Textind and driving, how can we stop it ??
 

Sorry about the typo...

Two major wrecks in my area today caused by a driver being distracted while texting.
Should the driver have their vehicles seized and license revoked instead of a measly fine?



Two hit while changing tire on U.S. 64 in Wake :: WRAL.com

Troopers said a person driving a Nissan pickup truck hit the trailer from behind. The two men standing outside the landscaping truck were struck; the two others on the crew were not.

Texting and alcohol are suspected in the crash, and charges are pending against the driver. Troopers said the driver, who was not immediately identified, stopped at the scene.

Driver was texting just before wreck on I-540 :: WRAL.com

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol says a Cary man traveling on Interstate 540 Thursday morning was texting when he lost control of his SUV and hit two cars, sending a woman to a local hospital and snarling traffic for hours.

Need to equip cars with local faraday cage surrounding driver to block transmissions when car in gear. Laws and education aint working.

Ya can't until the tech is obsolete which should be in 187 months to 226 months according to my calculations...

Say hello to implants and smart tats...

Obvious, ban cars.

At least make the penalty on par with DUI.

What about gettin tough laws on the books prohibiting any cellphone use in cars while driving. In an accident the authorities could get the phone records and verify illegal use at the time of the accident, even the slightest fender bender. The the penalty shoud be heavy and the finacial liability of the offending party sky high.

It's easy, but politically impossible. Treat any cell phone use while driving the same as a DUI. In AZ that's mandatory jail time and about $15-20k after the insurance co. gets done with you. It's every bit as dangerous as DUI and far more rampant. No one will ever be deterred by the nominal fines that currently exist for it.

I even see people at my workplace bumping into each other because so many stare at their phones while walking around the hallways and even the parking lot. I don't get it.

I agree about the penalties. Penalties should be on par with DUI's and accidents caused while texting should bring severe legal and liability penalties. I myself don't see how anyone can feel in control driving while texting. Kids now days especially don't feel laws apply to them - even the common sense ones.

In my opinion or observation it all started with the smartphone.

When people had cell phones that were just phones there wasn't a problem. With a phone that is just a phone and no touch screen, you can answer the phone and dial a number without taking your eyes off the road.

They need to change the law from no cell phone to no smart phone!

Sadly the solution for the tech obsessed generation is to convert to self-driving cars. The question is the who gets sued in an accident? The automakers? Interesting article in Popular Mechanics a few months back said automakers are already strategizing to lobby for immunity laws for protection.

I think this is the only answer. Anything less and the details get too messy. Tougher laws simply won't work (don't work - we have them in Tennessee and IIRC TN leads the nation in the rate of texting accidents). Increasing the penalties for texting while driving won't work either - it would just clog up the legal system (and jails) with myriads of cases.

I think we need a culture change. A good example is probably drunk driving. Back in the day it used to be pretty much accepted. Heck, didn't Dean Martin used to joke about it? What followed though was a gradual shift in public opinion that increasingly portrayed drunk driving as an unacceptable activity. Texting (and cell phone use in general) needs to follow the same track. Nothing will be done until the general public gets fed up with it.

Sorta like how driving after drinking was "socially acceptable" 2-3 decades ago the penalties need to be more severe. It's just not likely to change unless society (i.e. MADD etc.) gets involved and changes the mind set. Just my .02, but I fear idiots on cell phones much more than drunk drivers these days (particularly when on a m/c). Don't know how we deal with privacy laws, but if you're in an accident, then IMO, cell phone records should be paramount in the investigation of who's at fault. This crap is ONLY going to get worse as time and technology marches on imo....

edited: That Mike guy :) beat me to it...

remove texting from cell phones all together. we lived without before, we can do it again......welllll.....maybe.

personally i hate to text. i dotn understand why people carry on conversations with text. YOU HAVE A FREAKING PHONE! just call them.

yes, i do text. but only when i have to. but just to send a message or two. my brother cant always talk on the phone, but i can send him a text.

another thing i hate is when you are talking to someone face to face and they pick up their phone to reply to texts. hey, you can text later. yea i know, they did not want to talk to me.

As above, treat cell phone use while driving the same as DUI.
Research at U of Toronto 15 years ago showed the level of interference with the "defensive driving" part of the brain in someone holding a conversation with someone not present was the same as legal impairment.
The evidence is there, hopefully we can get the social change going.

We need something like MADD. Somehow, PADUCP (Pelicans Against Drivers Using Cell Phones sorry, Wayne) will need some work as an acronym.

Best All
Les

Fines and license suspensions.

Require Bluetooth for phone use. I use mobile email constantly for business. Forwarding documents, asking questions to others in different time zones, etc. Business moves much faster than it did "before smart-phones" so going back to that tech ain't going to happen.

I agree with the make it the same penalty as drunk driving. And the penalty need to be harsh.

That will happen right after the congress balances the budget.

Create a chip in the phone that shuts the phone off it the vehicle is traveling more than 10 mph. Obviously it would have to be linked to a gps, which most phones have already for 911.

Interesting technical solution. I think a technology approach to stopping texting while driving could be more effective than a statutory approach. And we all know that enforcement only catches a fraction of the offenders.

^This^

Link the GPS to the screen. If the car is moving, the screen is blank. My iPhone is Bluetooth connected to my car. I can answer calls using buttone on the steering wheel and communicate via the radio speakers and a microphone built in the the overhead console. You may use the phone hands free, but never see texts if the vehicle is moving.

A chip would also penalize passengers in cars, buses, trains, airplanes, boats . . .

Ian

A small price to pay.

You are all delusional. All the laws and fines in the world wont stop it.

Why?? (not directed at you Choc, just in general...) but, this quote somes it up.

"I use mobile email constantly for business. Forwarding documents, asking questions to others in different time zones, etc. Business moves much faster than it did "before smart-phones" so going back to that tech ain't going to happen."

As long as people have this self important attitude, it will never stop. People only care about themselves and whats important to them, more than the safety of everyone else out there.
I'm directly exposed to the results of this more than anyone on here. I'm sick of cutting people out of vehicles, because some jerkoff needed to "connect to a client", or tell there gf/bf to meet them at applebees, or whatever.

^^^this!

For me this issue is no different than all the others where the driver doesn't understand the significance of undivided attention.

I see no public safety campaigns to reinforce proper driving.

There is no education.

Law enforcement traffic division does not care if you are a terrible driver and cause undo inconvenience and potential hazard to other drivers.

They enforce speeding, write up traffic accident reports, and that's pretty much it.

Oh and now they can cite you if you don't move over a lane when they are stopped on the side of the road. Doesn't matter if you don't move over for OTHER drivers....just them.

What's wrong with that picture?

Small RF jammers in every car with a four foot range. If the wheels are turning the jammer is on.

+1 but with one big caveat imo. These "attitudes" need to change, and just like DUI a few decades back, make the penalty "lose your license" (and maybe your ability to earn a living) for one year, and it WILL change. Technology isn't the solution here....societal "attitudes" are. Not directed at anyone on this thread...it REALLY is a lot like DUI imo. You "need" to talk (or text), then pull off the road. I'm just as guilty as everyone else on this thread, but I do NOT drink and drive anymore either :p. Surely won't "stop" it, but it will certainly curtail the path we are on...YMMV.

I don't think it's a "self-important attitude", I think that's the way the western world works nowadays. Most people are expected to be in contact pretty much any time of day. Someone's boss isn't going to accept "I was driving" as an excuse why a call was missed and a contract lost, but by the same token, if the driver were to pull over to take the call and save that contract, they might miss the one they're driving to. We live in a world of constant workworkworkworkwork, and that isn't likely to change soon.


I agree completely with this. Police enforcement of traffic violations amounts to low hanging fruit to boost municipal revenues - mostly speeding tickets and the odd talking-while-driving ticket. Here that ticket is $155 and I think 3 demerit points. Barely a slap on the wrist.

I use the analogy of a bullet - you're driving a slow-moving bullet. 5000 lbs of steel and plastic. Would you fire a gun while texting someone? Of course not. So why would you drive a car and not pay attention to where you're going?

this last session in Oregon the legislature struggled with rising the fine for this. it seamed that the $250 fine had little effect and some proposed a 2k fine. they finaly settled on a $500 fine.

I still see manny on my commute that are visibly impared and often think of pulling infront of them and break checking.

Thank you for reaffirming my post.



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Not condoning texting and driving.

But vin, you're delusional if you don't think the above is how business works.

I am strongly against any more laws or fines... we have tens of thousands of laws... so many even the LEO's can't enforce them. The big stick mentality has not and will not work IMHO.

There is a simple tech answer to this problem... asking the government to fix it is a$$ backward.

I didn't say thats not how it works. I know all about it, I work for the largest telecom co. in the country.

I don't have to like it or agree with it.

I'm stating the consequences of it.




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Any tech solution would need to be smart enough to only inhibit the driver's use.

I think the $25 fines or whatever, deter no one.

If they were $1000 or more with jail time people might 'get it'...


KT

Maybe it could be linked to a sensor in the driver's seat that grays out the screen and only allows bluetooth for any cellphone in the vehicle. Couple that with other sensors in the passenger seats that overide the driver seat sensor for a phone that they would have to certify is not being used by a driver of the vehicle. This could obviously be overridden but would take care of most misuse.

Texting while driving fines by state.

Think of all the revenue the state could raise if they followed Alaska's lead.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1384535483.jpg

I think some of the people here are under the impression that the fines are supposed to deter the activity. The fines are supposed to do only one thing: raise money.
The fine must be high enough to give Joe Q Public the impression that the establishment gives a ****, but low enough that the slow learners keep funding the establishment.

Alaska? Ha. They have one of the lowest automotive densities in the US, and can't really use this as an effective fund raising tool. So they can put up a big number to make themselves look tough on the problem with no negative impact to themselves.

John's map is only for State instituted bans. Almost all SC municipalities implemented bans on texting just as soon as they saw the revenue stream possibilities.

Dead on, excuse the pun.

As an EMT i once volunteered (during a demonstration) to be the one that was cut out of a car accident for a "jaws of life" demo. Hearing the sounds and realizing the time it takes convinced me I don't want to experience that "for real", ever or have to do it for someone that I know. Painstakingly slow process even when trying to expedite extrication.

As for a solution to the texting & driving, increase fines and make it comparable to DWI. Oh yeah, people are selfish and they think it will never happen to them. Wrong!

I must be an anomaly. At the conference in Austin last month one of the vendors told me "Let me tell you how hour days goes. You get to work and the first think is that you hope to get off on time. Then when you leave, you check your mail before you even get to the car. Then..." I stopped him there and showed him my old school flip phone. I told him I have a life outside of work and if things aren't working well enough that I need to be connected 24/7 then I am not doing my job right. I do sometimes talk on the cell phone while driving but see no need to read or send a text. If it was important, they will call.

I want to install something like this in my car - I want to be a rolling Cone of Silence