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But see, there are all kinds of things drivers do that are distractions from the act of driving. Texting can also be accomplished without using the cellphone keyboard (by voice) and also without moving one's eyes from the road, but talking on the phone is also a distraction.
By the way, you are assuming that I am defending texting, but I am not. I hold a Class A CDL with several endorsements, including double and triple tankers and trailers. I understand very well what distractions are, and pointed out some of these. My point is as follows: a new law is not going to stop people from texting while driving.
How about a law as follows? "if it can be proven that the driver was texting and that this act was the reason for a lethal accident, the driver gets the death penalty within 24 hours."
Maybe that one would stop some drivers from texting, but mostly the ones who get caught. The rest will keep on texting as usual, simply because we, as a culture, have the attitude that some government or law should tell us how to be responsible in regards to everything we do in life.
Maybe if they showed those executions live on TV, people would start to notice. For a day or two, at least. The newest reality show.
you shouldn't pull someone over for texting and driving. you should pull someone over if they are driving erratically and that could be the reason.
one terrible thing that texting and driving has created is a group of self righteous big mouths that get satisfaction complaining about people that text and drive.
It's a form of discrimination and a type of witch hunt, if you ask me.
Of course it's discriminating, that's the point, to discriminate against the foolish, selfish, self centered and dangerous is a good thing. It's not like discriminating on account of race, religion or gender; understand?
I see you use the emotionally loaded term "witch hunt". But witches were rare and those few who actually considered themselves witches had no real power to do harm. But morons who text while driving do exist and do have the ability to do harm. So you make no sense.
You could use the term "moron hunt" but at wouldn't help your cause.
you shouldn't pull someone over for texting and driving. you should pull someone over if they are driving erratically and that could be the reason.
one terrible thing that texting and driving has created is a group of self righteous big mouths that get satisfaction complaining about people that text and drive.
Do you omit capital letters because you're texting and driving?
Of course it's discriminating, that's the point, to discriminate against the foolish, selfish, self centered and dangerous is a good thing. It's not like discriminating on account of race, religion or gender; understand?
I see you use the emotionally loaded term "witch hunt". But witches were rare and those few who actually considered themselves witches had no real power to do harm. But morons who text while driving do exist and do have the ability to do harm. So you make no sense.
You could use the term "moron hunt" but at wouldn't help your cause.
What makes no sense is to go after cell phone distractions while ignoring the other myriad other ones, and to do so based solely on the fact that such has become fashionable. You are being inconsistent, and a hypocrite actually, to crucify cell phone distractions while munching on your food while driving or staring at a cute jogger while driving. You are doing the very same thing that they are.
Driving while distracted is driving while distracted. It matters not if you were distracted by your phone, your GPS, your paper map, cuties sunbathing nearby, the bratty kids in the backseat. You weren't paying attention to your driving, it makes no difference whom or what was the basis of the distraction. To make a distinction is to be discriminating in no different of a way than it would be to make African-Americans sit on the back of the bus.
Texting while handling a motor vehicle should be banned--everywhere. I wish there was some level of driver safety practiced where I live---Mexico City. With nearly 9 million people in this city, I estimate that at least half (probably more) are driving a vehicle--private or commercial. You would not believe the stuff I see on the roads here. And I thought I'd seen it all in the U.S.! People texting, kids and infants with no car seats or seat belts, 8 or 9 people in a 4 passenger vehicle, balding/nearly flat tires traveling at high speeds, semi trucks that look like they're about to fall apart, no headlights, no one using turn signals, crossing over 3 lanes to exit right, racing through stop signs and red lights, etc. The list goes on and on. By the way, wreckless is not even close to describing how people drive here. It's pure unadulterated madness behind the wheel of a deadly weapon. I've seen bus drivers on their cell phones texting, whilst driving waaaaaay too fast down a crowded busy street during rush hour in a school zone. Absolute chaos. It makes me think that we Americans are safety-obsessed compared to our neighbors to the south. LOL!!
What makes no sense is to go after cell phone distractions while ignoring the other myriad other ones, and to do so based solely on the fact that such has become fashionable. You are being inconsistent, and a hypocrite actually, to crucify cell phone distractions while munching on your food while driving or staring at a cute jogger while driving. You are doing the very same thing that they are.
Driving while distracted is driving while distracted. It matters not if you were distracted by your phone, your GPS, your paper map, cuties sunbathing nearby, the bratty kids in the backseat. You weren't paying attention to your driving, it makes no difference whom or what was the basis of the distraction. To make a distinction is to be discriminating in no different of a way than it would be to make African-Americans sit on the back of the bus.
The Pee Wee Herman defense. But that other things are bad is no reason to not stop a bad thing. With all your palaver you fail to make a case why texting shouldn't be banned unless we accept your odd notion that we should defy fashion.
Your equating discrimination against willful stupidity with discrimination by race is also rather odd.
The Pee Wee Herman defense. But that other things are bad is no reason to not stop a bad thing. With all your palaver you fail to make a case why texting shouldn't be banned unless we accept your odd notion that we should defy fashion.
Your equating discrimination against willful stupidity with discrimination by race is also rather odd.
It is because it is inconsistent to go after phone-based distractions while ignoring the others. The focus should be on distractions, PERIOD, not on one particular distraction to the exclusion of everything else. The issue at heart is that people are distracted from their driving due to CHOOSING to engage in other nonessential activities which distract them from actually paying any attention to what they're doing. Such behavior, no matter the source, is what should be discouraged, not singling out one single type of distraction to the exclusion of all the others because a particular behavior has suddenly become fashionable to bash. That there was no push to ban the other distractions prior to the cell phone but there now is at the same time people throw a hissy fit at people using their cell phone almost anywhere other than under a rock suggests to me this is about what's currently en vogue trend-wise, not safety in & of itself.
Of course fashion should be defied and ignored here, because what's fashionable isn't what's relevant unless you're talking about a style of clothing etc. Safety vs personal liberty is what's relevant. If a given activity is reckless to the point that it needs to be regulated even if such infringes on personal liberty, it should be discouraged on that basis regardless of whether or not to do so is currently fashionable or not. Let fashion be relegated to the realm of whether or not someone wears bell-bottom pants, not whether or not we go after a particular unsafe behavior.
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