Texting while driving - need to vent
 

This afternoon my neighbor got hit by a distracted driver that ran a light and T-Boned her new Ford Explorer. She is in the hospital now and will probably need surgery on her shoulder. Because of this she was not able to pick up her kids from school so her Dad offers to help.

On the way home with the two kids he gets T-Boned by someone that did not notice a red light and flips his Surburban sending them all to the hospital. Luckily the kids were secure and injuries were just bumps and bruises.

Wow, that really sucks, but at least the kids are essentially fine.

To try to make things a little lighter, this may be a good time to buy a lottery ticket, because they haven't otherwise been using their daily allotment of luck.

I hope your neighbor and her family recover quickly, and the insurance for the other drivers is up to date and very good.

Note to self: don't drive in NC! :)

I was T-boned in my Porsche 944 5 years ago from some idiot running a stop sign..we were both doing 60 mph+. His cell phone ended up in my car through two closed side windows, you do the math.

He had a bump on his head, I had 17 broken bones, a lacerated liver, and 6 months off work learning to walk again.

Or Ohio.

I spent 3 fulls days in the passenger seat of a semi a few months ago. 50% of the people on the interstates around here are busy driving with their phones in their hands.

Crazy ! In Europe even having a cell phone in your hand even for a second while driving is an offence, big fines, points on your license and worse. People still do it !

Not enough enforcement.

Amazingly.....most states have yet to ban cell phone use while driving.

Meanwhile people are injured every day because of cell phone use while driving....hell....probably every minute of the day it happens somewhere.

But yeah....let's get the radar units going....going to get some of them speeders!

it's confirmed both drivers were texting?!!

NJ also.

I'm waiting for the big lawsuit against carriers and phone manufacturers. They have the technology to know phone is in 'motion', it could lock out texts & calls.

Yes via witnesses and one of the drivers admitted looking at their phone.

Also, just found out her Mom was also in the Surburban that rolled and she has a possible head injury :-(

passengers will love that. Especially kids.

Too bad we can't go back to the days before cell phones, when no one got hurt by inattentive drivers

Steve,

Thanks for the kind words.

I was almost a victim last month on the way back home from NY. We were stopped at a red light and just as I looked over to the left I spotted an older Jeep Cherokee slam into the back of a Minivan that was next to us. I noticed the brakes on the Jeep were not even applied. Luckily there were no kids in the Minivan and nobody was hurt.

But I did spot a girl get pulled over for texting in MD by a state trooper just before entering the Harbor Tunnel. She almost plowed into the back of a dump truck that had bright yellow reflective stips and flashing yellow lights (You could not miss it) before changing lanes and cut off the trooper that was cruising by in the left lane. We could see the glare of her phone reflecting out the back window since it was dusk.

I think the penalties should be at least $500 and forced to spend time in an ER room watching victims of car accidents being carted in for emergency surgery or to the morgue:mad:

I agree, we just had to worry about drunk or stoned drivers...

Washington's new law just went into effect wherein the use of any hand-held device while driving carries penalties similar to a DUI. Even at that, I don't think it goes far enough. It needs to be a custody offense, with the vehicle impounded and the device held as evidence until the trial date.

As an avid motorcyclist, I have simply never seen a greater hazard than someone driving while playing with their cell phone. The list of riding buddies and acquaintances who have been hit by cell phone distracted drivers continues to grow at way too fast of a rate. Anyone who tries to claim this is no more of a problem than any other distractions we have had in the past is in denial, and probably a horrible offender. This is not only the single worst distraction ever introduced to motoring, worse yet, it's in addition to those already in place. It has to stop. I would say "before someone gets killed", but it's already way, way too late for that.

Most "Tradies" I know spend a lot of time on the phone whilst they're driving. (Normally via wireless blue tooth but not always)
If they don't answer their phone it costs them money so good luck getting them to comply with the law.

Personally I just put it in a cubby hole in the center console and forget I have it.

List of current states and how regulated.....some are doing a good job at least of having laws in place....congrats to them! Florida of course is not one of them. :(

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_cell_phone_use_while_driving_in_th e_United_States

So what if there are passengers in a car. If the selector goes into D, the cell phones are blocked inside the vehicle. Not that passengers don't distract drivers, but give me a break, what is a life worth?