by minimus 56 Replies latest jw friends
Distracted Driving: "Each day in the United States, approximately 9 people are killed and
more than 1,000 injured in crashes that are reported to involve a
distracted driver."
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Traffic Safety Facts
Research Notes 2016: Distracted Driving.S. Department of Transportation,
Washington, DC: NHTSA; 2015. Available at https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812517Externa as reported by the Center for Disease Control
Iām not happy with government forcing us to do certain things.
The government is not "forcing you to do certain things"....it is prohibiting you from doing certain things.
Are you also not "happy" with governmental prohibitions on murder, rape, theft, and arson?
Your right to swing your fist ends at my nose.
Your right to talk on a cell phone ends when it makes you a dangerous driver more likely to injure or kill others.
Of course that's just common sense.
Holding a coffee mug in your hand does little to mentally distract you from thinking what your doing when driving, but carrying on a conversation or texting will.
Driving is one of the most enjoyable,but serious task you undertake, Other's and your life is in your hand and foot the moment your vehicle starts moving. Enjoy that driving experience, make it unique, not tarnished by secondary occupations. on a public road. Even music, a study has shown inhibits your creativity.
If you destroy a life by your giving up the unique experience of driving in favour of a secondary one, you llife should be destroyed, as a mandatory sentence.
Minimus, I agree, I don't want government dictating to me what I can and cannot do. But, while you and I use common sense, so many others do not. When my life is at stake, since fate often puts me beside a driver who cannot focus on the road, because the phone call they are on is too important, or they just have to text their BFF, or boss, spouse, kid, parent, or whoever, I think my life is more improtant than their right to communicate via phone, while driving. I'm willing to give that up for my safety and the lives of others. We're already mandated, by law, to use seatbelts, and in most places in the western hemisphere, helmets. So, no cellphone use wouldn't be much different. I don't see the need to be in constant contact, to be necessary. And since our society can't seem to control their addiction to the phone, then, unfortunately mr government stepping in, might be prudent.
As incognito points out, you can put unbelievably hefty fines and penalties on handheld device use, but it doesn't seem to phase them. So you gotta find a way to really make it hurt, as well as continue to educate the motoring/cell phone using, public. Much like they have done with drinking and driving. Until then, and even after (if it were to happen) I continue to ride and drive, defensively.
That all said, I speed, especially on my bike. The law, which is the speed limit, does not deter me (road conditions, traffic, and police cars do) So that makes me a hypocrite, I argue a complex, and complicated person, šš. I don't like, or agree with being restricted by speed limits. But that is another debate. I bring it up, to say, I understand restrictive laws being inconvenient, and people not wanting to obey them. I make up all sorts of excuses as to why it's ok for me to speed, but not everyone else. Lol. Stupid really. I guess, if I'm gonna insist on breaking one law, I've gotta accept others are gonna break some too. Drive and ride defensively,
I agree with you, though, anything can be distracting, as you can see from my first comment. But texting while driving takes the drivers eyes from the road, for a deceptively long period of time. Very different than talking to a passenger, listening, or even tuning a radio, as your eyes can, and should still be on the road. Even your "pretty girl" scenario, your head is up and you at least have the benefit of peripheral vision, vs head down, texting. Anyway, all good points, good conversation.
Made me think of this scene, Minimus, š
So you sit in silence when driving in a car and people are with you?
But you have one hand on the phone and not on the driving wheel.
Its a combination of putting your mind off the driving both visually and mentally.
The laws have to take into account of all drivers, those with little experience and those with a lot and what kind of vehicle the person is driving, semi trailer, standard shift, towing a trailer etc. .
I myself have done this when I didn't have a handless Bluetooth vehicle and yes its distracting when the conversation gets emotional.
Statistics have shown that many vehicle accidents that have occurred in the last ten years were caused by distracted drivers on their cell phones.
lemat223 - Congratulations on being wrong so many times in one post.
It is the United Kingdom not 'England'.
It is not illegal to sell individual kitchen knives in the UK.
It is not illegal to eat and drive in the UK.
The UK has a Conservative government - it is not a 'socialist crap hole'. It has not had a Socialist government since the early '80s. You need a better source of foreign news (or you could just ask).
Driving is by a long way the most dangerous thing most of us do regularly. Anything that distracts the driver increases the risk. Controlled experiments show that, for reasons deeply rooted in human psychology, talking on the phone massively increases driving risk. It's entirely reasonable that governments legislate to reduce the number of unnecessary road deaths.
In the UK there is an offence of 'not being in proper control of a motor vehicle' that police have the discretion to use if a driver is distracted by anything that significantly affects his driving - food/shaving/makeup/books/sat nav/pretty girls etc. The mobile phone ban is a special case of this pre-existing law.
Here in Germany, there is a fine (100 Euro up to 200 Euro) for using a handheld phone when driving. And you get 1 point in the german traffic offender register. You also don't have to use the phone in the car, you can't even pick it up. You can only use a mobile phone in your car when the engine is switched off.
With endangerment and/or with damage to property: driving ban for 1 month. And you get 2 points in the german traffic offender register.
8 points in the traffic offender register and you'll be demoted from a car driver to a pedestrian.
ANYTHING, that takes your mind of of the task at hand, is a distraction. A conversation is a distraction. Too distracting to drive? I would argue not. Usually. But it can be, if you, as the driver allow it to be. A heated conversation could easily become to distracting, for example.
Some studies show that some music can help with focus, while others show it to be a distraction. I believe this all to be subjective, and personally find some music to be distracting while driving, while other music actually helps center and focus me while driving. Your results may vary.
Arguably, conversation and music can be a distraction, but generally not enough to detract from the focus we need to drive. Texting, or using a hand held device for social media or surfing the net, is a distraction that will interfere with our ability to operate a vehicle.
