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 ...
I passed a guy with a paper up in front of his face here in western Texas. It was out on a road in open country. Got a good enough look to see that he had a slot cut in the paper to look through and know he was messing with other drivers.
Yup, it does. I rented a Chevy Malibu in California a few years back while on business. The Bluetooth picked up my cell phone and routed all functions through the dashboard interface/touch screen.
No call send or receive functions would work while vehicle was in gear or moving. Quite nice I thought.
What a stupid-assed chick. I see morons like her doing the same damned thing every day. They all think they’re so smart, so talented and skilled...But who is it that instills in them such unwarranted confidence?
I use my turn signal (always) because I am kind enough to tell you what I am *GOING* to do, not because I am asking permission :-)
In Italy, the right of way goes to the guy who honks first.
Texting takes a person’s eyes off the road
MUCH longer than eating, drinking, or tuning the radio. (And radios no longer require “tuning.”)
If MADD wasn’t pure feminist they’d be after this.
Uhm, no. It’s because text messaging removes your concentration and attention from the road for MUCH longer periods than any of the activities you mention.
Look at the size of the viewscreen and keyboard on a phone. Texting and driving is like reading the newspaper on microfiche and writing a letter to the editor simultaneously. All at 70 mph.
Not conducive to overall road safety, ya think?
Scanning a mirror is quite different then picking up your phone, checking your messages from home screen, opening message application, reading message, and responding to message, placing phone away.
I can’t see to read without my glasses so I avoid it for that reason.
Texting is much more distracting than any of the things you mentioned.
Well I assume that putting on makeup is distracting (I never wear makeup) but even then you can flick your eyes from the mirror to the road and back again endlessly.
The very act of typing induces you to stay focused on the phone until you finish your text. And at +70MPH you are covering the length of a football field in less than 3 seconds. A lot can go wrong in a fraction of that distance. And then there’s those pesky stop signs and red lights...
Texting is a good way to die. That’s your business if you do it....except you are likely to also kill innocent people.
It is also a bit of a stereotype that it is mostly women. I sit pretty high up in my SUV and I see truckers texting while driving. I don’t care what their ability to multi-task is. If they get into an accident in their truck while texting, they should lose their trucking license permanently.
I was T boned by someone talking on a cell phone. Two other cars had already made it through the intersection ahead of me before I was struck. My vehicle was spun around twice and ended up completely totaled. I was hit just behind my seat on the driver’s side. By the grace of God I walked away with only bruises and some damaged vertebrae.
Since the accident I try to be very aware of what everyone driving near me is doing. I’ve seen more near misses than I care to mention and I’m certain every one of those drivers believes they can multi-task. They are not the only ones on the road. So they need to start driving like there is a rest of the world out there too.
In Michigan, having your turn signal on does NOT give you the right of way.
I saw a guy driving in traffic on I-80 in NJ while reading a newspaper.
Yep, used to see that every once in awhile during my truckin’ daze. But I also saw several instances of ‘performance art’ and he/she wasn’t holding a cell phone.
“It is also a bit of a stereotype that it is mostly women.”
More often than not, the stereotypes are accurate.
I guess it could be a stereotype that most of the truckers are men. It’s not a stereotype that every one of the truckers I’ve seen texting is male.
I got that beat Riri ;’}
I’m at the entry of a parking lot waiting on traffic so I can make a right turn onto the arterial.
This female driving a large SUV on my left drifts over towards the curb and it becomes apparent that she intends to make a right turn into the parking lot. As she comes into the critical path to make her arc I see (with alarm!) that she isn’t turning sharply enough and I am now in fear of being hit by her.
It’s at this point that I can see that she has her cell in one hand and the wheel in the other and she can only crank the wheel over so far because she isn’t able to hand~over~hand!
I brace myself for the impact and at the past second she slams on the brakes and slides to a stop within inches of me.
She risked accident and injury versus dropping her damned phone!
Right of Way? Who's talking about a right of way? lol. All driving is give and take. I almost always let folks in on the highway that are casually trying change lanes to pass. The exception is the dirt spit A-hole that is weaving in and out, passing on the left and being rude to other drivers. For motorists that are driving normally, I will always make room, even truck drivers. If I have been working to change lanes and had my blinker on for a while, I expect someone to extend the courtesy for me. If not, I tend to make my own space and then politely thank them for "letting" me in.
Probably not.
I truly believe a lot of people are living fantasy lives on their phone. I have a childhood friend on my Facebook. I notice that she's taken to editing her photos more and more. She posted one the other day, that is so edited, it's ridiculous. She completely blurred out her ear lobe trying to make herself look, I dunno, 20? My daughter and I were analyzing it---in disbelief someone could be this bizarre. Then, like, 100 people will get on and comment how young she looks (she's in her 40s). I notice, too, a lot of them are men. Men in foreign countries, men from the other side of the country. Men she doesn't even know in real life. It's so weird to me.
I think that has a lot to do with the phone addiction. You can be whatever you want online. A complete diversion from reality.
I get the younger kids. Not making excuses for it but I understand it. When you are younger, you don't have the perspective. Every thing going on in your social life does seem to be of extreme importance, the center of your universe. You just don't have the life experience.
At 45 you really should have the impulse control and the cause/effect skills.
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