Here's what I'd like to know - since the inception of the text message, has the accident rate in the USA actually increased? A quick search on the NHTSA website shows that both the number of fatal accidents and the rate of fatal accidents per miles traveled in 2009 were the lowest number in 15 years, well before the text message.

The fact is, as long as you have people driving cars you are going to have accidents. As long as our DMVs are willing to give anyone with a pulse a driver's license, you are going to have lots of accidents. If it's not a text message it is some other form of stupidity distracting an already bad driver and causing an accident. As usual the government is addressing a symptom to try and show action, instead of addressing the root cause.

Years ago I did a high school paper comparing the fatality rate on the German Autobahn with the fatality rate on the US Interstate system. Despite our interstates then being limited to 65 MPH and much of the Autobahn being unlimited (at the time), the fatality rates were nearly identical. Research indicated that much of the credit was due to the higher standards in Germany to earn a driver's license.

But God forbid we fix the issue at hand. Lets put laws on the books that allow the police to fine you based on a visual observation and not require any proof on their part. Lets give the police another open-ended excuse to pull over drivers. Lets allow further government invasion into our privacy by allowing them to browse through the personal information on our phones and phone records. The government is here to help, right?:rolleyes:

Over a year approximately 2,000 teens die from texting while driving.

Texting while driving killed at least 16,000 in US - Autos & Trends

Texting and Driving Greatly Increases Accidents, Study Shows - Mobile and Wireless - News & Reviews - eWeek.com

Mobile phones and driving safety - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Texting while driving - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here here! I don't text and drive, but leave my damn phone and car alone.

What about eating and driving.....we are all guilty of that and it is just as bad.

I'm sure many on this board can do a lot more than a younger, more inexperienced driver. And you are right that more laws are not always a better answer. But, when they started making laws, we didn't have the problems we face today.

What am I saying? Well, I like the thought put forth that the onus is on the providers of such devices that distract.

Young inexperienced drivers probably shouldn't hold a conversation while driving. In CA, they are not permitted to have passengers for a period of probationary driving.

I have missed off ramps I intended to get off because of babbling away. Sure, we all have different levels of attention skills. I think of OTR truck drivers with all the crap in the cab and they do a pretty good job.

But when little Tammy Texter slams into the side of me and puts me out of work (more so than I am) because she wasn't paying attetion, or had no attention left to pay, I'm going to bring this up again.

And when you get tagged, let me know how you still feel (those that seem to think phones and cars go along together). Personally, I think Pandora's Box got opened when manufacturers enabled blue tooth.

I know over on the 911 tech board drivers often tout driving listening to the music of a flat six. I drive everything without the radio or phone. One too many times I did not hear an emergency vehicle with the AC on high and the radio going.

This is so true, people can't even walk and text properly, looking at a tiny screen and bumping into people. I think fines should be expensive and your phone should be taken away and there should be a long and boring (40 hrs.) course on safe driving for these offenses, maybe I'm jaded but thats cause I've been hit by a young woman when she was talking on the phone.
Finn

"BLOOD ON THE HIGHWAY!" sensationalist media reports are pretty common in our society, dating to well before d-bags like Ralph Nader. But lets look at the facts. The number one killer of teens is car accidents, and has been for decades. I have three kids and am terrified about them reaching driving age, but it's not because of text messaging. I did a lot of stupid crap as a 16 year old with a car, and I didn't even have a cell phone. One of the many things that I will preach to my kids is to focus on the task at hand, and I will come down hard on them if they don't. It's on me (parent) as well as my teen (responsible party) to teach driver safety, not the govt.

I hate this crap, because it's just one more way to remove personal responsibility from our society. Am I the only one that doesn't want the govt to babysit?

Good thing I don't have text messaging :P

I agree with both sides and I don't think there's an express solution for distracted driving when it comes to cell phone usage. Making people better drivers would be nice but it's a longshot something I don't really see happening and echoed by the sentiments above. The dmv gives anyone with a pulse a license and the only way I see of making people better drivers is like Germany making traffic violations incur much stricter penalties.

Using the specious argument of if talking then why not adjusting the cd player doesn't really hold water holding a conversation requires more concentration. That always makes me laugh with the hands free being touted as so "safe" it's not the holding of the phone that's distracting you...

+1 ^^^^^^^

We need to ban texting/listening to mp3's while crossing train tracks up here..... 4 dumbass' have been smoked by trains in the last couple years. At least the world got smarter with their passing. :)

why would the officer need to see your records. if he witnesses you looking at your phone or appear to be texting he can write you a ticket if you appear to be distracted.

of course when you get to court you can produce your phone records to back up your statement that you werent texting.

And here the government is going to spend 3.8BN on mandating reverse cameras... Wouldn't the money be better spent on driver education?

How do you allow the passengers to use their phones but not the driver?

If you can figure out a way to do it, then instead of "lock up" I suggest "blow up"

Texting while driving.
Talking on the phone while driving.
Changing radio stations while driving.
Selecting tunes while driving.
Eating while driving.
Talking to passengers while driving.
Rearranging your clothes while driving.

ALL BAD

Should there be laws against it? Maybe. But all of the above should also be considered contributing factors in case of an accident when deciding the cause. Cellphone use at any time could easily established by phone records.

That is why I try to minimize all of the above for myself unless really necesssary.

The thing that makes texting particularly bad is that you have to look at the phone screen and keyboard while you're doing it. If you played a GameBoy, or plucked your eyebrows, while driving it would present a similar problem, but those aren't real common activities.

Most other things you do without looking (conversing, radio tuning, etc) so they are less dangerous.

Before the ban on texting and driving, I would often see people holding their phone and the steering wheel at the same time, texting in clear sight. After the ban I notice that they have the phone in their lap, out of sight, to avoid being seen texting, looking straight down, while driving. Clearly safer...not!

As voice control, e.g. Apple's Siri, gets better, texting won't require looking at or typing on the phone. You'll be able to speak and send texts, and to hear texts read to you, with the phone in your pocket.

At that point voice texting will be similar to a hands free phone conversation, or a conversation with a passenger, as far as distraction goes.

That level of distraction is okay with me. Some people are such bad drivers that they can't talk and drive, but I think they'd be bad drivers regardless. Most people, I think but admittedly based on no data, can talk and drive at the same time.

So, the thing is for anti texting laws to be written narrowly, so that they don't affect the use of future voice texting technologies.

I personally don't have many phone conversations in the car, but I tend to avoid phone calls anyway. When I do get a call, I use speakerphone and set the phone on my dash or instrument binnacle. Sound quality and extraneous noise make it almost intolerable for the caller. That's great. Means they'll get off the phone fast.

LOL, we have even had quite a number of txt-ers killed by buses. Yes, they were concentrating so much on their text that they didn't think to look before stepping out on to the road. I've emergency braked a few times when a hoddy (who lost preriferal vision from the hood) has stepped onto the road while texting.

Does that not make any sense to anyone else? :)

Text messaging with your voice. How bout you just talk to someone.... through a handsfree of course.

Phone calls require that two people are able to engage at the exact same time to exchange information.

By communicating via text, people can respond when they are able and are not beholden to the recipient being available. In addition, text messaging can be done in situations where talking would be impractical, impolite, or impossible.

For instance, I am watching Breaking Bad on Netflix right now. I'm also posting on PPOT and carrying on two different text message conversations. That's four things at once. If I was talking, I would only be able to do one thing at a time.

For the record, texting and driving is bad.

I'd be surprised to see someone arranging business meetings with a Bluetooth headset during a DE. But talking to an instructor through a headset it quite common. The difference is shared context, or lack of shared context.

And if the argument is: "track driving requires more concentration than regular driving." That's true, until something unexpected happens on the road. Where the focused driver might avoid an incident the distracted driver, like the driver who's had a few drinks, is less likely to.

+1 Almost killed last week by a mental case teen girl texting while doing 80kmh. phone held down in lap area. Drifted into my lane and I had nowhere to go. I was riding my motorcycle at the time. I ended up kicking her car in the door to get her attention. Reported it to police.

Anyone who thinks that having a conversation with a passenger, is the same as talking on the bluetooth to someone who isn't in the car is mistaken.

When something unexpected happens, or things get busy, your passenger will shut up and let you concentrate. The phone call on the other hand will continue to demand your attention.

Do we need laws to control this stuff? Yes if people are too stupid to make sensible decisions themselves. So yes.

They just passed a distracted driving law here, and i think it's about time. It includes tons of stuff; shaving, talking on phone, texting, putting on makeup, etc.

As far as i'm concerned if it saves one life it's worth it, especially if that life is mine or my families.

As far a reading your phone, it dep ends what state you are in, in some states the cop can hookup a device and download your entire phone info no warrant required. Ridiculious...

Drivers on Cell Phones Are as Bad as Drunks - University of Utah News Release: June 29th, 2006

Study around the same time in the UK - just before they passed a $2000 fine and license points for not using a hands-free (and similar penalties for "distracted driving" even with a hands-free) - said they measured reaction times and judgement of 20-something drivers engaged in a cell conversation as comparable to retired folks in their 60's. Something to do with the concentration necessary to focus on the conversation.

Having been personally affected for life by a cell phone yapping/texting driver, I can only say one thing, people need to get a life big time if they are so lonely that they are desperate for continuous contact.

I was stopped in traffic and some a-hole on a cell phone wrote my motorcycle off, put me in the hospital for two weeks with another five months of rehab. That was two and a half years ago and I can feel that T2 nail and screws in my leg daily.

So users can choose to do what they want at the wheel. Problem is, I am fresh out of mercy and the next cell phone yapping a-hole is going to see my baseball bat driven right into their skull.

What you won't find in my car is a cell phone, coffee or cigarette, but you will find a driver...imagine that, a driver in a car...what an effing concept!!!!!!

Rant over!

I have not seen one valid reason against these laws, all I've seen is excuses.

"Nanny state".... we wouldn't need these laws if it wasn't for stupid people.

"Against my rights"... driving is a privilege not a right.

"I educate my kids properly"... good for you, what about other peoples kids?

"Ban changing the radio station and the climate controls"... if they are that bad of a design then yes.

"I was just looking at the phone, not actually making a call or texting"...really? How is this any different?

"Private correspondence"....How is time and date of an occurring offence relivant to this?

"So you guys have never talked to a passenger, consulted a map, changed the radio, looked for an address, yelled at a kid"....maybe, but again this is a very poor excuse.

"The sentiments in this thread mirror a generational divide"... so are you stating one generation is more responsible than the other?

Laws like these are made for a reason, like the fact people have been injured or killed because of it and people are stupid enough to do it.

Actually I have, many times. I've also told them "not now" when traffic conditions are hectic at an interchange.

For some reason, people feel more "obliged" to carry on a conversation on a phone than with a passenger.

I've also searched my waypoint database on my handheld GPS while on an Interstate...the difference is, I'm not doing it where there is an exit/entry and I'm doing so with nobody in sight as far as I can see ahead or behind me. I can also maintain my lane which I can't say for too many drivers.

To those who think yapping/texting is fine while driving, I hope you get a pilot who is texting on approach with an engine out or on fire. Good luck to you! My passengers get told to stay quiet when I entered a controlled area or pattern.

Traveller, the way you quoted me, by changing my quote, makes it look out of context.
I know what you're trying to say, but please don't do that in the future.

I realize that now. You were quoting what the general public might think or say.

The start of each sentence has quotes, all the quotes are from this thread. I may have abridged them for space, but I didn't change the context.
I've edited them to appear in bold, sorry if there was any confusion.

texting and driving is just plain stupid. I am glad PA finally put this ban into law.

There seems to be a consensus of sorts here. The problem of enforcement of cell phone usage regulations (proposed) is going to be the real b1tch.

Cheers
JB

I guess the most amazing thing to me is that so many people feel a "need" to talk or text while driving. I think it is like the cigarette smoker that thinks the car will not run if a cigarette is not lit. I really believe it is more of a habit that they feel they HAVE to talk or text with someone. I never text and drive, and the few phone calls I have in the car are very short and only if there is little or no traffic. If it is more than that I will pull over and talk.

On a regular basis I will pull up to a 4 way stop and all the other drivers will have a phone stuck to their ear.

you know that scene in Silverado where the guy backs out of a saloon on the corner of a street, draws both guns and shoots 2 gunslingers at once??

looking back on this, It is now 2014 and cops don't do anything to stop people in Pennsylvania from texting and driving. There are so many people that I pass everyday that are texting or their phone is just in their hand while driving. My 911 is way to loud to even carry a conversation and my phone is mounted in the window as a digital speedometer using gps. No way to possibly text or hold in my hand especially during my spirited driving. I need my hands on the wheel or gear shifter at all times...lol.

Law or no law, does it really make a difference? They are still going to do it. The law must make it hurt and with steep fines so they wouldn't do it again. I was sitting at a stop about to enter the old Pasadena fwy when a young woman nailed me doing about 50 right into the front of land cruiser. She hit me at an angle and throw me on the curb. This was one of those 5mph exit and she completely missed it. How the F can one not see the 90degree curve? Destroyed my vehicle and my little boy was in the car with me. Thank goodness we were both fine. I had a couple of bruises. She sat there on the curb making sure putting on her makeup and the hair was back up to standard. Air bag went off and f'k up her hair. I saw her coming with the phone in hand as she look surprise a split second before impact. I informed the cops about it and they didn't do siht about it but exchanged info for us. I think they were sitting on top of the bridge and saw the whole thing. There were there within 2 minutes. 5-10k fine and impound of vehicle would be ok with me. I don't text, but I do talk on the phone when driving but it usually last 30 sec. to 1 minutes.

A co-worker got hit $350.00 for using the gps feature on the google maps app on his I Phone..........
Freaking photo radar and red light cameras make me feel like big brother really is watching..
I'm an old man now I guess cause this schit pisses me off.
I get 40 plus emails and texts a day and am always on the road......the temptation to check sometimes is almost overwhelming.
Drive safe my friends