Hold it a second; I have to finish my text.
"Drivers’ use of phones called a deadly risk" June 22, 2011|Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — The nation risks a surge in deadly accidents unless it makes distracted driving — talking, texting, and surfing the Internet while operating cars, boats, and trains — as taboo as drunken driving, members of the National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday.
The NTSB met in Washington to discuss last year’s fatal crash between a tour boat and a barge, which killed two Hungarian students and tossed 35 other people into a busy shipping channel in Philadelphia.
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The mate piloting the tug that was pushing the barge was on his cellphone dealing with a family emergency, the agency found.
“Many people continue to think it’s just going to take a moment’’ to call or text, NTSB chairwoman Deborah Hersman said. “How do we change that mindset?’’
I get real suspicious when I see government talking about changing mindsets. They like to do that to start wars.
The July 7 accident began when an amphibious duck boat, which takes tourists through Philadelphia’s historic district and then a float on the Delaware River, had an engine problem. As the passengers waited for a help, a 250-foot barge being pushed by a tugboat struck the duck boat, spilling 37 people into the water.
In about 2 ½ hours at the wheel of the tug, the tug pilot, Matt Devlin, of K-Sea Transportation Partners, made and received 21 cellphone calls and also surfed the Web on a company laptop, investigators said.
What’s more, Devlin moved from an upper to a lower wheelhouse on the tug to do so, obscuring his ability to see the duck boat. Investigators believe the lower wheelhouse offered him more privacy and less noise as he talked on the phone.
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