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Text-Messaging Behind the Wheel
theodp writes "TIME interviews 21-year-old Taylor Leming, creator of the 600-member Facebook group I Text Message People While Driving and I Haven't Crashed Yet! While Alaska and Louisiana just became the latest states to pass laws banning text-messaging behind the wheel, Virginia resident Leming is still happily texting away while driving despite some near-accidents. 'Sometimes it just seems easier to text 'Be there in 5' instead of calling,' explains Taylor."
Why is it important to text that you'll be there in 5 minutes anyway? You can also wait 5 minutes.
And I hope when he crashes and kills himself he doesn't take others with him. Driving and calling (even hands free), texting, or doing anything else (tuning the radio, setting up your nav system) for that matter is just dangerous.
despite some near-accidents
Enough said.
Also, just because someone hasn't had an accident in the past, it doesn't mean they won't have an accident in the future.
Those using pirated Tinysoft signatures(TM) are a real threat to society and should all be thrown in jail.
I can't believe these people! What's so "fun" about text messages? Why the aversion to real communication? I'd much rather talk to someone than exchange emoticons while risking the lives of those on the road around me.
This space intentionally left blank.
What a moron!
With a bluetooth headset, I say the person's name, my cellphone dials the number, I say what I have to say, and never have to fumble around with the phone.
Any bets on how long before this guy gets his darwin?
Kevin Smith on Prince
I also hope her insurance company reads time.com.
the really effective way to make people drive more careful is to replace the airbag in all cars with a big pointy spike aimed at the driver's head.
Sure people are dumb. But how can anyone be so mind-boggling stupid that they would think that texting while driving is a good idea? I mean, why not just go to the next step and drive blindfolded? There shouldn't even need to be a law because no one should be dumb enough to do this. But I guess I have too much faith in humanity.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
I am starting another group:
"I am drunk While Driving and I Haven't Crashed Yet!"
It sucks that we have to make laws to compensate for commonsense.
I would like to make organ donation compulsory for these people. At least they can be of some use after they crash.
I've lost two people in pointless car crashes.
Please use your goddamn head and pay attention to the goddamn road.
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
when society looks down on physical violence. A solid punch to the chin and that guy may see the error of his ways.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
We can all remember this thread when the asshat wins a Darwin Award. I've been near clipped many times by people fumbling with their phones. Usually they are gabbing, but more and more it's young kids texting. Youth tends to think it's invincible anyways.
They even reference 'near accidents'. All it takes is for one other person around you to also have a lapse of attention to turn that 'near accident' into a real accident.
If you need to say 'be there in 5' then pull over, or just make them wait 5 minutes. Duh.
Also, I recognize that you do have to continually think about your conversation during a voice call, but you at least have the ability to keep your eyes on the road...
Too vague ... one person's "due care and attention" is anothers recklessness.
Besides, banning texting for the driver while on a highway is a no-brainer ... because obviously people with no brains think they can do it "despite a few near-accidents."
I finally bought a bluetooth earpiece when the laws changed, even though my cell already has speaker-phone capability, so it already was "hands-free"; after a couple of weeks, I now wish I had bought it sooner. (Hint - buy a good-quality one with noise and echo cancellation - you don't want to sound like you're talking in a garbage can).
Kevin Smith on Prince
In that case, how long would it be since I get a text reading
And in that case, WTF is wrong with just making a phone call?
Those using pirated Tinysoft signatures(TM) are a real threat to society and should all be thrown in jail.
Given that at some point the rate of new members signing up will equal the rate that existing members die, calculate the maximum number of members of 'I Text Message People While Driving and I Haven't Crashed Yet!'
Never shake hands with a man you meet in a fertility clinic.
It's thrilling to think of driving south on I-95 in the left lane and see someone driving five feet behind me staring at a phone than my bumper. Isn't that how road-rage gets started? It's more than an accident waiting to happen.
The problem with non-specific laws is that its open to interpretation. Also we can get rid of all specific laws and have one law: "do no evil".
Your definition of evil may be different from mine.
Also, most states have laws against careless operation of vehicles already.
Just because you haven't crashed doesn't mean the extra few seconds it takes you to catch on to what's going on around you doesn't irritate the shit out of everyone else on the road an cause roadrage.
Don't get mad when I smash out your car window with a tire iron and take your phone at a green light, if you were paying attention it wouldn't have happened.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
I ride a Motorcycle, and I can truly say that I am sick and tired of almost being hit by idiots that are text messaging or chatting on their cell phones... ... well, I am building an EMP cannon, it should have an effective range of about 20 feet, and should be able to destroy small electronics, possibly an ECU...
I have seen people read books, news papers, work papers, shave, eat cereal out of a bowl, put on makeup, etc...and texting or talking on the cell both rank up there with "extremely stupid" behaviors while behind the wheel...
The next person who nearly hits me
I nearly got killed a few years ago by a "distracted" driver who was happily chatting on his cell phone while running a traffic light. It took me over a year to recover and be able to work again and I'll feel the secondary effects of this accident for the rest of my life (definitely NOT a nice thing, trust me).
In most European countries, using a cell phone while driving is considered impaired driving and you basically face the same consequences as if you were drunk in case of an accident, meaning your insurance will happily run away from you and you'll be declared responsible for the accident even if it's not initially your fault.
I'm looking forward to the day it'll be the same here in Ontario as a lot of people don't seem to be able to distract themselves from their crackberries while driving. Maybe a $1000 ticket and a license suspension will teach them a lesson before they get to injure or kill someone.
I for one hope this moron eliminates himself from the human gene pool without injuring or killing someone first.
-- It's always darker before it goes pitch black.
I know people who text without looking (Why would you need to check your output? It's close enough to what you meant) and if the text message in response isn't important, like in the case of texting "be home in 5", it requires lifting up your phone for a couple of seconds and hitting send. Calling could definitely be more distracting depending on how proficient you are at text messaging vs. carrying on a phone conversation.
you still have to look at the screen to check your output multiple times, distracting you from the road.
Like flipping through the radio stations? Here here! Let's call all radio station flippers names and ban radio station flipping!
Honestly, the cell phone, or the texting, isn't the problem. There are times when it is perfectly safe to text (long empty roads on the way to the coast, for example). As someone above said, the rule should be that you "drive with due care and attention." Banning a particular technology because your view can't apply it in a safe way doesn't seem to be the right answer.
A number of comments here have asked questions like "how hard is it to pull over" or "why not just call them". Here's another one...
Why not RTFA and discover that its a joke group and its creator is not trying to condone texting while driving.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
between shit like this and the countless pictures I've seen of girls on facebook taking pictures of themselves while they're driving, remind me again why auto insurance is higher for males?
Text used to be a noun, now it's used both interchangeably as a verb and a noun. So many words in modern English are starting to be used like this.
Verbing weirds language.
I am not a crackpot.
Higher cognitive load.
Carrying on a conversation is more mentally taxing than turning a radio dial, and isn't as interruptable, since you're only in control of half of it. See, for example, this research:
"the Carnegie Mellon study, for the first time, used brain imaging to document that listening alone reduces by 37 percent the amount of brain activity associated with driving. This can cause drivers to weave out of their lane, based on the performance of subjects using a driving simulator."
I drive a motorcycle in NYC, which is already really dangerous even when people are running only one machine, their car. It's even worse now that people are in their SUVs, sealed from the rest of the world and throwing their weight around in traffic - especially when they're not really NYC residents, but drive those trucks mostly in the suburbs where there's room for them to drive like fools. It's even worse than that with them talking to their phones pressed to their heads, distracted by what's in their hands rather than concentrating with their hands on the wheel. The worst are the SUV drivers with phones in their hands, and of course the very worst are the ones with both hands on a phone, looking at it while they text someone. It's totally insane, though they don't care since they feel like their giant truck will protect them in a collision.
A month ago, one of these assholes cut me off downtown, almost driving me into a parked car (except I'm a very good driver, so I barely recovered to save my life). They raced to the next red light, which was only a block away anyway. I drove up next to their window and waved at them. I wanted to tell them to watch out, as most of them just aren't aware of motorcycles at all, which don't register in their vision like cars do. They were busy texting someone, as they'd clearly been while they cut me off, and they ignored me. So I knocked on their window. They ignored me. I knocked harder, angrily now. They glanced up at me, obviously having seen me the entire time, and waved one hand, mockingly making an "oh, I'm scared" face (even though I wasn't threatening them or anything). They laughed silently inside their big truck, and bent back down to resume texting.
So I bashed off their side rearview mirror. I ripped it from the truck, and smashed at their truck over and over again while they watched in shock.
Then I drove away and got lost among NYC's millions of other cars. Fixing that mirror's got to cost hundreds of dollars and days off the road. If only I could have smashed their window and grabbed their phone, I'd call to check in on how it's going. Maybe next time. If they haven't learned to just shut up and drive already.
--
make install -not war
I drive a motorcycle and it was already bad enough with people not paying attention, and not seeing you in the mirror and about taking you out, and lately about 90% of the time when someone pulls into the lane and about hits me I notice they are on their phones usually texting. they need to just drive off a bridge already and rid the world of some more morons.
First, I agree that texting and using phones in general while driving is a bad idea. But it's not that bad in small doses. It seems that lots of Baby Boomers seem to think it's one of the most dangerous things ever. Let me help you understand - it's not.
Multitasking is a learned behavior. Depending on how often you do it, unless you're incredibly dumb, you get better the more often you do it. Things like talking while jogging - you can't do it when you first start out because you can't control your breathing. It takes a while to learn how to do it. Same with multitasking while driving. Yes, it does distract you. But as long as your not inept, it shouldn't distract you any more then reading billboards and streetsigns that you pass, changing stations on a radio, talking to passengers, drumming on your steering wheel when your jam comes on the radio, etc.
Yes, I text while driving. But on a blackberry, not a cell phone. Blackberry's are different - one button per letter. Since I've been using blackberry's for so long, I can pretty much type without looking at the screen, and I just have to glance at it every once in a while to make sure the last sentence was correct. I don't glance away any more then I do to look in the sideview mirrors or look at my center console to check my speed.
I agree it's bad, but I disagree that it is always dangerous. I think there is a small percentage of people who happen to be bad at multitasking who try to talk/text and drive at the same time. Same as there's a small percentage of semi-truck drivers who are dangerous and cut small cars off at the last second, but we all watch out when we're around any truck because they have a bad reputation. Some people can compartmentalize and do multiple things at the same time, and some people can't handle it.
I don't understand legislating the use of a phone while driving, because it's already covered under reckless driving laws. If you're sending a quick message, or having a few sentence conversation I don't see a problem with it at all. If you're having a heated argument, that's going to take a lot more attention away from you, and you should know better then to do that while driving.
"a 2006 study concluded that talking on a cell phone while driving is as dangerous as driving drunk, even if the phone is a hands-free model."
The problem isn't the phone occupying your hands; the problem is the phone occupying your brain.
Apparently.
I mean, really, folks. If you've constantly got that phone in your hand pushing buttons, how the hell are you supposed to hold on to your beer?
You seem to be claiming that if you give everyone a wide berth, you could close your eyes for 10 full seconds at highway speeds without danger. Stupid.
Without danger to others, yes. Without danger to themselves, no. I don't care what people do to themselves as long as they don't hurt other people.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
There's another group on Facebook called 'I've had unprotected sex with 258 crack whores I've picked up at homeless shelters and I haven't caught any life threatening STD's yet'. I think that group and the text messaging while driving group should join forces. They could rename the groups 'we're a gaggle of stupid morons who're really pushing it'
I have nothing compelling to say
Seriously.
For years I have had a shortwave transceiver in my car and since I don't like voice communication, I had a morse code key between the seats. I am quite proficient at the code, doing something like 40 WPM easily while driving on the Autobahn and I found that concentration was more difficult when I had an actual person to talk to in the car.
I wish there was a mobile phone with twoe keys, one for dots, one for dashes to let me input text messages. Anything less than a full size keyboard is a PITA for text input; morse code would be a fine alternative, but i realize it's not for everyone. I look forward to a new generation of mobile phones that is open enough to make something like this possible.
Please no hint at Darwin: I am an experienced driver and listening to music is just as distracting as watching parts of the landscape and in fact when doing morse code at 120 mpH I never need to take my eyes from the road. I would agree, however, that any input interface that requires a look at the input device is an invitation to cleanse the gene pool.
Is already illegal to drive impaired. Why do we need another law to say the same thing is illegal?
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Here is an accident where a driver who was texting killed someone because he was not paying attention to the road.
-- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
I ride a motorcycle. It is MY LIFE these idiots are playing with out there. It is bad enough I have almost been killed numerous times by people on their cell phones, but TEXTING??? I see anyone texting near me they are gonna get a fender kicked in!
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