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Federal Summit Eyes Crackdown On Texting While Driving

Posted by Soulskill on from the as-long-as-i-can-still-play-bejeweled dept.

suraj.sun sends along this quote from an Associated Press report: "Opening a government meeting on auto safety, the Obama administration reported Wednesday that nearly 6,000 people were killed and a half-million injured last year in vehicle crashes connected to driver distraction, a striking indication of the dangers of using mobile devices behind the wheel. The Transportation Department was bringing together experts over two days for what it's calling a 'distracted driving summit' to take a hard look at the highway hazards caused by drivers talking on cell phones or texting from behind the wheel. ... Driver distraction was involved in 16 percent of all fatal crashes in 2008. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have passed laws making texting while driving illegal and seven states and the district have banned driving while talking on a handheld cell phone, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Many safety groups have urged a nationwide ban on texting and on using handheld mobile devices while behind the wheel."

9 of 408 comments (clear)

  1. Its just stupid by sopssa · · Score: 5, Informative

    This has been the common thing in many European countries for many years already. You're only allowed to talk in car if you're wearing a hands-free device to talk.

    Even more as speaking on a phone, SMS'ing is just stupid. You're not only putting your concentration it, but changing your view from the street to the phone screen. Sound's like a great idea.

    1. Re:Its just stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      The dangers of texting while driving are completely overblown. I do it all the time and have never gotten into an accidsdiosdfnkasdnsdjksdfjhsdjkhkhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

      ------------
      Sent from my Blackberry Wireless Handheld

    2. Re:Its just stupid by bcmm · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This should be handled by insurance, not Big Brother. If you wreck, you pay higher premium.

      Requiring that people pay attention when operating dangerous machinery in a public place is "big brother"? Should it also be possible to drive drunk, provided you have expensive drunk-driving insurance?

      The market isn't going to solve everything. Preventing you from getting killed by idiots is pretty much the most legitimate function a government has.

      --
      # cat /dev/mem | strings | grep -i llama
      Damn, my RAM is full of llamas.
    3. Re:Its just stupid by mea37 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So we should also abandon laws related to murder?

      You're missing the point. It is legitimately illegal to risk other people's lives. You don't get to buy the right to do it via insurance premiums.

      If anything, distracted driving laws - like many traffic laws - ought to account for the fact that they can't "make things right" after the fact by doing a better job of prevention. You should not be able to 'fix' a ticket to a non-moving violation, and if you do something truly stupid you should lose the privilege of driving.

      Just because American society has reached the point where driving is assumed commonplace to the extent that we'll let a turnip do it, doesn't mean that's how it should be.

    4. Re:Its just stupid by pixelpusher220 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      as you say 'Distracted Driving' is the actual 'crime' here. And most states already have laws against it on the books already.

      This is just marketing hype by politicians to look good doing absolutely nothing useful.

      The big gripe I have is comparing texting while driving to drunk driving. They simply are not remotely the same. After a horn honking at them the texter is going to be alert and aware of what's going on around them.


      Perhaps texting while driving is actually worse since the effects can be mitigated in an instant, whereas the drunk is on going and can't solve the issue for hours. So a few moments of inattention from texting cause the same results as a drunk's constant impairment.

      And even if it is worse, it's a only a training issue. Police cars today have full laptops they use while driving, not to mention cell phones and blackberries and yet we don't see the police having extraordinary accident rates do we? Why? because they are trained for the situation and the tools. Give people proper training and you'll see accident rates of *all* types go way way down.

      An example:
      I got pulled over a few years ago in VA for flashing my high beams at a slowpoke in the left lane. The ticket? Improper use of high beams. If flashing them is improper, why the hell is it a ready made 'feature' in every car today? Oh and it was daytime, so no way my beams were brighter than the sunlight.

      Was I driving perhaps a tad aggressively? yeah I'll admit to that, but if he hadn't been going 55 in the left lane in a 65 zone with a bunch of backed up traffic waiting on him...

      Discussing all this with the officer blew my mind:

      Me: Doesn't he have to yield to my visual or audible signal?
      Officer: I'm not aware of any such law? (upon looking it up, the VA law is audible signal only hence my ticket)
      Me: But he's going to slow in the left lane? I can't pass him on the right, that's a dangerous procedure isn't it?
      Officer: You can pass him on the right no problem.
      Me: Seriously? When did that change?

      Think about it. Apparently much of what I learned in driver's ed is no longer the law. Keep right except to pass - gone! Yield to overtaking traffic - gone! Passing on the right illegal - gone!

      What's next? If we don't properly train people, we get the anarchy on the roads we see...

      --
      People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people :-D
    5. Re:Its just stupid by mcgrew · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Distracted" driving? WTF? Texting drivers are WAY more than "distracted". I almost got hit by a stupid bimbo just yesterday who was weaving into my lane, looking down at her phone that she was holding with both hands. After I blew the horn she looked up, got back in her lane, and started texting again. I had an urge to pull in front of her, slam on my brakes, and collect some cash. Not that it would have done any good, she'd still text.

      What's worse is it's the young inexperienced drivers that are doing the texting.

      Pretty girls walking down the street are distractions. Those blinkey flashey signs you see these days are distractions. The kid screaming in the back seat is a distraction. The passenger next to you sayiing "Oh look! A cow!" is a distraction.

      Texting isn't a distraction; it doesn't distract you, it takes YOUR ENTIRE ATTENTION off of what you're doing. Calling texting "distracted driving" puts me in mind of the Holy Grail's "It's just a flesh wound".

      --
      Free Martian Whores!
  2. Re:Dramatization by afabbro · · Score: 5, Funny

    Worth watching, if for no other reason than the quality of production.

    George Lucas tricked me with that line, and I still have nightmares...

    --
    Advice: on VPS providers
  3. Driving While Distracted by bannerman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Driving while distracted is already illegal. Telling us exactly how to do everything is not making people any more responsible. Solve the problem by applying existing law using common sense instead of making new laws that are easier to apply.

    --
    I keep forgetting my place. Jesus is for losers. Why do I still play to the crowd?
  4. Good. by SCHecklerX · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This guy was coming right at me, crossing 2 lanes of traffic one night. Driver behind him reported that he was looking down and fumbling with a device while driving (likely texting):

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/28154298@N05/sets/72157605928214101/detail/

    He never slowed down after hitting the bank on the opposite side of the road, and nailed the house at around 50mph.