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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow dumb do you have to be to text while driving?
This morning in Kansas City is 'Pledge not to text and drive day', a public relations effort called 'It can wait' to remind people not to text and drive because its caused thousands of wrecks and many deaths.
I wonder just how dumb a person has to be to text and drive? It makes me sad that they actually have to remind people not to text and drive at the same time, but if thats what it takes.
Now I'm worried about some dumb ass slamming into ME AND MINE. Driving is dangerous enough without the stupid texting and driving simultaneously.
Logical
(22,457 posts)harmonicon
(12,008 posts)How on earth is that anything like texting or putting on makeup?
oldbanjo
(690 posts)wreck a car after dropping a lit cig.
harmonicon
(12,008 posts)Is there anything apart from anecdotal evidence that smoking while driving even "nearly" causes accidents? I'm not trying to be an ass, but I've never heard any mention of this before.
Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)then make sure the ashes don't fall on your crotch, well ... it's easy to get distracted, no?
Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)harmonicon
(12,008 posts)Do you know of any evidence to suggest that smoking while driving is dangerous? I've never heard of it. I try to drive as safely as possible, but I still smoke when I drive, and I've never found it to be a problem. Of course there are times when I'll put a cigarette out because of driving conditions, but those are the same sorts of times that I'll turn the radio off.
Submariner
(12,485 posts)[link:
|progressoid
(49,827 posts)CurtEastPoint
(18,553 posts)left is right
(1,665 posts)J just made your excellent cartoon her desktop wall paper. Its an apple and I usually have a lot of trouble copying an image and then pasting it into an emailI just get an empty box outlined in blue
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)porphyrian
(18,530 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)With decades of ads, posters, slogans, PSAs, etc., countless people still roll the dice and crap out...
Major Nikon
(36,814 posts)While both are monumentally stupid, at least you can understand why people still drive while intoxicated.
There should be laws against texting that are just as strong, if not stronger, than the laws for driving while intoxicated.
lapislzi
(5,762 posts)I would even go so far as to suggest (without any backup evidence whatsoever) that an occasional drinker who doesn't realize he's had one too many (two is usually one too many) gets behind the wheel because he doesn't realize how impaired he actually is.
I would never suggest that seasoned alcoholics never get behind the wheel, because we all know they do, and they kill people. But a drinker with a long drinking history is often quite in touch with his body and the effects of alcohol on it. He knows when he's drunk. He just doesn't care.
But not everyone who drinks and drives is an alcoholic. A DWI arrest should be a wake-up call, however.
we can do it
(12,118 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)drm604
(16,230 posts)It would never have occurred to me in a million years that anything other than a vanishingly small number of people would ever even consider doing something so stupid.
Would you read a book or a newspaper while driving? Would you watch TV while driving? Texting is worse than either of those.
Selatius
(20,441 posts)It makes sense that when the technology came of age, people would also be engaging in texting and driving. There have always been stupid people in the human population.
drm604
(16,230 posts)Also, people misjudge how drunk they are and think that they're still able to drive.
I don't think the same is true of texting. Common sense should tell people that you have to watch the road.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)... and this happens:
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/09/17/2-killed-in-motorcycle-vs-suv-crash-in-east-bethel/#_=_
It just so happens that my wife's parents live just off of Viking Blvd and we had been there for grilled burgers and a big sweet corn feed, last Sunday evening. We had to u-turn and go around Coon Lake because of this "accident." Would it have been any "better" or "worse" if texting had caused it? Both are stupid and deadly, and the results are identical. Personally, I think the penalties should be exactly the same for both.
susanna
(5,231 posts)oldbanjo
(690 posts)the steering wheel.
deutsey
(20,166 posts)In heavy stop-and-go traffic during a morning commute.
drm604
(16,230 posts)Even that, which is very bad, isn't as bad as texting. At least you're not trying to type on some little keyboard with the hands you're supposed to be driving with.
scheming daemons
(25,487 posts)Philosoraptor
(15,019 posts)jsr
(7,712 posts)trof
(54,255 posts)It commemorates one young woman who did.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)while driving, one hand on the wheel, the other texting...and not just for a second, he/she will text for a long time...sometimes I pull over and let them pass...I'm convinced I'll get rear-ended by one of those fools some day.
cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)drm604
(16,230 posts)cherokeeprogressive
(24,853 posts)My bad. Sorry.
petronius
(26,581 posts)Butterbean
(1,014 posts)There were 4 kids and us 2 moms in my van, going on a highway with a posted speed limit of 65. I was in the slow lane going 70. This young woman comes FLYING up behind me, not even looking up once, I kid you not, NOT ONCE, because she was texting the whole time. I had to surge forward to keep from being hit by her and then lay on my horn twice to keep her from hitting me from behind (she almost rammed us three times). Finally she swerved into the other lane and shot on. We got her plate number and called the highway patrol, but I have no idea if anything ever happened. We never saw her stopped or any blue lights. That young woman is going to end up dead if she isn't already.
unc70
(6,095 posts)I have a couple of 5+ minute stoplights where I have technically texted while "driving".
I have used Siri on my iPhone to read messages to me a couple of times, but would not try to reply using the voice option while driving even on empty interstate.
treestar
(82,383 posts)As for teens, they often have phones but not smart phones. I think their parents needs to give them smart phones (they can also tell where the teen is with those).
unc70
(6,095 posts)Dialing a telephone is as bad as texting, particularly on smart phones using virtual keyboards (e.g. iPhone).
Voice commands help that a lot; otherwise, you see people you think are texting who are actually scrolling through a contact list. I see this often on rural interstates where someone in the left lane has slowed and is hugging the left median. After the erratic driving while initiating the call, I then see them talking on their phone.
Even talking on the phone is rather distracting. In NC, texting by anyone while driving is illegal, as is any cellphone use by anyone with a provisional license (under 18). Chapel Hill has passed an ordinance banning all cellphone use by anyone in the Town, but that is currently tied up in the courts.
drm604
(16,230 posts)Why is any other solution needed?
treestar
(82,383 posts)So if it can all be done with talking, it seems safe enough.
drm604
(16,230 posts)Apparently it uses a different part of your brain then when you talk to a passenger in the vehicle.
KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)The number of drivers I have seen crossing the centerline in the last month scares the shit out of me.
You have some shot at avoiding drunk drivers since they are more common in the evening and as bars close but texters are sober and can crash into you at any hour.
Finally someone is going to jail for killing others while texting at the wheel:
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/06/06/12090348-massachusetts-teen-sentenced-to-prison-for-texting-while-driving?lite
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,790 posts)21-year-old Ervin McKinness wasnt as lucky.
McKinness, an aspiring rapper from Southern California, was also on his phone prior to the fatal car crash that killed him and four of his friends over Labor Day weekend in Ontario, Calif. The 2005 Nissan Sentra, the San Bernardino County Sun reports, ran a red light and crashed into a wall.
Just minutes before the crash, at 1:19 a.m. on Sept. 2, McKinness posted a tweet to his account @ink2flashyy that is now filled with cruel irony:
2.7.5 Inkyy @ink2flashyy
Drunk af going 120 drifting corners #FuckIt YOLO
2 Sep 12
At 1:20 a.m., McKinness reportedly sent out one last tweet: Driving tweeting sipping the cup f yolo Im turning it up.
(READ: Watch Texting While Driving Get Put to the Test, Literally)
YOLO stands for You Only Live Once, and was first popularized by singer Drake in his song The Motto. And as McKinness discovered, Drake is rightyou do only live once.
http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/09/19/aspiring-rapper-drunk-tweets-yolo-just-before-fatal-car-crash/#ixzz26vXkb92i
Iggo
(47,489 posts)malaise
(267,838 posts)Dumb does not describe these people. They are beyond stupid.
kenny blankenship
(15,689 posts)right off the curb, heads down, with their not-very-smartphones about a foot to a foot and a half from their faces - either reading or sending txts. They didn't pause at the curb, they didn't look both ways to see if it was safe to cross, they didn't even look up. My car is small but it's hardly silent. Obviously I managed to stop in time and I wasn't going above a crawl when any of these incidents happened, but had I ignored my environment as they were doing they'd each have been injured. The next one gets the horn.
malaise
(267,838 posts)and Idon't want to think about that - I slow down and tell them some bad words.
laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)during the time she went from looking up to looking down to text, a car backed out slowly and stopped when it saw her coming. She kept walking right into the side of the car that had backed out. It was a good demonstration to my 15 year old about how dumb teens look while they are texting and walking. I told her if I ever catch her doing that I'll take her phone away.
malaise
(267,838 posts)I asked one of them recently if she'd ever seen a car in hospital. She thought it was funny.
Darwin will eliminate many of them before they reach 30.
Javaman
(62,444 posts)and I also see countless times, those same people texting, slamming on their brakes for not paying attention to the road.
treestar
(82,383 posts)I was driving with a teen - he was driving and I was supervising. He could not resist the friend's text. I was in the car, so he pulled over! Further, I think the friend knew he was on his way and was asking him how far along he was, so the friend could have at least called.
Don't know what it is about their culture but they think using the phone uncool.
I have a bluetooth and so I can answer and even place calls, but am tempted to look at red light at least if I have a text. We are culturally conditioned not to ignore summonses of any kind. I remember how failing to call someone back was a major rudeness. We need to reverse that as now it's so easy to place calls.
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)It is Pavlovian conditioning.
The wise thing to do, if you reach a point where you just "have to answer" the phone is to stop carrying the phone, because at that point it has become an addiction, not a tool.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)There is just something about being addicted to technology that has always turned me off. I was one of the last people I know to get a cell phone. I still don't have an iPhone and I refuse to text. If someone texts me, I text back, "call me, I don't text". I hate it. It's so time consuming and I am on the computer all day at work as it is. I also can't stand the interface.
I have a New Yorker cartoon up at work that shows two guys at a bar and the caption says "I used to call people, then I got into e-mailing, then texting and now I just ignore everybody." That's pretty much me in a nutshell. It's not really something to be proud of, but I was just too overwhelmed by the onslaught of constant (mostly pointless and impersonal) communication invading every waking moment.
Whiskeytide
(4,459 posts)... recent studies have shown that laws enacted to make texting a ticketable offense backfire because drivers start texting in their laps instead of holding the phone above the steering wheel - thus taking their eyes even more off the road. Yikes.
laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)In the drive to school every morning, if someone looks down for awhile, then up quickly, then down for awhile again, while going too slow or too fast, or is drifting side to side, it's a dead giveaway. My SIL's a cop and it's illegal here to text and drive and that's how she stops people too.
But yeah, it's almost worse.
GoneOffShore
(17,309 posts)Major Nikon
(36,814 posts)This would give evolution a fighting chance.
nichomachus
(12,754 posts)Stuckinthebush
(10,817 posts)or dialed the phone...or searched around for something in the car....or searched for a radio station...or put on makeup...or wrote a note
Texting is just one of many bad distractions. It happens to be the distraction of the day (thankfully).
But, my point is that we should be careful in saying someone is "dumb" for doing it when we are all likely dumb for doing a number of distracting things in the car. Unless you are a constant 10 and 2 driver with eyes forward and no distractions then it may be best not to throw stones - or smart phones.
randome
(34,845 posts)If people being 'dumb' was the only thing causing accidents, then 90% of the country is 'dumb'.
Silent3
(15,020 posts)Texting takes way more attention away from the road than looking for a radio station, which can mostly be done by ear and requires very little concentration.
Putting on making up or writing a note... those are probably up there with texting, and yes, I'd call those things pretty stupid to be doing while driving too.
Frequency of distractions matters too. If you just can't put the phone down and you're texting fairly often, you're not just a stupid and dangerous driver, you have an over-inflated sense of the importance of other people immediately getting your messages.
It's a false dichotomy to act like that there's only 10-and-2, eyes steadily forward driving on one hand, and all distracted driving on the other.
Stuckinthebush
(10,817 posts)Some people are foolish enough to look down and text for many seconds at a time only to glance now and then at the road. I equate these with the people who look down for many seconds at a time to change their radio or MP3 tunes.
Sure it is dumb. But I'm saying that we are all dumb on any number of driving issues. Texting being one.
Silent3
(15,020 posts)...but I'd still rather pay a $5 fine than a $10,000 fine.
If you're trying to say, "Oh, well, we all do dumb things, so let's all lighten up on this one particular dumb thing and give texting drivers a break", I'm not buying it.
Iggo
(47,489 posts)There.
That was careful.
Stuckinthebush
(10,817 posts)But not addressing my point. Texting is dumb to do, yes. But you and I do other dumb things while driving. Very dumb things.
Iggo
(47,489 posts)No buts about it.
Other dumb things don't make it any less dumb.
oldbanjo
(690 posts)I also don't talk on a phone when i'm on my motorcycle. When I get a call I look for a place to pull over and stop then I return the call. I've road motorcycles sense the 60's and know that if you want to survive on a motorcycle you must concentrate on your driving ONLY and nothing else. I'm 67 and today I have a sidecar on my bike because of bad knees but the rules are the same, It's unsafe to talk on a phone and drive a bike.
Stuckinthebush
(10,817 posts)Very unsafe.
EnviroBat
(5,290 posts)I've had a few swerve into my lane when I'm on the Harley. I've kicked a basketball-sized dent into a car door as a reminder to put the fucking phone down while driving.
Iggo
(47,489 posts)But that was when I was immortal...lol.
(And yes, those door dents are huge and beautiful.)
Patiod
(11,816 posts)I was in the passenger seat, and could see him clearly in the lane next to me. He was holding his phone on the steering wheel and texting with both thumbs (NOT dialing or checking GPS).
Same deal, different trip, and a young woman in a Camaro was swerving from lane to lane. As she passed us, I noticed the same thing - two hands holding the phone, texting at 85 mph.
Distracted driving is dangerous, but a distraction that takes both your attention AND YOUR EYES off the road is bad.
KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)when they encounter texting drivers. Just as there was for reporting drunks at the wheel.
1.4 million crashes from cell phone drivers annually and another 200,000+ from texting at the wheel.
http://www.nsc.org/Pages/NSCestimates16millioncrashescausedbydriversusingcellphonesandtexting.aspx
liberal N proud
(60,302 posts)Or they will be talking on the cell phone while eating or drinking.
See it every day.
LittleGirl
(8,261 posts)and I fear for my life everyday behind the wheel. I know I'm paying attention, but 75% of the people I see are not paying attention. Scares me especially since my husband rides a motorcycle to work.
glowing
(12,233 posts)Read ur text to u and let u text verbally. That's why many new cars have integrated voice/ talk thru the radio/ blue tooth device accessory. Many people are so connected to the phone these days, it's nearly impossible not to respond or answer the phone. I love having a phone... But now it's almost a requirement for jobs or what not to be able to answer or respond.
My son's teacher tweets all the time. My boss texts or calls and wants immediate responses. Even my husband is blowing up my phone when he needs something. Thankfully, the makers of phones are catching up the technology to make it easier to respond without having to run off the road while answering.
And yes, I've been known to text back at a stopped light (our red lights in my area are known to last up to a good 5 minutes). But texting while driving has become a huge issue with accidents... I think it has become #1 in driving accident/ fatalities now.
As to drinking and driving, I believe the number of people who drink and drive would decrease if we had sound public transportation that ran into the evening. Probably not for true alcoholics, but for many people, having the option of hoping onto a train, trolly, or bus that run normal safe stops, I think more would choose that option.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)When I'm driving & get a phone call, if I can I'll check who it is, but don't call back until I'm parked.
I don't feel compelled to answer the phone immediately anytime. It's great to have some phone free time everyday.
I think studies are showing that even hands free, you can't safely carry on an extensive phone conversation while driving.
The concentration is just not there, especially dangerous in the heavy traffic we encounter these days.
If I had the integrated voice device it would still be a plus, as I could use it to tell people to call back later.
gkhouston
(21,642 posts)marions ghost
(19,841 posts)get back when you can. I don't know why people think they should be available 24/7. Sometimes I don't want interruptions, like when driving or doing important work. But I have a friend who thinks I'm rude not to email her immediately, so she calls. I haven't been able to get across that she needs to allow some space.
glowing
(12,233 posts)The radio says who's calling in... I can talk to the radio/ phone to say who I want to talk to. texting is the thing that really takes one's attention.. at least for me.
Silent3
(15,020 posts)...to all messages at all times. Friends and family should be more understanding than that. If it's an employer... well, I understand it's a bad economy and some people might have to cater to unreasonable bosses, but not that many bosses are so very unreasonable that they can't wait a few minutes, at least wait for you to pull over.
If your employer really is that unreasonable, and nothing but a response in mere seconds will do, you have to ask yourself whether risking your life and the lives of others is worth keeping that job, even as hard as jobs are to find. The more of us who give into unreasonable demands, the more employers there will be who think those demands aren't that unreasonable.
demosincebirth
(12,518 posts)Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)flamingdem
(39,304 posts)Distracted drivers and often older drivers are unpredictable and dangerous.
As to why? Were you ever in love? It's the hormones, worse than addiction. Young people text hundreds of times a day and they're getting dopamine kicks from it... ahem kind of like posting on DU but with worse consequences in a car.
Smilo
(1,944 posts)that I won't answer the phone if I am driving - I believe driving is a responsibility that requires your attention 100% of the time.
Usually, when I see someone driving erratically it is to see them with a cell phone in hand (but then I have seen them putting on make up, brushing hair and even shaving).
I am not in that much of a hurry to meet my maker.
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)Hutzpa
(11,461 posts)wait till all the latest cars start saturating the market with internet access like; facebook, google search, bing etc,
then you'll see, it's about to get worse.
People will probably be stopping their car on the freeway to respond to someone on the net.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Bottom of the barrel stupid.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)people that text while driving are sociopaths or narcissists or something..........
Spoiled, entitled - nobody ever told them there were RULES in this world when they were growing up, and now they think rules still don't apply to them. These are the very same people who, as children, were taken to nice restaurants and then allowed to run rampant and disturb all the other patrons without one word from their parents about minding their manners and being considerate of others.
Los Angeles is full of these folks.
catchnrelease
(1,942 posts)You are so right.
One day while driving on a surface street I was behind a car that was going slower than all of the surrounding traffic, and weaving in the lane. As I went around the car and looked over, saw the driver was totally focused on the ipad leaning up against the steering wheel. I don't get it.
bigwillq
(72,790 posts)Eating, drinking, putting on makeup, turning the radio dial, smoking, dancing, singing, turning around to yell at kids in back seat.
There are many other distractions that folks do while driving that are just as dangerous as texting.
Unless you're a perfect driver, I am sure you are guilty of some.
raccoon
(31,092 posts)in a lot of ways people do.
mike_c
(36,214 posts)My girlfriend and I play "spot the texters" when we drive the corridor between Arcata and Eureka, CA. Recently, going north on the 101 on the way home, I passed one of those lighted highway signs that are normally used to display road condition warnings, amber alerts, etc. This time it said something like "Fine for cell phone use: $150. It's not worth it!" Four cars passed me before my exit, which was just up the road. All four drivers were using their cell phones, and one of them was texting with the phone down near the steering column.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)a couple weeks ago, with two horses sticking their heads out and almost getting injured or killed by the driver nearly hitting reflectors and posts. Passed him on the right to get away from him and his impending disaster (and the gravel he kept kicking up from the shoulder), and yep...he was fucking around with his phone, typing away.
guardian
(2,282 posts)Mostly younger people...teenages, those in their 20s. They weave all over the road and get offended if you toot your horn because they are half way over in your lane.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)...I carpooled with someone who shaved and read the newspaper while he drove. Not kidding.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)I think about the little hairs falling everywhere.
garybeck
(9,932 posts)dialing a phone?
answering a phone?
operating a GPS?
adjusting the car stereo?
looking for something that fell to the floor?
I agree texting is a bad idea but it's just one of the many distractions. Reading an incoming text takes less effort than finding an address on a GPS. We have to use our judgment on all these things.
randome
(34,845 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)We all do dumb things every once in a while. If we're lucky, nothing tragic happens and we learn from our mistakes.
Robb
(39,665 posts)Having done all those things. I returned a text once, just an "ok I will" sort of thing.
I was terrified to discover how far down the road I'd come while texting, with zero recollection of how it'd happened. This on a side street at like 15 mph.
Never again. The combination of brain and motor skills shuts down attention to anything else -- e.g. driving -- in an unfamiliar and complete way.
randome
(34,845 posts)Would it be fair to call you 'dumb', then? I say not. Everyone makes mistakes, whether it's driving or walking down the sidewalk. If we're lucky, that first time turns out as it did for you and we learn from it.
Hell, someone I work with broke her foot stepping on a grassy hill the wrong way. Does that make her 'dumb'?
Robb
(39,665 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)stupid behavior.
Texting, unlike the GPS, requires message interpretation, not being the normal sentence construction or spelling (and whose GPS does not speak?); it requires continued manual and visual use; and it is unrelated to the immediate task, requiring the mind to ignore the immediate task.
There is a reason texting and cell-phone use are illegal in many locales, whereas GPS systems are ACTUALLY BUILT INTO MANY CARS AND ARE, HENCE, LEGAL.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)maveric56
(137 posts)"Honk if you love Jesus
Text if you want to meet him"
drm604
(16,230 posts)Can't people just talk to the people around them, or be alone with their thoughts? I don't even have a text plan. If I want to talk with somebody I like to hear a human voice. But most of the time, I don't want to be on the phone at all.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)because it takes more physical reading time, which means more time concentrating with eyes off the road.
So I agree with you.
Sheepshank
(12,504 posts)where memory retention, and cognitive and reasoning skills leads me often wonder if they are "brain dead"...I think overt reminders is a good thing. I can but try, but in this case I think the village approach is good.
B Calm
(28,762 posts)even seen a couple having sexual intercourse driving down the road. Drivers getting a blow job is not that rare. There isn't a day gone by where I don't see many people texting. I've seen people reading the newspaper/books while driving. The other day I passed another 18 wheeler who was watching TV. State cops drive by speeding with their laptops open and playing with them.
It's time for me to retire!
benld74
(9,889 posts)LynneSin
(95,337 posts)Best anti-texting I ever saw was a billboard outside of a church:
'Honk if you love Jesus, Text if you want to meet him today'
If people are dumb enough to vote for him, I guess nothing should surprise us!
Rider3
(919 posts)I have seen a guy shaving in his car - with blade, shaving cream, and a towel. WTF?
Mopar151
(9,965 posts)You guys could swap stories for HOURS.
Daemonaquila
(1,712 posts)Simple - don't do stupid crap while driving. That might include checking the weather while driving through a snowstorm at 70 mph, dealing with your screaming kid in the back seat during rush hour, lighting your cigarette, fixing your hair, trying to cool off your boiling coffee... or it might not. But it's the new fad to get all bent over anything involving a cel phone. Whatever. Wake me when the feel good nonsense pledges and overly specific bills are over, and people are ready to talk about common sense.