This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

TRIGGER WARNING: If you dislike it when a columnist climbs up on her soapbox and lets loose with a rant, then close this screen right now and back away slowly.

OK. Now that we have that out of the way, let me tell you about what recently happened when friends and I were walking up South Temple Street around 6 a.m.

This is something we do every day btw. Have done for years. And you would be amazed by the things we've seen in the wee hours of the morning, including that one guy on a bike who mooned us, after which we gave chase and hurled insults at him, leaving him no choice but to jump off his bike and hide behind a parked car so we would leave him alone.

So yeah. That'll teach HIM not to drop his drawers in front of a bunch of scary old ladies.

(Speaking of unexpected nudity, we were once pulled over by two cops who asked us if we'd seen a naked man running around the Avenues that morning, to which we replied "not yet.")

Anyway, as I was saying, we were walking up the sidewalk in the dark last week when we noticed a car speeding toward us. Yes. You read that correctly. The previously westbound car was suddenly headed our direction because (wait for it) the driver was texting.

T.E.X.T.I.N.G.

We could tell she was texting because we could totally see the glow of her phone in the dark.

Fortunately for us, she hit the curb, blew out her right front tire and tore off a huge chunk of her bumper.

So now here's my question: If you had been driving that car, what would you have done? A) Jumped out of your car immediately to check out the damage or B) sat in your car and continued texting.

I'm sorry to say that the driver of whom we speak went with the second option. We stood there and watched, waiting for her to emerge to see if she was OK and for her to ask us if we were OK. But she never did.

So we finally walked away in disbelief, feeling grateful that we could . . . you know . . . actually walk away. And all the way home we wondered what was so important that a driver couldn't put away her phone until she wasn't behind the wheel of a car. Was she having a fight with her significant other? Responding to an urgent issue at work? Dispensing medical advice that would save a life? Brokering a peace treaty in the Middle East?

We also wondered if she'd even seen us just standing there.

My guess is that she never did.

Later that day it occurred to me that our driver had been as lucky as we'd been. Sure, she had a flat tire and a trashed bumper. Sure, she had to get her car towed and she probably arrived late to work. Sure, she had a lot of 'splainin' to do.

But at least she didn't hurt herself. At least she didn't hurt anybody else.

That would have really ruined her day.

And a lot of days after that, too.

MORAL OF THIS RANT: Don't text and drive. Just. Do. Not.

Ann Cannon can be reached at acannon@sltrib.com or facebook.com/anncannontrib.