Texting and Driving
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Replies
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I don't know how effective they will be, but I like the step that AT&T has taken with this series of ads: http://itcanwait.com/
I think there are more along those lines. Seeing families who have lost loved ones juxtaposed with the text they were sending when they died is pretty jarring. It's not quite as good as the anti-smoking commercials which show people who are suffering the ffects of smoking, but short of showing the dead bodies of drivers and their victims...
No more jarring than the pre-Prom mock accident most SADD groups put on, IMO. And not a bad idea, either, from what I've seen.
Glee did a small arc on texting while driving in their 3rd season, I think it was. One of the kids was texting and ran a stop sign because of it, and got t-boned by a pickup. It put her in a wheelchair for a good chunk of the remainder of the season. Not as jarring as someone dying, but still helps get the point across, I think.All I can say is that a little research about multitasking might change some attitudes here.
This. Humans really aren't as good at multitasking as we think we are. It's a shame that Western culture encourages it, anyway.0 -
I think texting&driving is way worse than drinking&driving.0
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I think texting&driving is way worse than drinking&driving.
Because you don't have the excuse of impaired judgment?0 -
im pretty good at texting 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.0
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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.0 -
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.0 -
Stupid!! Some people have no brains!0
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Every day there are 9 people killed in the USA by distracted drivers. Are you saying that's acceptable?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.
It is when someone thinks it's all about ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME.0 -
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.
In my City, they made texting and driving illegal and police can pull you over for it as well... but really, how is that any different than the police officers that use their computers while driving... they get into accidents as well as a result of being distracted... it's not much different... while I am blessed with a pretty decent toddler (who doesn't scream often while in the car), I do try to be as focused as possible.... which sometimes isn't possible with how my mind wanders... there have been times where I am not sure how I even got home because my thought process was so scattered... thankfully, I'm quite a bit of a habitual driver and stick to certian lanes at certian points.
Anyway, as long as people have the ability to daydream there will always be distracted driving.0 -
Sad thing is, a lot of people need a wake-up call before they will even consider stopping. And I fear it will only get worse because we're all so desensitized to it.
I am guilty of doing this at stoplights or heavy traffic when we are at a dead stop, but then I realize that is also a stupid thing to do and set the phone down. It's so easy to get caught up in your own world and not realize it. I have answered and then ended calls while I was driving because I know it's not safe. We're so used to being so connected to society, we forget how distracted we can become.
My coworker used to scare the crap out of me because she would be on the phone every time she pulled up to work. I warned her several times to be careful, but she was a drama queen. She got in a massive car wreck and totaled her SUV (that her father bought her), had to switch to a Camry. She had two kids in the car and still thought it was okay to argue with her boyfriend while driving.
I am definitely mindful not to do it because Houston has a ton of motorcyclists and I realize how easy it is to miss them. I have known people and known of people whose lives were ended because some idiot wasn't paying attention, so I try very hard to limit my usage to the bare minimum when in the car. It's always in the back of my head how several people would be alive right now if not for distracted drivers.0 -
I usually only text and drive if I'm drunk0
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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
The above is absolute bull****... If it were true then people have been getting into accidents for years for using their turn signals Or looking in mirrors. If you cant talk and drive then you shouldn't be driving and you likely shouldn't be talking even while not driving.
Its ludicrous to even think that if someones hands leave the wheel they are unable to maintain control. Driving is a Highly complex task that humans have mastered and some chimps have achieved. Highly complex in that you have Multiple focal points and lines of thought. You cant think about driving straight when you are thinking about looking in your rear view mirror to see if someone is going to rear end you when slowing down quickly because traffic has slowed. If you cant manage this simple functions required of driving stop in to your local DMV and turn in your license.
Next thing you will say is ...You cant drive while listening to the radio. As soon as that happens Good bye Car culture those two things go together Like APPLES & PIE.0 -
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.0 -
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.0 -
The above is absolute bull****... If it were true then people have been getting into accidents for years for using their turn signals Or looking in mirrors. If you cant talk and drive then you shouldn't be driving and you likely shouldn't be talking even while not driving.
Its ludicrous to even think that if someones hands leave the wheel they are unable to maintain control. Driving is a Highly complex task that humans have mastered and some chimps have achieved. Highly complex in that you have Multiple focal points and lines of thought. You cant think about driving straight when you are thinking about looking in your rear view mirror to see if someone is going to rear end you when slowing down quickly because traffic has slowed. If you cant manage this simple functions required of driving stop in to your local DMV and turn in your license.
Next thing you will say is ...You cant drive while listening to the radio. As soon as that happens Good bye Car culture those two things go together Like APPLES & PIE.
Wow, you went off on a bunch of unconvincing tangents there. I'll just link to the study that showed that reactions time were, in fact, reduced when study participants were both manually texting and using voice texting. The evidence is right there. Accept it or don't.
Here's the abstract:
"Text messaging is no longer limited to manual-entry. There are several mobile
applications that aim to assist the driver in sending and receiving text messages by incorporating
a voice-to-text component. To date, there has been no published research that evaluates the
impact of voice-to-text mobile applications on driver behavior and safety. To address this issue,
43 participants drove an instrumented vehicle on a closed course for a baseline as well as three
texting conditions: manual-entry, using Siri, and using Vlingo. Results indicate that driver
reaction times were nearly two times slower than the baseline condition, no matter which texting
method was used. Eye gazes to the forward roadway also significantly decreased compared to
baseline, no matter which texting method was used. Additionally, it took drivers longer to
complete the same texting task using the voice-to-text applications than it did when texting
manually, though Siri produced the fewest errors. Self-assessment feedback revealed that
participants felt less safe using any of the three texting methods compared to the baseline, but
felt safer using either voice-to-text application than when manually texting. These results have
immediate implications for improving our understanding of the dangers of texting while driving
and the potential safety improvements of using voice-to-text options."
http://tti.tamu.edu/group/cts/files/2013/04/voice-to-text-Yager-Apr23.pdf0 -
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.
I have seen people get careless driving tickets in addition to speeding tickets. Reckless is generally given after an accident. Someone in law enforcement could probably give more details.0 -
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.0 -
i cant wait until i get Google Glass it will make doing all of this while driving even easier!0
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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!0 -
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.
As an adult that has driven solo with children and a cell phone I can confirm that both can be ignored easily.0
