Texting while driving
 

A penny for your thoughts on:
-the act itself
-the laws surrounding it
-exceptions to the rule
-people who do it
-who/what's to blame?
-etc.

Curiosity was triggered by: http://www.twitspotting.com/

I don't do it. I can barely type on my phone while sitting down nonetheless piloting a 2 ton hunk of metal going 65mph.

Wish the laws were tougher concerning texting and driving. I see it all the time, people swerving, not paying attention. People can barely walk and text here, nonetheless drive.
What they fail to realize is they're not just endangering themselves, but the other people on the road. Texting can wait, guys. If it's important,pull over. Please.

Like anyone's gonna admit to it.

I hate it. I see too many doing it, especially when I'm out running, and I have to watch every car, because they may not be watching me, and I don't have an airbag.

Well it's an anonymous poll so I don't see the point of lying except to fool your own conscience

I should have broadened it to "using phone while driving" as I just remembered I've actually seen some people actually flick through Facebook or Instagram while driving... *facepalm

Some people I know are always bragging about how they were texting in traffic right next to a cop car and they just got the shaking head, as if it's something to be proud about :thumbdown:

Seriously though, I feel like "staying connected" is an addiction... some just can't stand to be "out of the loop" for more than a second

I have enough problems changing music on my phone while driving. Typing anything coherent is beyond my abilities.

Oh, and does anyone else think it only became a problem with the advent of touchscreen smartphones? I remember the golden days of plastic flip phones and Nokia bricks that had just a numpad and then some... I could type accurate sentences without taking my phone out of my pocket on those, thanks to the tactile feedback and limited number of buttons

The act itself is incredibly dumb. The few times I've had to briefly input something into my phone or the headunit while driving, I was VERY distracted, and did so only in very clear conditions or kept losing my concentration on the task b/c I would keep my eyes always glancing up to the road b/c I was driving.

The laws surrounding it are stupid, however. It falls under "distracted driving", which should be and is a moving violation and a citable offense, and worse if due to it you cause a crash.

The people who do it are stupid and should definitely have points taken off their license and after several offenses in a certain period (say 3 years), be sent back for re-licensing.

I liken it to carrying a distractedly carrying an unholstered gun around, except worse. The worse a bullet can do is get lucky and puch a hole smaller than half an inch into or through you. Sometimes it gets lucky and kills you.

A car is worse. A heavy-hitting slug leaving the muzzle of a 4" barreled firearm is preferrably packing around 400 ftlbs or more of energy. A car is a multi-ton (that is, greater than a single ton, aka > 2000 lbs, or 909kg) that, assuming distracted driving on the freeway, is going about 60mph (100kph).

That is also about 5 ft (width) of vehicle being driven by a distracted driver.

So, if I'm all for appropriate penalties (and I am) for those who carelessly or recklessly handle loaded firearms in public, then I'm absolutely all for serious penalties for those who recklessly and distractedly mishandle an automobile on public roads. Their numbers, the traffic density, and exponentially greater lethality (compared to firearms) make it a bigger threat.

With great power comes great responsibility and with responsibility comes accountability. If you're recklessly driving (and distracted driving IS reckless by definition), then you should be held appropriately accountable for doing so.

Edit: with the advent of headunits which can mirror the phone screen, there's less and less excuse for NOT doing hands-free phone operations. The headunit turns your phone into a dash-mounted part of your automobile that can, by mirroring onto a larger screen, be used with far less distraction (assuming you're not trying to text or browse facebook or instagram or whatnot) than before. That is, for music controls and whatnot.

I am VERY connected in my car, but I do NOT do email, texting (except if a text is sent, I can read it on the HU, then hit the dial button to get back to the person if I need to send a response, instead of trying to type a response), internet, etc., except streaming content through the HU's interface. And I don't get involved in it so much that I take my concentration off the road (I try not to... sometimes I do get distracted and usually then thank God that I didn't have to do any emergency maneuvers then, and resolve to not do that again).

Driving distracted is like driving while drowsy or actively nodding off (VERY scary if it's happened to you, btw), except you don't have the benefit of still facing towards the road when the "oh shit!" moment occurs.

1.5 ton. :D

Fb, IG, this site ,bids on you tube and sometimes even when I'm fighting with the navigation

9/10 cars I see around my campus are texting. I would make bank if I was an officer giving out tickets, just sayin'.
People are morons here. People brag about driving drunk, wrecking their parents car, and that's some of the tame stuff I've heard.
Rules of the road need more enforcing.

You should be allowed to throw the person's phone off a tall building if a texter crashes into you. :bonk:

Well, like I said, I don't think we need stricter "texting laws", but simple enforcement of distracted driving laws, which are already on the books. Texting is just one subset of distracted driving. Mommy reaching back to hand junior a toy while she's driving the suburban across 3 lanes of traffic while yakking without handsfree (despite the car almost certainly having a bluetooth handsfree function) on her iPhone is even worse.

I don't mean to be sexist, but the subset of drivers I see who are most often oblivious to conditions b/c of that damned phone are women. I do see men do it as well, but not nearly as many as I see women. And women in big SUVs are even worse.

One reason I went from the Forester to the WRX was simply a HP upgrade (and to go to a manual, so I could downshift into a more powerful gear, unlike the utter slush the 4EAT in my Forester) to escape getting trapped in traffic near these idiots.

I'm constantly on the lookout for them in the BRZ. They are a menace and the biggest danger to the continued structural integrity of my and my brz's skeletal systems.

Don't even worry about the women comment. I say myself that women can't drive. (Most of the time they can't...)

Yeah,I feel rules aren't enforced at all.
I see people texting/running reds all the time with cops right there, and the cop does absolutely nothing.
No wonder everyone thinks my generation is so entitled, everyone is on their iPhone or whatever. I live near an elementary school and it's....Bad. People texting and driving, they don't even see you until you honk at them, and usually by then an accident occurs (knock on wood,none yet.) Plus the added danger of the kids walking around.
90% it isn't even important conversations,it's just casual texting.

The only time i pull out my phone is at a stoplight to call someone, which is then activated via bluetooth. Takes me maybe 5 seconds? And i'm stopped in the first place.


And yes, women can't drive. Majority of close calls I've had are with women. Call me sexist, i'll still sleep with them anyways.

I do it all the time though I honestly try to keep it to a minimum. Poll currently sits at 85% don't text and drive... who are you guys kidding, lol.

Your honesty is appreciated... I used to do it but quickly made a point not to once I realized how damn difficult it is to type accurately on these tiny touch screens with one hand anyway.

Sometimes I use the GPS on phone while driving since subaru locks me out of the headunit...

I don't text and drive because foreveralone

I only text if I'm at a stop light... otherwise, my phone is usually in my pocket...

Never 'routinely'.

Sometimes at stoplights that I know well (i.e. this is two minutes minimum) or drive throughs. Any other contact with my phone is a 'why the fuck is it not playing music' and 'goddamnit I forgot to shut that alarm off'.

Bluetooth connection to car audio is great.

I used to text and drive when I had actual keys to use. As soon as I got a touch screen phone I stopped.

Now I send out a text before I leave work or what have you and use the head unit to call if its really important.

Don't do it, whatever your trying to communicate, it can wait.

You need more practice

People actually type? I had in the past sent some before it sorta hit me one day how incredibly stupid it was, but now that I can say "Tell my wife/name of friend/etc 'message'" and have it all done via voice commands, there's no reason to even look at the phone anymore. Or I just hit the bluetooth button and call hands-free. I have been guilty of looking at my phone while immobile, at a drive thru or stopped at a light or something.

Used to do it once in a while in my automatic sentra, but I just don't do it anymore now that i switched to manual. Plus I realize how dangerous it can be. I'll check who it is if I get a text. If important enough, i'll just call. Otherwise, it can wait 30 minutes while I get home (or go to work)

Only time i look at my phone while driving is to change the song or a playlist. Anything else they can call me.

Only text when stopped at a signal light.

Here's a story for you guys:

On 880N on my way home tonight ~11pm, I was cruising along, traffic was light. Got a notification on my phone that caused the screen to light up, so I reached over to hit the power button to shut it off. Phone is mounted on a Mountek CD-slot holder so it's right up there at the center air vents.

I looked over to find the phone for a second and when I looked forward again, I saw a car sprawled diagonally across Lane 1 (far left) and Lane 2 (lane I was in), wheels were at full right lock for whatever reason, and looked like it was trying to crawl across the freeway. I had a half second to scan my right side and dodge the car, otherwise I would've smashed right into the passenger door.

Hopefully nobody behind me ran into that idiot. Eyes on the road, fellas

I used to. Now if someone texts me while i'm driving I just call them.

Does eating a buritto from Chipotle while driving the same as texting while driving?

Only if you shit your pants too

I always wait till I'm stopped at a light or I'll pull over to the side. I used to do it all the time until the laws changed.

Fixed it for you!

I rarely type or read text messages while driving, but I will use Siri to read and send messages while driving. I don't even have to look at the screen.

If I am stopped at a red light I will use the screen and type messages.

here's the thing

on the old phones (which i still use! haha), texting can be done without looking at the screen, 333, 88,222,55,0,999,666,88... after years of usage it becomes almost like mourse code, although i still have to glance to make sure i didn't fudge up

also it can be done with one hand!

so it was a bit easier to manage at the time

but the new smartphone, especially touch screen, require 100% visual attention, our thumbs are not as percise as using all 10 fingers (well, 9 really) fingers when typing on a keyboard, you really can't tell out of the sea of buttons which one you're hitting with your half-inch-thick thumb.

these ones are a real killer and i agree 100% there should be a ban on that sort of level of distraction.

a law was introduced here in ontario about 3 years ago, 155 dollar fine for texting and or talking and or general distracted driving, which was rased last week to 280. I have since stopped using my phone for everything except a quick "ok" whenever someone sends me texts or avoid responding all together

also i love the bluetooth of the FRS, as i probably would have been too lazy to get one myself.

No we good lol

I am unable to type on the phone while driving simple as that, but I did try to send a text via voice recognition stuff once...it had a lot of wrongly interpreted words, so only at long red lights now.

I only text while at stops, too many close calls in the past.