texting while driving

[Buh4Bee]

What do people think about this? I watched an Ophra show about 2 years ago that showed what happens to people's driving while texting. Obviously, while people drive and text they start to swurve, because their eyes are not on the road. Yeah, it's dangerous, but do people still do it even though you know you shouldn't?

[LitNetIsGreat]

Well, I think it is a daft thing to do because it is going to cause more accidents, ultimately leading to more deaths. I've no doubt however that some people (not naming names) will support people's rights to text while driving...nanny state, neo-cons, looking down on people, expressing their freedoms etc, etc, etc, however my opinion remains the same; that it is a bad idea and is best avoided.

Personally I haven't got a car so it doesn't happen, but if I did have one I wouldn't send a text message and drive, no, no way.

[Darcy88]

Everyone does it. And as a pedestrian I think all who are caught doing it should be tarred and feathered and then stuck in a pillory on the side-walk of the town's busiest intersection so that pedestrians like me can give them a slap and spit on them as we walk by.

Crazy story. I was a few steps into a crosswalk when a speeding car came right at me and I had to dive onto the hard concrete road-side to avoid getting run-over. Then the cars returns in reverse, a young lady sticks her head out the window and nonchalantly says "sorry, I was texting," before going on her merry way.

Also, the whole headsets being safer than hand-helds thing is a myth. The danger of using a cellphone while behind the wheel has nothing to do with mechanical immobility and everything to do with inattentiveness.

[Lokasenna]

It's extremely dangerous, and likely to lead to harm to either the driver or some unsuspecting bystanders. That, to me, seems obvious.

Doing anything behind the wheel, other than driving, is frankly hazardous. I remeber the local paper running a story a while back about an incident on the motorway near where I live. People had called the police to say that a truck was driving erratically. When they pulled it over, they found that the truck driver had an electric hot-plate between his legs, and had been cooking spaghetti bolognese while driving. Talk about stupid.

[ClaesGefvenberg]

Doing anything behind the wheel, other than driving, is frankly hazardousI agree, and sometimes I'm not so sure about the driving part either... :frown2:

Anyway: Texting while driving? The traffic is dangerous enough as it is, for crying out loud.

/Claes

[KCurtis]

Everyone does it.


No, not everyone does it

[Darcy88]

No, not everyone does it

Not meant literally. A LOT of people do it.

[NikolaiI]

I've never texted while driving, and with any luck I never will.

[KCurtis]

Not meant literally. A LOT of people do it.

Well yes, a lot of people do it. That would be more accurate.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Pedantry! woot

[Darcy88]

Well yes, a lot of people do it. That would be more accurate.

Person A: " Geez, I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."
Person B: "A horse! But the human stomach averages a mere 15 by 30 centimetres, hardly of a capacity to contain the full measure of a horse. Why, your typical riding horse weighs a full thousand pounds. And a draft horse, there you're talking up to two thousand pounds. Now maybe if you were referring to a pony..."
Person A:"I didn't mean it literally!"

[BienvenuJDC]

Everyone does it.

This is hyperbole.


And as a pedestrian I think all who are caught doing it should be tarred and feathered and then stuck in a pillory on the side-walk of the town's busiest intersection so that pedestrians like me can give them a slap and spit on them as we walk by.

I assume that this was also an exaggerated statement as well.

Darcy, I surely understood what you meant...and I agree.


It seems that there are too many people on this site that do not understand certain literary devices, which is quite ironic considering that this is a literature forum.

[Patrick_Bateman]

I do it on occasion when I'm back home and have found myself in the middle of the road or bouncing off the curbs. Luckily I live in the country so there is little traffic but yes it wouldn't be good to make a habit of it.
I am terrible with my iPod in the car as well.

[JuniperWoolf]

Too harmful to society, does zero good for anybody, the conclusion is obvious. Doesn't stop my friends though.

[PMLondonderry]

To present a little bit of another argument: If texting while driving is unacceptable, what about changing a song on your iPod while driving? Essentially they pose the same threat: Your attention is drawn to the screen of the device and your eyes are averted from the road.

I do not text while driving but I do change the song on my iPod (or at least I try to wait until I come to a red light or stop sign.) What do the rest of you do? Do you do one but not the other? Do you think there is a difference between the two?

[BienvenuJDC]

To present a little bit of another argument: If texting while driving is unacceptable, what about changing a song on your iPod while driving? Essentially they pose the same threat: Your attention is drawn to the screen of the device and your eyes are averted from the road.

I do not text while driving but I do change the song on my iPod (or at least I try to wait until I come to a red light or stop sign.) What do the rest of you do? Do you do one but not the other? Do you think there is a difference between the two?

Good point...or what about:
eating, drinking, smoking, changing the radio or the A/C, talking to someone on the phone (or even in the backseat), putting on makeup, shaving (yes, I've heard of this, reading a book or the newspaper (really...I've SEEN this), and of course...having sexual favors done...this is no joke.

What any of you either done, seen, or heard of any of these?

What did I miss?

[PMLondonderry]

Good point...or what about:
eating, drinking, smoking, changing the radio or the A/C, talking to someone on the phone (or even in the backseat), putting on makeup, shaving (yes, I've heard of this, reading a book or the newspaper (really...I've SEEN this), and of course...having sexual favors done...this is no joke.

What any of you either done, seen, or heard of any of these?

What did I miss?

It's amazing what some people will do while driving.

Eating, drinking, smoking, changing the radio/ AC, talking on phone, putting on makeup, brushing teeth, having sexual favors done are all things Ive seen. Shaving and reading, however....I didn't realize people were that stupid.

Sometimes I see tiny movie screens playing up on the front when I am driving behind someone. That's also equally insane.

[BienvenuJDC]

It's amazing what some people will do while driving.

Eating, drinking, smoking, changing the radio/ AC, talking on phone, putting on makeup, brushing teeth, having sexual favors done are all things Ive seen. Shaving and reading, however....I didn't realize people were that stupid.

Sometimes I see tiny movie screens playing up on the front when I am driving behind someone. That's also equally insane.

Actually the shaving was with an electric razor, so this actually was one of the simpler activities that probably did not impede driving as much as some of the others.

[YesNo]

I don't text while driving and find it difficult to text even when I'm doing nothing else. If the kids text me saying they are going here or there rather than coming home from school, and they want my approval, they send me a text. They realize that I'm monosyllabic when it comes to texting and so expect the usual "OK". It avoids the 20 questions I might feel obligated to go through with them if they actually called.

One day I'll break down and enter the 21st century. Maybe when I get a better phone.

[JuniperWoolf]

Good point...or what about:
eating, drinking, smoking, changing the radio or the A/C, talking to someone on the phone (or even in the backseat), putting on makeup, shaving (yes, I've heard of this, reading a book or the newspaper (really...I've SEEN this), and of course...having sexual favors done...this is no joke.

I wonder how a cop would even explain that to the mother of the victim. "I'm sorry ma'am, but your son is dead. It would appear that he was recieving a blow job and had trouble focusing on the road."

[Buh4Bee]

Sick! At least get one in the back a cab.

I get in trouble for looking at my son in the rear view mirror. My husband told me I better cut it out or we'll both end up in a tree. So, my son is my distraction.

I have texted while I drive, but try not too. I find it very annoying when I am driving and the phone rings. I want to answer it, but by the time I dig around in the purse and swerve all over the road it usually stops ring. Or better yet I knock against it and answer it, but still can't find it. What a production.

It's best to not answer the phone or text. It doesn't really matter for me, because no one calls me that I am interested in talking too anyway. Hah!

[stlukesguild]

Actually the shaving was with an electric razor...

Quite some years ago I passed a guy shaving in rush hour traffic using a razor and shaving cream!:crazy:

Just this week I passed another guy during rush hour who had a newspaper open before him over the steering wheel.

I sometimes feel there is a just cause to return to the stockades.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I think getting road-head is a lot of guys' fantasy.

Anyways, as to texting while driving, I love it! Plus, with my disability, there's no way I can do it one handed, so I have to completely let go of the wheel. It's exhilarating, really gives me a rush. My record is 42 texts for a ten minute drive. I could have made fifty, but I kept having to swerve so I didn't hit any kids while they were playing in their yard.

[billl]

I remember ages ago (before mobile phones) a comedian I saw on TV suggested that qualified drivers each be given one of those spring-loaded pistols that can fire brightly-colored, suction-cup-tipped plastic darts, so they could take shots at the doors of cars that had idiot drivers inside. Enough of those orange things jutting out from the driver-side door, and the cops could pull over the idiot seated inside (and take away his Toy Pistol Of Judgement).

[Buh4Bee]

I think getting road-head is a lot of guys' fantasy.

Anyways, as to texting while driving, I love it! Plus, with my disability, there's no way I can do it one handed, so I have to completely let go of the wheel. It's exhilarating, really gives me a rush. My record is 42 texts for a ten minute drive. I could have made fifty, but I kept having to swerve so I didn't hit any kids while they were playing in their yard.

That's what makes me so annoyed that I can't do it with the kid in the car. I love texting while driving too. When he's not in the car, I must look like I am a drunk driver with how distracted I can get. Plus I live out in the country and I see very few cars on the road. I have no lights to go through in my thirty five minute commute to work! So I can get really distracted with what might be considered statistically a very small chance of getting in an accident. :driving:

[YesNo]

Soon there will be cars that drive themselves and then anyone can text or do whatever as much as they like while "driving".

http://technabob.com/blog/2012/02/18/nevada-self-driving-car-regulations/

[hawthorns]

Everyone does it. And as a pedestrian I think all who are caught doing it should be tarred and feathered and then stuck in a pillory on the side-walk of the town's busiest intersection so that pedestrians like me can give them a slap and spit on them as we walk by.

Crazy story. I was a few steps into a crosswalk when a speeding car came right at me and I had to dive onto the hard concrete road-side to avoid getting run-over. Then the cars returns in reverse, a young lady sticks her head out the window and nonchalantly says "sorry, I was texting," before going on her merry way.

Also, the whole headsets being safer than hand-helds thing is a myth. The danger of using a cellphone while behind the wheel has nothing to do with mechanical immobility and everything to do with inattentiveness.


Couldn't have said it better myself. Apparently, this had been going on a long time before I even knew what texting was. Then I found out, and I couldn't believe my ears. I thought it was a joke, especially after I learned how attention-demanding it is compared to actual typing. Then I learned it had become an "issue" with the bus drivers in our area (mostly ridden by kids because of the mall nearby, mind you). Then I wanted blood...:flare:

So yeah, I think it borders on the criminal. I can text fairly well now, but I'd bet I could drive better after nine martini's than carry on a short texting conversation.

BTW--most people around here do 70mph or better on the freeways. That means 2-300ft blows by after your 2-3 second distraction.

[KCurtis]

I wonder how a cop would even explain that to the mother of the victim. "I'm sorry ma'am, but your son is dead. It would appear that he was recieving a blow job and had trouble focusing on the road."

:lol::lol::driving::lol::lol:


Actually the shaving was with an electric razor...

Quite some years ago I passed a guy shaving in rush hour traffic using a razor and shaving cream!:crazy:

Just this week I passed another guy during rush hour who had a newspaper open before him over the steering wheel.

I sometimes feel there is a just cause to return to the stockades.

Do you live in L.A.?

[Darcy88]

I wonder how a cop would even explain that to the mother of the victim. "I'm sorry ma'am, but your son is dead. It would appear that he was recieving a blow job and had trouble focusing on the road."

Definitely not the worst way to go. Almost up there with whore-house heart-attack really.

[Sancho]

Beats dying of piles - as Bull Meechum would say. (The Great Santini)

[Pensive]

No, never.

[Dark Star]

Well, I think it is a daft thing to do because it is going to cause more accidents, ultimately leading to more deaths. I've no doubt however that some people (not naming names) will support people's rights to text while driving...nanny state, neo-cons, looking down on people, expressing their freedoms etc, etc, etc, however my opinion remains the same; that it is a bad idea and is best avoided.

I don't think anyone is going to argue to a 'right' to texting while driving any more than they would advocate for a right to drive drunk. That said, texting bans don't work (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/2010-09-28-1Atextingbans28_ST_N.htm) and so I feel a cultural shift is needed.

As for myself: I don't text, period, and if I had a plan/phone that allowed for easy and cheap texting I would certainly not text while driving.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I took it to another level yesterday. I was texting on two phones at the same time. What a rush!

[stlukesguild]

What on earth do you need two cell phones for?

[LitNetIsGreat]

I don't think anyone is going to argue to a 'right' to texting while driving any more than they would advocate for a right to drive drunk. That said, texting bans don't work (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/2010-09-28-1Atextingbans28_ST_N.htm) and so I feel a cultural shift is needed.

As for myself: I don't text, period, and if I had a plan/phone that allowed for easy and cheap texting I would certainly not text while driving.

I don't know this is Litnet we're talking about here. There are some people who will furiously argue that the moon is made of cheese (literally in one ex-posters case).

Texting or doing anything as distracting while driving is deeply irresponsible. That's just common sense surely? Surely?

[Veho]

More so than it being irresponsible, it's unquestionably selfish. I used to be guilty of it myself and it does put the driver at considerable more risk of an accident. So a driver then has a choice to consider and make: is a human life that I might take away from someone here if this goes wrong more important than this text message I want to send to my mate about meeting up tonight etc? I think that's basically what it boils down to. Moreover, if it's something that you're proud of and boast about on a forum...

[Alexander III]

What on earth do you need two cell phones for?

He was being sarcastic

[Dark Star]

I don't know this is Litnet we're talking about here. There are some people who will furiously argue that the moon is made of cheese (literally in one ex-posters case).


Fair enough. And yes, it is completely irresponsible and selfish, hence why I drew the comparison to arguing the right to drive drunk.

[Buh4Bee]

I took it to another level yesterday. I was texting on two phones at the same time. What a rush!

MM, I'm tempted to believe you. :p

[Veho]

MM, I'm tempted to believe you. :p

Whoops! I thought MutatisM was being serious. :blush:

[stlukesguild]

There are those who wear two or three cell phones. Makes them "look important".:rolleyes:

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

What on earth do you need two cell phones for?


He was being sarcastic

No way, being totally serious. I need two cellphones because I can't think of any other way to get the rush from texting on two cellphones at the same time without having two cellphones. Three sounds like an enticing challenge. I guess I'd have to use me feet to text on the third. That's what cruise control is for, after all!

[BienvenuJDC]

He was texting himself...

[stlukesguild]

Please tell me you're not one of them boobs that goes to a restaurant with a couple friends and/or a significant other where you all break out the cell phones and ignore the people at the table with you. (Or perhaps they're actually talking to each other on the phones?:shocked:)

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Half the time I forget to bring my phone when going out. And, when I do, I rarely check it. Those people piss me off. Unfortunately, if I exclude all the people who do what you describe, stlukes, I'd be pretty much friendless.