Technology Gives, and Takes

Deaths on America's highways have been trending down for fifty years, thanks largely to a major turn against drunk driving, but also helped by new technologies like anti-lock breaks, air bags, and smoother highways. But in the past two years deaths have started back up again. Experts blame a rise in distracted driving. Internet use in cars in soaring as people text, play games, and do stupid stuff like this:

The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating an Oct. 26 crash near Tampa that killed five people. A passenger in one car, a teenager, recorded a Snapchat video showing her vehicle traveling at 115 m.p.h. just before the collision.

A lawsuit filed in a Georgia court claims a teenage driver who was in a September 2015 crash near Atlanta was using Snapchat while driving more than 100 m.p.h., according to court records.

Our machines can do a lot, but they can't save us from ourselves.