KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasI-Team: Tweet. Drive. Lose.
It's not that Erin Breen hates technology. She owns a cell phone. She pecks out a text message every once and a while. She's no Luddite. She just misses her beeper.
"You could fake it and say, 'Oh, my battery was dead,'" Breen said.
Now, as a traffic researcher with UNLV, Breen says new methods of communication are a danger for drivers. Breen says state agencies like NDOT and police departments like Metro are making it worse for drivers by sending out updates on Facebook and Twitter.
She thinks the updates send the wrong message. "How can you tell people you want them to stay off their cell phone and then want to advise them of traffic when using their cell phone?" she asks.
NDOT's Twitter account warns people "Before you go Twitter, be safe don't Twitter and drive."
Spokesperson Bob McKenzie says social networking is a quick way to get information out to the broadest possible audience. McKenzie uses Facebook, Twitter and YouTube for construction updates and traffic alerts. He knows not everybody pays attention while at the safe confines of a desktop computer.
"Common sense is something that everybody has. It's just harder to find in some people," McKenzie said.
The messages are designed to be helpful, but Breen cautions reading text messages can worsen reaction time by 400-percent.
The new technology can help, but it has to be used at the right time -- even a beeper.
