YouTube, as I’ve mentioned before, is a dangerous place. If you leave your children using it unmonitored then you really need to change your ways. As an example, there’s a channel called Fatal Accidents where you can watch just that. There’s no warnings apart from one that the user has decided to add himself. YouTube will rarely remove content or add parental guidance, so you’re basically sticking your child in a video shop and they can watch anything they wish.
Yes, I’ve banged on about this in the past but we, as parents, have busy lives. Many assume that “someone” is taking care of content on these big sites, but the truth is, nobody really is. You can flag a video if the material is disturbing, but it’s a game of whack-a-mole as another video will just spring up in seconds.
However, in some ways these graphic and disturbing YouTube videos can sometimes be educational. As an example, Norfolk Police have decided to release a video of a bikers death. Horrific it may sound, but the mother of the biker wanted this. The biker in question is David Holmes, and let’s be honest he was going far too fast on his motorbike. However, when a car failed to notice him or the car behind, it crossed into his path and unfortunately killed David as it did so. Here’s what happened to the car he hit..
The full YouTube video is here and does contain the moment of collision. Exercise caution if you wish to watch this. There’s plenty of other versions of this video with Davids’ mother edited out (just so that the “action part” can be seen quicker), but the official police video is worth watching as his mother wants it used to try and prevent further deaths on our roads.
On our busy roads, we have to pay attention all the time, even when things seem to be fairly dull and it’s a long straight road. Using phones behind the wheel is something we’ve all done I’m sure, but on my commute I’ve seen quite a few people actually sending text messages. Some surveys suggest that 34% of people are texting while driving and they’re usually pretty easy to spot. If an accident happens this evidence is usually used by the police – they can tell if you’ve been texting and you’re basically banged to rights. However, if you’re tweeting or using some other kind of messaging system that uses your data connection it’s a lot harder. That, I’m afraid, is the future. More people are checking Facebook while driving, or they’re using Google Hangouts, Skype messaging or some other kind of system.
This brings me onto another phenomena. People filming bad driving with… their phones. It’s difficult to see which is worse. Drivers texting, or drivers behind faffing about trying to start the camera app, switch to video mode, then filming with a phone in front of them whilst they’re driving. Either way, here’s a video from a gent called Sean Symons in the USA. Like many of my trips up the M6, he spotted a car drifting from lane to lane as the driver sent texts on his phone.
After flashing his lights and sounding his horn, he decided to film the vehicle as it weaved up and down the road. The video below does have some swearing in it, so perhaps not best for work..
The guy driving was OK, and Sean filmed a follow-up video here minus the swearing and explaining some of his actions…
If you do a search there’s plenty of examples where people have been filmed driving and texting. The familiar drifting and weaving comes as the driver fails to make the minor corrections necessary, and then there’s usually a fairly noticeable jerk as the driver looks up from their phone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUWBXPcRM_0#t=57
Here’s another one. A driver found to be texting completely misses a red light and the truck pulling across him. The drivers were all OK, and I’m not here to preach, but even on a big, fat, wide, open road – things can happen quickly. Don’t be fiddling with your phone. Get home to your family safe. They’ll appreciated it more than you responding to texts quickly..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXT1oRR2DpI