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State Bans Texting While Driving
netbuzz writes "The state of Washington yesterday became the first in the nation to ban text-messaging while driving. The law could use sharper teeth, but it's a natural and necessary progression of the movement to clamp down on those who find the need to constantly communicate more important than the safety of their fellow travelers."
Whatever happened to common sense?
In Europe, it has been forbidden for years to use a cellular for text messaging or calling while driving.
According to wikipedia, Israel, Japan, Portugal and Singapore all prohibit mobile phone use while driving.
Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the Philippines, Romania, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom require the use of a hands-free kit.
Actually theres a study out that equates driving while on the cell phone being 400% more likely to get into an accident.
Forbes Article
400% more likely claim supported by Berkely Lab Of course there is the psudeo-science of the Mythbusters as well where they placed a sober driver on the cell phone and a 'drunk' but under the legal limit of 0.8% blood alcohol level and put them both on a closed course and had them navigate it. They did it both sober with no distractions as a control as well I believe. Turns out they both did equally bad. I am not saying it is a perfect experiment (such would require more than 2 test cases) but it does illustrate that distraction or inebriation = bad for driving ability regardless of the exact percentages involved. and another article from The Straight Dope
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+2 Troll is Slashdot's way of saying groupthink is confused
yep, it is a satirical site, but a quite realistic one.
Conservatism: The fear that somewhere, somehow, someone you think is your inferior is being treated as your equal.
It's definitely satire. This article (among others) proves it. What I find hilarious is how they get flooded by comment from people seriously trying to debate with the site.
Property is theft.
I can only hope that it is a hummer or dump truck coming the other way that you end up eventually hitting, and not a pedestrian or cyclist. Hurt yourself all you want, but stop endgangering everyone else. How about you change and study at your house, and pull over to talk on the phone or txt?
I, for one, am automatically suspicious of arguments that begin with "people have done research." Who are these anonymous people? Where was the research published? Has it been repeated? You're appealing to a nonsense authority.
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Traffic safety institues. Automobile associations. Insurance companies. There's an entire field of research dedicated to this sort of study called "Risk Management". Pretty much weekly another study is released showing similar results. You want citations of peer-reviewed studies? Sorry, I was posting to an Internet discussion forum. I'll remember to bring my proper references next time I'm testifying in front of a Senate committee.
And I bet 90% of the bad drivers you see are listening to music. Let's ban that in cars too. The fact is that when you notice that somebody is driving badly, you tend to look for someone to blame that driving on.
But you don't notice all the poor, black, or female people who are in fact excellent drivers. The same idea applies to cell phones. Most people can drive well and use cell phones responsibly. You just don't notice these people.
People listening to music don't typically focus most of their concentration on the music. Cell phone users do. Most people cannot drive well while using a cell phone, they just think they can. Hell, most people think they're perfectly good drivers after a few drinks. Ever watch someone on a phone call closely? People tend to focus most of their attention on the conversation, oftentimes blocking out the rest of their environment. Just watch someone sitting at their desk chatting - it's common enough to have to jump around and wave your arms just to get enough attention that they even realize you're standing right in front of them. Incidentally, I don't notice good drivers, that is correct. I do notice every time some asshat cuts me off, wanders between lanes, or trundles along doing 20 under the limit in the passing lane. 90% of the time they're on a cellphone. Most people aren't on cellphones when they drive. Anecdotal, but again, I'm posting to Slashdot.
Anyway, there's a reason a lot of companies ban the use of cellphones for their employees while driving on company business. It's not some silly moral play, it's not that the CEOs are all 70 years old and hating new technology. It's because when you put the average driver behind the wheel and stick a cellphone in their hand, they drive with the same degree of carelessness as if they were legally impaired. We've been seeing this in driving simulators for years now, and it's a good thing the law is finally catching up.
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.