Do you text and drive?

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MissTattoo
MissTattoo Posts: 1,203 Member
in Chit-Chat
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/man-quit-texting-because-could-die-car-accident-184624073.html

For those who don't want to click on it:

With all the horrific stories about texting and driving, it's amazing how many people continue to do it.
And as QMI Agency reports, a 21-year-old man got a pretty terrifying reply from the universe to one of his on-the-road messages.
Chance Bothe had just typed: "I need to quit texting because I could die in a car accident" to a friend when he lost control of his pickup, flew off a bridge and went careening into a ravine 35 feet below. The Texas college student survived — but barely.

A hospital report revealed he suffered traumatic brain injuries, a broken neck, a punctured lung, compound leg fractures, a fractured skull, sternum and rib fractures and a fractured face that required reconstructive surgery. Bothe required extensive surgery and six months of rehabilitation.

To his credit, the young man is turning his ordeal into a living lesson. He plans to spread the message, by example, that you can be a great driver and an even more dexterous texter, but there's a reason both machines should be operated separately.


How is that for a wake up call?

I have SYNC in my car so I turn Bluetooth on before I get in. Connect the phone to the car before I put it in drive and go home. The buttons are on the steering wheel and I don't have to take my eyes off the road to say "Call Mom's Cell" and tell her I'm almost home so she can meet me to drop off my daughter. I can't imagine taking my eyes off the road to look down and text something. I'm glad I don't have impatient friends anymore.
I met one guy online who was very needy and knew I left work at 4:30. I would have a text at 4:32 asking how my work day was and another text at 4:36 wondering why I hadn't answered him yet. Another one at 4:40 asking if I were mad. I would get home by 4:45 and text him back that I was driving like I do every day after 4:30! He actually said I could have texted him at a red light or while sitting on traffic. Um...yeah...delete.
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Replies

  • corn63
    corn63 Posts: 1,580 Member
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    People are going to do what they want to do. Horrific images haven't stopped people from drunk driving, playing with matches or having sex with ugly people. Shock therapy won't work to end texting and driving. Fortunately, natural selection will, hopefully.
  • supplemama
    supplemama Posts: 1,956 Member
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    No I don't text and drive. I don't phone and drive either. Nor do I drink and drive.
  • Ocarina
    Ocarina Posts: 1,550 Member
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    Glad you deleted that guy. Sounds like a complete dillhole!

    I'm a huge advocate for this. BOTH my sisters are lucky to be alive.

    One was playing with her iPad adjusting the volume... going 70MPH down the OFF ramp of a high way... somehow in the mix of things she goes off the road and rolls her car 4 times. If she had not worn her seat belt she would of been dead. She walked out of that mess with a few scratches but her car was totaled and it was completely avoidable.

    My other sister was messing around on her phone and didn't notice the large truck hauling wood in front of her. She slammed on her breaks but the wood went through the windshield. Had she been just a FEW inches taller she would of been decapitated. Instead she lost the car as well came out with a few scratches.

    Life is so fragile. It is NOT worth a stupid text message to some loser boyfriend/girlfriend or needy idiot to risk your life.
  • supplemama
    supplemama Posts: 1,956 Member
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    I met one guy online who was very needy and knew I left work at 4:30. I would have a text at 4:32 asking how my work day was and another text at 4:36 wondering why I hadn't answered him yet. Another one at 4:40 asking if I were mad. I would get home by 4:45 and text him back that I was driving like I do every day after 4:30! He actually said I could have texted him at a red light or while sitting on traffic. Um...yeah...delete.

    What a freak! geeze
  • BAMFMeredith
    BAMFMeredith Posts: 2,829 Member
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    McKaylaTexting.jpg?t=1344616142
  • RockaholicMama
    RockaholicMama Posts: 786 Member
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    I've read that story in the past and know that people do it. I see people do it. All. The. Time. On base is different, though. No touching the cell phone, which is nice. Personally, I don't text while driving and only talk while I have SYNC on in my truck. My friend was killed by a drunk driver so I'm extra cautious when it comes to things like that.
  • arielian
    arielian Posts: 200
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    I cant text and drive. I wouldn't dare to. Now I am guilty of texting on a red light but as soon as i see green my phone is in the other seat.
  • Janet9906
    Janet9906 Posts: 546 Member
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    NO!!!
  • sugboog29
    sugboog29 Posts: 630 Member
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    I do not text and drive and try not to use the phone while driving. Did you know that texting and/or using a smart phone increases your chance of having an accident by 29 times? This stat is from the National Safety Council.

    Texts can wait....as can that phone call, if you must pull over. Save not only your life, but possibly others.
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
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    I heard about that story... and heck no I do not... I was in a car with a friend who did so and she was all over the road... I seriously thought she would get into an accident and kill us all.... I have also been near cars where the drivers do so and nearly got into accidents with them... There is no reason on this earth to text and drive.... at all... I don't care if your favorite relative has been kidnapped and is being totured to death... it is not a good reason to (nearly) kill everyone else in the process of communicating with others. IF it can't wait, stop the fraking car... your time isn't as valuble as my life.


    Sorry, this is a huge pet peeve of mine... more so than drivers who don't use their turn signals.... and it's a good thing our city has banned texting and driving.


    edited for obvious incorrect grammar.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
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    I met one guy online who was very needy and knew I left work at 4:30. I would have a text at 4:32 asking how my work day was and another text at 4:36 wondering why I hadn't answered him yet. Another one at 4:40 asking if I were mad.

    Texting and driving aside: OMG weirdo, back off. Give the woman some breathing room!

    But no, I don't do text and drive. Well... I do at red lights, but I use the voice recognition instead of typing. Still illegal because you have to hit send.
  • lucy2fat
    lucy2fat Posts: 40
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    Never
  • bcampbell54
    bcampbell54 Posts: 932 Member
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    Not since I got an iPhone. Those touch screens are impossible to use without looking at them.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    I don't text and drive. I can't even be a passenger and text or I get motion sickness.

    But I will text at a red light. And maybe once or twice, I used "Sound Hound" to find out what song was playing, but that was mostly at a red light, too. :blushing:
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    People are going to do what they want to do. Horrific images haven't stopped people from drunk driving, playing with matches or having sex with ugly people. Shock therapy won't work to end texting and driving. Fortunately, natural selection will, hopefully.

    The problem isn't that they kill themselves doing this. It's that they kill the rest of us who are trying to be careful and responsible.
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
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    That's what I have Siri for! :wink:
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    Ugh. Double post.
  • PurpleEpiphany
    PurpleEpiphany Posts: 96
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    Too many people think they're special snowflakes, and the exception to the rule in everything, including this. The bottom line is that our brains do not multi task, they switch back and forth from one task to the other so rapidly that we think we're doing two things at once. Texting automatically takes priority as language and communication, and driving becomes secondary. If you're texting and driving you're not driving while also texting, you're texting and also incidentally operating a potentially lethal weapon.

    People do it anyway because they think that somehow they are the one person whose brain is entirely different from everyone else's on the planet, allowing them to magically succeed at being a good driver while texting when no one else is physically able to do so. Every time I have a friend who laughingly says "oh yeah, it's bad but I do it anyway" I tell them flat out that they're being stupid and dangerous, and might as well be driving drunk. In fact, in tests people who are texting and driving have performed far WORSE than people well over the legal limit of alcohol.

    Sorry for the rant, but...yeah, this one drives me nuts.
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
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    That's what I have Siri for! :wink:

    I can never get Siri to work with my SYNC system to do the texting for me... so I gave up and just call the person...
  • montana_girl
    montana_girl Posts: 1,403 Member
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    Nope... and I don't talk on the phone and drive either. When I'm driving, I want my one and only focus to be on driving.

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