Distracted Driving A Growing Problem in Village, Says Police Chief

Distracted driving doesn’t always mean texting, accident investigator Rick Coulum told his audience during the March Neighborhood Watch meeting Thursday night.

So far, South Chicago Heights hasn’t experienced a traffic fatality due to texting, but another common distraction led to tragedy in July of 2008, when police were called out to an accident scene involving two vehicles, one of which carried a female motorist and three children. The woman was waiting to turn left when an oncoming motorist ran the red light and struck the right side of her vehicle. The impact killed one of her passengers, an 8-year-old boy.

“(The other motorist) was changing the radio station,” Coulum said. “And before he knew it, he was running the red light.”

South Chicago Heights Firefighter Larry Levitt was at the scene.

“I knew from my 10 years of experience that (the child) was lifeless,” he said. Still, rescuers cut the boy out of the vehicle and took him to the hospital with the other victims.

The child’s father, who was Levitt’s former co-worker, arrived on the scene when the child was ready for transport.

“He thanked me for doing my job,” Levitt said.

Texting is a big problem in the village, just as it is in communities elsewhere in the state and around the country, Police Chief William Joyce said.

Texting while driving is now illegal in Illinois, but other, more lawful distractions can be just as dangerous when combined with driving.

“Five seconds to text, five seconds to do a radio scan, five seconds to discipline your kids," Joyce said. "It only takes a second to travel the length of a football field when you are driving 40-45 mph. And you are driving a 2,000 to 3,000 pound weapon (while doing so).”

Joyce will be making his presentation on distracted driving at several locations, including the Neighborhood Watch meeting this spring, because it is the time of year when the weather breaks and when young people are getting ready for prom and graduation.

Joyce said he always stresses “the importance of controlling that vehicle, but also the importance of controlling yourself.”

Joyce played two videos on the dangers of driving while texting, including one produced by AT&T, titled “The Last Text,” which is part of a push the phone company is making against texting while driving.

Coulum also presented a series of still photographs of accident scenes that involved drunk drivers. Alcohol played a role in a significant number of crashes in South Chicago Heights in 2010, Coulum said.  

Neighborhood Watch meetings are open to all South Chicago Heights residents  and are held the last Thursday of the month at 7 p.m at the . For more information, call the South Chicago Heights Police Department at (708) 754-7131.