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See edit, I totally agree with you on texting. Or email. I'm ancient and send almost as many of those as text message.
And I have no idea what the law about hand-free calls was about as actual studies are all in pretty strong concurrence that they aren't any less distracting than using a handset. So since it's pretty clearly not about safety it might as well be for making it easier to have a smoke or cup of coffee. Speaking of that, most hilarious thing I ever saw was a guy going around the bend in the freeway in a BMW X5 steering with his knees, newspaper spread out across the steering wheel, cup of coffee (regular mug, not a travel mug) in one hand and Palm PDA in the other. Taking some creative license and adding the cigarette dangling from his lips a tad too much to be believable?
Right now I think it's still illegal to text with something like Siri or Google's voice recognizition. I heard something about proposed legislation to make that legal somewhere, can't remember where.
Eh, I think this would be way better than actually texting. I don't necessarily think hands free devices and voice activated texting are a good idea while driving, but AT LEAST it lets people keep their eyes on the road.
A couple weeks back I passed a woman in a new (still had the temp paper plates) Escalade who was texting. She was driving somewhat erratically which is why I passed her. Not 20 seconds later, in my rear view mirror, I see her drift left across the lanes and hit the concrete barricades. She bounced off, hit it again, bounced a little bit, and came to rest against the wall. It looked like a magnet was pulling her into the wall during the accident as she hit, bounced away, hit again, bounced a way, and hit one last time. Insane crazy woman! Glad I got out of her way, she could have killed someone.
They need to make it illegal to text and drive but more importantly they need to enforce the law. If police pull people over for texting or looking at their cell phones while driving, trust me, enough people will stop texting while driving and there will be a lot less accidents on the road. But it has to be enforced. The seat belt laws are a joke because they are not enforced. I see people texting while driving routinely. If I can catch people so can police officers.And make it an expensive fine $200 and a citation.
And it's only going to get worse over time with the increasing number of people with cell phones and new cars with infotainment centers.
I'm vehicle shopping right now and am seriously leaning towards a relatively large truck/SUV because if I get hit by one of these inattentive people, I want to be in something heavy and safe.
I wouldn't say that those are safer. I've seen pickups and suv's get hit and they just flip right over.
More and more of the processes of driving are now being taken over by robots, eliminating the need to pay attention to anything your car is doing, like backing into a parallel parking space of stopping before it hits the car in front of you, or checking your tire inflation or oil stick. So inattentive driving is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
Wow very sad brought tears to my eyes.
America needs a similar warning commercial. Almost daily I have to defensively drive from texters that are a nearly second from doing the same exact thing.
Ugh...this brings back memories of the horrific car accident right in front of our work when I lived in Miami, just before I moved. Four girls, Brits, on holiday...don't know if they were texting but the driver did not see the SUV coming down the road, (a 55mph road), before she turned right in front of them to come in to our parking lot. And when I say, "turned right in front of them", I mean she did to the point the SUV didn't even have time to hit the brakes. Ugh, it was horrible.
The loudest crash I've ever heard, cars flipping three times, screaming, the blood...the dead girl....oy. I'm shaking all over again.
As gruesome as this commercial is, it needs to be shown in this country, as well. Maybe sober some people up.
Edit:
Quote:
Originally Posted by NHDave
Then you have the people that use them but have no clue HOW to use them. It is completely useless to turn your directional on after you've started making your turn
re: turn signals....OMG do NOT get me started!
"Dude, what are you doing? Are you turning, are you having car problems, are you paying attention...wth is going on up there...OH! Now that you've already started to turn, NOW you want to tell me you're turning. How courteous of you, jackarse!"
Last edited by Three Wolves In Snow; 01-30-2013 at 12:01 AM..
Speaking of not paying attention on the road....how about those who forget that they need to get in the turning lane and then stop in the middle of the road with their blinker on waiting for someone to let them in. I get so mad...I have been in that situation before where I realize I needed to get into a turning lane and guess what....I continued driving until I could turn around and go where I needed instead of holding up traffic. Those that allow these sort of people to weasel their way into the lane are just as bad as the weasels. Not paying attention to where you need to not only is a possible accident waiting to happen but it also creates traffic. Suck up the fact that you missed your turn and turn around safely when possible.
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