Alberta passes distracted driving law

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

I don't think anyone is arguing that you can hide on the side of the road and jump into traffic and be killed to get someone charged.

That's exactly what you said.

[Fuzz]

That's how I read it, too.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Ok?




That's a child that ran into traffic though. Not an adult walking across a road or in a parking lot or through a crosswalk. The point is that people have the perception that they are immune and that drivers must stop at all times. I don't think anyone is arguing that you can hide on the side of the road and jump into traffic and be killed to get someone charged.

Walking across the road, walking through the a parking lot and walking through a crosswalk are not equal.

What you said:

"The real problem is the perception of immunity. People don't care that it is dangerous, they know that you have to stop and if they are hit, even if they are jaywalking, you will be found at fault. "

Is false.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

The point is that people have the perception that they are immune and that drivers must stop at all times.

Do you really think people take solace from the fact that if they get hit by a car and end up drinking from a tube for months that it was, in their eyes, the drivers' fault?

People walking do sometimes get distracted. But in my opinion, distracted pedestrians are far less common than distracted drivers.

[btimbit]

I kind of agree with Cecil. I don't think it has anything to do with distraction, but people seem to have it in their heads that cars will always stop for them just because they have too. They don't wait for traffic to stop before crossing they just walk into the road with this false sense of security

[Fuzz]

What do you suppose the overlap is between people who drive with their head in their crotch and also walk around looking at their phone not paying attentive to where they are going?

I'm going to guess it's close to 100%.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by btimbit

I kind of agree with Cecil. I don't think it has anything to do with distraction, but people seem to have it in their heads that cars will always stop for them just because they have too. They don't wait for traffic to stop before crossing they just walk into the road with this false sense of security

To be fair I think it is both. People are letting themselves be distracted partly because they have no fear of repercussions and because they are distracted.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

To be fair I think it is both. People are letting themselves be distracted partly because they have no fear of repercussions and because they are distracted.

You really think pedestrians have no fear of being hit by cars?

[foshizzle11]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

You really think pedestrians have no fear of being hit by cars?

some of them ya, they just don't look. I always fear for my life when crossing the road, no matter what.

I saw a young women get hit be a car running a yellow light/red light. There was 3 people at the crosswalk/lights, 2 didn't go because this guy was speeding by and the women just stepped out, didn't look for cars coming, just saw the walking signal and stepped out. It was horrendous, I believe she lived but I don't know for sure, she was in bad shape and seeing that and being a first responder was pretty tough. I learned an important lesson because of someone else's mistake.

Anyway, that bleeds no fear to me. She didn't look at all, not a simple gaze to the direction of traffic. I see this all the time when driving too, they don't look and if I wasn't paying attention I easily could have hit some pedestrians who are oblivious to what is happening around them simply because they are in between two white lines on the street that has some magic force field around it that makes them invincible. I am not sure about anyone else on here but I won't be teaching my kids that they are safe no matter what if they are inside a crosswalk.

It is silly. So ya, I believe that some people really don't have any fear of being hit by a car or they don't care if they are. I don't really get it.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

You really think pedestrians have no fear of being hit by cars?

Tons of them. Most of them.

The prospect of death is almost too harsh a reality for most people to think about.

Only one thing matters, if they step onto a road or crosswalk or parking lot etc and there is a car coming, that car has to stop. This has become so hardwired into people's psyche that yeah, pedestrians have no fear of being hit by cars. And let's not play the game of pretending that people want to die or don't understand what happens if they get hit by a car, not because they don't understand what happens if/when they are hit, but because they have a feeling of invulnerability. If every car you entire life has stopped when you cut across a road, why think that is about to change now? The reality is that virtually all pedestrians have been conditioned to believe that all cars will stop. There is little fear of getting hit by a car. In fact, I think a lot of people like to create confrontation with cars by making sudden movements and being able to create a scene or tell their friends about that jerkoff driver that they threw their coffee at because they didn't stop far enough away when they tried to cross.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Do you really think people take solace from the fact that if they get hit by a car and end up drinking from a tube for months that it was, in their eyes, the drivers' fault?

People walking do sometimes get distracted. But in my opinion, distracted pedestrians are far less common than distracted drivers.

I disagree with this. There are plenty of both.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I don't even really have a phone.

I have basic and cheap cell phone and plan for emergencies ($20 a month) and that is it. Ohhhh and good lucking trying to get me into texting - you're waisting your time.

[Fuzz]

I have my wife's old phone, without a sim card. I use it for travel, and controlling my stereo. I do have a free app I can make wifi calls with, and another for free texting, but unless I know I need to be in contact, I never take it with me anywhere.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by habernac

I disagree with this. There are plenty of both.

Look at pedestrians on a sidewalk downtown. 95 per cent or more are walking with no distractions. Just walking.

Look at traffic sometime. How many drivers are texting, talking on a hands-free, screwing around with their nav system, yelling at the kids in the back seat, or trying to unwrap a breakfast sandwich with one hand? More than 5 per cent. There are just way more distractions in cars.

[ricosuave]

Originally Posted by Dion

I have basic and cheap cell phone and plan for emergencies ($20 a month) and that is it. Ohhhh and good lucking trying to get me into texting - you're waisting your time.

Damn autocorrect, huh?

[pylon]

The solution is incredibly simple. Same penalty as drunk driving, same fine, same criminal record and same insurance hike. You could run non description ghost cars equipped with 360 degree video cameras and just drive up and down major thoroughfares busting 100's of people a day.

Once the first wave of people have their licenses revoked, lose their jobs, and their ability to travel abroad.... Then people will take this serious.

[Cole436]

Originally Posted by pylon

The solution is incredibly simple. Same penalty as drunk driving, same fine, same criminal record and same insurance hike. You could run non description ghost cars equipped with 360 degree video cameras and just drive up and down major thoroughfares busting 100's of people a day.

Once the first wave of people have their licenses revoked, lose their jobs, and their ability to travel abroad.... Then people will take this serious.

I'm not sure, but I think ruining hundreds of people's lives at once, when there's clearly an education problem, is not the right way to go about this.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by Cole436

I'm not sure, but I think ruining hundreds of people's lives at once, when there's clearly an education problem, is not the right way to go about this.

Texting and driving is just as if not more dangerous than drinking and driving, what about the ruined lives of the innocent because some idiot can't go 5 minutes without texting?

[4X4]

I hate texter/drivers as much as anyone in this thread, but it's not the same as drunk driving. Once you're drunk, you just can't drive anymore tonight. That's it. Call a cab. Call Calgary Cab (my new fave, thanks to a couple posters...) But texting and driving is a completely different kind of offense. The cop has to see the person staring at their crotch for it to be illegal. And even then, it's he said she said.

I don't know what the punishment should be, but giving a person a DUI for looking at their phone at a light is not really proportional, even though I personally want to fire them into the sun for making me wait an extra second when the light turns green. The people doing it on Deerfoot need to get charged with reckless driving. Even doing it on Elbow Drive, where some 900 year old granny is hitting the pedestrian lights, and 20 year old Tammy is too busy checking facebook. That's reckless or dangerous driving. Charge these people. Make it scary. As a 90s kid, I was scared s-less about drinking and driving, because I could lose my license or hurt or kill someone.

This epidemic is similar, but not the same. It needs to be cracked down on, and it needs to be called what it is. "Distracted" is a word I can use to describe myself while writing this post, because I've got highlights going on the TV. Distracted isn't lethal. Texting and driving is. Amend 'Dangerous Driving' to include texting. Just trying to rewind and think like a teen, if you told me I was distracted, it wouldn't really register. If you told me I was dangerous, it would sound like something I need to consider. I'd probably still roll my eyes, but I'd also be sitting there holding my driver's license, and worrying about a ghost car seeing me text and drive, for fear of losing my license for 'dangerous driving', just the same way many of us were deathly afraid of driving home from the bar for fear of a checkstop and the repercussions.

I swear the police would make way more money, and improve road safety substantially, if they'd ditch the constable hiding in a fishing hole, and instead give him a ghost car with dash cams, and he just drove around in traffic and busted all the people staring at their crotches. And while he's at it, he can fine the F out of people that flick their cigarettes out the window. And if he's really skilled, he might nab an evil speeder or two.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Cole436

I'm not sure, but I think ruining hundreds of people's lives at once, when there's clearly an education problem, is not the right way to go about this.

It's not an education problem. It's a narcissist problem. People are so convinced their stupid lives are so important, that they are willing to endanger others so they can post their dessert on FB. There is probably more education and PSA about distracted driving now, than there is Drinking and driving.

The problem is, people are selfish, self involved a-holes. They need to pay if they cannot show any self control or responsibility.