The Red Menace Posted July 21, 2009 Report Posted July 21, 2009 Driven to distraction There was another good article on this in the NY Times this past Sunday. Anybody else had the pleasure of nearly being hit by somebody yakking on their cellphone? Happened to me earlier this year. Quote
catesta Posted July 21, 2009 Report Posted July 21, 2009 You know, there was a time when I was adamantly against limiting people from talking on cell phones while driving, but in the last five years or so I've done a complete reversal. The problem today is I see more and more people texting while driving and that is seriously dangerous. It's bad enough getting stuck behind them at a top light and having to lay on the horn to get them to move, but I have had some close calls with people that have had their head down texting or on the cell phone not paying attention while in motion. I've heard people argue against "hands free only" by saying their very experienced driving while talking and that it doesn't distract them but to me that's like the dickhead that says he drives better drunk. I log a shitload of miles yearly and have been using mobile phones since the days when mobile phones actually had rotary dialers or had to be connected by operators (no bullshit) and I can still easily be distracted. Texting while driving should be completely illegal, and hands free only is the only way to go for calls. Quote
Dan Gould Posted July 21, 2009 Report Posted July 21, 2009 Studies show that hands free is just as dangerous as holding the phone to your ear, and not comparable to talking to someone in the car with you. When a person is in the car, they tend to be less talkative under bad weather conditions or heavy traffic. Also, apparently when you are speaking to someone who is not there, your mind may actually conjure up images of them, distracting you from the task at hand. The first article the Times ran had a picture of two hands texting while a third hand is holding the wheel, "driving 60 miles an hour on a Missouri highway" - if someone else is in the fucking car, why don't you hand over the damn phone and let him text your fucking message? The arrogance of people who believe they can text and drive simultaneously is staggering. If you haven't read the first Times article, its here. Related to this, has anyone seen Spike TV's "1000 ways to die"? Its almost a TV recreation of the Darwin Awards, or at least nominees for Darwin Awards. One segment I saw Sunday night illustrated the story of two lovebirds, text messaging fools as it were, who were trying to arrange for one to pick the other up at the mall. Boyfriend driving pickup truck and texting back and forth, and girlfriend walking with her head down, texting back. Girlfriend stepped in front of boyfriend's truck and was killed. Quote
Jazzmoose Posted July 21, 2009 Report Posted July 21, 2009 I've heard people argue against "hands free only" by saying their very experienced driving while talking and that it doesn't distract them but to me that's like the dickhead that says he drives better drunk. Yeah. Except for, like, pot, because it, you know, relaxes me... Quote
mikeweil Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 Using cell phones without a hands free set while driving is prohibited in most European countries - still there are plenty people who think they know better and drive like sh... while using them. I think fees should be a lot higher. Are there fees in the US? Quote
Kevin Bresnahan Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 Being a motorcycle driver, I am more than a little worried about distracted drivers. The number of people I see texting while driving is staggering. Texting while driving should be treated like drunk driving. Get caught once and lose your license for 30 days. Twice - 90 days, etc. I passed a guy the other day who was smoking a cig with his left hand, texting with his right (using his left wrist to "hold" the steering wheel) while listening to his iPod with headphones (illegal in MA). If that guy had to react quickly, it wasn't going to happen. I got as far ahead of that car as I could. Later, Kevin Quote
catesta Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 I've heard people argue against "hands free only" by saying their very experienced driving while talking and that it doesn't distract them but to me that's like the dickhead that says he drives better drunk. Yeah. Except for, like, pot, because it, you know, relaxes me... Of course. Quote
Kevin Bresnahan Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 This morning, I'm bopping down Route 93 South at my usual 75 mph (go with the flow), when this young guy in Nissan Maxima pulls into the left lane in front of me. Ok. He's going plenty fast enough. Then he starts slowing waaaay down and the traffic is pulling far ahead of us. People behind us start moving into the middle lane to pass and I'm ready to do the same. Then I see why he's slowed down. The cell phone is on top of the steering wheel and his right thumb is moving all over the place. Texting. Errrr. He speeds up again after sending his message so I stay in the lane. A few seconds later, the phone comes up again and off he starts with the thumb. I passed him in the middle lane, tooted my horn to get his attention and showed him a different finger than my thumb. Later, Kevin Quote
BruceH Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 Never mind texting, just talking on your cellphone while driving is the same as driving drunk. Quote
catesta Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 Using cell phones without a hands free set while driving is prohibited in most European countries - still there are plenty people who think they know better and drive like sh... while using them. I think fees should be a lot higher. Are there fees in the US? In New York state it is a penatly/fine up to $100 plus a $60 surcharge. I don't think many other states have cell phone laws. Quote
Jazzmoose Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 The Oregon legislature has passed a law outlawing cell phone use while driving (except in emergencies) but it has a "hands-free" exemption, and hasn't been signed into law yet, if I understand correctly. The problem is, it's labeled a "secondary offense", which means that unless you're stopped for something else, you have no fear of any enforcement. Kind of like saying you can pound Jack Daniels all day behind the wheel unless you actually hit something... Quote
Dan Gould Posted July 22, 2009 Report Posted July 22, 2009 CT has either a hands-free only law or completely outlaws cell phone use if you are driving but my father complains about the bitchy baby banker wives who ignore the law. On the other hand, I don't think its a secondary offense as last Christmas Dad told me that the police were instituting a major enforcement effort. Quote
BruceH Posted July 23, 2009 Report Posted July 23, 2009 The study that showed cell-phone use affected your driving focus as acutely as alcohol abuse applied equally to "hands-off" and "hands-on" use. It's the concentrating on your conversation, not your hands. Quote
Brownian Motion Posted July 27, 2009 Report Posted July 27, 2009 Texting Raises Crash Risk 23 Times, Study Finds http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/technolo...texting.html?hp Quote
catesta Posted July 27, 2009 Report Posted July 27, 2009 (edited) Texting Raises Crash Risk 23 Times, Study Finds http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/technolo...texting.html?hp I saw it this morning. The woman next to me almost did a side swipe number on myself and the car in front and then proceeded to run the red light. Edited July 27, 2009 by catesta Quote
Larry Kart Posted July 27, 2009 Report Posted July 27, 2009 Texting and other fruits of technology make the impulse to do several things at once behind the wheel that much more dangerous, but it must have been 25 years aqo while on the expressway on the way to work that I saw a guy in the next lane -- traffic moving in the 35 to 55 m.p.h. range, with fits of stop and go -- reading a fully-opened, non-tabloid newspaper that was propped up against the steering wheel. Holy Gutenberg! It was the Wall St. Journal, I think, because I could see only type, no photos. I got away from that guy as fast as I could. Quote
Jazzmoose Posted July 27, 2009 Report Posted July 27, 2009 Oh yeah, newspapers and make up have been the bane of driving for decades at least. Quote
Dan Gould Posted July 27, 2009 Report Posted July 27, 2009 How 'bout reading and writing simultaneously? I ran into drove past a guy going 70 on I-95 with a crossword puzzle on the steering wheel. I drove past, staring at him, tooted, and he waved the paper and the pen at me, as if to say, yup, this is what I'm doing at 65 MPH - you got a problem? This was before I had a cell phone so I couldn't call the FL highway patrol and give them the plate number, etc. Quote
Larry Kart Posted July 28, 2009 Report Posted July 28, 2009 Oh yeah, newspapers and make up have been the bane of driving for decades at least. And I've seen people on the expressway, mostly women but also some men, combing their hair with both hands -- one hand combing, the other smoothing/patting things down. Also, of course, I've heard tell from one of the parties involved (quite reliably IMO) of a guy getting oral sex while driving at highway speeds. Let's pass a law on that one. Quote
.:.impossible Posted July 28, 2009 Report Posted July 28, 2009 Oh yeah, newspapers and make up have been the bane of driving for decades at least. And I've seen people on the expressway, mostly women but also some men, combing their hair with both hands -- one hand combing, the other smoothing/patting things down. Also, of course, I've heard tell from one of the parties involved (quite reliably IMO) of a guy getting oral sex while driving at highway speeds. Let's pass a law on that one. Who was driving? Quote
Kevin Bresnahan Posted July 28, 2009 Report Posted July 28, 2009 Also, of course, I've heard tell from one of the parties involved (quite reliably IMO) of a guy getting oral sex while driving at highway speeds. Let's pass a law on that one. That's called "Driving While Inflated". The made DWI against the law years ago. Quote
Jazzmoose Posted July 28, 2009 Report Posted July 28, 2009 Who was driving? One steers, the other works the pedals... Quote
Kevin Bresnahan Posted September 30, 2009 Report Posted September 30, 2009 (edited) This morning I was driving in Boston-area rush hour traffic. Going between 45 mph and 0 mph - in other words stop & go traffic. At one point, I look over at the car next to me and the guy has a Dell laptop computer opened on his center console and he's surfing the web! What a moron! He was definitely looking at the screen because he had it angled toward the passenger door (in my direction). Suddenly, the car in front of him stopped and I was saying to myself, "Don't look up, don't look up". Damn. He looked up at the last second and locked up his brakes to avoid rear-ending it. I was so hoping for it. Surfing the web while driving? What is this world coming to? Edited October 1, 2009 by Kevin Bresnahan Quote
AllenLowe Posted September 30, 2009 Report Posted September 30, 2009 people should stick to just having sex in cars - don't forget Teddy Pendergrass - Quote
BruceH Posted September 30, 2009 Report Posted September 30, 2009 All this would be fine if cars could drive themselves. But they can't, yet. Quote
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