I've seen that happen. I pull up to the stop line, to my left is a guy looking at his phone. To the left of him is the turn lane. I anticipated the light would turn green, as there was nobody facing us to turn left. I guess the sensor glitched as we all just got a turn arrow. So I flinched and the cars turning left went, and buddy on his phone saw everybody moving and went right through the red light. He didn't even look up after, just kept sailing along.
All you people who say what they are doing doesn't impact their driving- the problem is that you are also oblivious to the issues you cause around you. The guy in my above example was unaware that he did anything wrong. Failing to crash does not mean you were a good driver.
just wanted to make sure this point was not lost..
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Captain James P. DeCOSTE, CD, 18 Sep 1993
Only one of those activities requires taking your eyes off the road. Well, at least for some of us. I guess not you.
Well truth be told, now that I have a motorcycle I do neither of those activities. If everyone would just buy a ride motorcycles the world would be a better place I suppose!
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This is usually more common in bad drivers. Nothing to do with checking messages. We should be looking to punish bad driving. Those who can't drive, probably should not have added distractions while driving.....
i agree lets set up a system whereby there are sub groups of drivers and only the really good ones are allowed unfettered access to thier phones while driving - because they are good drivers, what could possibly happen if they take thier attention off of their task, even if they are stopped. tickets given to drivers in this class will not count towards the cops quota
the really bad ones have to put their phones in their trunks while driving, and the average one are allowed something in between....
like the post above says, the law spells out how you need to act, act accordingly ro live with the punishment.......
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If I do not come back avenge my death
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Omg lets not throw more crap into the "not allowed" pile.
Soon you will literally not be able to move your car without your hands at 2 and 10.
Literally? Come on now.
Have a look at the multiple gear grinder threads. How many of the posts are about crappy drivers? People, as a group, have proven they aren't very good at it. By adding in additional tasks, like texting or talking on a phone, they are becoming increasingly bad at driving. I don't see how not being allowed to use your phone for a car trip will wreck your life, but I can definitely see how using one can wreck your life or someone else's.
It's not that far of a stretch to sending a text at the red light, to needing to finish it slightly down the road, to texting whenever you are driving. I get that I'm a boring person, but I've never needed to make or receive a text, email or phone call while driving without the use of blue tooth. I've wanted to for sure, but it's really not hard to put my phone in my console, and wait until I arrive at my destination. The 20 minutes in difference between the time they sent it and I read it were not life and death. I've seen pictures of multiple accidents resulting from distracted driving that did result in death or injury. Why not make the roads a little bit safer by keeping your phone away for your trip? I'm sure you buddies will see you when you get there.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
Jesus this site these days
Quote:
Originally Posted by Barnet Flame
He just seemed like a very nice person. I loved Squiggy.
Driving isn't a right, there are rules, rules which, when not followed, impact the lives and safety of us all.
Drive or text; pick one and do it well.
Unfortunately our society has been built so that the car is basically a necessity, but fer chrissakes, when you are driving a car, drive the car. If you want to eat, eat, but pull the frig over so I don't die when you spill your coke in your lap or when your grandmother forwards you a cute email with kittens in it.
It's not a matter of you doing it without accidents, it's that people do it and DO get in accidents. The more we can curb that behaviour, the better, even if it isn't eliminated entirely.
Hell, take away the safety factor entirely. I don't want to be 20 minutes late for work because you sent a sext to the wrong person in your contacts and your reactionary tapping of the break has slowed down everyone's commute and created a traffic jam.
It's like walking and texting. Pick one so I don't have to wait to see if you're going to bump into me or not. Just be stationary for a moment.
If the message you are sending or receiving isn't important enough to pull over, it's not important enough to look at or answer while you're in the vehicle.
i agree lets set up a system whereby there are sub groups of drivers and only the really good ones are allowed unfettered access to thier phones while driving - because they are good drivers, what could possibly happen if they take thier attention off of their task, even if they are stopped. tickets given to drivers in this class will not count towards the cops quota
the really bad ones have to put their phones in their trunks while driving, and the average one are allowed something in between....
like the post above says, the law spells out how you need to act, act accordingly ro live with the punishment.......
Quote:
Originally Posted by undercoverbrother
I agree we should punish bad driving and bad drivers, maybe by ticketing them.
I fully agree, this is my entire point. Punish the bad drivers by handing out tickets when they do something stupid or careless. I want to see more tickets handed out for this and an increase in the fine. People seem to attribute the cause of bad driving with cell phones without a second thought. I'm suggesting that there is a bigger cause and that is people suck at driving. Issue large fines for that (not to mention the major overhaul that is needed in the process of getting a licence in the first place).
Checking phone at red light, not a problem. Checking phone while doing 120 on deerfoot, big problem. But it isn't the phone that is causing the issue it is the serious lack of reasoning skills in some drivers, and they have been having issues long before cell phones were created.
For everyone who keeps defending this dumb behavior, everytime you take a little more time at the light because you're too busy looking at your crotch, the overstressed guy behind you is this much closer to losing it and road raging on your ass. Turn your phones off and drive.
The majority of green light strugglers I see aren't looking down. They're just staring off into space being strugglers. Generally, the ability to spend about two seconds glancing at a text at a red light is unrelated to one's ability to hit the gas when the light turns green.
Texting is the catch all for road stupidity nowadays anyway. "Someone crashed into a tree. Must have been texting." As if people didn't crash into trees before cell phones were invented.
I'll agree that texting while driving is reckless and dangerous. But I consider "while driving" to be actually driving, not waiting to drive.
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We're defending checking our phone when we're stopped at a red light. A completely harmless activity. I guarantee, 100% that no one has ever been killed by someone not moving at a red light.
We're defending checking our phone when we're stopped at a red light. A completely harmless activity. I guarantee, 100% that no one has ever been killed by someone not moving at a red light.
Weird hey.
While sitting at a red light you are driving, even if you are stopped. By allowing people to text while stopped, you are tempting them to do it while they are moving. The justification will continue to be that it's not harming anybody and/or it was only a quick text. By firing a quick text off you are possibly unaware of your surroundings, and may miss the pedestrian running to cross before the light turns, the cyclist going through the red, or the car turning from the wrong lane. If you continually engage in the habit of not using your phone while operating your vehicle, you won't be tempted to do it at any point. This will create safer roads for everyone.
Too easily that one text can become reading the full email, or being distracted from what was in the email. If you were that important where the text or email couldn't wait, you should probably be chauffeured around.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
Jesus this site these days
Quote:
Originally Posted by Barnet Flame
He just seemed like a very nice person. I loved Squiggy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dissentowner
I should probably stop posting at this point
Last edited by squiggs96; 08-29-2014 at 08:49 AM.
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While sitting at a red light you are driving, even if you are stopped. By allowing people to text while stopped, you are tempting them to do it while they are moving. The justification will continue to be that it's not harming anybody and/or it was only a quick text. By firing a quick text off you are possibly unaware of your surroundings, and may miss the pedestrian running to cross before the light turns, the cyclist going through the red, or the car turning from the wrong lane. If you continually engage in the habit of not using your phone while operating your phone, you won't be tempted to do it at any point. This will create safer roads for everyone.
Too easily that one text can become reading the full email, or being distracted from what was in the email. If you were that important where the text or email couldn't wait, you should probably be chauffeured around.
I'm fine with hitting these law breakers so I'll stay spaced out at red lights. [/end sarcasm??]
I fully agree, this is my entire point. Punish the bad drivers by handing out tickets when they do something stupid or careless. I want to see more tickets handed out for this and an increase in the fine. People seem to attribute the cause of bad driving with cell phones without a second thought. I'm suggesting that there is a bigger cause and that is people suck at driving. Issue large fines for that (not to mention the major overhaul that is needed in the process of getting a licence in the first place).
Checking phone at red light, not a problem. Checking phone while doing 120 on deerfoot, big problem. But it isn't the phone that is causing the issue it is the serious lack of reasoning skills in some drivers, and they have been having issues long before cell phones were created.
This is where we disagree I think checking you phone at a red light is a problem and stupid.
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Captain James P. DeCOSTE, CD, 18 Sep 1993
Corporal Jean-Marc H. BECHARD, 6 Aug 1993
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Cops in Canada have given out tickets to people in stopped cars for texting:
Link Earlier this month, RCMP Const. Bryan Martell appeared at a Chilliwack-area intersection dressed in a hooded jacket and ball cap – and sporting a few day’s growth of beard.
Wandering alongside stopped vehicles he carried a cardboard sign reading “Hello, my name is Constable Martell. If you’re on your cell phone right now, you are about to get a ticket.”
If he spotted a driver texting talking on his cell phone, Cst. Martell radioed ahead to a uniformed officer who would then ticket the vehicle.
Not sure if this has happened in Calgary yet though.
Hilariously, I learned today that these undercover cops have been coined : hobocops.
I agree with your post though Pylon, especially this :
What if your changing your radio station on your phone?
Phones on a holder, same spot the actual radio is...
Exactly. I keep my phone, in a dock, next to the head unit, and use the Tune-In app or my iTunes collection more than 50% of the time. It takes me no more or less time to switch the station on the phone, than it does on my radio.
Every law has grey areas, and even though I would never fight a ticket if I got busted texting and driving, if I was given one for changing the radio station on a phone mounted next to the radio, at a red light....I would definitely be fighting it.
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I hate people who text while they're driving as much as the next guy, but there is nothing wrong with reading a text message or something small like that while sitting at a red light. The point of the law is to prevent people from doing this stuff while they're moving. If they're too busy using their phone to notice the light turned green, then sure, ticket them. But if they look at the screen for a few seconds while stopped, who cares? Who are they going to hurt?
No. The point of this law is to prevent idiots from doing this stuff when they are in control of a vehicle.
Attitudes like yours are why this law needs demerit points. People like you clearly need to begin suffering license suspensions before you learn.
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I have a hunch that most of the people that are all anti-checking texts at a red light are people whos kids taught them to text and regret it cause now their parents send them annoying and ridiculous texts that take them 10 minutes to type out.
It takes all of 5 seconds to check a text at a red light, when your car is stopped.
Again, at this pace we're going to be forced to keep both hands on the wheel and keep our head forward in order to keep the car in gear. All I want to do is get behind the wheel bombed and tweet lyrics from Ja Rule songs. Is that too much to ask for?
Location: Close enough to make a beer run during a TV timeout
Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by polak
I have a hunch that most of the people that are all anti-checking texts at a red light are people whos kids taught them to text and regret it cause now their parents send them annoying and ridiculous texts that take them 10 minutes to type out.
No. Unlike you some of us have been driving for more than 10 years, and are able to notice differences in driving habits over that time.
Consider yourself lucky that you haven't had to react quickly to something that has happened while your car is stopped. More than once I've had to react to somebody else out of control; and have been able to avoid a serious accident. Sure, I wouldn't have been at fault if that truck had smashed into the back of my car at 70 km/h. However I don't think not being at fault would have given me much comfort as I was slipping in and out of a coma.
You are driving. And unless you are a doctor, on your way to the hospital responding to an emergency, and the attending physician is texting you for what they need to do to keep the patient stable, your text can wait. Nothing you or I do is important enough that it cannot wait.
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I have a hunch that most of the people that are all anti-checking texts at a red light are people whos kids taught them to text and regret it cause now their parents send them annoying and ridiculous texts that take them 10 minutes to type out.
It takes all of 5 seconds to check a text at a red light, when your car is stopped.
Or it is possible that they are older and smarter than you.........I mean I get it, I think I would have had the same position as you when I was in my mid 20's.
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Captain James P. DeCOSTE, CD, 18 Sep 1993
lets set up a system whereby there are sub groups of drivers and only the really good ones are allowed unfettered access to thier phones while driving - because they are good drivers, what could possibly happen if they take thier attention off of their task, even if they are stopped. tickets given to drivers in this class will not count towards the cops quota
