ChiTown Traffic Tattler

As developers are working to help a eliminate the very problem that they helped create — text messaging while driving — the public battle against motorists has included legislation and a driver’s ed feel with a graphic video that started on YouTube and quickly spread its way across the internet.

The 4 minute, 15 second Public Service Announcement has grabbed more than 5 million views since it hit the web. While the actors give a life-like portrayal, the outcome of the accident is straight out of 1963′s Wheels of Tragedy.

National Public Radio reports the video PSA was a collaboration among filmmaker Peter Watkins-Hughes, a police force and a high school in Wales, and was only posted to YouTube so Watkins-Hughes could show it to a friend.

The video shows three teenage girls driving down the road. They laugh. They smile. The music is on and the driver is texting a friend. But then she takes here eyes of the road and the car veers into oncoming traffic.

But the PSA takes the crash a step further and shows what happens to the girls after the collision, their heads hitting the airbag and glass flying into their face. Then, as the car comes to a rest, and the girls look at each other, the viewer sees yet another car T-bone the car.

And while the crash detail is quite graphic to say the least, which could contribute to the “Faces of Death” allure, the emergency response and extrication leaves no detail unturned.

The snarky side has to ask if the driver didn’t have enough practice, which is exactly what a New York Times game provides.

Surely I jest, but just two years ago when texting was a darling in the media spotlight, CBS News ran a segment on this teenager who claims to average 5,000 text messages a month … while driving. Or what if you tell the officer who just pulled you over that you weren’t texting, but you were tweeting? Will we need laws that spell out everything that is possible on today’s wireless handsets?

There is already that shade of gray in Illinois, which last month became the 17th state to ban texting while driving, which studies show puts a motorist at a risk greater than talking or dialing while behind the wheel.

Illinois last month became the 17th state to ban texting while driving, which studies show puts a motorist at a risk greater than talking or dialing while behind the wheel.

In signing the bill, Gov. Pat Quinn outlawed writing, sending or receiving text messages while driving, but not texting while pulled over to the shoulder or in park or neutral at a traffic light.

Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington and the District of Columbia also have laws in place to ban texting.

Monthly text messages have increased from 9.8 billion in December 2005 to 110.4 billion in December 2008, according to CTIA – The Wireless Association.

And while they have been a boon to wireless companies, which can place a high premium on a service with little overhead, developers are now working to stem the cash cow — at least for those behind the wheel.

One applications would block text messages from sent or received while the owner is driving. But these would require a smart phone with GPS technology.

Another — being built by Safe Driving Systems Corp. — would take over a cellphone’s display when its owner starts driving. Calls and text messages are received but can’t be accessed, though users can place emergency calls. The system includes an electronic “key” that is installed in the car and emits a Bluetooth signal that disables the keypad while the car is running, The Wall Street Journal reports.

They might have a market in Utah, where texting while driving can lead to a prison sentence of up to 15 years if you hit someone while doing so.

Stephanie Raleigh Bennion runs the blog aptly named Texting While Driving. Bennion, who says she is a recent graduate in Public Health Education from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah reaches out to those who have personal experiences with the dangers of texting while driving. The result is chilling and is enough to make you put your cell phone in the trunk, far away from the steering wheel.