Texting Teen Falls Into Manhole

We're so driven to distraction these days that we're becoming a troupe of traveling slapstick comedians, walking into walls, driving into ponds, and yes, falling into manholes.

A fifteen year old Staten Island girl was strolling while pounding out "OMG" and "LOL" when she dropped into an open manhole, scraping her body but sadly not knocking some sense into her. Workers raced to her aid, and said that they had turned away briefly to grab some cones to mark the dangerous area.

Via MSNBC:

The family said they will file a lawsuit -- for what, though, is not immediately clear. Her mother, Kim Longueira, said it doesn't matter that her daughter was walking and texting, and also, the 'gross' factor that can't be ignored.

"Oh my God, it was putrid," she said. "One of her sneakers is still down there"

The family will probably win the lawsuit, given that the Department of Environmental Protection has a policy to adequately mark work areas and limit pedestrian traffic in such situations. DEP obviously failed in that regard, although it sounds like they were in the process of setting up. Perhaps they should have stationed a worker directly over the open manhole in the unlikely event that a preoccupied gum-chomping self-involved teenager more interested in texting than being killed by her everyday surroundings happens past.

With the recent spate of horrific accidents caused by train operators, bus drivers, people piloting cars and SUVs, and countless others who were texting rather than paying attention to the world around them, is it only a matter of time before insurance companies begin to factor distraction into their actuarial models? Laws limiting (or forbidding) texting while driving have obviously been ineffective, and while the number of incidents is small, the trend is demonstrably upward, and the insurance industry formulas are typically trailing indicators of risk.

If it's costing them more in claims, you'd better believe that Allstate, Geico, Nationwide, and other large insurers will find a way to factor this data into the rates they charge and into their claims approval process.

If you can't cure stupid, you can always charge more for the privilege.

Image via uberculture on flickr