Posted on 04/11/2016 8:49:59 AM PDT by Enterprise
OAKDALE, CALIF.
Oakdale teen Amanda Clark’s phone conversation came to an abrupt end when her Chevrolet Trailblazer rolled three times before landing on its roof. She’d run a stop sign and was broadsided by another driver. Metal caved in around her but the roof stayed intact and she survived with just scrapes and bruises.
(snip)
One year later, almost to the day, Clark was driving in Manteca. She’d been on the phone arguing with her roommate. When she took the Highway 120 bypass to Interstate 5 she lost control of her car and crashed. Cell phone records show she was texting.
First responders told Spray it took them 40 minutes to free Clark from her crumpled car, but by that point she hadn’t been breathing for 20 minutes. She died the next day.
(Excerpt) Read more at fresnobee.com ...
"Nine year later, Spray still cries when she tells her daughter’s story. It’s trying, but she tells it nearly every week because she wants others to learn from it."
Tragic, but Darwin is invoked when it happens a 2nd time.
It’s horrible that this happened...
but honestly.. would it have made a difference if she was eating a big mack, tuning the radio, or checking her makeup when she crashed?
There is an endless list of things which can distract you from driving, why the focus on this? oh yeah... because it’s new, and new is scary.
If a near death experience isn’t enough to break the texting habbing while behind the wheel I think it says something about how impacted the brain is by this technology. I just don’t think the brains of kids raised with ubiquitous texting, streaming videos, selfies and the like process info in quite the same way as the generations prior.
However the sterotyoe that it is young kids doing this is very incorrect.
I watch it as I drive. It is far and above people (mostly women) in the age group of about, say, 35-55.
In other words, people who really don't have anything all that fascinating going on that it can't wait and should know better.
But, I guess when your online persona is 20X hotter than you are in real life, it probably does become your "second life".
That said, I was pulled up pretty close to a lady on Friday night, close enough that I could see she was scrolling through Facebook at the light. She was probably about 50.
The light changed. She stayed there for a good 15 seconds, scrolling away....
Can’t fix stupid.
I think texting is much more of a distraction than those other things.
When I say “texting”, I mean actually typing and sending texts, not glancing quickly at an incoming text or at your gps, etc.
Looks like autonomous vehicles are coming along just in time to save the Occutard generation from itself.
Apparently the first "wake up call" only had a limited shelf life. She was right in what she said after the first accident. Too bad she stopped believing it.
Exactly. Or searching for a dropped lipstick or paying attention to the 9 inch flat screen in the dashboard or any number of other distractions. I almost got smacked twice the other day by some assclown on his phone. Mrs. rktman was out the window yelling at him. LOL! She’s gonna get my ass kicked one of these days. Then again I’ve seen cops on their phones while driving too. But they’re “trained” pros. Right?
True, I find it almost impossible to text and drive. Even short yes or no answers seem almost impossible to do.
you are correct, but if i had to put them in order of how much they distract you, i would put texting at number one
I tyhought it was harmless myself, at first... until i looked up from a text once and saw a mailbox and ditch dead ahead of me.
I swore off texting while driving and will not do it. it scared the crap out of me at how MUCH i was distracted
“Sorry, can’t talk right now because I’m dead.”
I have been driving for many years. In the last 5 to 7 years driving has become a near daily exercise in abject frustration. Commuting to and from work is a seemingly endless procession of drivers — mostly female and mostly contractors — with their phone glued to the side of their head. In this condition they are semi-conscience of anything around them.
You know, those who are slowly following the car in front of them with two city blocks space because they know their reflex time is so great that they otherwise won’t be able to stop in time.
How about those who come to an almost dead stop in one lane of traffic waiting for the next lane to clear so they can then change lanes? Merging to change lanes? Pffft... too much mental processing needed for the phone conversation.
About such drivers, my line to my kids in the car is, “See, that person can’t be bothered by driving right now, she’s on the phone.”
yeah, I have had a similar experience. I can text quickly at a stop light, or maybe short responses on long empty stretches of interstate, but around town? nearly impossible for me.
I think texting is more distracting than almost any other activity. It distracts your mind as you carry out a conversation, it distracts your eyes to read, and your hands to write. Also those distractions go on for greater lengths of time than say taking a bite or changing the radio station. I can think of few activities that require more of one's attention other than actually driving.
I see no need for additional laws as we have statutes for distracted driving but texting while on the road is probably more foolish than drinking and driving.
Women CANNOT multi-task, especially when it comes to conversation. We just can’t do it and should leave our cell phones/tablets in the back seats of our cars unless we are parked or NOT driving. IMO women are too verbally wired to ignore a conversation of any type.
I saw a guy driving in traffic on I-80 in NJ while reading a newspaper.
That transition road “loop” from the 99 to the 120 that connects to the 5 is one nasty road, needing full attention. I can’t even imagine texting while taking that part of the highway.
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