Rice, as an agent who has dealt with the public for many years, I can tell you first hand that our society is so distracted with the cell, you can’t even have a conversation with someone without an interruption. The cell addicts are very difficult to deal with because they don’t pay attention to anything but their cell. Needless to say, they are causing a growing number of accidents on the highway. Even hands free is an issue because they are not thinking about driving. No wonder so many carriers out there are losing money on Personal Auto.
Yes, folks need to KNOW that multi-tasking is a myth, that your brain can do several tasks over a period of time but not at the SAME time. Talking on the phone keeps the brain busy with the conversation, driving is put on the back burner. common knowledge is about as common as common sense.
Emoticons are unnecessary. You could simply start the sentence with “begin sarcasm” or “sarcasm ahead”, or end it with “end sarcasm” or “sarcasm over.” I’ve seen Confused do that a couple of times, and it’s pretty clear that way.
June 6, 2017 at 4:24 pm
Agent says:
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Rosenblatt, feel free to not start your comment with his/her. All you have to say is the first name you are responding to. Then you can add Sarcasm if you like. Rice gives a healthy dose of truth and sarcasm, often both in the same sentence. Keeps the board lively, doesn’t it?
June 5, 2017 at 11:22 am
JMC says:
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And in other news, cleaning a gun that is still loaded increases the chance of an accidental discharge.
Ever been in a restaurant and seeing a couple texting away and never saying one word to one another? I have on many occasions. That is the problem, no personal communication, just the cell. Social media is just killing this country and people don’t know how to rein it in or limit it.
maddog – not likely, but your point is important. Ever notice that in many youthful driver fatalities, the car is full of young people. Most often, a distraction from the car full of kids caused the driver to crash. That’s been true for many years before mobile phones came along. Distractions cause accidents, be it phones, eating/drinking, putting on makeup, noise inside the car or looking at a good-looking jogger. This is not rocket science and phones are not the only cause of distraction.
I am not disputing that there are a lot of distractions which may cause crashes. However, with the advent of the distracted society we live in, cell phone usage including texting, playing Pokémon Go are escalating accidents like never before. It is totally out of control.
I disagree a distracted society is something new. I will agree we have seen tremendous technological advancement. All Pokemon Go is (is anyone actually still playing that anymore?) is an electronic version of a giant scavenger hunt. It’s a game, and people have been playing games for quite some time. Yes, we are all constantly connected via our phones. Instead of being distracted at the table with the newspaper, people are consuming their news stories on their phones. Same goes for books. People aren’t spinning records as much anymore, they are listening to music stored on their phones. They aren’t popping a DVD into the player, they are streaming. All very similar “distractions”. Nothing actually really “new” to see here. No doubt all of these things can distract a driver, who has no business using a phone while behind the wheel. I think we can all agree with that.
Planet from another planet, ask any carrier what their loss ratio is currently and what role they think distracted driving has played in the accidents they are seeing. It is one thing to be distracted in the comfort of your home and quite enough when you get behind the wheel of a car. It is an epidemic of biblical proportions, excuse the bible reference.
June 7, 2017 at 1:17 pm
Captain Planet says:
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Agent,
Maybe you quit reading or just didn’t comprehend, but I agreed with you above when I wrote, “No doubt all of these things can distract a driver, who has no business using a phone while behind the wheel. I think we can all agree with that.”
June 7, 2017 at 1:36 pm
Captain Planet says:
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And no worries on The Bible reference. I’m quite fond of that book, actually. Though, unlike yours, mine doesn’t have The Gospel of Supply Side Jesus in it. Mine is about the real Jesus. Conservatives don’t seem to like him near as much.
Do we need an article to explain common knowledge?
Rice, as an agent who has dealt with the public for many years, I can tell you first hand that our society is so distracted with the cell, you can’t even have a conversation with someone without an interruption. The cell addicts are very difficult to deal with because they don’t pay attention to anything but their cell. Needless to say, they are causing a growing number of accidents on the highway. Even hands free is an issue because they are not thinking about driving. No wonder so many carriers out there are losing money on Personal Auto.
Yes, folks need to KNOW that multi-tasking is a myth, that your brain can do several tasks over a period of time but not at the SAME time. Talking on the phone keeps the brain busy with the conversation, driving is put on the back burner. common knowledge is about as common as common sense.
Are you 100% sure of that claim?
If so, try this: spin your left hand/ paw in a circular manner, clockwise, and do the same, counterclockwise, with your right hand/ paw.
Ready, steady, …. GO!
I think you took his/her comment a little too literally. His/her post makes sense within the context of the article (multi-tasking while driving).
Yeah; kinda. It was sarcastic, ‘sorta’.
We need some basic emoticons on this comment board.
Emoticons are unnecessary. You could simply start the sentence with “begin sarcasm” or “sarcasm ahead”, or end it with “end sarcasm” or “sarcasm over.” I’ve seen Confused do that a couple of times, and it’s pretty clear that way.
Rosenblatt, feel free to not start your comment with his/her. All you have to say is the first name you are responding to. Then you can add Sarcasm if you like. Rice gives a healthy dose of truth and sarcasm, often both in the same sentence. Keeps the board lively, doesn’t it?
And in other news, cleaning a gun that is still loaded increases the chance of an accidental discharge.
Before we know it, we’ll be ticketed when two people driving in a car together are seen talking to each other.
Ever been in a restaurant and seeing a couple texting away and never saying one word to one another? I have on many occasions. That is the problem, no personal communication, just the cell. Social media is just killing this country and people don’t know how to rein it in or limit it.
Perhaps they’re texting each other, so as to avoid revealing their conversation to the other restaurant patrons, waiters, waitresses?
Missus Bear does that to scold me, although rarely, believe it or not.
Please explain how social media is killing the United States. Did Ronald Reagan create that, too? If yes, maybe I agree with you.
maddog – not likely, but your point is important. Ever notice that in many youthful driver fatalities, the car is full of young people. Most often, a distraction from the car full of kids caused the driver to crash. That’s been true for many years before mobile phones came along. Distractions cause accidents, be it phones, eating/drinking, putting on makeup, noise inside the car or looking at a good-looking jogger. This is not rocket science and phones are not the only cause of distraction.
I am not disputing that there are a lot of distractions which may cause crashes. However, with the advent of the distracted society we live in, cell phone usage including texting, playing Pokémon Go are escalating accidents like never before. It is totally out of control.
I disagree a distracted society is something new. I will agree we have seen tremendous technological advancement. All Pokemon Go is (is anyone actually still playing that anymore?) is an electronic version of a giant scavenger hunt. It’s a game, and people have been playing games for quite some time. Yes, we are all constantly connected via our phones. Instead of being distracted at the table with the newspaper, people are consuming their news stories on their phones. Same goes for books. People aren’t spinning records as much anymore, they are listening to music stored on their phones. They aren’t popping a DVD into the player, they are streaming. All very similar “distractions”. Nothing actually really “new” to see here. No doubt all of these things can distract a driver, who has no business using a phone while behind the wheel. I think we can all agree with that.
Planet from another planet, ask any carrier what their loss ratio is currently and what role they think distracted driving has played in the accidents they are seeing. It is one thing to be distracted in the comfort of your home and quite enough when you get behind the wheel of a car. It is an epidemic of biblical proportions, excuse the bible reference.
Agent,
Maybe you quit reading or just didn’t comprehend, but I agreed with you above when I wrote, “No doubt all of these things can distract a driver, who has no business using a phone while behind the wheel. I think we can all agree with that.”
And no worries on The Bible reference. I’m quite fond of that book, actually. Though, unlike yours, mine doesn’t have The Gospel of Supply Side Jesus in it. Mine is about the real Jesus. Conservatives don’t seem to like him near as much.