texting while driving.

[Lindley]

Come to think of it, I did send a text while piloting once.

The plane was too loud for a voice call to be practical, and I had to inform the party waiting to meet me about my ETA.

Autopilot was on, though, so the only danger was that I wasn't scanning for traffic for a few seconds. And since I was on flight following, I had the controller's eyes helping out with that anyway.

 

[mimic]

I consider myself a good driver. Never been in an accident, never pulled over by the cops, had my license for nearly 7 years. The one time I did send a text message while driving I was the only one on the road, the road was straight, I was in cruise control and I typed the text over the course of several minutes so my attention was only off the road for a split second at a time as I put in the next letter. Not to completely defend JimCasy, because I don't think it's a good idea to do on a regular basis but it can be done so that it's no more dangerous than finding a good radio station or fiddling with the AC. No one's talking about texting in traffic, or in poor weather conditions, or on curvy unfamiliar roads, etc. so it's pretty ludicrous to compare her 'sins' to those of a drunk driver, IMO.

I do love it when everyone in a thread gets self-righteous and goes after one person. Very entertaining stuff. Reminds me a bit of the chivalry thread.

 

[TrekkieMonster]

Apropos of this topic in general, and my earlier post, this appeared in today's Boston Globe:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/05/23/ban_on_driver_texting_backed/

It's about freakin' time!!! But, I agree with Representative Wagner; we need a more comprehensive "Distracted Driving" statute that deals with more than just texting, and the fines need to be higher than a piddly $75.

Here's hoping something good finally comes of this.

 

[Wrongway Janeway]

I used to work with a woman who admitted to reading paperback novels on her way to work.

She said the road she traveled had very light traffic, so she figured it was no problem. I tried to get her to understand how dangerous that was, giving examples such as an animal suddenly darting out in front of her.

She said she's been reading and driving for years and has never had an accident, and so she wasn't worried.

Man, I hope she never kills anyone.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Your judgement, reaction and vision very much ARE impared as all of them are being partly dedicated to you telling your bestest girlfriend about the cute outfit you just saw at the five-and-dime.

Is she texting in 1953?

Hey, my city still has a five and dime. It's a sensitive issue (that I live in a small state)

 

[SicOne]

Throwing stuff towards other cars on the road is in general a bad idea. In fact it's worse than text messaging your friends while driving.

I assumed he was joking about the water balloons. At least, I hope he was.

Boys and girls, I am as serious as Farrah Fawcett's anal cancer.

A maple syrup balloon on your car in the hot and humid Nebraska summer is not a funny thing. I never found out who nailed my car in a parking lot while I was at work, but my car smelled like breakfast for months.

If you cause a wreck with a liquid-filled balloon instead of your car, that is technically not vehicular homicide. Guy shoulda been paying attention to the road and not his phone. Think it over, folks. Let me know how it works.

And what happens if that person gets into an accident and KILLS an innocent person? Are you willing to live with that? And guess what? That would still be murder. The same thing could happen regardless if the person is texting or not.

I'm not the one throwing the maple syrup balloon. I'm the one advising YOU to throw the maple syrup balloon. If you follow my advice, my conscience is clear. Your's may be troubled, depending upon the bloodcurdling shrieks that may result.

But if it will make you happy, then folks, PLEASE wait until the texter's car has come to a complete stop before throwing the maple syrup balloon. Oh, and wait until the light is about to turn green, so you can make a clean getaway. Being stuck at a red light would be a bad time to find out that the texter angrily getting out of his car is a biggggg dude!

Is that better?

 

[Crusher Disciple]

I used to work with a woman who admitted to reading paperback novels on her way to work.

She said the road she traveled had very light traffic, so she figured it was no problem. I tried to get her to understand how dangerous that was, giving examples such as an animal suddenly darting out in front of her.

Yeah, like a longhorn.

 

[dave_R_treker]

Boys and girls, I am as serious as Farrah Fawcett's anal cancer.

A maple syrup balloon on your car in the hot and humid Nebraska summer is not a funny thing. I never found out who nailed my car in a parking lot while I was at work, but my car smelled like breakfast for months.

If you cause a wreck with a liquid-filled balloon instead of your car, that is technically not vehicular homicide. Guy shoulda been paying attention to the road and not his phone. Think it over, folks. Let me know how it works.

And what happens if that person gets into an accident and KILLS an innocent person? Are you willing to live with that? And guess what? That would still be murder. The same thing could happen regardless if the person is texting or not.

I'm not the one throwing the maple syrup balloon. I'm the one advising YOU to throw the maple syrup balloon. If you follow my advice, my conscience is clear. Your's may be troubled, depending upon the bloodcurdling shrieks that may result.

But if it will make you happy, then folks, PLEASE wait until the texter's car has come to a complete stop before throwing the maple syrup balloon. Oh, and wait until the light is about to turn green, so you can make a clean getaway. Being stuck at a red light would be a bad time to find out that the texter angrily getting out of his car is a biggggg dude!

Is that better?

A litle bit.

 

[pookha]

I consider myself a good driver. Never been in an accident, never pulled over by the cops, had my license for nearly 7 years. The one time I did send a text message while driving I was the only one on the road, the road was straight, I was in cruise control and I typed the text over the course of several minutes so my attention was only off the road for a split second at a time as I put in the next letter. Not to completely defend JimCasy, because I don't think it's a good idea to do on a regular basis but it can be done so that it's no more dangerous than finding a good radio station or fiddling with the AC. No one's talking about texting in traffic, or in poor weather conditions, or on curvy unfamiliar roads, etc. so it's pretty ludicrous to compare her 'sins' to those of a drunk driver, IMO.

I do love it when everyone in a thread gets self-righteous and goes after one person. Very entertaining stuff. Reminds me a bit of the chivalry thread.

let's see you are in an area with no houses or driveways????

if not and one is in a residental area it is reckless.

and not giving up seat is not going to get someone killed.

i have seen so much of when people get distracted and the next thing they know that have caused an accident.

and it goes for not just cell phones but playing with a mvp player, trying to put on makeup, trying to shave ect..

 

[JonathonWally]

I think the only time I've actually sent a text or email or anything while driving was in bumper to bumper traffic and I've got the parking brake pulled.

 

[troisboobs]

I always text while driving. I'm careful though, I hit one letter at a time, glancing up between letters at the road.

 

[RandyS]

I always text while driving. I'm careful though, I hit one letter at a time, glancing up between letters at the road.

I'll be sure to send flowers.

 

[JimCasy]

And really, there's nothing you can say that will convince me otherwise. Putting things in capitals doesn't count.

I think it's a little back asswards to be arguing that texting is worse than drunk driving, but how about this. What could possibly be so important that you can't wait to text someone or, at the very least, give them a call instead? At least with a phone call, your eyes are on the road 100% of the time.

I'm not saying it's important. Mostly it's that I'm bored. When you're driving for four hours straight on roads that you've driven your whole life, the excitement kind of goes out of it.

And when you call someone, unless you have their number on speed dial, you have to look down to find their name in your contacts list (unless of course you have their number memorized, then you can do it by touch) and that's just as long as I'm going to be glancing down to find their name to text them, as I do the actual texting by feel.

 

[cultcross]

And really, there's nothing you can say that will convince me otherwise. Putting things in capitals doesn't count.

I think it's a little back asswards to be arguing that texting is worse than drunk driving, but how about this. What could possibly be so important that you can't wait to text someone or, at the very least, give them a call instead? At least with a phone call, your eyes are on the road 100% of the time.

No-one is saying it's worse than drink driving.

OK, no-one but Trekker is saying that

I was drawing a comparison between the attitude "I'm fine, I know my skill level, I'm confident I can do it, I'm a perfectly safe driver" that is characteristic of people who get behidn the wheel when they've been drinking (I don't mean absolutely slaughtered, the 'tipsy' variety of drunk driver) and JimCasy's attitude to driving skill while texting. The justifications were remarkably familiar.

Oh, and to address your other point, I'd rather people text than talk on the phone. At least texting, you can ignore it if you see a hazard, or are approaching a difficult bit of road, and go back to it afterwards - someone on the other end of a phone can't see the road, so distracts your attention all the time you're in the call, regardless of conditions.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Well, I listen to music in a car, hold conversations with people in the car, etc. It's just audio. Doesn't prevent me from seeing the road.

 

[cultcross]

Well, I listen to music in a car, hold conversations with people in the car, etc. It's just audio. Doesn't prevent me from seeing the road.

But music - you can ignore it if you need to - you do so, even subconsciously, multiple times during a drive. People in the car - can see the road, know the situation immediately - they know why you stop talking for a moment, or know not to ask you for next month's stocks figures half way through a busy intersection. To someone on the other end of a phone, you are, to use your phrase, 'just audio'. And so they aren't responding to your environment like a person in the car would, and you don't ignore them like you would music if you need to. It's not about physcially seeing the road, it's about where you attention is actually focused.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I can ignore people I'm talking to. I do it all the time

 

[sidious618]

The texting/phone thing just seems to be adding extra danger to an already dangerous situation. It's not like we're driving bumper cars here, kids.

 

[cultcross]

The texting/phone thing just seems to be adding extra danger to an already dangerous situation. It's not like we're driving bumper cars here, kids.

Indeed. Driving is the highest risk thing most non-smokers engage in for pretty much their entire life. We go hyper-mega-crazy over a minute cancer risk from some foodstuff or something, and yet the attitude with which we approach driving is one of undying 'meh'.

 

[sidious618]

I'm not anti-driving, I enjoy doing it, I do it well and I don't go slowly. However, I do go cautiously, even when I'm going 60. I'm in a ton of metal, I ain't taking chances by sending a message that says, "LOL guys, im in me car, lisin t duh boss".