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to say it with the bible; thee who sees the splint in the eye of the others...

So many levels of oy! Before they made laws against it, my sister used to sms while driving. I HATED it. It scared me out of my mind.

Wed Jun 13 2012 07:32:19 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

I don't know whether this is ironic or pathetic: my sister seems to think that it's perfectly reasonable to drive on the interstate with a smartphone in her hand, tweeting about how bad the *other* drivers are.

Wed Jun 13 2012 10:24:31 AM EDT from triLcat

So many levels of oy! Before they made laws against it, my sister used to sms while driving. I HATED it. It scared me out of my mind.

Wed Jun 13 2012 07:32:19 EDT from IGnatius T Foobar

I don't know whether this is ironic or pathetic: my sister seems to think that it's perfectly reasonable to drive on the interstate with a smartphone in her hand, tweeting about how bad the *other* drivers are.

 

Frankly using any device that removes attention from the road, while driving is madness. I have seen first hand the results. Please don't let the people you care about do it.

I know that no one here wants to go to the morgue to review the results for their self.

But she could have killed someone else.

Hmm, was that that one time in that town there?

On the serious side, I admit to sometimes being guilty of the periodic short text while driving.  That said, as Aahz and Bella pointed out, there's a bigger picture to consider.  Personally, while I generally lean against legislating people's personal choices; in this case, the ability to eat, drink large (non-alch) drinks, use phones, listen to radios, etc. in the car - I do think that there should be stiffer penalties for those who harm others (or their property) while distracted or impaired.  Especially when the impact has the potential to be life/death/vegetable-producing.  It's that pesky right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness thing...cause it can really get in the way of doing stuff, you know?

Sadly, that's the sinister part about driving, period.  Meaning, it's not just texting.  It's flipping through radio stations or ipods, dialing the phone, eating/drinking, fighting with the kid in the backseat/person in the side seat, etc.  Unfortunately, vehicles just move so much more quickly than humans can switch focus.

Also, suspect that many do not stop after a near miss (judging from people I know), since the near miss just reinforces that nothing actually will happen.

Not to mention the fact that sometimes, there's actually too much happening on the road for the brain to process and react correctly.

Driving is too simple, that is the whole problem. I am working at a university department for traffic psychology and according to a recent study, only 4% of all drivers did not admit to have been doing something distracting the last time they drove a car. So 96% of all drivers do something distracting and know that they were doing so and admit  it. (Normally, people do not really admit freely to do things with negative connotation.)

And why are they doing all this stuff? Because driving is so overlearned that you are pretty sure that you can do other stuff at the same time. Look at little kids, for them it is totally difficult to balance a glass of milk without spilling it when they climb a stair. Most adults could do this while being drunk and talking to someone downstairs.

I continue using my phone while driving for the same reason: I know that nothing happened until now. Quite contrary, I have been avoiding  accidents that other people tried to inflict on my car while I was using my phone for more than 10 times now. This is poor man's statistics, I know...