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Like driving drunk WHILE texting actually makes you 10x better a driver?
Y'all know what happens when you multiply two negative numbers together.
BINGO BANGO.
I don't think that would be the case, though. Chances are they would just be much worse at driving. Hands-free devices should be encouraged for the cell phone problem and Google should work on self-driving cars for the drunk driving problem.
I've read that hands-free phone use is just as dangerous. Turns out it's not just having your eyes off the road. It's that your ATTENTION is off the road. Makes sense. Driving is no time to try multi-tasking.
GPS does take my attention. I try to be careful while using it, and find myself not looking at it as I would like.
I agree. I avoid hands free cellphone phone calls while driving unless absolutely necessary, and don't answer unimportant calls. Most of my driving cellphone use is when I am in the middle of nowhere traveling on the Interstate. And as I said, I use my visor speakerphone.
My iPhone with Siri gives me voice directions which I follow so as to not take my eyes off the road and traffic around me.
Excerpts: When asked about the importance level of their texts sent while driving, only eight percent said the messages were very or extremely important. Otherwise, the messages were deemed somewhat important (39 percent), not particularly important (36 percent), and unimportant (18 percent).
and: The AutoInsurance Center analysis of final text messages, the last messages sent before fatal crashes, found the three phrases most often included in the messages were “Driving drunk,” “I’ll be dead,” and “I love you.” The CDC’s report that approximately one-third of crash fatalities involve alcohol shows a dangerous combination driving, drinking, and texting.
Excerpts: When asked about the importance level of their texts sent while driving, only eight percent said the messages were very or extremely important. Otherwise, the messages were deemed somewhat important (39 percent), not particularly important (36 percent), and unimportant (18 percent).
and: The AutoInsurance Center analysis of final text messages, the last messages sent before fatal crashes, found the three phrases most often included in the messages were “Driving drunk,” “I’ll be dead,” and “I love you.” The CDC’s report that approximately one-third of crash fatalities involve alcohol shows a dangerous combination driving, drinking, and texting.
Ah, the CDC disproves my hypothesis on the double negative.
I heard an urban legend of a woman driving while delivering her own baby... but it was on the 495, so traffic probably was REALLY slow.
Yes I agree completely. It needs to be taken far more seriously.
In fact it might even deserve to be penalized much stiffer.
They give people DUIs nowadays for very very low BA levels. There is a HUGE difference between driving with a .08 and driving with a .25. Texting is 100% distracted and not even looking at the road. That is far more dangerous than somebody driving after they've had a couple of glasses of wine at dinner, yet that person will lose their license and pay ridiculously high fines and the person not even looking at the road will get a $50 slap on the wrist.
I disagree. I would rather someone be able to make a call while holding their phone if they are running late than drive like a maniac to make up for lost time. People should not actually be typing messages, but the texting laws deem as "texting" hitting the "next song" button on a music play list, or dialing a phone number.
I think that texting should be a secondary offense to, say, speeding, lane weaving, involvement in an accident or being obviously distracted. Some people can do it, some can't.
I disagree. I would rather someone be able to make a call while holding their phone if they are running late than drive like a maniac to make up for lost time. People should not actually be typing messages, but the texting laws deem as "texting" hitting the "next song" button on a music play list, or dialing a phone number.
I think that texting should be a secondary offense to, say, speeding, lane weaving, involvement in an accident or being obviously distracted. Some people can do it, some can't.
That's just reality. Deal with it.
This is really problematic with your posts. You think your beliefs are "reality", rather than opinions. It doesn't make it very pleasant to have a debate or discussion.
Yes I agree completely. It needs to be taken far more seriously.
In fact it might even deserve to be penalized much stiffer.
They give people DUIs nowadays for very very low BA levels. There is a HUGE difference between driving with a .08 and driving with a .25. Texting is 100% distracted and not even looking at the road. That is far more dangerous than somebody driving after they've had a couple of glasses of wine at dinner, yet that person will lose their license and pay ridiculously high fines and the person not even looking at the road will get a $50 slap on the wrist.
Surely you aren't suggesting that .08 is a low level of alcohol, are you?
Please read the following at the MADD website, which describes the effect of various blood alcohol levels on behavior:
In Germany, they take drunk-driving very seriously and if there is a party where alcohol will be served, one person is the designated driver and either drinks nothing or has one drink early in the evening and no one who feels any buzz whatsoever would ever drive. Germans who don't have a designated driver will call a cab and leave their car parked rather than risk driving drunk.
(I lived in West Germany for a couple of years and visited numerous other times, and no one complained about the strictness of the law. I personally knew a very nice young man whose mother was murdered by a drunk driver years before the law. The drunk lost control or paid no attention and killed my friend's mother by driving on the raised sidewalk, where she was walking. )
I agree that texting laws need to be stiff, but alcohol and other drug-induced impaired driving should be treated equally strong.
If a person cannot drive a car unimpaired and without looking at a text or listening to a call or placing a call, then they should pull over safely, and if necessary STOP DRIVING ALTOGETHER until able to drive completely unimpaired.
According to MADD, "Drunk driving costs the United States $132 billion a year. "
Last edited by SFBayBoomer; 01-28-2017 at 10:27 PM..
Surely you aren't suggesting that .08 is a low level of alcohol, are you?
There is talk of further lowering the maximum legal blood alcohol content to under 0.08%. Furthermore, much lower BAC levels have influenced legal decisions on auto accident lawsuits, arguing that some lower level (e.g. 0.04%) was enough to impair the driver's ability to drive safely and was a contributory cause of the traffic accident.
You don't have to have 0.08% BAC to be convicted of DUI although in most (but not all) cases that is the standard.
This is really problematic with your posts. You think your beliefs are "reality", rather than opinions. It doesn't make it very pleasant to have a debate or discussion.
I'm sure you find very little pleasant about me. I try to be a pragmatist rather than an idealist.
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