Girl texting while driving hits cyclist, says “I just don’t care”

[dsavillian]

I had a tough time with keeping my eye off the email/texts at red lights so I decided to just shut my phone off when I'm in the car.

999 times out of 1000 it's not something I need to (or even have to) take care of until I get to my destination and that 1 time is so rare that I'll deal with the consequences of ignoring the request for an extra 10 minutes.

The exception is on long road trips, but I have a co-pilot and/or hands free for that.

Someone once commented "what if it's someone calling you to say a family member died?" If it was that serious, I wouldn't want to find out while I was driving anyway.

We lived for decades without always being connected while driving - we can likely still do it today

[puckedoff]

While it may be a "black and white" solution to enforce any handset texting regardless of whether the person is at a stop light or not, I agree that zero tolerance, even at red lights is the best policy. It is enforceable and less likely that a conversation will still be going when the person starts driving again.

And it is important to be paying attention at intersections, you may witness an accident or be able to move your car ahead to avoid being rear-ended from another absent-minded driver.

[smoothpops]

Montana once ran a program where after you were caught driving drunk, when you'd get your car and licence back, you'd have to drive around with an orange colored licence plate for a year or two. that way if anyone saw you swerving, they'd know to pull over and call it in, plus its a way to shame drunk drivers. i think we should do it here, orange plates for drunks and green plates for distracted drivers. There may be some privacy issues, but i'm sure there's a way around that.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

How the #### do you know what driver training I have had?

Ok I'm actually curious, what kind of training do you have that you don't need to look at the road when you drive? That sounds pretty sweet, I want to try that training.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by smoothpops

Montana once ran a program where after you were caught driving drunk, when you'd get your car and licence back, you'd have to drive around with an orange colored licence plate for a year or two. that way if anyone saw you swerving, they'd know to pull over and call it in, plus its a way to shame drunk drivers. i think we should do it here, orange plates for drunks and green plates for distracted drivers. There may be some privacy issues, but i'm sure there's a way around that.

BC was playing around with this idea before too, but the issue got dropped.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Ok I'm actually curious, what kind of training do you have that you don't need to look at the road when you drive? That sounds pretty sweet, I want to try that training.

I am sorry. Where did I say I "don't need to look at the road" when I drive?

[habernac]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

I am sorry. Where did I say I "don't need to look at the road" when I drive?

use the Force!

[pylon]

I have bluetooth in my car, and was pretty bad when it was legal to text. I'll admit it.

I do get a lot of urgent work calls and texts that I need to take, so what I have done, is set up a typing shortcut in my iPhone. "I'm driving, and can't text right now. Call me if it is urgent, other words I will get back to you as soon as I can."

I just enter 'qqq' on my phone to bring up the response once I hit a light or bumper to bumper traffic, and hit send. If I am really needed, the phone will just ring, and I can talk over blue tooth. The tools are there to make it safe, some people just ignore them. I know it isn't perfect, but it beats the hell out of typing on the fly.

To set up a response like this on iPhone just follow this tutorial:

http://www.wikihow.com/Create-Custom...ortcuts-in-iOS

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by dsavillian

I had a tough time with keeping my eye off the email/texts at red lights so I decided to just shut my phone off when I'm in the car.

999 times out of 1000 it's not something I need to (or even have to) take care of until I get to my destination and that 1 time is so rare that I'll deal with the consequences of ignoring the request for an extra 10 minutes.

The exception is on long road trips, but I have a co-pilot and/or hands free for that.

Someone once commented "what if it's someone calling you to say a family member died?" If it was that serious, I wouldn't want to find out while I was driving anyway.

We lived for decades without always being connected while driving - we can likely still do it today

Okay, that's if a family member died, what if they're dying or seriously hurt in the hospital? Still don't want to find out while you're driving?

[GGG]

One problem I have with the current laws is that it permits handsfree devices. I am too lazy to dig out the research but hands free is not significantly safer than using your hands. This is in terms of calling. I havent seen anything in terms of texting hands free vs. using hands.

It is akin to drinking and driving in terms of the losses in reaction time therefore it should be punished in similar terms. I like a minimum penalty of a 1 month suspension and ban the use of hands free.

Driving, even when done safely, is the most dangerous thing most people ever do. We just dont treat it that way.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by flameswin

Okay, that's if a family member died, what if they're dying or seriously hurt in the hospital? Still don't want to find out while you're driving?

I dont want you to find out your wife, child, or parent is dying while you are driving beside me. I put it at 50/50 that you panic and swerve out of your lane if you get that call.

[Zulu29]

Witnessed a near miss today, lady was driving on the highway and got distracted (appeared to be a phone, head down, one hand on steering wheel the other down out of sight) anyway she ended up drifting into the oncoming lane and nearly had a head on with an F350 (she was driving a civic). In any event, she's very lucky the person in the truck was paying attention or she'd have been a goner. We were going about 80-90 so it wouldn't have been pretty. At the next light I gave her a look like what were you thinking???? She just shrugged.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by Zulu29

Witnessed a near miss today, lady was driving on the highway and got distracted (appeared to be a phone, head down, one hand on steering wheel the other down out of sight) anyway she ended up drifting into the oncoming lane and nearly had a head on with an F350 (she was driving a civic). In any event, she's very lucky the person in the truck was paying attention or she'd have been a goner. We were going about 80-90 so it wouldn't have been pretty. At the next light I gave her a look like what were you thinking???? She just shrugged.

Some folks just have that "It couldn't possibly happen to me" thing going on pretty hard.

[Temporary_User]

http://www.krgv.com/news/police-man-...cyclist-s-body

Police are questioning two people accused of trying to dump the body of a hit-and-run victim into a canal.

sickening.

It really is too easy to get a license. People develop bad habits and forget some of the rules. I am all for retesting every 5 or so years. I really don't see how there isn't a psychological aspect to the test as well.

[CaptainCrunch]

Its cheap to get hands free technology in your car, whether its a blue tooth head set, or its spending $400 bucks to get it as part of your sound system, there's really no excuse.

If your getting a text about a family member dying then you have a much bigger problem. If someone texted me that my dad died for example when they had access to a you know actual phone I'd probably be tempted to be very angry at that person for such an insensitive way of letting me know.

There is absolutely never any need to be texting while your driving a 1000 pounds or more of steel and plastic at high speeds or low speed in an environment where even at a stop one stupid mistake can kill people.

Texting that someone died, I can't believe that's a thing unless its like OMG such and such celebrity died, in which case who cares.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Zulu29

Witnessed a near miss today, lady was driving on the highway and got distracted (appeared to be a phone, head down, one hand on steering wheel the other down out of sight) anyway she ended up drifting into the oncoming lane and nearly had a head on with an F350 (she was driving a civic). In any event, she's very lucky the person in the truck was paying attention or she'd have been a goner. We were going about 80-90 so it wouldn't have been pretty. At the next light I gave her a look like what were you thinking???? She just shrugged.

Maybe she was pushing a different type of button if you know what I mean.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Rathji

I will admit to sometimes picking up my phone to check messages while I am at a light.

I totally see how driving while texting is extremely dangerous, but my brain just can't grasp how me reading a text message at a light is a problem, other than it might cause traffic flow issues if I get involved in something and miss a light changing.

I am entirely open to having someone change my mind on this, so feel free to educate me on what I am missing here.

Aside from the general nuisance that people paying no attention to the road and lights are - even when stopped at a red light - you do still want to be focused on the road so that you can quickly react to any incident that happens around you. i.e.: if there is a crash that causes a car to collide with yours. If you are focused on what is in front of you, you can at least brace yourself for an impact. If you are focused on your lap, your body won't be at all ready for that impact and could well result in comparatively worse injuries.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by woob

The thing I don't understand is what kind of a text is so important you need to respond to it while driving? I always tell my family/friends/colleagues if something is important call me. If you text me while driving, I'm not responding, no matter how many times you say "hello? hello? why aren't you answering? hello??"

Texts, to me, are a secondary form of communication and I give it lower priority. And with the amount people text these days, I know if someone takes the time to call rather than text, then it is likely important.

It's the same attitude that results in people (primarily young people) texting throughout movies, or during the national anthems at games and the like. It seems that more and more people only care about their own personal world and refuse to be considerate to those around them.

More than once at a theatre, I've leaned over and told someone texting that "there is absolutely nothing in your world so important it can't wait two hours for you to read that message. And if there is, you shouldn't be here anyway." Two things usually happen: they shoot me a black look, and they put the damned phone away.

[Red Potato Standing By]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Aside from the general nuisance that people paying no attention to the road and lights are - even when stopped at a red light - you do still want to be focused on the road so that you can quickly react to any incident that happens around you. i.e.: if there is a crash that causes a car to collide with yours. If you are focused on what is in front of you, you can at least brace yourself for an impact. If you are focused on your lap, your body won't be at all ready for that impact and could well result in comparatively worse injuries.

Isn't it actually the bracing yourself for the accident that causes more damage to a person? I could be wrong,but I believe I read that somewhere, in a an article explaining why impaired drivers usually survive but the unimpaired one is the one usually to not fair so well.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by flameswin

Okay, that's if a family member died, what if they're dying or seriously hurt in the hospital? Still don't want to find out while you're driving?

How is that any different than before phones were prevalent? Or what if you don't have a cell?

I think the important part of dsavilian's point still stands. There is no conversation or notification that is both important enough and time sensitive enough that it can't wait. We've fooled ourselves into thinking we need to do all these things immediately, but we really don't. We didn't have these devices or problems years ago and we did just fine. If one wants to play the 'what if' game, I'm sure you can come up with one or two crazy examples that would happen to one in a million people, but really have no bearing on the overall debate.

It's turning out that distracted driving is proving to be as dangerous as drunk driving. As a pure numbers game it may be more dangerous because more people indulge in it. Morally, it's just as irresponsible. You're putting your own convenience over the lives of others and for no real good reason to boot.

Texting while driving needs to be taken as seriously drinking and driving. I'm kinda on the fence about a good bluetooth set up, I not sure that should be a crime, and some experts say it should. But texting while driving has all the worst parts of distracted driving all rolled into one. Takes your hands away, your eyes away, and attention away.