I hope he was making peace with someone he wronged on his last phone call. I guess a quick death is best but man, smacked by a train, ouch.
I am one of the people who believes that cell phone talking while doing other activities is no different than talking to someone next to you or daydreaming. Not everyone can walk and chew bubble gum but we shouldn’t all be banned from doing it.
This was just a thinning of the herd.
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Good idea. I’ll start practicing my drinking and driving skillz because I can do that just fine. I shouldn’t be banned just ’cause some other yahoos can’t handle their booze.
That’s a bullshit comparison.
I had a girlfriend who slowed down at green lights and drove through red lights when she was talking in the car. I hope she doesn’t drive and talk to anyone much less use a cell phone.
Mentally impaired and distracted are two different things.
What matters is that the driver is impared one way or another.
I had a driving instructor full on say that there are people that are completely functional alcoholics that can drive just fine. But we don’t allow anyone to do it (over a particular limit) because the people that CAN do it are in the minority and because the damage that is caused by those that cannot handle the task are absolutely deadly. It doesn’t matter if it’s booze, pot (which usually slows a person waaay down), eating, putting on makeup, shaving, whatever.
One experiment to do is to pay attention to all the jackasses on the road that you see for the next few days. If you don’t encounter any, congratulations and extend the duration of the experiment. But honestly try to find out if there is any commonality between the people that are driving “poorly” in whatever way that you observe. You may have to speed up or slow down to get a glimpse. For me, having been doing this for years, it’s AT LEAST 80% of them are on the phone. Maybe it’s beaverton, but that’s what I’ve seen. My wife will back me up (but she’s probably biased because she sleeps with me).
In addition, I worked briefly with a guy that was a sherrif’s deputy in some town back east. He was instructed while there that a study had been performed to determine how being on a cell phone effects driving. He said that every person tested had the same greatly decreased driving skillset whether they were drunk or on the phone. He said that the effects were only *slightly* muted when hands-free sets were used. I’ve heard of such studies seperate from what this guy told me, but I’ve never looked close enough at them to verify if they’re real or if they’re as superficial as Al Gore’s scientific method.
But in the end, what matters is that if you’re impare, you’re impared. Doesn’t matter what’s causing it. Although people carry on conversations in cars all the time, there is often a lot accomodation for the driver to concentrate on this or that while they’re driving. The passenger sees the traffic siutations and automatically adjusts his or her conversation with the driver accordingly. When you’re on the phone, the person on the other end just talks like you’re sitting at home sipping some wine.
If that’s not a convincing enough argument, then u r gay.
http://www.open-secrets.com/23/is-your-reticular-activator-truned-on/
Reticular activator, see link above, allows you to see what you are thinking about. Such as noticing how many cars on the road are the same kind, color, etc. as yours. You noticing that the cell talkers are the majority of bad drivers doesn’t prove anything.
Women and old people are who I notice as bad drivers the most. This is why anecdotal evidence sucks, such as yours
I have driven upwards of 400,000 miles in my short life. I have been lost in a song, daydreaming, reading billboards and talking to a passenger. When I was 16, I ran a red light with a passenger in my car. The light system was weird, long story, could have died. I have driven stretches of a regular commute that I can’t recall going through and I was only listening to the radio.
In the end anything can distract you. There are many things as or more distracting than cell phones and this is just the easy thing to go after.
That is all to say, no one is 100% attentive all of the time. Something is distracting them. By your definition they are all impaired. Eating, thinking, worrying, changing the radio station, fixing the window, adjusting the heat, smacking the kids, reading the billboard, reading the signs, remembering directions, etc.
Yes, it is active and it sees everything, all the time, everywhere.
http://unews.utah.edu/p/?r=062206-1
http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/12/new-study-says-headsets-dont-make-cellphone-driving-safer/
http://www.livescience.com/technology/050201_cell_danger.html
So I’ll just go with the mountains of studies and statistics that show that using cell phones is as bad as being drunk. Since no study has come out to say it’s really not that bad or not bad at all, then I have to rest my argument on that. If you’re still sure that YOU’RE immune to the effects, so be it. But even though it is not illegal to daydream, get caught in music, fix the window(?), insert your tampon or iron your skirt while driving, a cell phone DEFINITELY distracts and is VERY common. I’m glad you agree with me on at least that point. If it DEFINITELY is GARAUNTEED to distract you… to the extent that your driving ability has a very high chance of being that of a drunk person….. then why not have a little legislation? Are you opposed to drunk driving laws? It’s not because people are drinking, it’s because the result is a driver nearly sure to be incapable of safely operating a vehicle. If cell phones do the exact (or nearly the exact) same thing, then why not at least discourage or limit their use in cars. You have one of those ear implants don’t you? GAY! Heheh.
I want them to study eating as a distraction. If they outlaw eating while driving I will shut up about cell phones.
And about the .08 drunk line the use, they say this, “In reality, 80 percent of all fatal alcohol-related accidents occur between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. when drunken drivers tend to be fatigued. Average blood-alcohol levels in those accidents are twice 0.08 percent.”
0.08 is the legal limit. It isn’t necessarily the impairment of the individual. Some are higher and lower. That is why there are laws about acting drunk is more important that the blood alcohol.
They also explained away there own results for why the legal limit drunk people performed well. They were surprised at the results so they gave reasons why. They weren’t surprised about the cell phone results so they just take them.
They don’t put up the notion that simulating driving on a 3 screen computer for 15 minutes is not the same friggin thing and make take some time to get used to it.
I am not immune to getting distracted. But like learning to juggle multiple oranges you adapt. I don’t want you juggling 8 knives because you would kill yourself or someone else. But some people can and I don’t want everything bubblewrapped because the fucking idiots who will get distracted or are stupid can’t handle it.
If it isn’t the cell phone it will be something else. Also from the article you linked, “Cell phone use is far from the only distraction for motorists. The researchers cite talking to passengers, eating, drinking, lighting cigarettes, applying makeup and listening to the radio as the “old standards” of driver distraction.”
Of course for the next few days I won’t talk on the cell phone in the car just for statistical reasons and so you can’t gloat. Bastard
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