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

no it doesn't.

you have no idea what you are talking about.

 

Audi A8 Curb weight, 4300-4750 lb
BMW 7 Series curb weight (lbs) 4486
Lexus LS 600h L Curb Weight (lbs). 5049
Lincoln MKS Curb Weight (lbs). 4151
Pontiac G8 curb weight 3995 lb.

 

Whats wrong with chowing down on a meatball sub for lunch? I've been known to down a 8 piece crispy fried bucket from KFC j/k.

Tests like these are completely flawed. Even with the slightest distraction, a good driver will still knock over the cones. The frequency and longevity of the distraction is whats important. The problem with the cell phone is that people use it for the sole purpose to distract them from driving. It would be interesting to find how many times the phrase, "ok, im home, let me let you go" has been used to end a call.

 

Your response time isn't impaired when using a cellphone (even hands free)?? Back in the 70's cops didn't give people a hard time for drunk driving. But with the emergence of groups like MADD and the emergence of a police state here, the law has stiffened. The fact that things like using a cellphone is legal while driving shows how idiotic our lawmaking policies are.

 

the answer is public transportation.

 

But wrecks don't only happen in busy intersections or merging with high-speed traffic. The vast majority of wrecks happen on slower roads. A conversation during a regular intersection or normal speed driving is as dangerous as talking on a cell phone. Dealing with a child - who definitely doesn't know when to stop - is similarly dangerous.

 

No more so than talking to the passenger next to you. In fact, it may even be less so because people have a tendency to actually glance/look at the people they are talking to in their cars at times, whereas you'll never do that on a cell phone.

Should that also be illegal?

 

I'm of the opinion that a sh!tty driver is a sh!tty driver.

It doesn't really matter if they are texting, or looking in the vanity mirror, or changing the radio, or reading something, or watching the car behind them, or whatever.

To that end, the problem IMO is less the cell phone than it is the operator of the vehicle.

I do think that some sort of hands free option should really become more standard. Very, very handy.

 

I think it should be mandatory for new cars to have built-in bluetooth into the system. I love using bluetooth in the car and can press a button on my radio and say to call "whoever"

It's a pain in the butt when i have idiots on cell phones nearly hit me or just don't pay attention at all.

 

the problem the way I see it is that everyone thinks they are a good driver and it's everyone else on the road that is a crazy lunatic behind the wheel.

all the drivers on the road who talk/text while driving think they are entitled to do so because they are the better drivers.

this is not the case. i get more and more angry seeing people not paying attention, whether it be eating a freaking meal while driving, putting on makeup, talking or texting.

oh and dogs in the driver seats should be banned as well...

 

I'm probably the wrong person to ask because I think 90% of drivers shouldn't be on the road. I also think that what you're talking about is not enforceable, but I do agree that it is dangerous. Using a cell phone is way more dangerous because you're often using one hand to drive. I'd rather drive with someone who is barely over the legal limit at midnight than with my girlfriend (talking on the cellphone) during rush hour. That's another problem I have with texting, people are doing it during times when the roads are more likely to be crowded.

 

I dont think there should be any laws per se, but if somehow you cause an infraction and are on your phone, an additional fine should be assessed. This would be very rare though because they would have to have indisputable evidence that the phone was involved. But hey, might be some dummy that stays on the phone during a minor accident. Plus if the officer pulls you over and his camera detects that you are on your phone that would help. But even if you were, if it cant be proven, then it cant be applied.

I text all the time, but I usually take my time and very rarely take my eyes off the road. Your phone has a "home" key bump or something on the 5 key, so its easy to do it. Every once in a while, I will check. Sometimes I gotta back up, but it limits my "impairment" so I can live with it.

 

The studies show that the one-hand thing really isn't an issue though. It doesn't have notable effects on danger levels. Texting, though, is a definite problem because you have to look away from the road to do it.

 

Texting should be illegal with the equipment we have now; but it would be nice to see the industry innovate to something safer that could be legalized; maybe a mini-dictaphone attachment.

Just because people are gonna do this whether it's illegal or not.

 

I agree. Do we need a law for every possible eventuality
or one big law that says PAY ATTENTION TO THE D*MN ROAD
If she was found at fault. . . BOOM she does the time
If she was not . . then she don't
why is there a need for a VERY specific law. . . .
need one for texting
one for make up
one for cell phone
one for newspapers
one for searching for CDs

I am not particularly fond of the mentality that we cannot stop bad behavior so let's work around it. As you continue down this path . .. it seems to encourage a 'pushing of the line' of what is bad behavior . . . making more and more extreme things.

Rocket River

 

Something better has been invented years ago. Its called speed dial on the damn cell phone. Why regress on technology?

 

Sounds like it would be hard to prove, unless the records of a call or text can be positively proven to be made at the exact time of an accident, or police observance of "illegal" act.

 

Dictaphone for the texting; in case they don't want to hear you speak, or don't want to/can't speak themselves. And a screen attachment on the dashboard, so you can read their messages in bigger font without picking up and looking at the phone.

Fade out, cue Philips logo, guitar chords...."Got to ad-mit it's gettin' bet-ter; it's gettin' better, all the time.."

 

The behavior is only "bad" because of the safety risk, which is why I said invent something safer. That's innovation.

 

In the Netherlands you get a fine if you are using a cell phone while driving. the only way you can make a telphone call if it is handsfree.

I think it is a good thing that it is illegal. Especially in this case, when you are on the internet and driving (and even speeding) at the same time you are putting others in danger. But 6 years in prison is a bit much IMHO.