Minnesota Teen Almost Dies Watching “Stranger Things”
They say texting while driving or any other form of distracted driving is as dangerous, if not more, than drunk driving. Yet I witness it all the time on my travels up north and back every weekend. Driving too slowly, weaving in and out of their lane, etc.
According to Fox 9 News this is what the Anoka County Sheriff's Department had to say about distracted driving.
"Distracted driving remains a major concern on the roads of Anoka County. Every day deputies encounter drivers who are on their cell phones, texting, or otherwise not paying attention to the road. On rare occasions, we see drivers who are attempting to watch movies or other videos while driving," the sheriff's office said. "This was the case over the weekend when deputies responded to a report of a serious crash involving a semi-truck and passenger vehicle in northern Anoka County."
This was in response to a serious crash between a passenger vehicle and a semi-truck in Anoka County. It seems the Minnesota teen was watching an episode of "Stranger Things" and strayed into the oncoming lane resulting in a collision with the semi.
She ending up getting only minorly injured and her vehicle had substantial damage. It could have been a whole lot worse and she should consider herself fortunate to still be alive. I realize that "Stranger Things" is an extremely popular show but, like they say, there is a time and place for everything. Behind the wheel is definitely not the place to be watching video.
The teenage driver did however earn herself a nice citation from the Anoka Sheriff's Department. I was surprised to learn the ticket for distracted driving is only $50 for a first offense but any additional violations will run $275. I don't know is the ticket amount goes up if an accident is involved.
"The female driver denied being on her cell phone before the crash, but the investigating deputies observed that her vehicle’s Bluetooth system was still streaming the audio to ‘Stranger Things’ on Netflix," the sheriff's office said. "When confronted with this information, the driver admitted to watching Netflix while driving."