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Texting and Driving

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  • Brunner26_2
    Brunner26_2 Posts: 1,152
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    its a lot easier to ignore a ringing cell phone than it is a child. there should always be a 2nd adult in the car to attend to their needs.

    and just because you lack the skills to tweet and drive dont think everyone is the same.

    So if some people are good at it, then everyone should be allowed to do it, even if it were conclusively shown that traffic accidents are rising because of texting? Maybe it can be part of your driving exam.
  • SwannySez
    SwannySez Posts: 5,864 Member
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    and just because you lack the skills to drink and drive dont think everyone is the same.
    There. Fixed that again for ya.
  • marsellient
    marsellient Posts: 591 Member
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    And again, I ask that people look into the research on multi tasking. By the way, as a younger driver I distinctly remember insisting on radio off and kids quiet when I was looking for a location in heavy traffic in an unfamiliar area. I guess I shouldn't be driving, according to some of the posters?
  • Laces_0ut
    Laces_0ut Posts: 3,750 Member
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    i cant wait until i get Google Glass it will make doing all of this while driving even easier!

    Contradiction! This implies it is not so easy for you to text while driving!

    its quite easy but it would just be easier....and its not really the texting part that im looking forward to with Glass...its surfing the internet and having it on a HUD.
  • Laces_0ut
    Laces_0ut Posts: 3,750 Member
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    As an adult that has driven solo with children and a cell phone I can confirm that both can be ignored easily.

    thankfully you are able to handle it but most arent...ive seen countless solo parents swerve when dealing with children...for the safety of us all that should not be allowed.
  • Laces_0ut
    Laces_0ut Posts: 3,750 Member
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    its a lot easier to ignore a ringing cell phone than it is a child. there should always be a 2nd adult in the car to attend to their needs.

    and just because you lack the skills to tweet and drive dont think everyone is the same.

    So if some people are good at it, then everyone should be allowed to do it, even if it were conclusively shown that traffic accidents are rising because of texting? Maybe it can be part of your driving exam.

    that would be fine..those who pass get a Twitter symbol on their tag to let cops know.
  • m_a_b
    m_a_b Posts: 71 Member
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    Well, it seems I must defer to much better drivers than myself. After 30 years of driving I find that anything that distracts me from the driving makes my driving worse. Even having a chat show on can affect the driving. I, therefore, must be one of those drivers that fits into the CDC statistics.

    It's nice to meet drivers that are so much better than everyone else.
  • Koldnomore
    Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
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    Tell that to all the people I see driving while eating their favorite McDonald's, applying makeup, brushing hair, reading newspapers (yes I have seen this), programming GPS's, reading maps, singing, listening to music, and playing/talking/ disciplining kids in the back seat of their cars. People do a lot of things while driving and always have, so unless they make EVERYTHING but driving illegal they can go take a flying leap.
    Every day there are 9 people killed in the USA by distracted drivers. Are you saying that's acceptable?

    Every day during 2007, about 266 Americans were shot. Every day, a third of them (82 daily) died. and yet your government still allows guns. I'd say that's a bigger problem than texting wouldn't you?

    Thankfully where I live we are still allowed to text while driving. Though most people who do it with any regularity (such as myself) limit our long texts to red lights ;)
  • m_a_b
    m_a_b Posts: 71 Member
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    Every day during 2007, about 266 Americans were shot. Every day, a third of them (82 daily) died. and yet your government still allows guns. I'd say that's a bigger problem than texting wouldn't you?
    So, are you saying that because more people are killed by guns then those killed be distracted drivers should be ignored? Or is there some kind of limit to the numbers we should care about?
    Thankfully where I live we are still allowed to text while driving. Though most people who do it with any regularity (such as myself) limit our long texts to red lights ;)
    You'd rather live in a country where one person's right to drive dangerously outweighs another person's right to life?
  • Brunner26_2
    Brunner26_2 Posts: 1,152
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    So, are you saying that because more people are killed by guns then those killed be distracted drivers should be ignored? Or is there some kind of limit to the numbers we should care about?

    Maybe that's the problem. We need to work on one problem at a time! We can't multitask. Texting and driving is just more proof!
  • wineplease
    wineplease Posts: 469 Member
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    You'd rather live in a country where one person's right to drive dangerously outweighs another person's right to life?

    We live in a country where one person's right to choice of convenience outweighs another person's right to life. Oh, wait......wrong debate. Sorry. :wink:
  • Koldnomore
    Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
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    So, are you saying that because more people are killed by guns then those killed be distracted drivers should be ignored? Or is there some kind of limit to the numbers we should care about?
    People die all the time. Do I care about everyone who dies in some way? If I was going to worry about everyone who died every day on the planet I would drive myself insane. So asking me if I care about some random person who dies because someone else can't handle the tasks that they are attempting is pointless. 99% of death happens because someone is doing something they can't handle doing. I don't care.. I'm quite certain most of population doesn't either - they just won't say it because they don't want to offend anyone.

    Most people are busy living their lives, dealing with their own ****e. People get pissed off at other people normally for one of 2 reasons.. They are jealous because they can not do whatever the other person is doing, OR they feel slighted that the other person is 'getting away' with something that offends their moral character.
    You'd rather live in a country where one person's right to drive dangerously outweighs another person's right to life?

    I'd rather live in a country where I am prosecuted based on actually DOING something to harm someone else, not someones perceived notion that they THINK that what I choose to do is dangerous. If I kill myself while I'm texting that's my problem
    It's nice to meet drivers that are so much better than everyone else.

    So you have never met anyone in your life who was better than you at doing something?? really? Just because you have been doing something for years does not mean there is no one better at doing whatever it is than you.
  • Laces_0ut
    Laces_0ut Posts: 3,750 Member
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    [

    I'd rather live in a country where I am prosecuted based on actually DOING something to harm someone else, not someones perceived notion that they THINK that what I choose to do is dangerous. If I kill myself while I'm texting that's my problem

    thats what i was getting at with banning solo adults from driving with kids in the car. i can perceive that as potentially dangerous so then it shouldnt be allowed in the name of public safety. i mean if it saves just one life right?

    do the same people whining about texting and driving also want to ban having a drink (coffee/soda) while you are driving? it means taking 1 hand off the wheel.
  • Sqeekyjojo
    Sqeekyjojo Posts: 704 Member
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    So, are you saying that because more people are killed by guns then those killed be distracted drivers should be ignored? Or is there some kind of limit to the numbers we should care about?
    People die all the time. Do I care about everyone who dies in some way? If I was going to worry about everyone who died every day on the planet I would drive myself insane. So asking me if I care about some random person who dies because someone else can't handle the tasks that they are attempting is pointless. 99% of death happens because someone is doing something they can't handle doing. I don't care.. I'm quite certain most of population doesn't either - they just won't say it because they don't want to offend anyone.

    Most people are busy living their lives, dealing with their own ****e. People get pissed off at other people normally for one of 2 reasons.. They are jealous because they can not do whatever the other person is doing, OR they feel slighted that the other person is 'getting away' with something that offends their moral character.
    You'd rather live in a country where one person's right to drive dangerously outweighs another person's right to life?

    I'd rather live in a country where I am prosecuted based on actually DOING something to harm someone else, not someones perceived notion that they THINK that what I choose to do is dangerous. If I kill myself while I'm texting that's my problem
    It's nice to meet drivers that are so much better than everyone else.

    So you have never met anyone in your life who was better than you at doing something?? really? Just because you have been doing something for years does not mean there is no one better at doing whatever it is than you.


    Can you promise that it will only be you who dies? It must be wonderful to have a car that, no matter how stupid you are, is capable of ignoring the fundamental laws of physics when there are other people in the area.

    Is the car called K.I.T.T., perhaps?


    Or are you just talking out of your backside to try and cover up your own idiocy?
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
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    Tell that to all the people I see driving while eating their favorite McDonald's, applying makeup, brushing hair, reading newspapers (yes I have seen this), programming GPS's, reading maps, singing, listening to music, and playing/talking/ disciplining kids in the back seat of their cars. People do a lot of things while driving and always have, so unless they make EVERYTHING but driving illegal they can go take a flying leap.
    Every day there are 9 people killed in the USA by distracted drivers. Are you saying that's acceptable?

    Every day during 2007, about 266 Americans were shot. Every day, a third of them (82 daily) died. and yet your government still allows guns. I'd say that's a bigger problem than texting wouldn't you?

    Thankfully where I live we are still allowed to text while driving. Though most people who do it with any regularity (such as myself) limit our long texts to red lights ;)

    "Thankfully"? You do know that 2/3 of gun related deaths in America are suicide, right? That means roughly 50 of those 82 people that died on a given day in 2007 killed themselves, not someone else. ( http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerkay/2013/01/22/who-knew-the-leading-cause-of-gun-death-is-suicide/ )

    A person who's texting while driving is more likely to kill someone else. The death rate in 2007 from "distracted driving" was nearly 6,000. That's 16 per day ( http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/24/news/la-heb-distracted-driving-20100924 ). That number has since dropped to the previously mentioned 9 per day ( http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/distracted_driving/ ), probably due to the recent laws where texting while driving is a primary offense (ie - you can be pulled over for it) in many places.
  • Laces_0ut
    Laces_0ut Posts: 3,750 Member
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    so everyone agrees we should ban having a coffee or soda while you drive right?
  • lour441
    lour441 Posts: 543 Member
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    so everyone agrees we should ban having a coffee or soda while you drive right?

    The coffee lobby is stronger then the text lobby so I think you are SOL.
  • Laces_0ut
    Laces_0ut Posts: 3,750 Member
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    so everyone agrees we should ban having a coffee or soda while you drive right?

    The coffee lobby is stronger then the text lobby so I think you are SOL.

    maybe the ACLU can get involved with texting and call it a freedom of speech thing. :)
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
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    As an adult that has driven solo with children and a cell phone I can confirm that both can be ignored easily.

    Right! While the radio is also considered a distraction, I just turn the radio up while the kid is screaming until she quiets down... my husband on the other hand is HORRIBLE about being able to ignore her when she screams.
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
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    Personally, I am weary of the whole "lets ban everything that is percieved as socially unacceptable"... there was a law in our state legislature that wanted to ban laws that banned something... seriously. Some people are better at multitasking in the car and some just are not.... my husband can text and drive, but he can't handle a screaming baby... I can handle a screaming baby but I cannot look at my phone and drive.

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