Posted on 11/03/2016 3:28:54 AM PDT by lowbridge
After a trucker killed a mum and three of her kids while using his phone as he drove, her family have worked with police to produce this heartbreaking video - including horrifying footage from inside his cab at the moment of impact.
Tomasz Kroker has been jailed today for 10 years for causing the deaths of Tracy Houghton, her two sons Josh and Ethan, and her stepdaughter Aimee Goldsmith.
(Excerpt) Read more at lbc.co.uk ...
I’ve never read the studies, but I do know I have talked on my phones while driving since 1996. When I’m behind the wheel I’m driving first. I’ve never had any issues, but then again, I do have a well above average intelligence. Perhaps my brain can handle it. This is just the first I’ve heard about hands free being an issue.
If I get some time later in the day, I’ll check out some of those links I was sent.
No wait a minute: "hands free" should be virtually the same as carrying on a conversation with a passenger in your car (without looking away from the road, of course). And people do that safely all the time.
So I don't get the difference between the two.
So best thing to do is turn off the phone while driving correct? I do know this that a few years ago someone gave me a GPS unit. The car I drive doesn’t have one built in. I found it too much of a distraction. I love maps and I found myself looking at it when I should have had my head up paying attention. I quickly realized it was dangerous for me and returned it.
I saw a guy have an accident because he was looking down feeding a cd into the stereo as he went through an intersection and didn’t see the car that got in his lane to turn off.
A couple weeks ago I almost t-boned an idiot in a Stinkin Town Car who pulled right out in front of me. Only my superior driving skills and the nimbleness of my car allowed me to avoid him (while simultaneously yelling obscenities). If I’d been driving my lumbering SUV I’d have killed him.
There have been some conflicting studies as to the difference between talking to a passenger and talking to someone on a cell phone, but the consensus seems to indicate that the difference between carrying on a conversation with someone in the car with you verses taking to someone on cell phone while driving has to do more with the passenger or the person not in the car than the driver.
When you are talking to someone on a cell phone while driving, the person you are talking to is not able to see traffic hazards or potential hazards; weather conditions, traffic congestions and slowdowns up ahead, construction zones, etc. and is also not able observe visual clues from the driver so is unlikely to stop talking to the driver verses a passenger.
A passenger (and by that, typically a front or even a rear seat adult passenger) is likely to stop talking when they either see the same road hazards as the driver or is able to see visual cues from the driver that he or she is being distracted by the conversation so therefore is more prone to stop talking for a time until conditions improve.
So while “hands free” cell phones, those phones that use Bluetooth and voice technology and eliminate the need to push buttons on the phone to receive or even dial a call, is somewhat safer, it is the talking to someone not in the car that makes all cell phone conversations “somewhat” more dangerous than conversations with someone actually in the car with the driver.
There are of course exceptions such as little kids or screaming babies in the backseat or “backseat drivers” whether seated upfront or in back.
My late father (bless his heart and 20 years after he died, I still miss him so), was an excellent driver but a lousy passenger - a terrible “backseat driver” - the type of backseat driver that would tell you - you’re going to fast, you’re going too slow, yell out “Watch out for that kid!!!” (some kid playing in fenced in yard two blocks ahead), there’s a curve up ahead, there’s a traffic light or a stop sign ahead (while putting his hands on the dashboard in a dramatic fashion even though you’re well within stopping distance), you’re tailgating (yes, while 6 car lengths behind the vehicle in front), or you’re being tailgated- change lanes, you’re taking the wrong route, I think you missed the turn, you should have turned back there, do you know where you are going?…
One time he and I went on a trip together to see a drum & bugle corps show, driving from Baltimore to northern NJ and at one point I pulled the car over and told him, “you can drive and I can walk the rest of the way or I can drive and you can walk the rest of the way or you can just not say another word until we get there….” Fortunately, my brother who was in the show, volunteered to drive my dad back home the next day.
While I have a Bluetooth in my Rogue that is synced to my cell phone making it hands free, I very rarely use it or only use it for very brief conversations, I just don’t feel comfortable talking on the cell phone even hands free while driving. It makes my head feel “wrong” too.
But I never ever text or read texts or send or read emails or read or post to FB or FR, etc. from my phone while driving. I also don’t do other things while driving that could take my eyes off the road or distract me like reading a newspaper or putting on makeup or playing with my ipod or phone searching for music….
If you insist on eye contact, very dangerous.
bump
I don’t see people speeding while using cellphones; I see the opposite: Driving much too slowly, without concentrating. They are oblivious to a column of cars behind them in the fast lane.
I just hold down my horn so they can’t speak or focus on their texts...
Self driving cars cannot come soon enough...
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