Posted on 09/19/2008 7:33:55 AM PDT by waus
Texting behind the wheel impairs driving skills more than being drunk or high on drugs, according to new research.
Reaction times deteriorated by over one-third, which was worse than alcohol at the legal limit or driving under the influence of cannabis.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
How many more people have to die for people to understand that texting, and even talking on the phone while driving is completely irresponsible.
Next time you're thinking about texting and driving, have a drink instead, everybody around you will actually be safer.
Sorry, here’s the Aryshire Post link:
It’s totally believable. I’d rather be in a car with a drunk driver who was TRYING to drive right than with a texting teetotaler not paying proper attention behind the wheel.
Combine that with texting and yakking on the phone, you have a HUGE risk of crashing or running over someone.
further busting the myth of being able to multitask.
There are different kinds of multitasking. I multitask all the time, on a computer, while I’m waiting for one program to run I can move on to another, that kind of thing. That’s sensible multitasking. But if I make a mistake, no one gets killed.
Behind the wheel is not the place for multitasking. In fact, when you’re driving, it’s ok to LISTEN to conversation but I try not to get too INVOLVED in conversation. Listening to the words of others (on the radio or someone in the car with you) is one thing. Formulating what you are going to say is a whole other thing and is quite distracting from the task of driving.
Anything which distracts you while driving is bad, like trying to operate the navigation system, the radio ...
Most people know that after they blank out for the first time.
A drunk driver isn’t DRINKING while driving. He isn’t multitasking but the texter is.
And a “drunk driver” may not actually be impaired but with .08 (being pushed to .03 being pushed to .00) BAC being the national standard, convictions are easier. Follow the money.
Even the founder of MADD has called it neoprohibition for 20+ years and now lobbies on behalf of brewers and bars.
Definitely eye-opening!
I promise never to text while I’m driving drunk and stoned...
I had a friend that was rear ended by a driver that was texting. He was stopped in traffic and she hit him at something like 60 mph. He died at the scene.
It is a very sad result of other’s negligence. I contend that so much emphasis has been placed on drinking and driving, that our society now thinks that is the only dangerous driving. I also contend that if our society were to punish all wreckless driving as severely as they punish DUI’s, then people might think twice before they take wreckless actions.
I will also add that there is no need for additional “texting while driving” laws. We already have wreckless driving laws, vehicular manslaughter laws, etc. Let’s just enforce the laws that already exist for all wreckless actions that cause property and personal damages.
I've also seen people with a paperback book or newspaper on the steering wheel driving in heavy traffic.
All I know is I make sure my newspaper is folded down the middle so I can glance from the road to the newspaper while I’m driving.
You can add changing the CD in the player, finding a radio station, plugging a bottle in the mouth of the screaming kid in the back seat, trying to address any activity in the back seat, talking with the person sitting next to you etc.
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