Posted on 08/05/2008 6:43:29 AM PDT by MplsSteve
A 25-year-old driver in Cass County offered a lesson Sunday in what not to do while driving.
When pulled over by a sheriff's deputy, not only was he traveling at speeds near 80 miles per hour, but he also said he'd drifted into the wrong lane because he was text-messaging, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said Monday. As if that weren't enough, he was arrested on suspicion of drinking and driving.
"This is the kind of traffic event where almost everything that could go wrong, did go wrong," said Nathan Bowie, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety. "Fortunately, the officer was there to make the stop before anything else happened."
The arrest came just two days after enactment of a state law that makes it illegal for drivers to text-message while operating a vehicle that is moving or in traffic.
The driver was traveling in the wrong lane when he approached the Cass County deputy's squad car on Hwy. 371 near Walker. The driver swerved to avoid hitting the squad car, then took off at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour before pulling over
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
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You were “setting up wide for a curve”, dumb-azz, “setting up wide for a curve”.
Text messaging... Jeez. What a lame excuse.
I see this almost daily. Even though hands free is now mandated here it means nothing.
I'll reply in a minute after I get through this intersection...
In Chicago, they are trying to legislate against texting and walking, nothing yet about texting and driving although talking on the phone without hands-free devices has been outlawed. As with a lot of Chicago laws, violators abound, especially those in City of Chicago vehicles and police cars.
I got a warning ticket from a MN Highway Patrolman the last time I drove up I-35. I was just north of Owatonna. The guy I went to see said, “No one gets a warning ticket in Minnesota.”
Our youngest daughter (13) is obsessed with it because her friends all have cell phones and wants one herself - primarily for texting - in the worst way. I'm tired of hearing about it.
What the hell is the appeal? $70 a month to type abbreviated messages on a crappy little keypad and view them on an itty-bitty little screen? WTF?
Our youngest daughter (13) is obsessed with it because her friends all have cell phones and wants one herself - primarily for texting - in the worst way. I'm tired of hearing about it.
What the hell is the appeal? $70 a month to type abbreviated messages on a crappy little keypad and view them on an itty-bitty little screen? WTF?
Using a cell phone while driving is hard enough; I don’t do it on back roads or anywhere I figure to need both hands to drive. Doing anything resembling typing while driving is insane.
With that said, I offer the following advice for driving/riding fast on a two lane road:
Treat the centerline of the road (or the closest edge of the double yellow line if there is one) as if it is the left-hand edge of your “track”. The right-side edge of pavement, then, is the your right-hand edge of your “track”.
This allows you to practice keeping fast but tidy lines through tight curves WITHOUT risking a head-on collision. Then, if you ever are lucky enough to actually drive/ride on a real track, you simply widen the track in your mind to its full width, and you are prepared to go VERY fast.
This has worked for me, at speeds some here might find quite alarming, for over 25 years (RE: Speed, I’ll say only this - 80 mph is NOT fast).
Of course, if this guy would actually send/receive text messages while driving he is probably a poor candidate to drive/ride anything at any speed.
If one is going to go fast on public roads, one MUST be prepared to have 100% of one’s concentration on the task at hand, while utilizing only +/-75% of one’s skills/abilities - saving the remaining 25% for reacting to the unexpected. Of course, one must also be ready for some exensive speeding tickets if one gets caught.
Cass County is ground zero for some of the best lakes and fishing in the country. Fishing and beer go together like ham and eggs. The guy obviously thought he was still on the lake where there are no laws against drinking, driving, speeding and texting all at the same time. ;-)
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I fail to understand the obsession with “texting” these days. This has got to be the singularly most innefficient means of communication since smoke signals. And to be doing it while driving?!?”
I don’t like it either and will only use it under rare circumstances. It takes forever to type a normal length message out. I’d rather just call someone or send an email.
My wife and I both have cellphones, but they are just prepaids that we usually don't even use all the prepaid annual minutes on. They are never on unless we're making a (rare) call, and we pretty much just have them for emergency use. They have texting ability, but we never it.
Must people gab or text incessantly on the phone while driving? What could possibly be that important? My main form of transportation is a motorcycle, so needless to say my cellphone remains in the tank bag, turned off, where it waits for the rare occaision when I pull over, take off my helmet, and turn it on.
Somehow we and our three kids still survive.
I must have some Quaker or Luddite in me because I hate texting. I have a cell phone but won’t bother to learn how to do it.
If I need to communicate with someone, I will pick up a phone or send an e-mail.
I just don’t understand the fascination with texting - even if one has a more elaborate texting device such as a Blackberry. Maybe I need to be 20-25 years younger to appreciate it.
I’ve actually had three of them, and one real speeding ticket, in the last year.
I don’t like it either and will only use it under rare circumstances. It takes forever to type a normal length message out. I’d rather just call someone or send an email.
My youngest just won't answer the cell phone when I call most of the time. He'll only respond to texts, and does so promptly. His friends are the same way. It's a generational thing, just have to get used to it.
IMO, it's not healthy.
I used to have it but now I don’t because my parents took it away, and it’s a good thing they did in my opinion. It’s really just popular because everyone else is doing it. I used to miss it, but now I don’t care. Talking on the phone is far more efficient and in many cases more enjoyable. I’m young and I don’t appreciate it.
Um, who's the parent here? How young is this youngest you are speaking of?
Actually, I do not have to get used it. If one of our kids has one of our cellphones (which would only be for the purpose of being in contact with us), and they didn't respond when called, or call when expected, they'd be grounded. Period, end of discussion.
That is what I can't figure either. What could you possibly talk about so much? I watch so many people (well mostly women) here at work and if the car starts, the cell phone goes to ear. Why can't you call before you leave or when you get to your destination? I drive a manual transmission in a high performance car and never use the phone while driving. Couldn't hear if I did anyway. :)
This is EXACTLY why the firing squad was developed!
>>BlackBerrys (Berries ?) are addictive.<<
That’s why they are called, “Crack-Berrys.”
He's 18 and of course I'm the parent. My wife and I are fairly relaxed parents, we don't set lots of rules, and as a consequence our kids have never been in any kind of trouble, unlike the kids of some more controlling parents we know. But back to the topic, I find texting to be pretty simple on my Iphone and a good way to quickly dash off a simple message. If all I want to know is, say, "Where r u" I don't need to make a call, wait for it to ring, etc. It's actually very efficient.
But the FUNNY part was all the talking heads trying to sound smart by saying the new law didn't cover TEXT messaging while driving. As if Texting while driving was perfectly legal and ANOTHER new law was called for.
What a bunch of morons! If a Police Officer sees you texting while driving he WILL pull you over and give you a ticket for unsafe operation of a motor vehicle. Telling the nice officer that Connie Blather on the local affiliate news said that texting while driving was not illegal while talking on the phone was will not get you very far.
that being said, i am addicted to texting. it is so much better than talking. especially for guys. and the best part is that when i'm in a crowded, loud bar i dont have to go outside to talk. just text 'em and let them know the plan. it's the best.
and i have an unlimited text/gps navigation/email/surf plan on my phone for $80/month! life is good.
Allow me to join this chorus. What are they talking about!! I think it is probably something like the following:
Hi, I'm in the car now. What are you doing?
Nothing what are you doing?
Just driving, what do you want to talk about?
I don't know, what do you want to talk about?
I will catch up with friends while I’m crawling along on my commute but there isn’t much ‘speed’ involved in my crawl. I do wonder about the people I see yapping away at 6:00 am... who in the world are they calling that early?
They are?
Would that be jam or jellies?
I once came up on someone playing a recorder ( a type of wind instrument) while driving the expressway. He even had the sheet music propped up on his steering wheel. That was during morning rush hour. That’s the most “unusual” thing I’ve ever seen on the highway.
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