25mph, for example? (with some kind of waiver for use of the navigation function) And the proceeds can be collected by the cell phone company and disbursed to various related programs or causes.
Figure the average local drive of 15 minutes might cost them a few dollars, times several days a month, could produce enough sticker shock on the bill to get people’s attention.
I don’t even know if this is a good idea, but it’s a new one I’ve never heard before.
Noble,
Would that be like making a DUI okay if we pay $100 for the ‘privelege’?
I appreciate your thinking outside the box but it is the ‘doing it’ that creates the danger and charging someone for doing something dangerous won’t stop them. I’m just weary of the whole thing. The problem I see even with any of the potential technology is that it can’t differentiate between the cell phone of the driver and the cell phone of other people in the car. I have thought about this a lot and the only solution I see is no calls originated from the car unless to 911 and no calls received unless via hands free.
If the FCC would loosen up on the phone jammers, then they could be mounted in the steering wheel. Either by the manufacturer or as a control device similar to alcohol monitors.
So if I used voice commands and the speakerphone mode, how would the jammer know I wasn’t a passenger? Distracted driving is distracted driving, banning cell phones while allowing hot coffee, food, sorting through a CD wallet, etc, is meaningless. Let the cops cite people under a catch-all law if they feel the driver’s actions reach a dangerous level, regardless of it being a burrito or a Blackberry.
That’s a very valid point, one that I have always made before and wanted to make a the end of my comments but forgot.
If only there was a way to put a surcharge on a hamburger…
Unfortunately I think you’re right Alex…no other way unless you jamn all the phones. For the sake of safety in case of some crimal or medical emergency I think if some sort of sensor would allow for use in the car if the car is not in motion.
“I appreciate your thinking outside the box but it is the ‘doing it’ that creates the danger and charging someone for doing something dangerous won’t stop them.”
This is the idea behind radar traps and speed cameras, whether you think they are right or wrong, it’s pretty clear they both work to slow down traffic.
Again, I’m definitely not sure it’s a good idea, but I like hearing the input.
I think you start down a slippery slope too if we try to block the use of cell phones when they’re “moving” over a certain speed. Aside from the obvious “privacy” issue, since having GPS always on would mean that technically you’re ALWAYS trackable… you’re also disabling or penalizing a *passenger* for using a cell phone while the vehicle is in motion. Intertial navigation units can basically calculate how fast you’re going without GPS, but I don’t know how appropriate they would be. If you drop the phone, it’ll immediately think it’s moving fast and could cut off a call.
I can’t think of any justifiable reason to prevent someone who is NOT driving from using their phone in a car. My wife has called emergency services a few times over the years while I’m driving because of things we’ve seen while plodding down the highway. Plus the GPS receiver chips in your average cell phone are not exactly of the same quality that you’d get in an aircraft or military vehicle, they’re more prone to location error and brief fluctuations in your calculated position. Without doing all the math, a momentary glitch that you don’t even notice 99% of the time could possibly make the phone think you just moved a great distance in the last second, so it could assume you’re in a moving vehicle and cut off the call. Unfortunately, I don’t know that there is any one great answer or solution.
But reality we’ve gotten to a point where just chatting with friends or making dinner plans is 99.9 percent of why cell phones on used in vehicles…those few constructive purposes you mention have to take the back seat (pardon the pun) because my safety and the safety of everyone trumps your right to make dinner plans en route home. As far as others being affected in the car – it’s the price you pay. If there’s a conversation anybody in the car just has to have then pull into a rest are or gas station.
Pretty much all great points.
My guess is by the time we figure this out our cars will be driving themselves.
For arguments sake, lets say that someone was negligent and was involved in calling/texting/applying makeup while driving.
Now I’m not one to tell anyone how to raise their kids, but maybe the lot of you need to be teach these immature humans how to behave like responsible adults that they yearn to be.
Stop letting them believe that they are invincible and stop protecting them from reality.
Or we can just let Natural Selection drive next time.
Barbara – that’s exactly why I posted a pretty detailed description of what I observed regarding the white Ford to include about which driveway she pulled in. I was hoping a neighbor or parent would see it and know somebody needed to chat up their child because this girl was clearly not getting it at all. I actually wrote down the tag number but thought better of including that info publically.
Im totally hip to it. I suppose some parents still allow their child to ice skate uphill.
Come on, folks. You all love your kids near and dear, I’m sure. Please teach them that if you play stupid games, you’ll more than likely win stupid prizes. Most of which are critical injuries and/or death.
If only it were solely a bunch of entitled teenage brats. If only. It’s not just them. Next time you are in a parking lot just sit and watch what happens when people come out and get in to their car. First thing they do is fire up the cell phone while trying to back out of their space and navigate their way out of the lot.
Natural selection is funny in a morbid way but it is not just themselves they are injuring or killing.
If all those new Jersey license plates weremt spreading their seed we wouldn’t have issues like this, vehicle cell phone use, tailgating, driving 50mph on a 30mph road.
I think we need to enact a 10,000 dollar penalty if you still don’t bother Maryland registering your vehicles months after you establish residency
Don’t forget to include failure to turn in any Bruce Springstein CDs or cease tanning.
This is unrelated to this news story, but related reading for the conversation that ensued. I’ll leave it up to the Dagger to approve the post.
AT&T asks drivers to take no-texting pledge
http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/15/tech/mobile/att-texting-pledge/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn
Simply disable every call other than 911 in a vehicle moving over 25 mph and save lives. The kids grow up playing video games in which there are no consequences for whatever they do, they just get another life. They don’t understand real life. Kid in Scotland tweeted pics of a dead guy in the road rather than check on him – he failed to render aid and just tweeted! They are not bad kids, they just have a false sense of “reality” and need stricter laws imposed on them (and the rest of us) to protect them from the laws of physics, which are merely imaginary to them.
Everything is a big damn rush nowadays. Everyone complains about how crowded Harford it is, well yeah it is, but there are “rural” parts of Pennsylvania with even more crappier roads that have the same amount traffic if not more, so at least the county and state take care of their roads; albeit slow sometimes, it’s just the way it works.
I just cannot believe how much traffic there is around 5:00PM in certain parts of this county, you’ll sit in a 1/2 mile long line of cars waiting for a poorly timed traffic light to change over. I try to go around and avoid congested traffic light backups as much as I can, but sometimes there just isn’t a way to avoid it.
This really has no relation to the article, but everyone is on edge and wanting to get where they want to go after sitting in traffic, can you blame people for fidgeting with their high tech doo dad phones?
Another poor planning example is that there are only 2 ways out of Aberdeen and once that 4:30-5:30 shift end bell rings at APG, everyone is hauling ass down to Route 40 or Route 22.
I feel sorry for people who live on Route 7 in the Aberdeen area, you literally have to just plan never to leave your house in your vehicle to go anywhere during that time.
I had another idea to throw out there. Somehow build a bluetooth app into new cars that when you get into your car, you can securely connect to the car bluetooth, register on a free app on your smart phone, sync the phone to your car, and then securely send the vehicle, phone, and insurance information to your insurance company, who would then give you a discount for using the service. The service would then automatically connect to your phone every time you get in your car and limit the phone’s functions to hands free functions only.
I’m just brainstorming here, there are obvious limitations.
Progressive already uses a mail-in module that connects to the OBD2 port to determine your driving habits and level of risk.
Instead of legal solutions, technological limitations, etc, why don’t we teach new drivers personal responsibility? Be an idiot while driving and there’s a good chance you could kill yourself or another person, so don’t be an idiot. The world isn’t a padded room where no one can get hurt, people need to take responsibility for their actions.
For smartphone users there is an app called DriveSafe.ly it will read your text messages to you and allow voice controlled responses. I hate that this story has turned into a debate about this as nothing has been proven or even alleged to have been related to cell phones. But try the app its pretty cool.
I agree, it feels like we have to keep repeating that the cause of the accident above is unknown and possibly totally unrelated. It’s a horrible thing that happened, no matter the details.
But I think it’s a good conversation to have here.
There are many apps that perform those hands free functions– having the apps hasn’t solved the problem, because people don’t use them. Try to find a way to incentivize using them in a real tangible way, that’s the key. Normally, the the only way we can motivate the average human is by reaching into their wallet, unfortunately.
my heart goes out to hannahs family .im so sorry for the loss of your child i could not imagine being in your shoes.hannah was a very beautiful young lady and you should be very proud of all her acomplishments in her 18 years of life.people like running there mouths and dont even know what happened.no one will ever know except god apparently he was ready for her to come home to a better place .god is the only one who will ever know the truth to this accident.anything else is only speculation.people please keep your opinions to yourself and leave this family alone.
god is for the weak minded and insecure, there is no god.