Newswise — Robin Garza knows trauma. She sees it on a daily basis as trauma services program manager for one of the busiest Level I trauma centers in the U.S.—Harris Health System’s Ben Taub Hospital. In fact, her advocacy to raise awareness about the dangers of trauma led her to develop Just Drive, a statewide campaign to discourage distracted driving, including texting and driving.
Her work has even been noticed in Austin, Texas, as lawmakers consider a statewide ban on texting and driving. House Bill 80 is making its way through the halls of the 84th Texas Legislative Session. The bill, if adopted into law, would make it a crime for a person to use a portable wireless communication device to read, write or send a text while operating a motor vehicle.
The statewide ban on texting and driving is something Garza and her team support. They see thousands of trauma cases through Ben Taub’s renowned Ginni and Richard Mithoff Trauma Center suffer life-threatening injuries resulting from vehicle crashes (several attributed to distracted driving), industrial mishaps, acts of violence or accidental falls. While some accidents are unavoidable, those that can be avoided are the ones that frustrate Garza, a registered nurse of more than 30 years.
“People who text while driving are 23 times more likely to be in a crash,” she says. “When drivers send or read a text message, their reaction time is limited. Humans cannot multi-task safely. When someone gets behind the wheel, full attention should be on driving.”
According to research, sending or reading a text takes one’s eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds and is like driving blindfolded the length of an entire football field at 55 miles per hour. In 2011, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration reported that more than 3,300 people were killed and 387,000 were injured in crashes involving a distracted driver. As chair of the injury prevention committee for the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council, as well as for the Texas EMS Trauma and Acute Care Foundation (TETAF), Garza spearheaded Just Drive, a statewide TETAF-sponsored campaign that kicked off in late 2013.
“Driving is a responsibility that should be taken seriously by anyone who sits behind the wheel,” she says. “If your eyes aren’t focused on the road, if your hands are not on the wheel or your mind is not focused 100 percent on driving, you are a distracted driver.”
Notable distractions according to the Just Drive campaign:• Texting• Using a cell phone or smartphone• Eating and drinking• Talking to passengers• Grooming• Reading, including maps• Using a navigation system• Watching a video• Adjusting a radio, CD player or MP3 player• Driving while fatigued, physically impaired or emotionally upset
For more information on Just Drive, visit Texas EMS Trauma and Acute Care Foundation or visit www.tetaf.org/justdrive/
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