Texting and driving

Texting and driving is illegal in Virginia, but I think it's like the seat belt law, a secondary offense. You won't be pulled over for it, but if they get you on something else, they can write you up for that too.

 

Damn that's graphic... a good visual though. Short PSA's like this don't do too much for me, personally... Now, the movie Seven Pounds with Will Smith - that was one that could certainly change a few minds.

Personally, the only time i touch my phone when driving is after i pull off the road or am stopped at a light (and then only for finding a phone number to call). It's just not worth it...

 

Text Messaging Law Effective January 1, 2009/Cellular Phone Laws Effective July 1, 2008

But I see people using handsets all the time. When I see people texting while driving, it makes me want to force them off the road before they can kill someone else.

 

Same!!

It is my number one pet peeve.

They should show the above video to high school students. although, most would probably just laugh. They think they are so invincible.

Look at this idiot:

 

It's said to be just as bad as drunk driving and causes nearly as many accidents respectively. Some even call it the new drunk driving.

I hate to admit that I think a lot of people will laugh at this video because it certainly should get it's message across.

 

Talking without hands free while driving = MORONS!
Watching a TV or Movie on MFD while driving = VERY DUMB MORONS
Texting while driving = MORONS THAT ARE REALLY STUPID!!

Good Youtube video however!!

 

Ya that.

 

Hi Tony, you do know that talking on the phone via bluetooth is no safer than talking via a hand held model, don't you?
I won't bang on about this any more (some of you know that I do experiments in driver behaviour) but handsfree phones are no safer than hand-held. Texting might even be a little safer, simply because the driver can choose when to start and stop (the problem is that so many people make bad choices).

The point I'll leave you with is that there are all sorts of times when we already acknowledge that its inappropriate to have a cell phone conversation - at the movies, school recital, during a meeting, on a commercial plane flight -- please add "while driving" to that list and we'll all be safer.
Cheers, S

 

Well that stirs up some bad memories. A couple of years ago, 5 female teens were killed driving to a summer cottage a week after their high school graduation. The investigation brought out the fact that they were texting moments before the head-on collision.

Five Young Women Killed In Fiery Car Crash - CBS News

Here's another story on the crash:

Texting to blame for crash that killed 5 teens?

Messages sent, received on 17-year-old driver's phone just before collision


CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. - Text messages were sent and received on a 17-year-old driver’s cell phone moments before the sport utility vehicle slammed head-on into a truck, killing her and four other recent high school graduates, police said. Bailey Goodman was driving her friends to her parents’ vacation home when her SUV, which had just passed a car, swerved back into oncoming traffic, hit a tractor-trailer and burst into flames. Five days earlier, the five teenagers had graduated together from high school in Fairport, a Rochester suburb.
Goodman’s inexperience at the wheel; evidence she was driving above the speed limit at night on a winding, two-lane highway; and a succession of calls and text messages on her phone were cited Friday by Sheriff Phil Povero as possible factors in the June 28 crash in western New York.


“The records indicate her phone was in use,†Povero said. “We will never be able to clearly state that she was the one doing the text messaging. ... We all certainly know that cell phones are a distraction and could be a contributing factor in this accident.â€
Several minutes before the first 911 call about the crash, Goodman talked briefly with a fellow graduate trailing her in another vehicle. Two minutes before the crash was reported, her phone was used to send a text greeting to a friend, Povero said.
He sent a reply less than a minute before the first 911 call, the sheriff added.
Routine tests ruled out alcohol as a factor in the 10 p.m. crash, and police don’t suspect drug use was involved. Goodman had only a junior driver’s license, making it illegal for her to be driving after 9 p.m. without supervision or to be carrying so many young passengers.
The victims, all 17 or 18, had been cheerleaders at Fairport High. In March, the team took first place in its category at a national competition in Orlando, Fla.


I think a video like this might be worthwhile for fledgling teen drivers.

 

Hi Tony, a cell phone conversation is actually quite different from talking to a passenger. Three reasons: 1) passengers stop talking when the driver comes to a hazard (conversational suppression); 2) passengers and drivers often talk about the drive and passengers may even alert the driver to an approaching situation (situation awareness enhancement); 3) cellphone conversations have longer sentences and a higher speech rate (conversation complexity). As a result passenger conversations are much less hazardous than a cell phone conversation (about 8 times less hazardous). I've got a paper in the Jan issue of Accident Analysis & Prevention you might find interesting if you have the time. It also describes a potential technological "fix" by using an alerting cell phone. Cheers,
S

 

Here's a link to the CMU study I believe you are referring to Tony.
Just Drive - Carnegie Mellon University
That page also has a link to one of their papers. An interesting study involving brain imaging as people listen to words.

We don't have a PET scanner. But we do have a driving simulator and an instrumented car and we use them for all kinds of experiments. Here's a link to the one I mentioned earlier, its a long URL, but I think it will give you guest access to ScienceDirect to read it in the Journal AA&P.

ScienceDirect - Accident Analysis & Prevention : Driving while conversing: Cell phones that distract and passengers who react

 

Tennessee recently enacted the law to ban texting while driving, except for emergency vehicles, etc.
The penalty is a $50.00 fine, and it is noted as a non moving offense.
But, maybe that will help somewhat.

 

I have my own empirical "dogfriend's observation" study:

I can usually tell when someone is talking on their cell phone because their driving becomes more erratic than expected - they leave late when the light turns green, they leave less space when changing lanes, etc.

I can always tell when someone is texting because their driving goes completely off the chart erratic - they don't move the same speed as traffic, they have trouble staying in their lane, they are completely oblivious to anything other than the damn cell phone. They aren't even looking through the windshield most of the time.

You would think that common sense, common courtesy and the law would prevent people from texting while driving. You would be wrong.

 

but is it really any more of a distraction as someone who is playing with their Nav screen, changing the CD in their radio, or iPod. I would also say its not any worse then the people who are eating after coming out of the drive thru, or even the mom with the rowdy kids in the back.

 

You really shouldn't do any of those activities either, but for some reason people texting do seem to be even worse - perhaps it is because they are so preoccupied that they don't even look in the direction that their car is moving.