'Serial texter' among those taking Sherman Hospital pledge not to text and drive
Maria Pinales-Tapia is not ashamed to say that she barely avoided getting into an accident while she was texting and driving.
The Elgin resident and Advocate Sherman Hospital employee said it was a huge wake up call - one that also prompted her to join the hospital's "Eyes on the road. Not your phone" campaign that asks people to pledge not to text and drive.
"I was able to brake on time. It did scare me. I kept thinking, 'This is the dumbest thing to get into an accident for. And to have the police officer come and have to tell him that I was texting, how embarrassing is that?'" she said.
"Now the purse goes in the back seat with the phone in it, so I can't I reach it and grab it when it beeps. I just let it go. It's out of reach."
Pinales-Tapia is among more than 250 people who pledged to join the monthlong campaign in person or through Facebook as of Friday afternoon, Sherman officials said. The campaign, which includes partner Brilliance Subaru of Elgin, uses the hashtag #5econdscount because "a quick, 5-second glance at your phone can be the difference between life and death."
Robin Karstenson, Sherman's trauma coordinator, said she had the idea to launch the campaign after getting a flier in the mail that pointed her to the website textingthumbbands.com.
"The statistics for teenagers and texting (in car accidents) are staggering," she said. "It starts with the adults. We teach our kids our behaviors."
Emergency room patients generally are reluctant to admit they were texting at the wheel, Karstenson said. She estimated that was the case for about a quarter of last year's 90 ER patients involved in car crashes.
"It's not necessarily the patient," she said. "It could be the opposite driver."
Cellphone usage was a factor in one of four fatal crashes in 2014 in Elgin, police records and evidence supervisor Russ Matson said. Data regarding cellphone usage in last year's 4,071 crashes in Elgin was not immediately available, he said.
Sherman Hospital has seen an increase in patients involved in low-speed collisions, which in turn can be correlated with hand-held phone usage, said Dr. Steven Zahn, medical director of the emergency department and immediate care centers.
Low-speed collisions can cause back injuries and neck sprains, which can lead to herniated discs and long-term pain, as well as concussions and minor head trauma. The effects of the latter can manifest even decades later in the form of chronic headaches, migraines and even memory loss, Zahn said.
"There are also other long-term effects - like people missing work and increased health care costs," he said. "I think we're all immune to this, 'Oh, I can just text somebody real quick,'" he said. "Until something happens."
Karstenson, too, admits that she used to be a "serial texter" at the wheel. She now keeps her cellphone in her purse on the floor of the car while driving, she said.
Her biggest motivation? Her two children, ages 11 and 12, she said. "It's more than anything else for them - to try to be safe and try to be a good example."