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Woman killed by selfie

Courtney Sanford/Facebook

32-year old Courtney-Ann Sanford was in a good mood on Sunday, and she wanted all of her friends to know it. Therefore, while driving along B-85 through the woods of North Carolina, Sanford pulled out her phone to post a message to her friends. She never made it to her destination. Investigators also found that she had been repeatedly posting selfies as she was driving.

Her final, and fatal, post read thus: “This happy song makes me HAPPY.”

Local police Lt. Chris Weiner summed up the irony in this tragedy. “In a matter of seconds, a life was over just so she could notify some friends that she was happy,” reports the local Fox affiliate.

Read: Selfies spread lice

About one minute after the post was made, police received a phone call from a witness of the accident. Sanford’s car had swerved into the opposite lane and drove headlong into an oncoming truck.

Her car then ran off the road and burst into flames. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Police ruled that drugs, alcohol and speed were not involved in the accident.

Read: New app makes you look skinnier in selfies

Distracted driving is one of the leading causes of accidents, many of which result in serious injuries or death. During a BlackBerry Messaging outage in 2011, accidents in Dubai dropped 20% and in neighbouring Abu Dhabi by 40% during the three days that the service was down.

The incident serves as a grim reminder of just how easily an accident like this can happen, and just how tragic the consequences can be.

Read more: 
Health problems for cellphone addicts
Crazy ways your cellphone can harm you
Nomophobia, the fear of losing your cellphone

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