Posted by Audra Baumgartner on August 23, 2013 · 3 Comments
If you and your older children haven’t yet seen the new texting and driving documentary, “From One Second to the Next,” you really should. While, at 35 minutes, it may be a bit long for kids to want to sit through, the searing emotional stories told from the perspective of victims and their families – and even from those whose text messages caused the loss of life – make this a unique and riveting film.
Made by acclaimed director, Werner Herzog, who – according to IMDb – was voted the 35th Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly, this film tells the story of four disturbing and horrific accidents through the people who were impacted or involved, including even the police who responded to the scenes, rather than resorting to visual displays of the tragic accidents. The result is still sometimes difficult to watch, but probably more impactful in the end. You can access the full documentary and also shorter clips via YouTube – and your children may end up seeing it at school as the corporate cell phone sponsors are making 40,000 copies available to government agencies, schools and safety organizations.
The National Safety Council estimates that 100,000 car crashes annually are related to texting and driving, while cell phone conversations are implicated in 12 times as many accidents. This documentary is a potent message about the need to remain “distraction-free” while driving – one which both teens and parents need to hear.
My kids aren’t old enough for this to make a difference but plenty of my peers should see this, I’m tweeting it.