Kendall Jenner covers Love magazine sans her top, and within its pages the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star makes it very clear she’s chosen the right profession. On the cover of Love Kendall poses seductively in nothing but a fur hat, with her brunette locks swirling around her bare top. And while it definitely made a lot of people uncomfortable, it didn’t bother Kendall Jenner at all. In fact, she doesn’t seem to have a care in the world.
But she should.
Kendall Jenner was spotted driving dangerously recently on a busy L.A. freeway. The daughter of Bruce and Kris Jenner, Kendall drove her car while screaming out the lyrics to Avril Lavigne’s song “Sk8er boy” with model friend Ashley Skye also in the car. Now this in itself isn’t all that big a deal. Lots of people sing while driving their cars. It was the way the public learned about this that is the bigger problem. Kendall Jenner posted it on Instagram as it was happening.
As you can see from Kendall’s tweet, the link to her and Skye’s Instagram fun has mysteriously disappeared from Instagram.
being uber girly w/ @theashleysky http://t.co/lLvqdJjAXk
— Kendall Jenner (@KendallJenner) July 29, 2014
In the video that was once there, however, Jenner, who is just eighteen, and Skye, who is twenty-three, are screaming the song to each other, looking directly at one another, and dancing in their seats–all in the middle of heavy Los Angeles traffic.
“Death by distraction is real, and no star or her family should set an example that will likely kill people!” People Against Distracted Driving president Mike Kellenyi said during a recent interview. “Kendall’s driving behavior is every parents nightmare.”
Mike Kellenyi has lived that nightmare firsthand. His daughter Nikki died in an auto accident that involved texting while driving.
“Bruce Jenner, being a world famous personality, should never let this be broadcast,” Kellenyi added. “I know if Bruce were in my shoes, this type of driving would never happen in his family.”
Jason Epstein is an attorney and the creator of TADD–Teens Against Distracted Driving. He firmly believes Kendall Jenner needs to make amends.
“If I were advising Jenner, I would think that the morally responsible thing to do would be to do some sort of outreach to say its a mistake, and its not how people should be driving, and driving is dangerous, and I wasn’t demonstrating safe behavior, and I promise to do better in the future,” Epstein said.
Kelly K. Browning is the Executive Director for Impact Teen Driving. She makes a valid point, noting that the driver is not always the one to blame.
“Two-thirds of teen passenger deaths happen in a car driven by another teenager,” she said. “Whether as a driver or passenger all occupants play a role in keeping our roads safe. Far too often as in the (Kendall Jenner) video, passengers become an additional distraction.”
Browning believes that all of these accidents can easily be avoided.
“Far too many lives have been needlessly lost or permanently altered because of these poor choices behind the wheel,” she said.
Kendall Jenner did a stupid thing. Fortunately the worst that happened to her is that she got caught–via Instagram and not by photos taken at a gruesome crash scene. Might her parents step up to the plate and insist that she do something positive with this mistake? She should indeed take Jason Epstein’s advice and become an outreach mentor. She’s lucky she didn’t kill herself, her passenger or another innocent victim during her dancing and filming escapades.
Kendall has the ability and the social status to not only become an outreach mentor but to encourage other celebrities to do so as well. It’s those celebrities that young people often emulate. She–and her famous friends–should set an example of safe driving and not one promoting dangerous behavior like her recent recorded dance drive with her model friend.
Fans would much prefer the next picture they see of Kendall Jenner to be half nude on the front of a magazine–not on the front page of a newspaper, dead from a senseless car crash.
Don’t you agree?
Image via Instagram