The best I’ve seen is somebody riding a motorcycle at 85 mph trying to fish a cellphone out of their backpack and then texting for about five minutes with the cellphone resting on the gas tank. For my safety I had to get in front of him (but that didn’t last long).
If he was going 85, then why on earth, for your safety, did you need to go faster than him to get in front of him? Why not just obey the speed limit and let him get far far ahead of you….for your safety?
While I agree that using hand held devices while driving can be a safety issue, I don’t think there is anything wrong with using a hands free device. Talking on a headset is no more distracting than talking to a passenger in your vehicle. Next the gov’t will want to regulate that as well. BTW, ever notice how often you see police driving down the road with one hand on the wheel and the other on the keyboard of the laptop they have mounted in the front of the car? I’m just saying…
I don’t agree with much the Federal Government does, but on this one, I do. As an agent, I have seen numerous accidents where someone was on their cell or texting while driving and were completely distracted and caused a serious accident. Cell phone use is a disease which has spread like wildfire with all the Social Media out there. People cannot put it down for a minute and it is going off all the time. I get frustrated talking to clients and their phone keeps going off interrupting our meeting. It is unnerving to say the least.
Does anyone know if there has there been any research into whether texting has increased either the frequency or severity of auto crashes? I thought I had seen something a while back which suggested that, in the face of a somewhat successful anti-texting campaign, drivers wound up distracting themselves with other activities and crash rates weren’t reduced much. (But don’t quote me on that.)
Are we just naturally bored behind the wheel? And how would you legislate a requirement that drivers direct their utmost attention to the task at hand? I fully recognize the danger of texting while driving. However, I’m curious whether eliminating it would reduce crash frequency or just shift the cause of those crashes to something else.
ktb, I appreciate your check bringing us back to reality. If people are not texting, they will be dozing or doing something else. The next laws will need to remove coke and water bottles from quickstops and no more drive throughs at fast food joints. How many times have you seen women putting on make-up while driving to work! The scary part is you can’t stop it. The utilizaation of cell phone efficiency has already beeen created with users enjoying the ability of hands free. This will continue and new laws will have minimal impact. The reason for the accidents may change, but there will still be a similar number accidents.
This accident was horrible, but the reasoning by the NTSB appears flawed with the info provided. The pickup rearended a big truck and was rear-ended by a bus, then another bus. Was the first bus driver not looking beyond the smaller vehicle in front of him? Clearly negligence is on the p/u driver, but also on both bus drivers that were also distracted (not by cell phones) proving my point above that there will always be distractions.
Ktb, Anything that takes a drivers eyes off the road is a huge danger. Texting is one of the most distracting things a driver can do when he/she is behind the wheel. I believe there are statistics being put together about the frequency of auto crashes due to cell/texting. One of our customers recently had a serious accident and the cop’s first question was whether she was on her phone or texting. It must be going into a database somewhere. Common sense will tell us that distracting behavior will result in more accidents.
Public opinion seems to presuppose that eliminating electronic devices will somehow allow drivers to once again be “undistracted.” Were they ever in such a state? Were there no accidents caused by distracted driving 20 years ago?
Perhaps we are just recently observing a distraction which has taken its place in a long line of other distractions. Perhaps were are naturally inclined to be distracted as we drive. And if this is the case, what will be the effect of eliminating one more cause?
I support texting bans, and I would like to see them all enforceable on a primary basis. I am just really eager to see research on how much effective bans actually reduce crash frequency and for how long the frequency remains suppressed.
The best I’ve seen is somebody riding a motorcycle at 85 mph trying to fish a cellphone out of their backpack and then texting for about five minutes with the cellphone resting on the gas tank. For my safety I had to get in front of him (but that didn’t last long).
o.O
If he was going 85, then why on earth, for your safety, did you need to go faster than him to get in front of him? Why not just obey the speed limit and let him get far far ahead of you….for your safety?
I call the FODA, Future Organ Donors of America.
This may be a good idea but why on Earth do they still allow motorists to play pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey while driving?
While I agree that using hand held devices while driving can be a safety issue, I don’t think there is anything wrong with using a hands free device. Talking on a headset is no more distracting than talking to a passenger in your vehicle. Next the gov’t will want to regulate that as well. BTW, ever notice how often you see police driving down the road with one hand on the wheel and the other on the keyboard of the laptop they have mounted in the front of the car? I’m just saying…
I don’t agree with much the Federal Government does, but on this one, I do. As an agent, I have seen numerous accidents where someone was on their cell or texting while driving and were completely distracted and caused a serious accident. Cell phone use is a disease which has spread like wildfire with all the Social Media out there. People cannot put it down for a minute and it is going off all the time. I get frustrated talking to clients and their phone keeps going off interrupting our meeting. It is unnerving to say the least.
Does anyone know if there has there been any research into whether texting has increased either the frequency or severity of auto crashes? I thought I had seen something a while back which suggested that, in the face of a somewhat successful anti-texting campaign, drivers wound up distracting themselves with other activities and crash rates weren’t reduced much. (But don’t quote me on that.)
Are we just naturally bored behind the wheel? And how would you legislate a requirement that drivers direct their utmost attention to the task at hand? I fully recognize the danger of texting while driving. However, I’m curious whether eliminating it would reduce crash frequency or just shift the cause of those crashes to something else.
ktb, I appreciate your check bringing us back to reality. If people are not texting, they will be dozing or doing something else. The next laws will need to remove coke and water bottles from quickstops and no more drive throughs at fast food joints. How many times have you seen women putting on make-up while driving to work! The scary part is you can’t stop it. The utilizaation of cell phone efficiency has already beeen created with users enjoying the ability of hands free. This will continue and new laws will have minimal impact. The reason for the accidents may change, but there will still be a similar number accidents.
This accident was horrible, but the reasoning by the NTSB appears flawed with the info provided. The pickup rearended a big truck and was rear-ended by a bus, then another bus. Was the first bus driver not looking beyond the smaller vehicle in front of him? Clearly negligence is on the p/u driver, but also on both bus drivers that were also distracted (not by cell phones) proving my point above that there will always be distractions.
Ktb, Anything that takes a drivers eyes off the road is a huge danger. Texting is one of the most distracting things a driver can do when he/she is behind the wheel. I believe there are statistics being put together about the frequency of auto crashes due to cell/texting. One of our customers recently had a serious accident and the cop’s first question was whether she was on her phone or texting. It must be going into a database somewhere. Common sense will tell us that distracting behavior will result in more accidents.
Public opinion seems to presuppose that eliminating electronic devices will somehow allow drivers to once again be “undistracted.” Were they ever in such a state? Were there no accidents caused by distracted driving 20 years ago?
Perhaps we are just recently observing a distraction which has taken its place in a long line of other distractions. Perhaps were are naturally inclined to be distracted as we drive. And if this is the case, what will be the effect of eliminating one more cause?
I support texting bans, and I would like to see them all enforceable on a primary basis. I am just really eager to see research on how much effective bans actually reduce crash frequency and for how long the frequency remains suppressed.