I Hate Texters

Cell phones can detect when they are being driven.
So a law could be enforced through the cell phone manufacturer to enforce the ban.

What about passengers in the car?

 

I've had emergency situations arise while I was driving where a call I answered immediately altered my destination. If I would have had to pull over, I couldn't have answered in some cases because you can't always pull over in every location and if you are going fast (highway), it will take you longer to pull over than for the call to go to voicemail.

 

The phone just asks if you are driving. If you say "no" it allows you to answer. It's nothing but a CYA feature.

 

That's a false equivalency....as there is a 'yuuuge' difference between listening to a radio and texting.

To answer your question....yes.
There was a time in America where stories abounded about the evils of people being distracted by radios in the car.
Then, as now, these stories were largely propagated by mainstream media......circa 1930, called ----print media, panicking over the then fledgling influences of radio and perhaps putting an occasional thumb on the scales......
That struggle would go on through the 30s with company truck drivers nodding off in middle America's looooooooong empty highways in the wee hours because "statistically" radios in trucks were a "distraction".......to say nothing of an added expense.

Fortunately, in the end, they figured it out.
As I said earlier MAD(D) people and lawyers will help almost 100 years later with idiots who think that you can text while driving.
We just have to wait long enough for the sharks to get that first faint whiff of blood on the street to start getting court orders to search phones after accidents......

History never repeats itself, but it rhymes enough to make you think that it does.

Hopefully......self driving cars will help solve part of the problem as well.
Maybe......juuuuust maybe they will "let us" drive every now and then......

 

agreed, emergency vehicles and first responders should have constant access.

 

This was emergencies with my family. I'm not a first responder.

 

me neither.

 

I worked in a record store long ago. We sold cassettes, LPs, 8 tracks, singles, cut outs, and paraphernalia.

It was an eclectic place. Punk just started, and we sold everything but classical.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I was told, by an on-duty cop, in a case of agressive tailgater, use your cellphone, take a pic of them, hopefully get the plate. Obviously, if you've got a passenger with phone, relegate that to them.

 

That's the problem with automatically disabling it, the cell phone may know that it is in a moving vehicle but it doesn't know if the person is the driver or a passenger. You could be riding in a bus for that matter, how would it know.

What would be nice is something similar to airplane mode that you could put your phone into, but called driving mode. Any phone calls would automatically go to voicemail, with a message "I am currently driving, please leave a message. However if this is an emergency press 1" in which case the phone will ring. Could do the same with text, it would autoreply with a similar message.

I agree. And there is also a huge difference between talking on the phone or to someone in your car and texting. Having a conversation can certainly be distracting and can in theory cause an accident, or lead to a failure to avoid an accident that you might have otherwise avoided if all of your concentration was on driving. However looking away from the road is a much greater danger. I remember years ago reading something where someone said to follow the two-second rule, i.e. never take your eyes off the road for more than two seconds. They pointed out that a car going even just 45mph will travel two-thirds the length of a football field during those two seconds. After reading that I tried it for practice by counting out loud, and it's surprising how quickly those two seconds go by. Since then I force myself to look away only for a second or two at a time. This can be frustrating at first, if for example you are trying to find a radio station, what would normally take a few seconds winds up taking half a minute if you have to do it while glancing back and forth between the road and the radio. Our natural tendency is to focus on a task to completion, especially if you think it will only take a second or two. But then if it winds up taking longer and if you don't break away from the task but instead keep looking for another couple of seconds, you have now traveled well over a football field without even realizing it.

Even just reading a text can easily take more than two seconds. It's hard to avoid the temptation when you hear that little ding, but it's safer to wait until you are stopped.

 

My problem with texters is when they text going up/down a stairwell, at work. This is especially dangerous to those around.

My law goes into effect: If you text on a stairwell, you lose your right of way!

 

Exactly. Using a hands-on phone or texting requires you to both remove your eyes from the road and at least one hand from the wheel. Talking to someone in the car or on a hands-free system allows you to keep both eyes on the road and both hands on the wheel, and that's a HUGE difference.

The only time I'll text while driving is when I'm on a private road away from everyone else, and even then it's a quick message saying, "On my way", which I can send with just a couple of taps. The only other exception is when I'm waiting at a red light.

 

Ugh.... Common sense dictates don't text and drive. Just like drinking. But people still do it and know what, they will continue to do so. Because people are stupid. You can't legislate common sense, but for some reason many think they can.

If talking or texting can be done hands free then I don't have an issue with it. Should I become so impaired that I can't talk to a passenger or make a call / text hands free then I hope my son and daughter-in-law take my license and install the Uber app on my phone.

{edit}

If you have a smartphone with Siri/Cortona you don't even have to take your eyes off the road to "tap"
Siri - press and hold the "off hook button" on your steering wheel. Siri answers and you can just tell her to send a text.
Cortona - press the talk button on your steering wheel. Cortana answers and you can just tell her to text.

Of course you have to have Siri/Cortana enabled on your phone... But it's all with your eyes on the road.​

 

I don't use Apple products, and I have Cortana disabled on my PC. I suppose my phone has Google Assistant but I haven't found a use for it yet.

 

I dislike people that text while walking down the street, especially when attempting to cross the road. Someone's going to be stupid enough to get killed, then sue the municipality for doing something wrong and the driver for not paying attention.

Some people have a hard time taking responsibility for their own actions these days.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

you got that right. someone walked right in front of my car looking at their phone. i slammed the brakes on, and they never looked up.
so much for the noise maker.

 

There you go then. Fire it up and have a shot at hands free texting/calling and no "tapping".

It can even be used to play tunes on the radio. Well, that's a guess as I'm not fan of Android. But I know Siri/Cortana can.

 

Google Assistant won't play music from the local phone, just from your online music libraries, of which I have none. And it doesn't work when the phone is locked so you have to take it out of your pocket and unlock it before you can use it.

 

Children don't seem to be able to hear the noisemaker. Beeping the horn gets their attention, but seems to offend them a little.

Some of them seem mulish, but I wouldn't try hitting a kid upside the head with a 2x4 to get their attention.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Well then that's that. Surprised that it does so little. Don't blame you for not using it.