Funny, you don't HAVE to look down. Actually if you are looking down when you text you are doing it wrong.

If you have the right phone and know what you are doing you can text without looking down at all. I do it all the time and have never had any issues. Its only the retards who have a full keyboard open holding it with both hands while they are trying to drive that get in trouble. My phone stays DOWN, no where near my field of view. I text with one hand holds the phone and the thumb on that hand taps the key pad that I have memorized.

It takes a while to do it this way but it is completely non-distracting. It's like tuning the radio which people do on a regular basis. I actually text this way while walking, biking, and skating around too. If you have to look at your phone you are doing it wrong.. Just like those women who have to look in the mirror to apply makeup because they don't know where their faces are presumably.

I would think it's at least somewhat distracting, at least reduced reaction time because your mind is elsewhere. We're finding out now that even hands-free use is distracting.

http://www.1011now.com/home/headlines/Study-Hands-Free-Texting-More-Dangerous-Than-Manual-Texting-204594911.html#.UZDdPbXqk1I

im pretty good at drinking and driving. and im certainly more in control doing that than a solo parent in a car dealing with kids. we should ban solo parents from having kids in the car.

.... Sounds pretty ridiculous when you just change one word.

The reality is any activity that may impair you while driving is already illegal and covered under the careless and reckless statutes. This includes every example people have mentioned in order to justify that it is Ok for them to continue to text while driving. No matter how delusional you may be, if you are not paying 100% of your attention to driving you are taking unnecessary risks. Unfortunately, most people don't care until something permanent happens that they will regret the rest of their life.

thats why it should be illegal for a solo parent/adult to be in teh car with a child. at some point they will definitely be distracted.

im pretty good at drinking and driving. and im certainly more in control doing that than a solo parent in a car dealing with kids. we should ban solo parents from having kids in the car.

.... Sounds pretty ridiculous when you just change one word.

The reality is any activity that may impair you while driving is already illegal and covered under the careless and reckless statutes. This includes every example people have mentioned in order to justify that it is Ok for them to continue to text while driving. No matter how delusional you may be, if you are not paying 100% of your attention to driving you are taking unnecessary risks. Unfortunately, most people don't care until something permanent happens that they will regret the rest of their life.

Do careless and reckless driving just apply after something bad happens? Probably differs by area. IIRC, here in MD they just changed the texting law again. When they originally made it illegal, they couldn't pull you over for it. They could cite you for it if they pulled you over for something else too. Now they can pull you over for it.

im pretty good at drinking and driving. and im certainly more in control doing that than a solo parent in a car dealing with kids. we should ban solo parents from having kids in the car.

.... Sounds pretty ridiculous when you just change one word.

The reality is any activity that may impair you while driving is already illegal and covered under the careless and reckless statutes. This includes every example people have mentioned in order to justify that it is Ok for them to continue to text while driving. No matter how delusional you may be, if you are not paying 100% of your attention to driving you are taking unnecessary risks. Unfortunately, most people don't care until something permanent happens that they will regret the rest of their life.

thats why it should be illegal for a solo parent/adult to be in teh car with a child. at some point they will definitely be distracted.

That is a silly argument.

It is not illegal for a person and their cell phone to be in the car. It is illegal for the person to text while driving.

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.

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

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 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.

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?

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?

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?

You'd rather live in a country where one person's right to drive dangerously outweighs another person's right to life?

It's nice to meet drivers that are so much better than everyone else.

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.

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.