In the late 70s and early 80s lots of vehicles had CB radios and people were talking on them all of the time while driving, yet there was nowhere near the severe ‘distracted driving’ problem that exists today. What was different back then? It was definitely not the lack of a ‘distratcing’ device back then, but today it is definitely a problem with the drivers. Unfortunately, far too many of today’s drivers are incompetent, lazy, inattentive, discourteous, rarely yield when required, do not use turn signals for lane changes or turns, do not look down the road to get the ‘big picture’, ignore the laws of physics, etc. Cautiously observe other vehicles as you drive and you will see what I mean. I cannot even guess at an acceptable solution, but I sure hope one is found soon. Until that time I spend as little time behind the wheel as I possibly can. And I tell the students in my Point and Insurance Reduction Program classes to please be very careful out there. Drive defensively, and yield, yield, yield when in the vicinity of the incompetent drivers – they are legion.
The CB radio had large buttons for one thing and not very many of them. Try to punch the buttons on a blackberry or iphone, you have to be looking at the device. Also unless your car has the automatic speaker for cell phones, try to drag and answer a droid while driving. It was a lot easier to pick up a CB and hit the very large button on the side, and most people used the same channel so no need to make many changes.
Another key difference is the amount of traffic. There is a significant increase in the number of cars on the roads today. Darnovak points are well taken. Kids/ young adults and older are not defensive drivers. Society today is more offensive and wants to take more than give (right of way). I just saw an accident at an intersection with a two way stop. The root cause was innatentive driving. Thank God no one was killed, but one car rolled and the other did a 360! We have to be defensive “when in the vicinity of incompetent drivers…”. They are everywhere!
You are on the mark. Most people have reached their capability of operating an automobile once they put the key in the ignition. Once on the road, they drive like they are the only people on the roadway; totally oblivious to everything and everyone around them and with complete ignorance of the rules of the road.
Be careful what you wish for,… A better response would be to borrow several pages from how aircraft pilots are licensed AND how violations are dealt with.
I have seen women putting on their make up by looking in the mirror of the visor and driving. Kind of hard to do that eye shadow and eyelashes and still keep the eyes on the road. By far, the most distractive driving is cell use and texting is the most dangerous thing you can do operating a vehicle. This has to be halted. Too many people are getting hurt and killed. This is an addiction and there should be meetings like AA for these addicts.
Manual cell phones, texting, programming GPS and fiddling with iPads – should be banned but eating, drinking and playing the harmonica are activities that keep me awake when I’m driving.
What happens Bob when you spill your coffee or soft drink or your burger in your lap while driving? I think you will be distracted by that, right? I think the liklihood of having an accident will go up 100% with this activity. If you need to eat or drink to keep yourself awake, you are probably too tired to be driving anyway. Pull off and stop and eat or drink and you may survive to drive another day.
Amazed – Have you ever fallen asleep when you were eating and drinking? If you saw the number of stained shirts & ties I own, my messy car seat and floor mats, you would realize I’ve had plenty of spills (my wife refuses to ride in my car – but not because I’m a distracted sleepy driver) – In 40 plus years of driving no accidents no falling asleep, not even a close call! I have given up tacos though, tacos take two hands to keep them from leaking, just a little too much even for me.
Amen, darnovak and Little Frog. Motorists have to be constantly reminded that driving is a privilege, NOT A RIGHT; that a motor vehicle is a deadly weapon, equivalent to a firearm (loaded or unloaded); and that the most important, major requirement of that prviliege to drive is to be in control of your vehicle and be a responsible driver 100% of the time. Driving IS multi-tasking, and it is the upper limit of the amount of multi-tasking a human is capable of at one time. A driver should not be adding even more tasks to what he/she is already doing. The only way to stop this is to make the consequences so severe, i.e., impact on a motorists livihood, that they finally “get it.”
OK, for the 4,986th time I will mention the magazine article from an old (pre-World War 1) motoring magazine in my collection. The author said that some irresponsible motorists had the appalling intention of installing wireless sets (radios) in their cars. A bloodbath was ensured if people were able to listen to tunes while they drove. In an earlier issue,a committee of clergymen determined that repeated high speed trips in motor cars could reip the soul away from the body making it impossible for the person to gain entry into heaven.
Clearly, any kind of distraction can cause a traffic accident. Women applying makeup, men shaving, and teens texting their friend in the back seat of the car can all be fatal.
We have become a nation of nitwits who assume no personal responsibility for our own actions and we have a look of amazement on our faces when a police officer stops us for making waffles on the dashboard or turning around to swat unruly kids in the back seat while wobbling along at 75mph in rush hour traffic.
OK, for the 4,986th time I will mention the magazine article from an old (pre-World War 1) motoring magazine in my collection. The author said that some irresponsible motorists had the appalling intention of installing wireless sets (radios) in their cars. A bloodbath was ensured if people were able to listen to tunes while they drove. In an earlier issue,a committee of clergymen determined that repeated high speed trips in motor cars could reip the soul away from the body making it impossible for the person to gain entry into heaven.
Clearly, any kind of distraction can cause a traffic accident. Women applying makeup, men shaving, and teens texting their friend in the back seat of the car can all be fatal.
We have become a nation of nitwits who assume no personal responsibility for our own actions and we have a look of amazement on our faces when a police officer stops us for making waffles on the dashboard or turning around to swat unruly kids in the back seat while wobbling along at 75mph in rush hour traffic.
In the late 70s and early 80s lots of vehicles had CB radios and people were talking on them all of the time while driving, yet there was nowhere near the severe ‘distracted driving’ problem that exists today. What was different back then? It was definitely not the lack of a ‘distratcing’ device back then, but today it is definitely a problem with the drivers. Unfortunately, far too many of today’s drivers are incompetent, lazy, inattentive, discourteous, rarely yield when required, do not use turn signals for lane changes or turns, do not look down the road to get the ‘big picture’, ignore the laws of physics, etc. Cautiously observe other vehicles as you drive and you will see what I mean. I cannot even guess at an acceptable solution, but I sure hope one is found soon. Until that time I spend as little time behind the wheel as I possibly can. And I tell the students in my Point and Insurance Reduction Program classes to please be very careful out there. Drive defensively, and yield, yield, yield when in the vicinity of the incompetent drivers – they are legion.
The CB radio had large buttons for one thing and not very many of them. Try to punch the buttons on a blackberry or iphone, you have to be looking at the device. Also unless your car has the automatic speaker for cell phones, try to drag and answer a droid while driving. It was a lot easier to pick up a CB and hit the very large button on the side, and most people used the same channel so no need to make many changes.
Another key difference is the amount of traffic. There is a significant increase in the number of cars on the roads today. Darnovak points are well taken. Kids/ young adults and older are not defensive drivers. Society today is more offensive and wants to take more than give (right of way). I just saw an accident at an intersection with a two way stop. The root cause was innatentive driving. Thank God no one was killed, but one car rolled and the other did a 360! We have to be defensive “when in the vicinity of incompetent drivers…”. They are everywhere!
You are on the mark. Most people have reached their capability of operating an automobile once they put the key in the ignition. Once on the road, they drive like they are the only people on the roadway; totally oblivious to everything and everyone around them and with complete ignorance of the rules of the road.
Spot on, Darnovak
Why don’t we just ban driving altogether. That would take care of auto accidents. Walking is healthier for us anyway.
Be careful what you wish for,… A better response would be to borrow several pages from how aircraft pilots are licensed AND how violations are dealt with.
I have seen women putting on their make up by looking in the mirror of the visor and driving. Kind of hard to do that eye shadow and eyelashes and still keep the eyes on the road. By far, the most distractive driving is cell use and texting is the most dangerous thing you can do operating a vehicle. This has to be halted. Too many people are getting hurt and killed. This is an addiction and there should be meetings like AA for these addicts.
Manual cell phones, texting, programming GPS and fiddling with iPads – should be banned but eating, drinking and playing the harmonica are activities that keep me awake when I’m driving.
What happens Bob when you spill your coffee or soft drink or your burger in your lap while driving? I think you will be distracted by that, right? I think the liklihood of having an accident will go up 100% with this activity. If you need to eat or drink to keep yourself awake, you are probably too tired to be driving anyway. Pull off and stop and eat or drink and you may survive to drive another day.
Amazed – Have you ever fallen asleep when you were eating and drinking? If you saw the number of stained shirts & ties I own, my messy car seat and floor mats, you would realize I’ve had plenty of spills (my wife refuses to ride in my car – but not because I’m a distracted sleepy driver) – In 40 plus years of driving no accidents no falling asleep, not even a close call! I have given up tacos though, tacos take two hands to keep them from leaking, just a little too much even for me.
Amen, darnovak and Little Frog. Motorists have to be constantly reminded that driving is a privilege, NOT A RIGHT; that a motor vehicle is a deadly weapon, equivalent to a firearm (loaded or unloaded); and that the most important, major requirement of that prviliege to drive is to be in control of your vehicle and be a responsible driver 100% of the time. Driving IS multi-tasking, and it is the upper limit of the amount of multi-tasking a human is capable of at one time. A driver should not be adding even more tasks to what he/she is already doing. The only way to stop this is to make the consequences so severe, i.e., impact on a motorists livihood, that they finally “get it.”
OK, for the 4,986th time I will mention the magazine article from an old (pre-World War 1) motoring magazine in my collection. The author said that some irresponsible motorists had the appalling intention of installing wireless sets (radios) in their cars. A bloodbath was ensured if people were able to listen to tunes while they drove. In an earlier issue,a committee of clergymen determined that repeated high speed trips in motor cars could reip the soul away from the body making it impossible for the person to gain entry into heaven.
Clearly, any kind of distraction can cause a traffic accident. Women applying makeup, men shaving, and teens texting their friend in the back seat of the car can all be fatal.
We have become a nation of nitwits who assume no personal responsibility for our own actions and we have a look of amazement on our faces when a police officer stops us for making waffles on the dashboard or turning around to swat unruly kids in the back seat while wobbling along at 75mph in rush hour traffic.
OK, for the 4,986th time I will mention the magazine article from an old (pre-World War 1) motoring magazine in my collection. The author said that some irresponsible motorists had the appalling intention of installing wireless sets (radios) in their cars. A bloodbath was ensured if people were able to listen to tunes while they drove. In an earlier issue,a committee of clergymen determined that repeated high speed trips in motor cars could reip the soul away from the body making it impossible for the person to gain entry into heaven.
Clearly, any kind of distraction can cause a traffic accident. Women applying makeup, men shaving, and teens texting their friend in the back seat of the car can all be fatal.
We have become a nation of nitwits who assume no personal responsibility for our own actions and we have a look of amazement on our faces when a police officer stops us for making waffles on the dashboard or turning around to swat unruly kids in the back seat while wobbling along at 75mph in rush hour traffic.