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I feel the same way. I am 65 and have never felt more vulnerable on the roads since cell phones have become popular.
We have all been behind that driver who all of a sudden slows down and starts drifting here and there.....and you know they have their nose stuck in their phone.
Now, put that driver next to you, behind you or in the opposite lane coming towards you and you start to feel like a sitting duck.
There are so many accidents now that happen on nice straight two lane roads with very little traffic, no rain, no snow and BANG......one drifts left of center and someone ends up dead.....or one plows into the rear end of a car at a stop sign.......or a car goes a couple hundred feet off the road and ends up in a field, in the woods or quite literally, in someone's living room.
You look at these accidents and wonder how the hell did they happen?......and the only answer is someone had their nose in their phone, not even looking at the road.
People have been sipping their coffee, smoking their cigarettes, yelling at their kids in the back seat for decades, it was only when cell phones came onto the scene that the amount of distracted driving accidents EXPLODED.
I would like to see driving while using a cell phone treated just like DUI's.....and that means your phone can be used as evidence against you just like a breath or blood test. If you were on your phone right before you were pulled over, you are TOAST. The punishment should be the same as a DUI.....huge fines, 3 days in jail etc. for the first offense.
Think about it. Someone who is driving a drink or two over the limit is usually trying to drive very carefully to avoid a DUI vs someone who is not even looking at the road. Which is worse?
Thanks, all very good points here. I wasn't even aware that cell phones have become responsible for many more accidents on the road.
Ultimately that's correct, but I really get irked by drivers who look at their phones instead of the road..Many of the slow drivers look at their phones !!! Speeding bothers me less lol.
Agreed. Back when I lived in NYC I always ignored any phone calls or text messages I recieve when driving. If it's urgent, I pull over (which is easy to do in NYC).
Ok so I was driving around my area of BK today and all of the 25 mph speed limit signs I saw clearly state “camera enforced†right under the speed limit posting. Big and bold. So if you see the speed limit sign, which you should be paying attention to anyway, you’ll see the sign that there are cameras. So the arguments that this is *just* a money grab and a better deterrent is notice warning there is a camera is moot- there ARE notices saying that there are cameras...right under the sign telling you the speed limit.
Put speed cameras on the parkways and expressways and ticket any vehicle doing 85 and over. If the concern is really speeding, there is no reason why cars should be allowed to routinely do 85 and higher on the Grand Central Parkway and other city highways. There would be no shortage of tickets.
Those who say its only a problem for those who speed, where do you draw the line? That same rationale would apply if the speed limit was lowered to 15 MPH and they installed cameras. There has to be a point where something is too ridiculous to be taken seriously. Most traffic deaths occur from vehicles striking pedestrians that are going above 25 MPH: https://www.thecarcrashdetective.com...se-with-speed/
That said, given that there is an almost 10MPH buffer before the cameras would start snapping photos, I can't be too upset about the increase. As the study I posted above shows, if you're struck by a car going 35MPH, there is a 45% chance you won't survive. This as opposed to the 95% chance you'll survive if struck by a car going 20MPH.
Those who say its only a problem for those who speed, where do you draw the line? That same rationale would apply if the speed limit was lowered to 15 MPH and they installed cameras. There has to be a point where something is too ridiculous to be taken seriously. Most traffic deaths occur from vehicles striking pedestrians that are going above 25 MPH: https://www.thecarcrashdetective.com...se-with-speed/
That said, given that there is an almost 10MPH buffer before the cameras would start snapping photos, I can't be too upset about the increase. As the study I posted above shows, if you're struck by a car going 35MPH, there is a 45% chance you won't survive. This as opposed to the 95% chance you'll survive if struck by a car going 20MPH.
If it gets ridiculous enough, the politicians who support it won't get voted back into office. Seems like there's enough public support for the 25 mph speed limit for it to not be considered ridiculous though.
Ok so I was driving around my area of BK today and all of the 25 mph speed limit signs I saw clearly state “camera enforced” right under the speed limit posting. Big and bold. So if you see the speed limit sign, which you should be paying attention to anyway, you’ll see the sign that there are cameras. So the arguments that this is *just* a money grab and a better deterrent is notice warning there is a camera is moot- there ARE notices saying that there are cameras...right under the sign telling you the speed limit.
They don't write that for all the signs, and the ones they do are not actually exactly at the speed trap
But the signs are meaningless because they have them lots of places where there's no camera in the area
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