Did any of you hear about the horrific car accident on June 28 in Canandaigua, New York?

I heard about it in a news segment last week and couldn't believe my ears.  A 17-year-old girl was driving her four friends to her parent's vacation home when her SUV, which had just passed a car, swerved back into oncoming traffic, hit a tractor-trailer and burst into flames.

What astounded me (I know....call me naive) was the fact that a succession of calls and text messages on her phone were cited as possible factors in the crash.  Text-Messaging WHILE driving?  Good Lord.....I see enough people....both adults and teens TALKING on a phone while driving.  But typing? 

The records indicated her phone was in use at the time of the accident, but of course they'll never be able to clearly state that she was the one doing the text messaging. But two minutes before the crash was reported, her phone was used to send a text greeting to a friend.  He sent a reply less than a minute before the first 911 call.

So five girls....newly graduated from high school....all gone!  Their lives snuffed out in a matter of seconds!  And very possibly because she was sending a text message while driving. 

While I felt very bad to hear this, my next thought was....WHAT if this girl was texting while driving and hit one of my family members?  It could easily happen, if this is what kids are doing while they're supposed to be concentrating on DRIVING.

So I'm wondering.......should this be banned?  Should cell phones be banned while driving?  While the talking on the phone may be easy to see, thereby leading to an arrest, how would we be able to catch the teens that are texting? 

I don't know about you....but this truly scares the heck out of me!  To think, I could be driving along, focusing on my driving, doing the right thing and because some teen feels it's vitally important to reply to a text message while driving, "I" could be wiped off the face of the earth. 

Just wondering.....how do you feel about this?  See you next time..........