Here is a little humor to brighten up everyone's day, mixed in with a few words of caution for all you drivers that happen to be BlackBerry users as well. Mauricio over at BlackBerryRocks! found this tidbit of news regarding a police chief, his BlackBerry and an accident that happened. Oops!
The police chief of the south Seattle suburb of Federal Way has issued a public apology for a minor traffic accident that happened while he was checking his BlackBerry in his unmarked police car.
The city summed it up Thursday in a news release that began “Federal Way Police Chief Brian Wilson is mortified.” Apparently Wilson stopped for a red light on March 18 and glanced down at his BlackBerry to view newspaper headlines and e-mails. He then took his foot off the brake and collided with the car in front of him.
The Seattle Times reports no one was injured and the cars weren’t damaged. Still, City Manager Neal Beets gave Wilson a verbal reprimand. The police chief says he takes full responsibility.
It just goes to show no matter what laws may be in place you really can't stop the addiction of that darn blinking red light and while there is humor in it being a police chief at the root cause of this one, don't berry and drive folks, it's dangerous (and not funny) for you and others out there.
[ BBrocks via AZ StarNet ]
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18 comments
Thanks for the reminder! Just the other day I checked my phone briefly, and guess what? The car in front of me had turned completely off the road and I was looking at my phone the entire time they were breaking, signaling and turning. If I had been following any closer I could have driven right into them. The blinking red light is NOT worth taking risks like that.
That's one way to test your Storms accelerometer.
u think we would all learn after seeing 7 lbs with Will Smith
hey just wanna tel that y do ppl add in the messenger when they cant chat....
This goes to show... "Crack" may hurt or kill someone. I am sure that this person will never do that again. (So we like to think...) but the temptation of using a BB is quite strong.
When I saw the picutre I thought to myself "Well, another Belgian story"! But NO, not this time, the picture has nothing to do with the story.
A proud Belgian.
I thought the same thing, but reading the article, it says it was an unmarked police car, the one in the picture is obviously a marked patrol car....
KEVIN:
GET RID OF CAPTCHA! IT SUCKS! xX sS kK pP yY wW all look alike and I am always wrong.
If he had BerryBuzz, maybe he had emails set to a blue blink and text to red. So maybe he got an email and a text message and thought that his phone was in hot pursuit!
I am guilty of driving while using my blackberry (bb messenger, txt messages, web browsing, email, phone calls...). But I have never been in an accident as a result of it. This is not an endorsement of driving while under the influence of technology, nor am I claiming to be a better driver than those who have gotten in accidents of this kind. I am well aware of the danger involved, but here are some tips to assist in driving with your blackberry.
1. Realize that using your blackberry while driving dramatically lowers your response time. DO NOT use your phone in situations where a quick response may be necessary (intersections, while tailgating, while coming to a stop, in school zones, in parking lots).
2. Learn to drive with your knee so that you can use both hands on your phone. This will reduce the time it takes you to operate the phone. (I know, this one may sound counter intuitive)
3. Be aware of your surroundings. This is basically just #1 again. Know when the road requires more of your attention than normal (and put down the phone during that time). Examples include while approaching intersections, during stopping, around pedestrians, around other cars, on unfamiliar roads.
4. Prioritize. Be disciplined and learn to put some things off until you are no longer driving.
you should've just typed in your Rule 4 -- then you don't need the other 3.
I really hope that this was written with lots of sarcasm... otherwise you are a moron. Maybe you should put your phone on silent and drive with both your hands instead of your knees.
i did that a few months ago, just i was too busy checking out some girls
these are belgian police cars :)
This is all cute and funny however this is exactly the kind of media reporting that advocates of banning all cell phone use while driving, use for fuel.
I am just wondering if Washington State, King County, Washington or Federal Way has a law on the books outlawing vehicular cellphone use would he have gotten cited and if so would he have had the citation taken care of?
Not that checking your emails and reading the news is allowed under the law, but cell phone use is permitted under most state laws when it pertains to police, fire and EMS if it is in the line of duty.
If all he did was take his foot off the brake after being stopped at a red light, how did he pick up enough speed to flip the car? And where is the other car in the picture? I think the picture is bogus.
One time I called the police station (Concord, CA) and asked if cops were allowed to talk on the cell without a headpiece while driving. The telephone lady said no, they weren't. I proceeded to detail the time and intersection and patrol car number - she quickly told me that they were allowed to. WTF