Stop Texting While Driving!

[finless]

Statistics

Texting While Driving Causes:

1. 1,600,000 accidents per year – National Safety Council
2. 330,000 injuries per year – Harvard Center for Risk Analysis Study
3. 11 teen deaths EVERY DAY – Ins. Institute for Hwy Safety Fatality Facts
4. Nearly 25% of ALL car accidents

I was hoping to find statistics dealing with motorcycles.


Bob

 

[Motorcycledave]

BOB YOU ARE THE MAN !!!!!!!

I feel the same as Bob I think the punishment for texting while driving should be the same as DRUNK DRIVING
I take lic. numbers and call 911 often when I see it going on.
Keep it up Bob and others who feel the same.
Dave
Ride Safe, Ride like they cant see you because they can't when they are texting

Texting While Driving Causes:

1. 1,600,000 accidents per year – National Safety Council
2. 330,000 injuries per year – Harvard Center for Risk Analysis Study
3. 11 teen deaths EVERY DAY – Ins. Institute for Hwy Safety Fatality Facts
4. Nearly 25% of ALL car accidents

I was hoping to find statistics dealing with motorcycles.


Bob

 

[sduskin]

60 mph = 88 ft per second. So 5 seconds of distraction is 440 ft., almost a football field and a half!

One of the administrations under the US DOT did a study that showed texting while driving is equivalent to driving after having had 4 oz of alcohol on an empty stomach. Meaning texting while driving is more than twice as dangerous as DUI! Oklahoma just passed a law banning texting and driving. It takes effect 11/1/2015. Now we have to watch to see if the law is enforced.

My sport bike riding daughter uses fishing weights to back off folks.

As for cell phone blockers, I designed one that only blocks when a vehicle is in motion and mounts in the vehicle out of reach of the passengers (senses like the old cruise controls did with magnets on the drive shaft). When I went to an attorney to get the design protected, he referred me to FCC regulations and law that it is illegal to block cell phone signals. You cannot legally purchase one in the US. Also, if you have one on (even low power) and someone is blocked, you can get in deep legal trouble.

If I see weaving or folks looking at their phones, I give them a VERY WIDE safety distance.

 

[SPECTACUALR SPIDERMAN]

This is why i hope the person texting dies in the crash, that is probably the only way they will stop.
rather the texter dies then me or someone innocent

 

[revjvegas]

I wouldn't wish death on anyone. They learn nothing, those left behind have to deal with the grief, and karma can be a bitch.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ARCTIC]

I think the dmv should establish an online messaging system where it uses the license plate of the vehicle and has drop down predefined messages that you can go online and send messages to people like:
I Saw you texting while driving
or: you have a taillight out.
or: you were driving in an unsafe manner
etc...
it would have to be predefined so people aren't stalking others and the sender wouldn't be provided any personal information about the recipient but the message would get delivered to the proper person. Parents would likely be the owner of the vehicle so they might be alerted of the unsafe behavior before anybody gets hurt.

 

[MidTNDawg]

Valid point BUT

A few facts i learned recently.

at 60 mph your car travels approximately 500 ft per sec. on average everytime someone looks down to text they take their eyes off the road for 5 sec. do the math if tey're doing 60 mph then they're going almost 1/2 a mile everytime they look down. If that doesn't scare the s**t out of you nothing will.

Bill C.

at 60 MPH travel is 88 feet per second.

 

[cuznjohn]

 

[pitzerwm]

I realized that this guy was drunk or drugged or texting, I didn't care, call 911 followed him, until the cop intersected us. I didn't need to stick around, I'm sure he got a ticket. All they have to do is look at the phone and see that they were texting. Try it.

 

[cuznjohn]

is it legal for a cop to check your phone if they don't see you texting but were told you were???

 

[flaggerphil]

There is a guy on another forum I belong to who INSISTS that HE can text safely while driving. Doesn't matter what the studies say, HE can do it safely. When facts like those presented here are brought up he brings out straw man arguments about radios being distractions, too...etc, etc, etc. And he's not a kid, he's a middle aged man.

There's no hope for some people.

 

[finless]

is it legal for a cop to check your phone if they don't see you texting but were told you were???

I have read and seen many videos where after an accident the police siezed the phone to examine it for use when the accident happened. So I know they can do it for accidents.

Bob

 

[finless]

Bust #2 - Oblivious!

I swear folks... this is getting really bad out there.

I can catch and film this probably every day!

But this person was so "into her phone" she had NO CLUE what was going on around her!

Please, if you wear a camera and capture stuff like this, please post it! If you do not know how to edit video contact me and I will help you.

Bob

 

[AY4B]

I agree with not texting while driving but do not know how you can enforce it fairly. Todays driving machines have many built in distractions, including the Spyder. We have Nav systems, stereo systems, climate control systems and all kinds of information imput systems on our vehicles, and helmets. How do you know someone is texting and not looking at the nav app in their phone, or just looking to see who is calling them? It takes just being careful and aware whats around you to do multitasking while driving. Some are better than others at doing it. Getting pulled in to a device while driving could be fatal. Its a good thing that todays cars are just safer because people just get comfortable in driving and forget safety. My step daughter was bad about texting and driving till she rear ended a truck doing around 70 with her baby in the car seat behind her. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt because her car was built to take that kind of hit. I dont know the answer but trying to enforce what you think someone is doing can be tricky.

 

[AY4B]

You just have to be on the lookout for that person juggling a burger, fries, a drink. a cigarette, a cellphone, and a standard shift, and knowing they have to be at work in 10 minutes or else.:lecturef_smilie:

 

[Rob Rodriguez]

I don't agree with texting and driving either. I see lots of people do it and occasionally I've done it myself. It is very dangerous for those doing it and the people around them but....................Human nature says this isn't going to stop. You can pass all the laws you want but really they are unenforceable most of the time and this is a great example of how you can't pass a law to control everything.

I applaud your efforts with trying to get people to stop texting and driving but honestly I think you'd be better off to get a law passed that says car makers are required to put equipment (like they are now with tire pressure monitors and the back up cameras) in their cars for hands free texting. Much like hands free talking on the phone. Text comes in, the computer reads it to you and then you can reply by talking and the computer translates the voice to text and send the message. This would make texting and driving the same safety hazard as talking and driving.

 

[AY4B]

On my phone, you can speak and it will type in the text for you. The problem is, then you have to proof read the text and sometimes make corrections. More distractions. Also my phone makes noises all the time giving me alerts to everything going on. I try to turn off those notification noises but sometimes they keep going no matter what I do. facebook, emails, all sorts of notifications and you have to sometimes go into setting to search on how to turn them off.

 

[finless]

Yes and that's the part I do not get. Most modern smart phones now have full hands free operation!

On my iPhone 6+ I can speak commands and do just about everything.
I can say "Siri give me directions to xyz" and it will automatically open the map/gps verbally give me turn by turn directions.
I can say "Siri read messages" and it will read all my messages to me. I can reply to them as well all by voice.
I can send a text message by saying "Siri send a text message to xyz" Siri then says "OK what do you want to say" and I tell Siri the message and it automatically sends it.

You can do all of this without ever looking at the screen!

So again what gets me is these people that have to be on the phone and "connected" all the time, if they just learned how to use their phones "hands free" this would not be an issue!

Alas one thing voice commands wont do is let you browse Facebook which probably a lot of these people are doing! :lecturef_smilie:

Bob

 

[SPECTACUALR SPIDERMAN]

I have the solution.....DON'T TEXT!!!

 

[flaggerphil]

I have the solution.....DON'T TEXT!!!

Yep. When you are texting you are no longer driving the car...you're just along for the ride and you don't know where it's going. Yes, it's true there are other distractions, but that's just a straw man argument. Texting is every bit as bad if not worse than driving drunk. It's the worst distraction out there. Simply...don't do it.