Should internet/cell/texting driving be treated like drunk driving?

What an idiot. Why did she tell them she was texting.

This is why you don't talk to the cops.

 

We need the Euro model here. We need to take driving much more seriously than we currently do as a nation. The second you pilot a couple tons of metal down the road at speed, you're infringing on my personal safety. Beyond that, leave me the hell alone.

 

Im a little more concerned on why the car burst into flames in the first place.

Drunk driving and cell phone usage are totally different. One is a distraction and one is having an impaired response time. Texting is no different than messing with the radio, zoning out, putting on makeup, correcting kids, ect ... They are all equally dumb.

On the flip side, cell phone usage is at an astronomic rate on the road. It IS a distraction. A good majority of people have no excuse to be using the phone while on the road, but I do understand there are calls that need to be taken right away and there are those quick 30 second calls in which its more dangerous to pull off the road to take the call.

 

Safer for who, exactly?

A relative of mine was in a motorcycle wreck when some idiot teenage girl who wasn't paying attention because she was on her stupid cell phone pulled out in front of him. This was a couple of years ago and he's all right after breaking his pelvis in several places. Damn girl nearly killed him.

The driver should have all of their appendages available for driving. That should be the law. We obviously cannot police every behavior, but I know in Britain at least, they don't play around with driving. One of the last times I was in London I called a friend's cell from a pay phone to let them know I was at baggage claim. They didn't answer and I knew why: It's illegal to talk on the damn phone while driving the damn car. My phone call to her was simply a signal for pickup.

As a nation we don't take driving as seriously as we should, and frankly, it irritates the hell out of me.

 

The problem is that all the studies show that it's not the holding of the phone that creates the distraction - it's that the mind is focused on the conversation as opposed to the road. But as Space Ghost noted, that also applies to changing the radio, dealing with kids, talking to another passenger, etc.

 

what does pulled out in front of him mean?

No one can see you on a motorcycle. People cut me off all the time.

 

We are a very Litigious Society

. . .what we need is MORE Laws

Question: If she wasn't Texting . . . Should she have been set free? Should she have gotten less time?

If she was the most aware drive around and something like this still happened .. . . would it matter

Rocket River
" . . . the girl is dead no matter how you look at it . . ."

 

I know that, but there should be some reasonable standard of acceptability. The radio in the car is designed for easy reach, easy use, and easy functionality while you're driving. The radios in cars are at least designed with the driver in mind. You can't say them same for cell phones.

She pulled out so that he T-boned her. Sent him flying over her car head first. I can't remember the term he used but he was Airborne in Vietnam, so he had enough time to do a sort of tuck-and-roll that he said he learned in jump school.

 

I agree. However, one can talk on a cell telephone using a bluetooth as safely as when you are talking to someone in the passenger seat.

No one has mentioned the women who drink coffee and apply makeup while using their knees to steer. Long ago, when I actually drove to work, that really frightened me for some reason -- that and speeders weaving in and out of traffic as if no one else existed.

However, that's because I'm old and still alive and amazed that I lived through my formative driving years. On a more serious note, I wholeheartedly agree with Rocket River's final comment in Post #8, although we don't need more laws -- just enforcement of the ones we have.

 

Please tell me what passenger vehicle weighs 4000 pounds or more in this day and age?

I drive a full size sedan, and it weighs 2000 pounds.

 

My Focus weighs 2,600 (thanks Ford) empty. I can imagine an SUV with four or five passengers getting close to 4,000.

 

We're a nation of people who like to slide by on technicalities. If it is required to pull over, then that gives you about 10-15 seconds to pull over. People will do it.

This is a complete farce. It might be true for compact to mid-sized cars, but for larger vehicles it is a good reach. I have a remote for my radio in my truck. My remote is always falling between the seats or the floor board. I can reassure you that isn't safe at all.

 

Accessing the radio or talking to another passenger is different. If you are going through a busy intersection or merging with high- speed traffic, you know not to reach for the radio and the passenger knows to shutup.

However, someone on the other end of the phone will keep on blabbing and distracting you, because they have no idea if you are stopped at a read light or about to get in a wrecj.

 

if citizens can't talk on cell phones while driving... cops can't talk on their radios while driving. Fair is Fair, and they are putting innocent people at risk.

ahhh that feels good.

 

They passed No Cell Use/No Texting laws in California this past year. Only hands-free use of cell phones (headset or speakers).

People will say back in the old days you could drink beer while driving with your toddler sitting on your lap and your kid in the passenger seat unbuckled, and no one got hurt. And comparitive driving distractions dont get punished, such as eating a subway sandwich while driving.

I think cell and text use might be the worst of the natural distractions though. Not drunk driving bad or punishable, but worse than radio tuning and giving the kid a disciplinary head smack. I saw a news special that tested college drivers driving normally and driving while texting. The amount of cones they knocked down while texting was startling. Heck, lot of people cant even WORK at their desks while they're texting. We maybe overrate our abilities to multitask sometimes

 

Texting while driving absolutely should be illegal. Talking on a cell phone is borderline, though.

 

Ford Explorer - 4000+ pounds. Easy to see that comparable SUVs weigh over two tons. Minivans tend to weigh 2 tons.