Please Stop Texting While Driving Two recent incidents with conductors of public transit vehicles getting into accidents while texting have magnified the consequences of using cell phones while operating a vehicle. Surprisingly, there are few complaints about other drivers sexting while driving. [Consumer Reports Cars]
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Texting is completely out of control. WHAT is so important that you must be connected to others every damn second of your life? The phone-talking drivers are bad enough, but you HAVE to take your eyes off the road to text someone! Even if it's just a quick "CUL8R", you're not paying attention to what's ahead of you! How can anyone think this is okay?
/rant. Brother was hit by a texting driver yesterday, so I'm extra furious about this.
"Surprisingly, there are few complaints about other drivers sexting while driving."
I'd hope not.
But seriously, if you can't wait five fucking minutes to send a text message, you've got a problem. Pull the damn car over.
Um, it wasn't conductors texting, it was train operators. There is a difference. Conductors are generally in charge of collecting tickets and closing the doors on regional/commuter trains and in closing the doors and announcing the stops on the subway. Train operators are the ones in charge of operating the train/
sexting? nice.
But how else can I vote in American Idol while on the road? I mean, I'm watching the show anyway...
Seriously. When I first got my cell phone, I never thought it was a problem to drive while talking, but after seeing the multitudes of idiots out there that can't even function just driving and talking, this whole texting while driving is just horrible.
As much as I'd love to see these people win a Darwin Award for dying while texting, it's not worth it if they end up hurting or killing someone who is actually obeying the rules of the road.
It's illegal to do here in MN, but that doesn't mean much, people still do it. I wish they'd just outlaw phones altogether in the car. I get stuck behind some idiot on a phone who is too distracted to drive on a daily basis. Seriously, they're slowing down dozens of cars behind them because they just can't wait to whisper electronic sweet nothings into pookie's ear.
@Crabby Cakes: I couldn't agree more. I've been hit by a car before too, courtesy of a distracted driver (mercifully, only scrapes and bruises for me). I hope your brother's OK.
Seeing someone driving erratic and causing near accidents because they can't talk & drive is an every day thing. At least once a week I see someone driving all over the place or nearly hits me because they are TEXTING.
I would be all for serious fines or loss of license for texting & driving.
If only they would make a movie about this ... oh yeah, they did. Seven Pounds.
Okay, so if everyone here sees what a dangerous, obnoxious, criminally self-absorbed and idiotic thing it is to text and drive (and many of us agree talking and driving is pretty darn bad, too)...then who are all these maniacs? It's obviously not just teens doing it, if these news events are an indication.
I agree this should be a citeable offense, with a high fine. Unfortunately, that would require police to stop someone besides speeders, and they don't seem to like doing that, at least around here. I suspect they have no interest in defending a my-word-against-yours dispute when (in their view) a radar reading creates an irrefutable case.
@y2julio: Yes, but if the train operator notices the conductor texting and suspects that the conductor is texting the train operator's wife who is supposed to be out of town but is really waiting in a motel room in a slutty, leather outfit, the train operator might get distracted and crash.
@CheritaChen: It's really just an offense that they can stack on top of others after you've caused an accident or they see you doing something stupid.
I know someone who had a head-on collision with a teenage girl who was texting and driving at the same time. The air bag and seat belt saved his life and the car seats saved the lives of his two sons (3 years old and 4 months). I don't know what legal action was taken against the other driver but reckless endangerment doesn't begin to cover it. I think we should make the penalties at least as harsh as DUI.
Here in the Peoples' Democratic Republik of New Jersey, the cops did a 'crackdown' on talking while driving.
"Six percent of motorists observed in the 18 towns participating in the program violated the state's cell phone law, down from the 12 percent, Division of Highway Traffic Safety Director Pam Fischer said. People texting while driving dropped to 1 percent, from 2 percent." From which body cavity they pulled these numbers I don't want to know.
Statewide, police have issued 120,000 tickets for cell phone violations in the year since the law went into effect on March 1, 2008.
All I know is they could put 5,000 out of work people in jobs just writing tickets for idiots yammering on the phones while driving, write a million tickets, and STILL not make a dent in it here.
I'd text you a longer comment, but I'm speeding right now trying to find an open employee restroom that can handle my irritable bowel disorder and accept my doctor's ID card for same as soon as I fumble it out of my wallet he-[KA-BLAM!]
Uhm... duh??
Sorry, I hope my horse isn't too high but dang, I feel like it's obvious that you shouldn't look away from a busy road for more than three seconds as you drive. I almost get into accidents from just checking my blind spot for a second so I figure texting is downright stupid.
Though, seeing a woman talk on her phone with one hand while holding a cigarette in the other while driving was a little more offensive.
@Steven Urich: Agree completely. It's a source of impairment, just like alcohol. At least one study has concluded humans can't do more than one thing effectively at a time. Even listening to the radio can cause problems. Texting is even more complicated than just talking- I can't believe one person was even stupid enough to try it, and now it's an epidemic?!?
Never underestimate the sheer idiocy of humanity- once you think you've hit rock bottom, suddenly someone finds a new bottom.
@.Xenn.: obviously she wasn't Italian. One of my most memorable visuals from Italy is a guy in a suit wearing a white beanie helmet on a scooter with a cigarette and his cell phone in his left hand. He had to move the earpiece away from his ear to take a drag, but it was still effective multitasking. And he somehow did this in Roman traffic without getting flattened by a taxi.
Ah, sexting. My favorite kind of texting.
@Crabby Cakes: I use texting to contact my husband (who is in retail) at work (generally something like 'Please bring home milk') when a phone call would be more disruptive. He just checks his messages before leaving and can run the necessary errands or give me a call once he's on break.
Of course, I don't send them from my phone. I send them IM-style using AOL IM +15555555555 from my desk at work.
@y2julio: The subway car drivers in Boston are also called conductors. They also collect fares. The green line, where this occurs, is underground in the main downtown area but then goes above ground after Fenway where they're more like trolleys. The conductors (operators) are responsible for taking fares at that point.
They used to take cash but I don't believe they do anymore. I believe everyone needs to use at least a Charlie ticket.
Last week I saw a guy driving with his forearms on the top of the steering wheel while he was texting on his phone. Awesome.
See, a ban on texting or talking on the phone while driving would never work in my city. You can hardly pass by a cop who doesn't have a phone up to his ear. Oh, well...at least they aren't texting...or preventing crime.
Around here it's pretty common to hear stories about pedestrians getting struck and sometimes killed by texters, Maryland drivers+cell phones=Disaster!
I think they passed a law saying that our police can charge you with a traffic violation for texting, but only if they pull you over for something else first. Most of the cops around here just terrorize people for fun instead of doing their jobs. The rest honestly have bigger things to worry about than enforcing traffic laws, and I say that as a pedestrian who has been hit by people on cell phones twice in the past 6-7 months. (I actually got scooped up onto one guy's hood and he NEVER looked up from his cell phone even as I climbed off and started yelling at him.)
@chiieddy: That's pretty much the reason why I text. If I'm busy, and I'm really trying to get stuff done, a text is going to be a lot less intrusive than a phone call.
I also have friends who live far away and don't have much time on their hands to sit around and talk on the phone. In a lot of ways, having a conversation on text is a lot less intrusive for them when they're out running errands, and a lot less annoying for the people around them, as they're not on the phone discussing out loud what they ate for lunch, or how their favorite aunt is making everyone ugly sweaters for Christmas. I hate hearing other people's conversations, just because they're supposed to be private, and they're obviously not when you're walking through a store filled with people. Texting is much less aggravating on everyone in this case.
@PriceIsWrong: Since I got an iPhone, I haven't texted while driving. I don't drive much anymore anyway (public transportation ftw!) but whenever I'm out on errands, I can't text while driving because I can't text by touch anymore. It's just the touchpad, not actual buttons, and so it makes it impossible to text while on the road. Back in the day, I would text by touch because I knew where the buttons were, and I wouldn't even look at the screen, but I know better than to try it now.
@pecan 3.14159265: Also wanted to add that I mostly sent off quick messages while I was sitting in traffic or waiting at a light. Come to think of it, maybe I was stuck at that light the other day because the guy ahead of me was paying attention to his phone...
@NotYou007: You mean "hate" right?
Texting is awesome. I don't want to talk on the phone all the time.
@pecan 3.14159265: Yeah, I'll occasionally shoot off a quick text at the light, but I pay attention TO THE LIGHT, and if it changes mid-text, I toss toss the phone on the seat next to me and drive. The text isn't that important!
@Crabby Cakes: Texting rules because I don't much like talking on the phone after work. I do it enough AT work.
Why is it any of your business? As long as I'm not driving and texting, why do you care? And wouldn't you rather me shoot off a quick text to my friend, "Hey, running late!" at the store instead of call them up while you're in line ahead of me?
You're the type of person that will complain if anyone speaks or moves or texts or calls anytime, anywhere, if you are anywhere near them, even if it doesn't affect you in any way whatsoever, I bet.
@nakedscience: That's the problem. There's no need to be texting OR talking on the phone all the time.
@nakedscience: Meanwhile the person in line behind you is wondering why you don't move up so they can put their stuff down instead of having your head bent into your texting.
@synergy: So, I should opt for telepathy instead? If I need to communicate with someone, I have several options. I can e-mail, text or call on my phone. If my husband is in a conference or a meeting, and doesn't answer his phone, I can text or email the message so he can see it later at his leisure. If it's an emergency, you bet I'd call repeatedly. But if it's just a "are you still meeting me for lunch?" then a text or email will do. It's for my benefit as well as his, because I don't have the time (or flexibility, since it's considered rude) to call him, leave a message, and wait for a return phone call.
The point is, having the flexibility to choose your method of communication to suit the situation is a wonderful thing. If you call me in the middle of my workday, and you're not a family member (and sometimes if you are...) I won't answer. I'm at work! I may call you back, but then we get into this whole phone tag thing. If you send me an e-mail or a text, I can very easily reply in 3 seconds and you have the answer you need, or I can set up a time in which I won't be busy and can call you back.
@Crabby Cakes: My sis and I were having a conversation about this a few weeks ago. We concluded that if you are not texting-emailing-facebooking-blogging-twittering, you do not exist. It is as if people need to put things out in the world to confirm that they are alive and breathing. If you don't, you don't exist.
In California, it was illegal to talk on the phone while driving before it was illegal to text. I remember seeing ads right before the texting law came into effect that said, "don't talk, text!" Haha.
I think my head is going to explode sometimes I get so mad about people texting. It's nice to have company here.
Texting on the freeway is an LA specialty. I hang up my Libertarian hat to suggest we solve the California budget crisis by fining all driving texters $100 the first time, $200 the second, $500 the third.
@NotYou007: Talking while driving is just as dangerous. How about we only call you when you aren't driving?
I have texting disabled on my phone so this will never become an issue for me. If you need to tell me something, call me. I don't want to read your stupid text message.