Bad Drivers or PUT DOWN THE DAMN PHONE!!!

[stomachmonkey]

So I'm currently splitting time between living in TX and NY.

The drivers in TX are terrible.

It occurred to me that the majority of the bad drivers that I encounter in TX have a cell phone stuck to their heads.

In NY it's against the law to use a cell w/out a head set/hands free and you can spot the offenders from a mile away.

I am generally against Government telling me what I can and can not do but this one is pretty much a no brainer.

[kang]

Half the people on the road are below average drivers.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

"Everyone driving faster than you is a maniac and anyone driving slower than you is an idiot"
---George Carlin

[Rick Lee]

The cell phone ban while driving hasn't done anything at all in DC. I see cops chatting on cell phones while driving all the time, taxi drivers are the worst and I've never seen anyone get pulled over for it. I wish it were a felony. I think it's more dangerous than driving drunk. I know, when I've felt over the limit and driven home, I was careful as could be in order to avoid any police attention. Cell phone drivers are the exact opposite. And what's with this phenomenon of people WAITING until they start their cars to pick up the phone and dial? I always see these idiots talking on the cell phone while they're trying to back out of a parking space. Wouldn't it make more sense to make that call BEFORE you got into the car? Unreal.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

"Everyone driving faster than you is a maniac and anyone driving slower than you is an idiot"
---George Carlin

As long as the fast drivers are in the left lane and the slow ones keep right, they're all excellent. But that doesn't exist in this country.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Nobody is addressing the underlying problem - lost productivity and efficiency because the F*CKING ROADS ARE OVERCROWDED!!!

1. Too many people
2. Too many people that SHOULDN'T BE DRIVING in the first place
3. Inadequate mass transit infrastructure/alternatives
4. Terrible roadway design (most is based on outdated traffic models developed in the 1960s)

If people could actually get on the freeway and drive 70 mph to their destination without being stuck in traffic for two hours, they might feel less need to use their phones. When you're stuck in traffic your choices are (1) to sit there with your thumb up your ass getting nothing done or (2) try to "multitask" in the interest of actually accomplishing whatever you can on behalf of your employer.

Time is money. The horrendous overcrowding we're seeing on the roads is the root cause of the "need" for cell phones.

[livi]

I have heard about them cell phones. Sounds cool. Suppose to be available here in Sweden by next year.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I left out one similar point above - the fact that we have a culture that encourages anyone and everyone to drive. Young/under qualified people, elderly folks that no longer have the motor skills, illegal aliens, whoever. There's simply too much money tied up in having people buy cars, buy gasoline, etc. for the politicians to care. Most of them are in the back pockets of the automakers, oil companies, insurance companies and dealerships (on the local level anyway) anyhow.

[frogger]

It'll never catch on there, Markus.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

I left out one similar point above - the fact that we have a culture that encourages anyone and everyone to drive. Young/under qualified people, elderly folks that no longer have the motor skills, illegal aliens, whoever. There's simply too much money tied up in having people buy cars, buy gasoline, etc. for the politicians to care. Most of them are in the back pockets of the automakers, oil companies, insurance companies and dealerships (on the local level anyway) anyhow.

Illegals?

[Rick Lee]

Jeff, if more people pulled over or parked to make their phone calls, the roads would be almost empty.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Plenty of 'em on the road here. NY state only recently killed a proposal to issue licenses to illegals. The issue comes up about every 3-4 years here in CA. NM already lets them. Etc.

Why should we be crowding our roads more with people that shouldn't by all rights even be here in the first place?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Jeff, if more people pulled over or parked to make their phone calls, the roads would be almost empty.

Maybe there's an opportunity for that. Maybe we need to be constructing turnouts as part of roadway design for exactly these kinds of reasons. . .

[red-beard]

I think we need something more like a long chain, in the fast lane, which you latch onto, then turn the engine off and coast, until you reach your exit...less pollution, you can gab all you want, etc.

I also want flying cars! Yeah, that's what we need. An additional dimension for idiot drivers to use!

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Yea, at least pilots can talk on the radio and fly at the same time - but it's because of TRAINING and ACCOUNTABILITY. Two things that are sorely lacking from the motoring public.

[onlycafe]

you can get a free bumper sticker from click and clack that says:
hang up and drive.
i would have one if i were a bumper sticker kind of guy.

[Danny_Ocean]

Originally Posted by onlycafe

you can get a free bumper sticker from click and clack that says:
hang up and drive.
i would have one if i were a bumper sticker kind of guy.

I'd rather have one that reads "Hang Up & Drive, C*nt"...

[Tobra]

There was Canadian study that showed you were equally impaired when you talk on the phone and are legally drunk, equal to like 4 cocktails if I remember right

If they can talk on the phone, I should be able to drive drunk as Mel Gibson was when he called that cop "Sugar Tits" and ranted like a lunatic about Jews. I see someone every single day have a near miss because of a cell phone, and I only drive 15 minutes on surface streets to get to work.

[M.D. Holloway]

Careful,
The majority of those bad drivers also are armed. Don't be fooled by the hootie in the Eclipse either. If you have road words its one thing, just don't get out of your car and go up to anyone.

[livi]

Originally Posted by frogger

It'll never catch on there, Markus.

Probably not. We are not in a hurry. Plenty of time to pick up a land line when back home.