What is it with all the distracted driver lately.

[Blue Mule]

This just happened in my area on Wednesday and left the interstate closed in one direction for over 24 hours

MSN

And that same day I had to dodge 3 drivers that about hit me head on because they were on the wrong side of the road. And I wan't even 10 miles from home at that point. And another 10 miles down the road had a car pass me and 2 other vehicles in a no passing zone.

We had two rollover crashes on Friday and I live in a small town! The larger cities are wild. Semi trucks driving off bridges and the whole nine yards. Drivers are getting perpetually worse and we're all suffering for it due to the added danger AND the insurance premiums.

 

[RB5]

I used to live on a street that was near a shopping mall. It was a side street and it did not go directly anywhere. As the area kept growing it became so busy that I had trouble getting in and out of my driveway. I used to park my boat in the garage with no problems. I'd come down the street and hit a certain spot and back in first shot every time. Then we had multiple families living in each house paying one set of property taxes while all their children went to school. Some houses had as many as 8 cars. That is 4 in a 2 car driveway and 4 in the street. Some were probably illegally here. The city allowed it. It became dangerous to drive or walk on our street. Between the increased number of idiots going fast down our street to get to and from the mall and the extra cars I could no longer count on being able to get my boat in the garage easily. Our school taxes kept going up. Another time I was hit trying to turn in front of a truck that was easily traveling at least 20 mph over the speed limit not far from our house. The witness in the car next to him said the guy was looking down at hist stereo when he passed the witness. I realized how fast he was going and almost got out of the way by punching the gas in my truck. He hit the right rear corner of my ruck and totaled his little toyota tacoma. I mean bent the frame and destroyed it. I was in a Ram. I know this is a long ramble, but to get to my point.. all of this happened before everyone had cell phones and giant touch screens. There have always been idiots. All the gadgets in cars now and the fancy phones just make things worse, and a higher percentage of people, some of which actually can walk and chew gum at the same time, can't handle all the tech and distractions while driving.

We moved away from the city not long after that.

 

[sandman2234]

Nice posts about stupid drivers. The problem on the highways today is you cannot fix stupidity and stupid people are buying and driving motor vehicles.

and voting!
David from jax

 

[Paystar]

Watching Motorweek. Saw this new car they were testing. This actually irritates me! Look at this! A giant touch screen tablet for you to play with while you are driving. Unreal. That is ridiculous.

 

[Gator6x4]

Watching Motorweek. Saw this new car they were testing. This actually irritates me! Look at this! A giant touch screen tablet for you to play with while you are driving. Unreal. That is ridiculous.

Have you looked inside vehicles today with information centers, which incidentally contains the navigation system. The screens are 12-14 inches wide. One thing automakers cannot manufacture and sell is common sense or the intelligence to suppress childhood desires to play with the toy at 70-80 mph.

I can connect a iPad to my vehicles and surf the web while going down the highways, make and receive phone calls on my iPhone or the vehicle. I don’t do it because it would be dangerous.

 

[kenmbz]

I have seen a few people holding their phone sideways above the steering wheel, I guess it's big enough for them to watch videos, because that's what they were doing.

 

[Gator6x4]

I have seen a few people holding their phone sideways above the steering wheel, I guess it's big enough for them to watch videos, because that's what they were doing.

There is no way known to mankind to fix stupid.

 

[RayIN]

There is no way known to mankind to fix stupid.

Right! However Darwin will eventually win out.

 

[Torvy]

In IL it is mandatory to move over if it can be done safely. Here is the actual IL law

Sec. 11-905. Merging traffic. Notwithstanding the right-of-way provision in Section 11-901 of this Act, at an intersection where traffic lanes are provided for merging traffic the driver of each vehicle on the converging roadways is required to adjust his vehicular speed and lateral position so as to avoid a collision with another vehicle.

Read More: Illinois State Police Explain the Merge Sign and Its Law | Illinois State Police Explain the Merge Sign and Its Law

This doesn't apply to interstate onramps where a yield sign is present. (Almost all of them).

One problem with quoting laws is you almost need training in reading them to read between the lines.

Here's the Illinois code for that.

625 ILCS 5/11-904

So what happens is you get some self righteous types that don't yield the passing lane or try to force an opening on the interstate or who don't understand that once a zipper is closed, you are no longer 'zipper' merging when you fly past the closed zipper.

Of course, none of this is distracting driving, it's ignorant driving.

The only way to fix distracted driving is for officers to focus on it as a problem. It's easier to "prove" speeding (revenue) or drunk driving (safety). Texting and driving has been shown to be as bad (or worse) than drunk driving, but the penalties are much lower.

 

[kenmbz]

In PA to fix the texting low cost tickets, they have added a phone in hand rule/law.

In Pennsylvania, a new law prohibits using handheld cell phones and other electronic devices while driving, starting June 5th. This means holding a phone, even at a red light or in traffic, is illegal. Violations could result in a $50 fine after a one-year warning period, according to a YouTube video. The law, known as Paul Miller's Law, aims to reduce distracted driving and improve road safe.

But it is only a comparatively small fine so not sure it will be enforced.
However, I have seen that most ticket now add admin, police, fire and other fees to make them more worthwhile to enforce and make it cover the actual costs to have police and admin handle the ticket.