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?

In CA it is already illegal, but of course, very little enforcement. Hence the unnecessary wide gaps between cars, the occasional rear-end accident, or worse, somebody dies.

I think some people overestimate their capabilities.

or give cop a big ol Samaria sword to lop off the hands of anyone caught holding a phone. .., or holding a radio mic like truckers use, or cops use when in high speed pursuit.

seriously, the law is for simply holding a device. I remember a time when I would drive briskly thru downtown Seattle holding a bowl of fried rice, eating with the other hand, with chop sticks. point being, everyone has different skill level. Some people have horrible accidents w/o being drunk or holding a device.

while I've certainly been annoyed by texters, it's not the device that makes them idiots. This law presupposes that anyone holding a phone is an idiot who needs to be treated like a drunk behind the wheel? Lowest common denominator thinking.

don't get me wring, I loath the inattentive "drivers" - the people who ride behind the wheel. But we already have laws for inattentive drives. More (redundant) laws won't stop idiots.

Oh, and...

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Unfortunately, I think that's where we are now. Just like alcohol...some folks are "drunk & impaired" at a BAC of .08 or lower, some are perfectly fine and are still better drivers than many are at .00. I was nearly T-boned twice last summer as they blew through red lights.
It's just like alcohol imo...involved in an incident with alcohol in your system, and you WILL be charged regardless of whether it was a contributing factor or not. We'll reach that pont too with phones imo. I dunno why prescription meds (opiates) seem to get a free pass from LEOs however...another thread :(

If they eliminated any cell phone use when the car goes into "drive", these wiley drivers would then throw it up into "park" at traffic lights, and be even slower to react to the green light. They need to be in constant contact, and entertained at all times.

I think it is a write-off and I am glad the car seats were well secured and kept the kids safe !!

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A week ago my neighbor/friend parked to go to dinner. Got out of car and saw a texting driver veering towards him. He pushed himself up against his own car to avoid getting hit. The texter missed him by inches.

Unfortunately the draft from the texting car forced my friends door shut, chopping off his finger. Instead of dinner, he had to pick up his finger off the road and go to emergency where they could not save the finger. Driver never stopped.

Not a week goes by where I don't have some close call with a texter- if I had my way anyone caught texting would spend a year in Jail and lose their license for life.

Wow, that is horrible !!

I asked my neighbor who is a City Cop if there is anything I could do if I spot someone texting and driving and he said probably nothing because by the time they got the call the driver would be long gone.

But he did not give me a direct answer if it was Ok if I nudged a texting driver off the road to prevent a potential accident from happening.

It should be part of the DL exam drive that your mobile phone is called and/or texted. If you answer or pickup and look at the phone to read who it is, you fail.

Also feel with the advent of computers a online exam must be passed to renew your license every 4 years. Even if only to remind people to use their turn signals.

some?

Shirley you jest.

I called 911 on a driver texting when he entered my lane on a two lane road. I had to go to the far side of the shoulder to miss a head on collision. The car behind them stopped and called 911 also. I don't know if there were any charges, but they did get pulled over. It may have only been because there were multiple callers and it was easy to identify the Subaru with no tail lights at night.

When I lived in CA a taxi ran me off the road with a sudden lane change. CHP said too bad.

I think that some of you should snap photos of phone offenders so you can hunt them down and kill them in their sleep.

Oh wait, what am I saying?... taking a picture would be handling an electronic device while driving. The State of WA has determined You people can't handle that, so now that's illegal too.

Maybe if you go old school with a 35mm film camera. Make certain it doesn't have an electronic light senor and you're good.

:rolleyes:

I have avoided several accidents by assuming the other idiot is NOT going to stop at the light or stop sign. Until I can tell they are slowing down, I don't pull out. I sometimes get honked at to go but screw em, I ain't gonna be in an wreck just so impatient fool behind me is in a hurry.

I saw one jerk blatantly run a red light and a cop was right next to me. I was hoping the cop was going after him but he just ignored it. Grrrr.

Same here, I always wait a moment after the light turns green to check to see if some idiot is going to run the light.

Yep, that saved me from one driver's side t-bone last year. The other, the light had been green forever (my way)...now my head is on a swivel approaching and entering.

I am certainly no fan of ever more laws, especially laws like this. I can certainly see the potential for abuse, wherein a police officer uses a false, unverifiable accusation to stop someone and harass them. I can't remember exactly what it is called, but there is actually a name for this practice of claiming to have seen, or have smelt, something "illegal" as a means to make contact with someone of interest who has really done nothing wrong. "I didn't see a seatbelt", or "I thought I smelled weed", "he was weaving", and on and on. Unfortunately, we have plenty of these already, and one more is not going to change a thing.

From my perspective, this problem has gotten well beyond out of control and needs to be addressed, somehow. I would be o.k. with cell phones being automatically disabled when in motion above a walking pace. Most of the communication taking place over them is recreational, or social, in nature, and of no such dire need as to justify endangering others' lives. Truly "emergency" calls are going to be made from a stationary position, because you have stopped to help someone. "Business" calls, made by those so self important and self absorbed as to not really give a rip about others, well, those will have to wait until they are out of the car. Boo hoo.

Had one of those today. I was stopped in a left turn lane and the light turned red. A black F250 ran the redlight at 50-60mph (45 zone). A car with the green was starting to enter the intersection and was nearly hit.

In Texas, they have just passed a law against texting while driving.

BUT...the law explicitly allows use of the phone to call, use of navigation and Use of the Internet!

My only issue with the "texting" law, is that my phones can send and read texts hands free via voice. I do not think the law excludes those. I use hands free for calling, including voice commands.