Werner Herzog's harrowing documentary on texting and driving

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I think Manny would agree...

 

Is Klaus Kinski in this?

 

I wish...

 

I thought it was pretty awesome -- Herzog was perfect for it.

1. Anyone on here in their late teens, early 20's care to weigh in? Would anyone in your age range actually watch something this long anyway?

2. What are we supposed to do when we see someone texting and driving? I see it like every day, and it scares the crap out of me.

We need a universal gesture for "put your damned phone down right now."

 

Agreed. I was thinking about #2 as well and what I would do: perhaps just honking at them.. and doing a "hang up/put down the phone" sign.

 

seems like a pretty easy fix. DWT's (driving while texting) should be issued and carry the same penalties as DWI's.

 

I have tried both, but I'm not sure we have a universal sign for that.

cardpire, there are also apps now that will keep phones texting dormant while moving in a car. (Sucks for the passengers, but that's a small price to pay.)

Cars in the next gen could probably ding or something (like an undone seatbelt ding) if the driver has an operating cell phone. That would be pretty easy to do actually.

 

I can only really see two solutions to the phone-driver problem.

1) Create a mandate that all cars built after a certain date have a built-in frequency jamming device that basically disables all communication systems of phones within the car while it is running.

2) Pour a lot of effort into building effective mass transit for the majority of the population in urban and suburban areas. Buses, trains, whatever you want. Just anything that makes it quick and easy for people to travel 30+ miles without driving.

 

if we can't stop drinking and driving how will we stop this? only if future cars have some kind of force airplane mode? or that car mode?

 

I recommend either of the following.....

 

That's a stupid way of going about things. We can't stop people from murdering one another/ does that stop us from preventing it?

 

what are the pitfalls of my solution?

 

I'm not against it.

 

I would only request that you make sure to only maim or kill yourself while texting and driving and not, you know, anyone else who is otherwise just minding their own business.

Pro tip: just go text and drive on a deserted mountainous road! Problem solved.

Everyone thinks they're coordinated/aware enough to do it, but the human is simply not equipped to keep looking away from the road while operating a moving car.

I know you're just trolling or whatever, but still...

 

it's not that i'm not against texting and driving, but there have always been distractions in the car. I see women putting on makeup, people reading books, people looking at themselves in the mirror, people eating, etc

 

Totally agree, but apparently texting is "special" in this regard, as it combines all three no-no's: getting a hand away from the wheel, getting your eyes off the road, and getting your attention away from the fact that you're driving.

http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/distracted_driving/

 

You have seen people reading books while driving? I'd pay to see that.

And if you're considering eating while driving a big distraction (assume you are talking about hand-food, not a person cutting steak and applying bernaise sauce while driving), you may as well throw listening to the radio as one too.

 

Lack of ability to enforce and prosecute. Plus a barrier beats a deterrent any day.