Teen convicted of homicide in texting-while-driving case

I wouldn't consider it multi-tasking when you take your eyes off the road. Then I would call it task-switching, which often times is what people are truely referring to when they say 'multi-tasking'. This can then be dangerous when people apply their multi-tasking 'prowess' to something as dangerous as texting while driving.

Years ago in college I came close to being in an accident on the freeway. The driver of the vehicle I was in was texting on his phone. His eyes were off the road, he did not see trafick was stopped. For whatever reason, I debated about whether or not to alert him. I did not realize how preoccupied he was. Needless to say the breaks were applied like our lives depended on it.

 

I agree. His real punishment is that his life will never be the same. He will always be the one that made a stupid mistake and wound up killing someone. How can anything be good after that?

 

Nobody I knows texts and drives at the same time, especially when I am in the car with them. Everybody I know just waits until they can get out of traffic or gets home.

 

There's an app for android phones called DINDY that I use. It texts an auto response to people who text you while driving. You can customize the message to say whatever you want.

It's a free app.

 

And this is different than an "accident". If you kill somebody when doing something illegal, it's more than just an accident. If you're going 120 mph on the highway, lose control of your car and kill someone, it's not just an "accident". If you are drunk, get behind the wheel and kill someone, it's not just an "accident". Studies have shown texting while driving is the equivalent of driving drunk or recklessy at ridiculously high speeds.

Do I feel sorry for this kid? Yes. Of course. He will always have to live with this. I lived in a suite my freshman year in college - 4 of us. First summer off 2 of the other guys go on a cross-country trip. Literally the last day on the way home the guy driving is a little tired after partying hard the previous night, loses control, car flips, one of my other roommates dies instantly. This is 15ish years back. The guy driving has never been the same. It clearly has an emotional toll. But it should. His recklessness killed a guy... a friend.

The kid in discussion here was not only driving badly, but illegally, doing something that everyone knows is reckless, dumb and can and does lead to these types of accidents.

He got 1 year in jail. That's not enough.

 

Most cars are not built for real "driving" these days. They're built on the premise of..how can I entertain myself as I get from point A to point B. They're judged on how many cup holders they have as opposed to how well they perform on the road. The majority of people these days will never experience the true joy of driving.

 

This post is sooo Internet. lol

 

18 years old. Has to live with the consequences of his actions the rest of his life. Has to go spend a year in prison instead of possibly going to college. Will have to put this on every job application he ever submits. Loses his license for 15 years.

All because he was stupid, but no stupider than eating in the car, driving while tired, and talking on your cell phone. If there was a history or more precedent, the punishment wouldn't be as bad to me. Instead we now have one dead man, one injured woman, and ruined the life full of potential.

My wife texts in the car. Drives me crazy. She is also constantly on the phone while driving, which I also hate. She likes to call me while I'm driving, because she likes to talk to someone while she's driving. There are too many people on the road trying to kill me for me to be distracted like that.

 

He got a lot more than 1 year in jail.

What about the guy going 71 in a 70mph zone? He's doing something illegal. In the vast majority of accidents, someone is doing something illegal. Failing to yield, illegal lane change, speeding, following too close, running a red light/stop sign, etc.

 

Aye, a point A to point B fellow are ye?

 

His punishment should be similar to what an impaired driver would get. Don't know what that would be in this circumstance.

I do feel sorry for the guy. He meant no harm. But his poor judgement killed a guy.

And we need to up the info campaign on not texting and driving (I know I see lots of those ads now....not sure how widespread it is?). In many places you must have a handsfree set to talk while driving. This makes sense.

 

In Australia the biggest problem is not only texting while driving, but 'FACEBOOKING' and surfing the net while driving.

He should have at least got 5 years inside. His irresponsible actions took another persons life.

 

It is actually stupider than all that you listed. I hate drivers that do that, it's so damn irresponsible. Unlike talking on the phone or eating or going 71 on a 70 zone, you take your eyes off the road completely, AND you take your hands off the steering wheel. It is one of those things that lacks so much common sense it actually makes me really mad. I rage at my friends when I catch them doing it.

 

I see this daily. Pull up next to someone and they are texting. I don't know what to do about it other than staying off the road but it's a huge issue.

 

People love to complain about the government and the nanny state making all kinds of unnecessary laws. Well, this is why it is necessary. People tend to do stupid things.

• you're in a 1-ton hunk of metal moving at 70 mph

• there are hundreds of other 1-ton hunks of metal moving at varying speeds around you

• the hunk of metal tends to wander from a straihgt line unless you make constant corrections

• this is true of all the other hundreds of moving hunks of metal

Sounds like a perfect time to take my eyes off the road and engage both hands in typing into a device because someone just sent me the coolest pic.

 

Actually you can text without taking your eyes off the road or taking your hands of the wheel.

Talking on the phone - I bet you look at your phone to dial or answer. And has been shown to directly effect your driving.

Eating - I bet you look down at the bag your grabbing for, or the cup your drinking from. Ever tried unwrapping a sandwich with one hand?

Driving while tired - I'm sorry but there is nothing more dangerous than extremely slow reflexes, closing eyelids, and the possibility of falling asleep while driving.

You want more examples that people often take their eyes of the road for? Changing a CD, picking songs from their MP3 player, using a GPS, changing radio stations, dealing with children in the backseat.

I am in no way trying to say it is okay to text when you drive, or that it shouldn't be illegal. I'm just against handing out punishments that worsen the rest of a first-time offenders life. You can send a message, without trying to make it difficult on somebody to be a productive member of society. This decision has drastically improved the chances of him being a drain on public resources moving forward.

 

This is horrible.

 

juicystream, the problem is everyone knows that doing anything behind the wheel that distracts you is dangerous. There are signs, PSA's, etc. all over the place reminding us of the dangers specifically of texting while driving. At what point do we stop trying to send messages and actually start punishing the people that continue to do this and put others in danger?

 

I know. Luckily nothing has happened while texting, and I think she has cut back on doing it, since it is now against the law. She has however wrecked my car and her car while talking on the phone. It wasn't necessarily the cause of either accident, but it sure as hell didn't help.

 

I guess the concerning thing is that from your posts about it, she has no intentions of changing this bad habit. I know a few teenage girls who cannot be away from their phone for 2 minutes and they are always on it in the car. Texting, facebooking and talking. And they don't think there is anything wrong with it.