Energy Express by Marilynn Preston

The news out of the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show is highly charged if you're someone who cares about your personal health and safety. High-tech cars and our unending desire to be online and stay connected are on a collision course. As fast as you can say, "How can I make a dollar?" automakers and technology companies are joining forces to turn your new car or truck into a mobile computer, with easy and fast access to the Internet, email, videos, sport scores, stock quotes, photos, maps, social networking and more.

The result of all this cockpit creativity? Many more deaths by distracted driving. We know that drivers who use cell phones are four times more likely to get into a crash than drivers who don't. In 2008, according to alarming and well-publicized statistics, 6,000 people died and nearly 500,00 were injured due to car accidents caused solely because of distracted driving. But hey, you can speed down the highway oogling the latest Lady GaGa album cover, so that's pretty nifty, right? Wrong.

Multitasking in transit is happening so fast there's barely time to sound the alarm. Cars are becoming deluxe infotainment centers. Squeels on Wheels. No real research, no real regulation, just full speed ahead. Watch 3D videos! Find the closest sushi bar! Tweeting while steering! Call me crazy, but whatever happened to watching the road, reacting to pedestrians and pets, and avoiding bicyclists, trees and potholes?

Have we learned nothing from the recent scary statistics about texting while driving? It's a practice that is so common and so dangerous, it has its own acronym. TWD. It's right up there with DUI, but so far, it's still running under the radar when it comes to laws against it. Have you ever watched someone drive and text at the same time? It's terrifying.

(My iPod automatically jumps to Bob Dylan: "How many deaths will it take till we know that too many people have died?")

We are steering around a blind curve, hands off the wheel. I don't mean to sound like the little old lady from Pasadena, but just because the auto industry can outfit a car with 20 different distractions, should it? I laughed out loud when I saw the name of the latest high tech, in-car system that talks to you while you're driving and asks you what you want to do.

It's called Pandora. As in the notorious box that unleashed a whole helluva mess.

To be fair, the carmakers are building in some "safeguards." At Ford, for instance, proud leader in in-vehicle technology, it's using a lot of voice-command and one-touch responses to make the distractions ... less distracting.

As for browsing the Web or watching a movie, the automakers say the driver won't be able to do that unless the car is in park. This is comforting, not at all. All this small-screen technology is run by computer. How long will it take for those genuises who unlock your cell phone to create an app that overdrives this? It's the American Way.

And so is the freedom to make our own decisions about how we want to live, drive and crash into others. No one wants to be told they can't have a car with the latest wifi wizardry and newest high-tech gadgets. You can — you will.

But will you also have the good sense to set limits for yourself that minimize the risks? Find an app that reads your email and text messages aloud. (www.Drivesafe.ly is one I found at Distracteddrivingstatistics.com.) Never text while driving. Campaign to make DWT an offense that calls for a mandatory three-month suspension of your driving license.

Ultimately, say the automakers and their very expensive lawyers, it's the driver's responsibility to stop, look and listen no matter what is playing on the dashboard. Our beloved car industry — so desperate for financial success — says it's not the technology that's at fault, it's the user. Uh-huh.

So, dear reader, pull over and put it into park before you check your email, see how the Jets did, interact with your kid at home or watch a video on an adorable little screen where the lovely Pandora lives.

Give me a break.

ENERGY EXPRESS-O! WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD

"Please only use the online service when traffic conditions allow you to do so safely." — dashboard message from the new Audi infotainment system

Marilynn Preston — fitness expert, personal trainer and speaker on healthy lifestyle issues — is the creator of Energy Express, the longest-running syndicated fitness column in the country. She has a website, http://marilynnpreston.com and welcomes reader questions, which can be sent to MyEnergyExpress@aol.com. To find out more about Preston and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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