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U.S. Goverment Shames Texting Drivers on Twitter (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader writes: "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is the federal body tasked with automotive safety," reports the Verge, adding "If you look at NHTSA's Twitter feed right now, you'll find that it's just a non-stop stream of burns aimed at people who admit -- sometimes gleefully -- that they text and drive."
For example, seeing a tweet that read, "I have no problem texting while driving, but I won't text while going down stairs, the NHTSA replied "You might not have a problem with the texting & driving...but we do. Stay off your phone and #justdrive - it's not worth it." And seeing a tweet that read "I text and drive way too much," they responded, "Um, agreed... Please realize you're putting yourself and others in danger, and a silly text isn't worth it. #justdrive".
The Verge argues "For what it's worth, NHTSA is right: countless studies have linked texting in the driver's seat with higher accident rates... Getting shamed online by a government agency is far harsher than getting shamed by a friend -- but it's still a lot better than getting killed over an email." To which the NHTSA responded on Twitter, "Thanks for the shoutout, .@verge! #justdrive"
For example, seeing a tweet that read, "I have no problem texting while driving, but I won't text while going down stairs, the NHTSA replied "You might not have a problem with the texting & driving...but we do. Stay off your phone and #justdrive - it's not worth it." And seeing a tweet that read "I text and drive way too much," they responded, "Um, agreed... Please realize you're putting yourself and others in danger, and a silly text isn't worth it. #justdrive".
The Verge argues "For what it's worth, NHTSA is right: countless studies have linked texting in the driver's seat with higher accident rates... Getting shamed online by a government agency is far harsher than getting shamed by a friend -- but it's still a lot better than getting killed over an email." To which the NHTSA responded on Twitter, "Thanks for the shoutout, .@verge! #justdrive"
Make it at least as bad as DUI, or better yet... First time felony. That'll help.
My ex-girlfriends shame me all the time on Twitter. Just not about texting and driving.
... cast the first troll.
BWAAA HAAA HAAA HAA
So the arrogant "I'm-SOOO-FUCKING-SPESHUL-I-can-drive-two-tons-of-steel-and-still-be-safe-texting" JACKASSES are getting bitch slapped by NHTSA on Twitter!
BWAA HAA HAAA HAAA!!!
Too precious!
F-o-u-r
It depends how good of a driver you are. I can text and drive just fine, thank you.
My dad was killed by a texting driver while he rode his bike. The whole thing was caught on his camera, and in the video from his rear-facing camera, you can even see, in crystal clear high definition, that the driver's head is looking down towards her lap the whole time.
She got a ticket for failure to yield right of way. That's it. No manslaughter despite her obvious negligence.
Shaming these morons isn't going to help. They won't stop until they either kill themselves or somebody else. I've given up counting the number of people I see dicking with their phones while they drive - even cops.
Autonomous cars can't get here soon enough. Human beings just aren't smart enough to be driving.
More like a non-stop stream of whining. There doesn't seem to be a single burn on their feed. The only thing worse than shitty internet slang is old people who think they know how to use shitty internet slang.
The neoliberal model is that there is no society.
We are all rational, self-interested, amoral actors.
We have no obligations to others. Only to ourselves. It is every man for his own and the devil take the hindmost.
If people want to text and drive, they are at liberty to do so until a market based (dis)incentive scheme makes change profitable.
NHTSA has account since 2009 and they have 39K followers. They have a budget of approximately $0.9Billion and 600 employees. That means $1,500,000 per employee.
Feels like another overpaid, appear busy, do nothing agency. Nobody questions their intentions, but a private consultancy could probably not only bring the message but also do everything they do cheaper, at probably 5% of the cost.
When slashdot shames agencies on their $10,000 hammers, $495 paper towel rolls or $385,000 to study duck penises, nothing really changes.
Online harassment and bullying is not acceptable. It does not matter if it is for a good cause or not. What's next? Some government agency commenting on obese people's photos, that they should go on a diet else they will die soon?
What the hell happened to the US.
I wish they would pull over texting drivers and then punch them in the face.
there is NO REASON.... to text while driving. NONE... and if you do it you deserve a punch in the face for risking others with your selfish behavior.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
if GPS.speed>5 then SMS.disable=true
Done.
Harsh punishments to laws, have less to do with justice then getting revenge.
Much like DUI, it will create a long court legal process for a mistake done by a person. With a good chance of finding a loophole to let the person go, and the court will normally allow this, because it is better off to let the guilty go free, then permanently harming an innocent man.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Except for 911 calls, have the phone of someone texting or talking on a hand-held phone while in a moving vehicle (passengers included) broadcast the location to killer drone dump trucks. Let's see how long they can play real life pac-man.
"U.S. Government Shames Texting Drivers on Twitter "
Who even pays attention to incompetent government hacks on Twitter?
Does anyone even care?
Apparently texting and drinking are the only things that can distract you these days. Putting on makeup, eating, talking with passengers, switching the radio, driving tired... those are all OK. Cops are also immune and exempt, they have exceptions written to the anti texting laws. Now shut up and drive peasant, if you don't we'll download the contents of your phone when you have an accident (or just because).
Of course this post will never see the light of day because everyone is so mind warped.
*someone wants to hand out felonies
*someone wants to punch drivers in the face
*shills: my daddy died from a texter, my little sister was crippled. (all the people that hit me ever weren't texting, what boogeyman can I blame it on?)
Annoying femmenist BS site.
Pointless law. In Canada we now have a ridiculous campaign called "crotches kill" directly due to the institution of this law. While proponents of this law gleefully distribute the statistics about how much texting and driving causes accidents, I would love to see the statistics about how many accidents are caused by trying to text secretly as a direct result of this law.
I used to be a field technician and would use my phone while driving every day. I didn't cause any accidents because I did it openly without fear at 12 o'clock on my steering wheel. Now I find myself trying to very discreetly answer something important in a way that requires my eyes to be off the road. Much more dangerous. This is a nanny state law that has backfired in their faces. How about ticketing someone for using their phones dangerously rather than just using their phones at all? An added benefit is that no new law is needed - we can just use the existing careless driving laws we already have. Too common sense? The fine for using your phone while driving in my area had balooned to something like $250. It keeps going up as a result of the rate of offences not going down. It reminds me of a redneck corning a dog and relentlessly beating it with a stick for barking. Oh well. Maybe my kids generation will be able to pull the head out of the ass.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
ALL forms of distracted driving should be frowned upon, not just phone usage. I've seen people driving past my place of work with a burger in one hand, lipstick/a comb in the other and steering with their knee and I don't see any laws being passed to deal with that particular act of stupidity. That said its not an earth shattering issue either, its deserving of no more than a fine or a short term license suspension. You're far more likely to be injured/die due to your doctor not paying attention to your chart (60k to 200k deaths) than another driver not paying attention to the road (33k) and there's no major legal effort to bring that under control.
Calling that 'shaming' is a bit far fetched. Millennials are so weak. Criticism of any kind must mean the other person is confused, right? Get some freaking spine and assume some responsibility for yourself.
The headline:
"U.S. Goverment Shames Texting Drivers on Twitter "
Is what should be shamed. Stare at it for a while, boys.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
I wish more people would at least stop and think first.
In more and more cities, I'm seeing situations where a person is given a citation for "texting while driving" even though their vehicle is stopped at a red traffic light. These are often the folks who were trying to COMPLY with the law by not touching their phone until they knew they reached a red light, where it was finally safe to take a quick look at what was sent to them.
For example, in the DC metro area, we recently had a cop dressed up like a homeless person on the side of the road begging (except the sign he was holding explained that he was a law enforcement officer). He was handing out "texting while driving" tickets to people at the intersection, at the red light!
When I pointed this out to a girl I know who was ranting about the "need to lock people up and throw away the key" for texting while driving, she just shot back, "Good! The people using their phone while sitting in the car ANYPLACE should be punished! Anything to make us safer!" That's the mentality in America that always scares me.
Insurance companies should create a smartphone app that monitors whether you text while driving and gives a discount to drivers who don't.
Doesn't every phone have voice control these days?
Between Google Now, Siri, and Cortana everyone should easily be able to send off a text completely eyes-free via voice. I use Siri to do it and haven't had a problem dictating or hearing her read the incoming. It's built right into the vehicle's own CarPlay system.
You would think this issue would fix itself through attrition but the people keep reproducing.
Nothing proves how self-centered and egotistical American drivers as the statistics that show that they text and phone whilst driving. This is the clearest demonstration that they have no concern for people they may kill.
A lot of this texting and chatting would stop if the other person would cut off the conversation. I have this conversation all the time:
"Are you driving?". "Yes". "Call me back when you can talk"
I've had bosses carry on meetings while their subordinate was driving. I see that as criminally irresponsible behaviour. It should be prosecutable.
I do not block ads. I do block third party scripts.
I'm not seeing any correlation in the data
https://imgur.com/Ooa6Etr
I see states trying to pass new "no texting" laws, but never use the C&I laws ALREADY on the books. The new "laws" are just for vote buying anyway. Just make the phones texting program not work, if you are going more than 5mph, problem solved.
> you'll find that it's just a non-stop stream of burns ... "You might not have a problem with the texting & driving...but we do."
Oh, snap! Harsh!
Regardless, I agree with the sentiment. Each time you're stopped the punishment so double. First time $200, second $400, etc. with no cap. Will it stop the problem? Not entirely. But it'll get awfully expensive for the asshats who insist of sharing whatever the hell it is they're texting.
Bark less. Wag more.
I'll continue to text and drive. Good luck trying to figure out where my eyes are looking when I have sun glasses on!
If I had a nitwit at the NHTSA do this to me, i'd ask them how that non paying pension is looking.
A large part of the problem is diverting attention from driving, which applies to yapping on the phone, fiddling with the stereo, eating, reading, swilling coffee, and quite a few other things some drivers do. But I've noticed that most of the horrible incidents in my corner of the world (yeah, no scientific data here) have accompanied looking down and texting or looking down at the stereo, etc. So at the expense of increasing texting, at least all of these diversions could use displays routed to the windscreen and buttons on the steering wheel. Perhaps sensors could blank the display when obstacles appear nearby or closing speed becomes important. People are apparently NOT going to stop messing with other things while driving.
If the government does something "harsh" to a citizen, that's a punishment. The problem here isn't that the harsh action is shaming, it's that it happens without due process. That's particularly bad because if the NHTSA gets it wrong, unlike a private party that you can sue for damages, you have no remedies against the federal government.
Since the NHTSA cannot tell whether a text was created using voice recognition or not, it's merely engaging in the crime of detraction.
The department of health going on people's Facebook pages and posting hygiene and eating recommendations for the people who...look like they may need advice.
Cops have normally 2 phones, laptop and a radio. They will be looking up information while driving, calling other officers about issues and incidents, and talking on the radio. They are multitasking WAY too much in the car.
The average person will most likely use bluetooth or have a car read texts now, so the issue is going away. But not for police.
So you want to give a felony to citizen drivers but allow cops to text. Thats interesting.
Don't underestimate the entertainment value of shaming for the general US public. They *love* that shit.
That's why this will fly.
So I see in FF, posts made no longer show up until the page is reloaded and "load all comments" is clicked. The "Working" indicator comes on and never goes away.
Happens in every article today.
Good job, Slashdot. It wasn't borken enough for you already, eh? Super. JFC.
Don't shame people for texting while driving.
Take away their driver's license for one year, sell their car at auction (with no proceeds back to them), and confiscate their cellphone.
Problem solved.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
...so they have to look away from driving to get the govt response!
Yes, this is how things work in the u.s.s.a.
How can so many people be so retarded?
A friend moved from the US to the UK and joined the company I worked at (he wasnt a friend before that point) and he was astounded by how different the drink-drive culture is in the UK - over here, its universally accepted that its a very very very bad thing to do, to the point where very few people pressure you to "have a quick one" if you are driving, and drinking soft drinks on a night out is completely acceptable.
He was very approving of it, and said that it was unheard of from where he came from (California).
This just means your friend's friends are assholes or still in college. I know plenty of people in the states who drink a bit, but none of them would pressure someone to drink who said they were the designated driver or that they were driving.
Isn't anyone else just slightly creeped out about the US government browsing our online posts any more? Or have we come to the point where the actions of big brother are to be expected? I remember reading of the outrage of Chinese government officials prying into the online posts of its people before. What happened to us?
Texting drivers can be even worse than drunk drivers. Both should gtfo of the car.
How can so many people be so retarded?
those words should be a recursive loop, endlessly rolling through the entire waste of existence. They are a self-fulfilling prophecy. again and again and again and again and again.
To
I've thought for many years that police should be able to confiscate the phone from a texting driver, stick it under one of the cars wheels, and then wave them on their way. This alone ensures that, at least until they can get to a shop and buy a new phone, the nut holding the wheel can concentrate on driving safely.
Don't blame me, it's usually 2 in the morning when I post
Maybe beta has a spell-checker... Or editors.
If they kill someone, its 1st degree murder.
Hang 'em by the side of the road with their phone taped to their hand.
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/...
Casteism
Let's say you can text and drive and be safe 9,999/10,000. Most people would think that they like those odds. Now, let's say now that 10,000 texts are sent while driving in one day. The chance of an accident is (0.9999)^10,000 = 36.79%. That means if the odds of an accident were 1/10,000, for every 10,000 texts, over one third of the time you would expect an accident. This is a basic problem those dealing with safety encounter. While something might seem relatively safe, as the volume increases, an accident becomes almost guaranteed. Texting and driving must be treated the same as driving under the influence of alcohol.
Nothing agains fighting texting while driving but...why is U.S. legislation always about ruining peoples' lives completely?
Before texting and deiving was a "thing", my friends little sister t-boned a pregnant women at 70mph because she was texting and driving. This was 2004.
Being shamed by a friend really means something to me. Why on earth would I care what these bureaucrats think? I'm just grateful they're tweeting rather than threatening for once.
Go back to Nazi Germany where you came from you fascist fucking shitbag. Die slowly in a fire.