texting while driving.

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by dave_R_treker, May 20, 2009.

  1. dave_R_treker

    dave_R_treker Captain Captain

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    Why the hell do we have to make laws makeing it illegal to text messaging while driving. I would think its just comman sense not to do it. What makes people think its alright to do it? Are they complete morons? You can't pay attention to the road whats happening around you if your texting while driving?
     
  2. ShamelessMcBundy

    ShamelessMcBundy Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Just because it's common sense, doesn't mean that people are gonna obey. Look, i know it's illegal, but i still do it on occasion/
     
  3. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    Because people ARE complete morons.

    There was a local news story tonight about a guy who just got into a bad wreck texting while driving.

    I saw a girl on "Dr. Phil" a couple months ago who texts, with both hands, all of the time while driving even while merging onto the interstate. She saw no problem at all that he reaction time would be quadrupled, she had no control over steering the car or that her eyes weren't on the road. They put a camera in her car a taped her driving. They said she'd have her eyes off the road for several minutes at a time!

    There's video out there of a bus-driver who crashed into a car while messing with his phone.

    People are complete and total morons. If you're texting while driving you should get pulled over, have your license cut-up by the officer on-the-spot and your car towed away and impounded forever.

    Because if you text while driving you've no respect for other people's safety.
     
  4. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    If you're going to text while driving you might as well be blind.

    Seriously. What posess people to think that it's a good idea to take their eyes off the road and focus their attention on a screen and typing in messages? You might as well read a book or paint your windshield black.

    Texting while driving is monumentaly stupid and dangerous.

    It should be severly punishable. Orders of magnitude worse than even drunk-driving is.

    Because at the very least a drunk driver can see the goddamn road!
     
  5. sidious618

    sidious618 Admiral Admiral

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    People who do this should get the death penalty. It'd clear up the highway a bit if nothing else.
     
  6. JonathonWally

    JonathonWally Admiral Admiral

    John Corzine is a huge fan of it.
     
  7. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    I attempted it a few times, and then I realized that I simply couldn't pay attention to the road and text at the same time, so I gave myself a "No texting while driving" rule...unless I'm stopped at a red light. :p
     
  8. Miss Chicken

    Miss Chicken Little three legged cat with attitude Admiral

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    There4 are two reason why I never text while driving

    a) I don't drive
    b) I don't own a cell phone

    Therefore i cannot understand why anyone would need to text while driving. Does anyone really text anything important very often? Is there anything ever in text message to urgent that one cannot wait until it is safe to send it?

    A girl got on the bus the other day and she was texting while she was boarding. When it came time to pay the driver she was so engrossed in texting the driver had to ask her twice for her money. After he asked her the second time she said "wait a sec" and finished her message before paying him. She was oblivious to the people queuing behind her who she was holding up (on a cold autumn day). Lets hope this young lady never gets a driving licence.
     
  9. TGTheodore

    TGTheodore Writer Admiral

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    People are so self-centered now that they have to be TOLD something is wrong or else they think it's okay.

    It's the Five-Year-Old Syndrome. Kindergarteners are like that. "Everything I want to do is fine."

    --Ted
     
  10. RoJoHen

    RoJoHen Awesome Admiral

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    I can say that I have indeed had "urgent" text conversations, usually having to do with work-related things. It's rare at my job that an actual phone call would be prudent, so texting is the only way to go.
     
  11. roliver

    roliver Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    You had to TRY this before realizing you wouldn't be able to pay attention?
     
  12. TheLonelySquire

    TheLonelySquire Vice Admiral

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    Someone employed as a trolly conductor in Boston recently caused a major trolley accident while texting. Automatic prison time should be given.
     
  13. John Picard

    John Picard Vice Admiral Admiral

    I make it a point to cut off people either yapping on the phone or playing with that damned thing while driving. They're a hazard. Nothing is that damned important that you have to be in constant contact with people at all times.
     
  14. mimic

    mimic Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I have done it exactly once. There was no one on the road other than me, the car was on cruise control, and I did it very slowly - one letter at a time without looking at the keyboard. The hardest part was opening the phone - can't easily do that with one hand.

    And it's not illegal in my state.
     
  15. Alidar Jarok

    Alidar Jarok Everything in moderation but moderation Moderator

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    The closest I've ever done was to read a text while driving and even then I'd look down for maybe a second, read a word, and then look back at the road. After finishing the text, I realized how dumb that was and stopped.

    I honestly think more states have laws against calling people while driving than texting people while driving.
     
  16. Crash

    Crash Vice Admiral Admiral

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    This. I personally loathe the idea of anyone being able to contact me twenty-four hours a day. Is it really so odd to want to be un-reachable, particularly when you're, you know, off of work?

    I think what really inspired this attitude in me is an incident my youngest brother the day he graduated college. He did what anyone his age did, he went bar hopping, and then went to a party with his girlfriend. His boss called him at eleven at night and tried to get him to come into work, and he worked at a freaking gas station! He politely told his boss that he had been drinking all night and that he was just rounding second with his girl, and, no, he wouldn't come in.

    They fired him few weeks later after he changed his phone number and they couldn't try and call him in anymore. Their reason was that he was hard to reach despite the fact that he had a land line with an answering machine.

    In an era where a goddamned gas station can fire you because because they can't reach you twenty-four / seven I think it's really time to re-examine our use of technology a bit. The same can really be said for anyone who texts while driving. Stiffen the hell out of the penalty if you're in an accident, for starters.
     
  17. John Picard

    John Picard Vice Admiral Admiral

    Thank you. A couple of years ago, when I still had a landline, my son freaked when the phone rang while we were eating dinner and I told him, "NO! We are eating dinner and if it's that important whomever is calling will call later." He was perplexed and asked, "What if the person doesn't call back?" I responded, "Oh well. Just because the telephone rings does not mean it has to be answered."

    I usually keep my cell phone with me when we're watching a movie, and if it rings I'll decided if I want to talk to the caller. It took him a while to understand that just because the phone rings it does not mean the phone must be answered. That's why voice-mail was invented.
     
  18. Michael Chris

    Michael Chris Admiral Admiral

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    I've texted at stop lights, but that's it.
     
  19. Pingfah

    Pingfah Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah, make em crash, that'll teach them for doing something that might make them crash. You SHOW them what a hazard they are by causing a pile up they could have avoided if they just weren't being so damned irresponsible.

    I swear, some people really don't need to be in charge of a car. :vulcan:
     
  20. Warp Coil

    Warp Coil Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yeah, I admit to texting at red lights a couple of times. Texting while driving? Not only is it dangerous but it's also quite difficult!