8mm Forum: texting while driving

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Posted by Richard C Patchett (Member # 974) on August 25, 2009, 03:13 PM:

Every one should see this
Being a truck driver as my full time job
I see this happening
Its bad enough to see people Reading, putting on make up and so on when driving

Watch it all the way through.
RC Patchett

This is very graphic, but being graphic makes it a dramatic lesson in while driving texting Please share this with anyone who needs to be made aware.

Thanks
RC

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/32549978#32549978

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on August 25, 2009, 04:13 PM:

Texting while driving should be banned throughout the USA. It is totally insane, and anybody who causes an accident while doing it should get a minimum 1 year in jail and lose their license for life. If they kill anyone they should get 25 years to life.

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on August 25, 2009, 04:26 PM:

I absolutely agree.

I'm simply amazed at the number of drivers who still talk on their mobiles whilst driving.

Posted by Patrick Walsh (Member # 637) on August 25, 2009, 08:13 PM:

Here is will be illegal from next month to text and also talk on a cell phone while driving.
Patrick

Posted by John W. Black (Member # 1082) on August 25, 2009, 09:15 PM:

A person has to be 13 kinds of stupid to text while driving,only 11 kinds to use a handheld cell.

Posted by Bart Smith (Member # 780) on August 26, 2009, 01:14 AM:

Here in the UK it has been illegal for a while.

Famously Britain's first Muslim Life Peer, Lord Ahmed, was convicted and jailed for doing so a year or so ago:

On 1 December 2008, Lord Ahmed appeared at Sheffield Magistrates' Court in connection with a charge of dangerous driving. Lord Ahmed admitted sending and receiving five text messages on his phone while driving two minutes before the crash, and pleaded guilty to the charge before him. He was banned from driving until his sentencing. On 22 December, Sheffield Magistrates' Court referred the case for sentencing at the Crown Court on 19 January due to its "aggravating features". This was later put back until 25 February. Lord Ahmed was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison, which meant he would serve six actual weeks in jail and was disqualifed from driving for 12 months. He was expelled from the Labour Party on 25 February.

On 12 March 2009 Lord Ahmed was freed by the Court of Appeal. Lady Justice Hallett said it was important to state that Ahmed's offence was one of dangerous driving, not of causing death by dangerous driving. Hallett said that there was "little or nothing" Ahmed could have done to avoid the collision and that after being knocked unconscious, he had come to and 'risked his life trying to flag down other vehicles to stop them colliding with the Audi or his car'. She said that while his prison sentence had been justified, the court had been persuaded it could now take an "exceptional" course and suspend the sentence for 12 months. Lord Ahmed was freed just 16 days into his sentence.

Posted by Kevin Faulkner (Member # 6) on August 26, 2009, 03:43 AM:

I commute daily on my Ninja and I can tell you that whenever I see a car wandering towards the centre line in slow crawling traffic you can bet your life the driver is using his mobile. The trouble in the UK is that there is no real way to police this problem even though it is illegal there just arent enough traffic cops. I have had a few near misses due to wandering mobile users [Mad]

Kev.

Posted by Barry Johnson (Member # 84) on August 26, 2009, 06:17 AM:

Very Graphic and VERY neccessary advertising.Trouble is with a lot of the air-headed teens of this modern technological age will think that was a "Cool" video,and that will be that.Until they are next making a text whilst driving...............
It needs to be policed and policed adequateley.Fat chance.
Automatic cell phone switch off would be a good idea in cars,and open networks fopr the emergency services only.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on August 26, 2009, 08:37 AM:

There was recently a major rail crash outside Washigton DC, when the train driver went through a stop signal and hit another train, killing I think about 50 people. The NTSB investigation showed that he was texting while driving the train.
As usual, there are those nuts here in the USA who think that banning cell phone use while driving is an infringement on their personal liberty - never mind about the victims of these idiots!
At least the laws in the UK and NZ are more enlightened, even if its hard to enforce them.

Posted by Richard C Patchett (Member # 974) on August 26, 2009, 09:01 AM:

Greetings

I sent this to my grand daughter. She said Thank you for sending this. I'm now sending this to my other friends. However she did make a comment on this. That this is just not for KIDS anymore its for everyone to take note
She just turned 15. It just might save a life Young or old.

I sure hope this really sinks in. but some of you will still be doing it
Just don't take someones life with you.
Its your life You Have One Life to Live your own and family.
And if you do live after the fact Its going to be with you for a long long time
This link is the full Viedo
I sure hope this really sinks in. but some of you will still be doing it
Just don't take someones life with you.
Its your life You Have One Life to Live your own and family.
And if you do live after the fact Its going to be with you for a long long time
This is the full link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGE8LzRaySk

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on August 26, 2009, 11:55 AM:

I'll have to admit I'm nowhere near as good a texter as your average 16 year old girl, but the level of concentration it requires leads me wonder if it's even worse than driving moderately drunk!

I'm sticky about this when I drive: no loud music, no multitasking and I don't even like anything more than casual conversation in the car.

I was driving in Kamikaze traffic in Brooklyn once and my mother-in-law started a battle with my wife. For the only time in my entire marriage I turned around and told the old... dear lady to shut her mouth!

(Still married too!)

Posted by Martin Jones (Member # 1163) on August 26, 2009, 12:37 PM:

I have a simple answer to the problem; I don't do texts! God gave me the ability to talk, and if I need to communicate with someone at a distance I use a telephone at a convenient time.
After all, it's not so very long we've had mobile phones; we DID have a life before they came along.
Martin

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on August 26, 2009, 01:34 PM:

I like to text because I can take and embed pictures in text messages with my phone and send not only to other cell phones but any E-mail address. It's useful in places where using voice communication annoys other people too.

It's wonderful distraction when I'm bored (IE: holding down a chair while my son is at his karate class), but a distraction it is and has absolutely no place while something important is going on which needs concentration.

Posted by Martin Jones (Member # 1163) on August 26, 2009, 01:47 PM:

The point I'm making is that we only do it BECAUSE IT'S THERE! We didn't ask for the facility so we didn't actually need it until some marketing man made it available. They KNEW that if it was available, suddenly there would be an enormous demand and they would make a great deal of money from something nobody had ever needed before. It's the SHEEP syndrome! (And we used to take pictures with still and cine cameras)
Martin

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on August 26, 2009, 02:06 PM:

Not completely,

I had it for two years until I decided I wanted to use it, then I learned how. Had I not wanted to no amount of marketing could have made me want to.

I have 5 cartridges of K-40 and Plus-X ready for the lab and plan of shooting some 35mm slides in the Fall. A cell camera has no pretense of replacing either, since the resolution is so low. However,it has the advantage of being pocket sized and usually there when I don't even expect to need a camera.

The fact of the matter is that there was no thought of a market for amateur photography until George Eastman created it over a century ago. Sometimes a need creates a market, sometimes vice versa. It's still up to individual consumers to either embrace or reject the stuff. It doesn't make them "sheep" if they do.

I bet 40 years ago most people would have thought the idea of people having computers in their homes was absolutely ridiculous. What on earth would the average person do with such a thing, after all. Then it was a toy for the moderately geeky, later it was a tool for home business and today it's as common as the TV set. Did we all decide we needed this or did somebody see a potential market and cultivate it?

Guy walks into a bar in 1835, says to the guy next to him "I need a telephone". The second guy says "What on Earth are you talking about?" Then it was invented it and people discovered they DID need it all along, they just hadn't imagined it yet.

Posted by Martin Jones (Member # 1163) on August 26, 2009, 02:55 PM:

Absolutely agree with you, Steve.. the same applies to most of our consumer devices. But out of all our "must have" consumer aids NONE, except perhaps the motor car itself, have proved to have been so inherently dangerous as a result of using them in the environment for which they were designed... the MOBILE one.
Or perhaps I should say MIS-using them, because it's the mis-use that is so lethal. And I still believe, although I do carry one myself, that it is a product that we never really needed, the last 80 years without it is proof of that. The MAIN reason I carry one is for emergency; occasionally I use it to contact home while out and about, which I used to do by public telephone until these contraptions caused the death of those. And I never cease to be amazed at the ENORMOUS sums of money spent on using them; in the last year I have spent less than £15 GBP using mine. That's a good indication of just how unnecessary they really are.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on August 26, 2009, 03:24 PM:

There's the Swiss Army Knife factor. Years ago I had one for camping only, then I had it in my pocket while I was at work and kept finding uses for it. Now if I find myself at the car and I find I'm without it I debate going back in and getting it. The cellphone has become kind of like that.

Martin, I have a confession to make: I didn't want the damn thing at first.

It was my wife's idea because we became parents and needed to be able to change plans on a moment's notice whether we were at a land line or not. Then I started to tinker with it (Engineer's weakness...) and actually began to enjoy it.

Since then I've actually used it for practical purposes a number of times.

1) We needed to head out quickly on a moment's notice recently. I quickly composed directions and e-mailed them to my wife's cell. She navigated while I drove and she didn't need to decode my scribble.

2) We were at a store and saw something we thought my Mom was looking for. I snapped a picture and sent it to her E-mail. She called my cell and asked us to buy it.

3) I was out on a walk and saw this really bizarre bug. I whipped out my cell and snapped a picture and sent it home to my computer so I could figure out what it was later. (Turned out to be a flightless wasp.)

4) I recently needed to record a string of numbers and I didn't have a paper or pen. I texted my PC and wrote it down when I got home.

5) I needed my wife to have a phone number recently. I texted it from my cell to hers.

So when I leave the house today, I have my Swiss Army Knife in my right pocket and my cell in my left. I prefer the knife, but I need them both.

BTW: Years before the American Revolution (obviously), young George Washington decided he wanted a commission in the British Army. He mounted his horse in Virginia, rode 6 weeks to the Headquarters in Boston, was told "No" and then rode 6 weeks home.

He didn't know what a car, or an airplane, or a phone was because they didn't exist, but he sure needed any one of them!

Posted by Richard C Patchett (Member # 974) on August 26, 2009, 03:27 PM:

Greetings
I myself has the texting turned off. Thats just another expense
Lets say you are driving and you get a tex message . Are you going to pick it up and read it at that time?
Well ???
Then you are about to tex back at that time Driving or even walking across the street.
Life is too short.
Are you going to text Scott. and ask BEAM ME UP

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on August 26, 2009, 03:43 PM:

Any message that's too important to e-mail is too important to text too.

I'd never pick up a text while driving: they shouldn't be anything that can't wait.

Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on August 26, 2009, 04:37 PM:

I couldn't be without my mobile phone now, but I resisted having one for a loooooooong time becasue I knew that all the time I didn't have one I didn't need it but as soon as I did I wouldn't want to be without it.

I was right... [Roll Eyes]

Funny thing is I virtually never use it for making telephone calls, but I probably send hundreds of texts every week.

Mike [Cool]

Posted by Richard C Patchett (Member # 974) on August 26, 2009, 07:04 PM:

So Mike
Are you one of those drivers that text while driving?.
Its kind of driving in a construction Zone.
Here in Michigan
Injure or kill its a $5000.00 fine and Jail

Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on August 27, 2009, 02:29 AM:

Richard

No I'm not! [Eek!]

I have an absolute rule about not using my mobile phone whilst driving. If it rings, I wait until I can pull over and then ring back if I need to.

Texting whilst driving is absolutely crazy!

Mike [Cool]

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on August 27, 2009, 02:44 AM:

FWIW: Use of hand held mobile phone while driving is illegal in France. Fine is astronomical and because we have a point system, it can lead to total withdrawal of your licence. Hands-free and earpieces are tolerated.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on August 27, 2009, 09:26 AM:

Well Jean- Marc that's exactly what we need to do in this country, but getting anything like that passed in the USA is like pulling teeth because of the objections of people who see it as yet another Government take over of personal liberties. Crazy is'nt it!

[ August 27, 2009, 11:08 AM: Message edited by: Paul Adsett ]

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on August 27, 2009, 11:00 AM:

Individual states can and do have laws against cell phone use while driving. New York State is hands free only and no texting.

I have no objection to these laws. If there is a law against me doing stupid things that endanger my neighbors and I have an ounce of common sense then my own judgment will never take me where the law prohibits anyway.

The only problem with these laws is especially in the case of texting the action is going to occur below the window line of the car and therefore out of the view of the police.

So if they are enforced at all they will only be after some disaster occurs and only if somebody cares to check if the driver had sent the text. Then again if the driver was composing a text as the accident occurred and then stopped in the middle there wouldn't even be that.

Making a bad example of the person caught texting in an accident will not have an impact on people who don't think it can ever happen to them, and especially young people usually don't think bad things can happen to them until after they do. If this were not so there wouldn't be any drunk driving among the young, and they are among the most likely.

So I agree with the intent of the law, but am not totally optimistic about the effectiveness.

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on August 27, 2009, 11:11 AM:

Steve, my comment was an unfair political generalization, and I apologize, and have modified it.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on August 27, 2009, 11:15 AM:

They really REALLY need to pass a law to get rid of texting while driving! My wife and I like to take walks with our baby in the stroller, (well, yeah, he wouldn't be under it!), and
at least once a week, (and that is no lie) we almost get regularly smeared into the pavement, and at least least 9 times out of 10, it's either because of texting or cell phones.

You just don't have the attention span needed to drive and really have full control over driving, especially with so many unknown elements that can pop up suddenly.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on August 27, 2009, 11:15 AM:

You're a fair man, Paul.

I'm changing mine too.

Posted by John W. Black (Member # 1082) on August 27, 2009, 08:26 PM:

Hey,how about those slopeheads who watch DVDs while driving?

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on August 27, 2009, 08:59 PM:

When I was in Germany there were billboards all along the Autobahns showing a guy with a cell phone, a laptop, a cup of coffee and a cigarette. The caption was "Who's driving?"

I can see the problem of texting while driving being a much worse problem among people just learning to drive now than people more our age. My friends have a 16 year old daughter and the cell is like a part of her right hand. You can be having a normal conversation with her and the whole time her thumb is moving on the cell phone. She is communicating with two people at the same time on separate channels.

Her boyfriend broke up with her recently...with a text message.

LG had a texting championship recently. All five finalists were teenage girls.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CpQ0hJWy_s

Texting is to teenager girls what Celestial Navigation was to an 18th century sailor: it's their medium, the rest of us are just dabblers at best.

Posted by Richard C Patchett (Member # 974) on August 29, 2009, 08:06 PM:

Greetings

Note Steve The only problem with these laws is especially in the case of texting the action is going to occur below the window line of the car and therefore out of the view of the police.

When your driving on the hi way Do you ever come up to a car in the middle or left lane driving below the speed limit?
You can tell if that person is watching the road or is using his cell phone. ( look in his rear and or side mirrors
I can so does the police.

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on August 29, 2009, 09:04 PM:

I can't say for sure: I drive in Metropolitan New York and have never seen someone driving below the speed limit.

My point is not that the law is a bad idea: it's that enforcement is going to be a challenge. This still doesn't make the law a bad idea since it joins thousands of other laws with the exact same problem.

Let's take your example: the Highway Patrol spies somebody doing 47 in a 55 and looking down occasionally. They pull the driver over and the officer tells the driver that he/she is suspected of texting and sees a powered-down cell on the console (...or can't see it under the seat). The driver says he/she was looking for a CD and wasn't using the phone.

Is this driver provably guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, or guilty of nothing worse than driving under the speed limit? The driver's story was at the least plausible, and possibly true.

The sixteen year old girl I mention above can text without really looking at the phone. It still doesn't mean her mind is on the road. Watching where she's looking wouldn't tell the police a thing.

Posted by Richard C Patchett (Member # 974) on September 01, 2009, 11:29 AM:

Greetings
It might be stalled a bit here, but steam is building nationally behind the movement to ban texting while driving.

The Governors Highway Safety Association on Monday became the latest national traffic safety group to endorse a ban on using cell phones, PDAs and other messaging devices while driving.

Seems obvious, right? The problem is, too many people think they’re immune to the dangers, and our increasingly hyper-connected work and personal lives put pressure on us to be available and ready to interact at a moment’s notice.

That moment should never happen while at the control of a moving vehicle.

The GHSA is now encouraging each state to ban texting behind the wheel, period. The group says such bans send “a message to the public that this dangerous practice is unacceptable. We can begin to change the culture that has permitted distracted driving.”

The GHSA notes a recent Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study found that a driver engrossed in sending an electronic message while driving increases by 23 times his or her risk of crashing or narrowly avoiding one.

But the GHSA and others have had one big reservation about bans. They’re difficult to enforce until after the fact and may provide a false sense of security.

That’s one of the reasons Michigan hasn’t joined the ban bandwagon just yet.

Detroit this spring banned texting while driving; the city already had banned using hand-held cell phones while driving.

Bills to ban texting behind the wheel have been introduced in the Michigan Legislature but haven’t seen action in months. The GHSA says 18 states and Washington, D.C., have banned text messaging for drivers.

Even if Michigan were to ban texting while driving, it’s just one more offense for stretched-thin police to enforce. Outlawing it may provide more comfort than warranted.

Even so, there’s growing public support for a crackdown, at least according to the insurer Nationwide, which said Monday that a survey it conducted found 80% support nationally for a ban on texting while driving.

We need a major public-education focus on distraction. People must get it through their heads that the single stupidest thing they can do behind the wheel is to pay attention to anything other than driving safely.

Posted by Christopher P Quinn (Member # 1294) on September 01, 2009, 06:21 PM:

I like Richard drive lorry’s for a living, I see all kind of things going on, including people texting and using there mobile/cell phones. People with sat nav’s, watching the sat nav screen rather than the road, I’m always dodging them. The worst thing I see is other lorry drivers with films running on there laptops propped up on the dash, mostly long distance drivers from Europe, we have a lot on the roads here in Britain, they are immune from our laws and can do mostly what they like. Some kind of loop hole for them.

As Kev say’s not enough traffic cops etc. Let’s hope the video gets a good airing around the globe and it will make some people think before they pick up the phone whilst driving.

Chris.

Posted by John W. Black (Member # 1082) on September 01, 2009, 11:24 PM:

I'm on the road a lot and there hve been many times I've just avoided an accident getting out of the way of a moron on their cell or texting.How horrible that lives are ended because some imbecile has to play with toys whilr driving.The technology exists to have a device installed in autos that would block cell waves so a cell phone couldn't be used while a car is running.Sounds good to me.

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