Danger of USING Digital devices while driving

[rudym]

I noticed some interesting and disturbing responses on a different forum / thread that was morphing so I am starting this thread in spyder land to address these issues straight up.

I feel and lots and lots of behavioral research agrees that:

People who fiddle with their phones and other gadgets while operating a vehicle are three things:

1) self absorbed

2) selfish and thinking only of themselves

3) dangerous to other people and themselves

As people whose lifes often cling to a fraction of a second we can ill afford to support (in any way) people who drive while distracted, especially with devices which take significant visual resources and shift them away from the primary task of operating a vehicle.

9 years ago I was hit by a car doing 50 mph from the year - she was texting. The damage as you might imagine was significant and life altering.

I am also a neuro-muscular therapist who works with accident victims everyday; and everyday these patients who have been seriously harmed tell me their tales of woe about being hurt by a distracted driver - primarily phone use / texting etc.. but fiddling with GPS devices or anything else that requires split focus of hand eye coordination is also part of the mix.

My daughter who was told "NO - texting while driving" did not heed my warning and slammed into the back of a car that pulled up short to avoid a blow that occurred in front of her, creatied a chain reaction that not only destroyed her right foot but several other people lives. for the last 7 years she has limped around pathetically and in pain - a horrible reminder that she could have easily prevented her pain and the pain she caused others by doing one of two things:

1) wait till you are off the road - meaning - pull over if it is that important, and it never is.
or
2) wait till you get home.

Science has shown over and over again that people who are fiddling with their digital devices while driving are every bit and sometimes more dangerous than drunk drivers - they used race car drivers in these tests to prove their point.

I realize that you can't change people who have these impulsive character flaws; the best we can do is make them aware of how dangerous they are behaving. Yes it is a behavior guided by a poor choice.

RANT:
If you are one of those people (WHO THINKS) you can operate a vehicle of any kind safely while playing with digital devices that require your eyes and hands - you are for warned that you are only fooling yourself mentally while putting yourself and others physically in harms way. It not if, rather just when.

It can wait - if it can't pull off the road.

Peace out

[Chupaca]

My GPS is in the frunk and I only take it out when needing to find an address. If traveling I only use audio. Phone is bluetoothed to the comm and requires no hands or visual. I feel if anyone needs to be instantly connected to what friends are saying and doing they should be passengers...

[rudym]

My GPS is in the frunk and I only take it out when needing to find an address. If traveling I only use audio. Phone is bluetoothed to the comm and requires no hands or visual. I feel if anyone needs to be instantly connected to what friends are saying and doing they should be passengers...

Enjoy the link:

[rudym]

http://www.nbcdfw.com/investigations...164342516.html

[Bob Denman]

While I appreciate the message: you ARE "preaching to the choir"...
It's getting this information out to the idiots who are so self-absorbed... that's the tough nut to crack!

[SteveP]

I was rear ended in my full sized Ram truck 8 months ago .... by a 17 year old young man who admitted he was texting . I only ended up with a stiff neck and $3500 damage to my truck . If I was on my Spyder with my wife on the back ...... 3 lives changed drastically in an instant

[bushrat]

While I appreciate the message: you ARE "preaching to the choir"...
It's getting this information out to the idiots who are so self-absorbed... that's the tough nut to crack!

Might help, though, if more people would RANT. Yes, there are idiots who can't seem to leave hand-held devices alone while driving and may never become convinced of their reckless behaviour, BUT, there are also a bunch of gutless/brainless politicians who won't take the legislative step to outlaw such stupid practices. At my last count, only 15 US states actually make it an offense to text or use a cell phone while driving. Rather incredible, given there is sufficient evidence showing human brains are just not capable of the multi-tasking ability required to do both safely at the same time. There are those who don't believe in helmets, either.

Somewhat like Steve P., I got rear-ended by a guy on a cell phone several years back. I was stopped at a light; he went half-way under my Dodge Caravan in his compact car. Tore my rear axle off, crushed my rear end, and accordion-ed his front almost to the windshield. He hit me hard enough to punch me 35' across an intersection; the whiplash was strong enough to actually break the metal tube side supports in my seat back. He got out and walked away dazed, still holding his phone and talking on it. I spent several months getting deep massage and chiropractic treatments, to say nothing of headaches and inability to work at my desk for weeks. Only good thing was that I had dropped off my daughter and her 3-week old baby only 5 minutes earlier. Glad they didn't have to get bounced about.

Rant on good people, and perhaps some political minds can be influenced for the better. Make texting/calling/using handheld devices illegal while driving; lay on the heavy fines. Perhaps that will help educate the ignorant and idiotic types.

[PaladinLV]

I'm SOooooooo glad $$$ is being spent to research the . . . OBVIOUS!

AJ

I feel and lots and lots of behavioral research agrees that:

[ruralgirl]

Society's 24/7 umbilical cord to the almighty cell phone can have other consequences from the driver's seat. My friend, whose husband had been stressed and depressed for several months, was recently summoned to Child Protective Services for what, within several hours, would be retracted as totally false charges against her husband. Instead of waiting the 15 minutes that it took her to drive home so she could deliver the upsetting news in person, she hopped on her smart phone the moment she left the parking lot and proceeded to text her husband about the insane accusations.

It put him over the edge. As his texts became weird and then ceased, she suddenly realized where his brain was going. Gunning her truck to get home, she endangered everyone on the road. And then, running across the backyard to his workshop, she heard the single gun shot which instantly made her a widow and their 8 year old daughter fatherless.

[SteveP]

http://www.cp24.com/news/toronto-par...rton-1.3505669