A Deadly Wandering

We've all heard about the dangers of texting and driving. In fact 40 states have on the books some law banning the use of a cellular phone while driving or banning texting while driving, in order to prevent the loss of life that happens when a driver simply becomes too distracted and takes their eyes off the road for a split second.

In the book A Deadly Wandering: A Tale of Tragedy and Redemption in the Age of Attention by Matt Richtel, he takes us on quite the journey through the first case in Utah involving 19-year-old Reggie Shaw. He was on his way to work one morning in September and doesn't even remember most of the accident he found himself involved in. All he remembers is somehow crossing the yellow divider, which he believed was cause by hydroplaning and clipped a vehicle carrying two rocket scientists, Kevin O'Dell and Jim Furfaro. This caused their car to fish tail and was subsequently T-boned by John Kaiserman, killing both men instantaneously. Mr. Kaiserman would report to the local authorities that he had observed Reggie's vehicle drift repeatedly over the yellow divider several times before the accident.

When questioned by investigators about what he believed caused him to drift over the divider, Reggie still believed his vehicle must have hydroplaned. But the odd thing is that very little rain had fallen and the road was so rough, the answer didn't seem to add up. When Reggie was asked if he had been using his cell phone while driving, he answered No. In this novel, Matt Richtel, takes readers into the investigation, science, and subsequent outcome of the first case involving texting and driving in Utah which resulted in the deaths of Mr. O'Dell and Mr. Furfaro. It is a chilling eye-opener that I feel everyone should read.

We, as consumers, fail to see the connection in why using a cell phone while driving in any form is dangerous and in my opinion should be banned. Now with the invention of smart phones, and onboard computers being installed in our vehicles is it any wonder why we can't pay attention to multiple things at the same time, while trying to drive our cars. The more we do while driving the more errors we make. We do not grow stronger in our ability to do more in our cars, it simply takes more time for us to recover and resume our attention on the road in front of us. Little by little, I believe this book illustrates is how addicted we are becoming as a society on the use of the Internet and our ability to stay connected all the time. There is some great research by several authorities in this book and I believe Matt tied this together perfectly in bringing it all to light. I can only hope that more people will read it and make the decision for themselves.

I received A Deadly Wandering by Matte Richtel compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions contained in this review are my own. After reading this book, you would be hard pressed not to reconsider our use of computers, the Internet, smart phones and technology. We are not slowing down and it makes you wonder just how healthy all this is on our brain, It also makes you wonder as Reggie suggests in this book, to consider the text messages you send while driving, are any of them worth your life or the lives of people on the road around you? There are other cases that are referred to as well from accidents that were caused as a result of texting while driving, which makes you six times as likely to get into an accident, three times more likely just talking on your cell phone. The research is chilling and one that deserves a closer look. For me, my phone will be on silent and stored away from my eye sight while I am driving from this moment on. It's simply not worth it. I would rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars!

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A Deadly Wandering by Matt Richtel

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To read more reviews on A Deadly Wandering, please visit William Morrow's website.