Texting

[dave1949]

How the heck can you drive safely if you can't hear what's going on around you?
Oh wait, you can't.

Bill

Deaf people do drive.

I'm not deaf, but close to it. The eyes have to do double duty looking for what may not be heard.

 

[oosik]

Until our economy does a turnaround I seriously doubt enforcement will have much impact on texting. Our community was already short handed in law enforcement and the 2013 budget cut back in this area even more. There used to be a property crimes unit which was also lost in the 2013 budget. Then there are enforcement priorities. In the entire gamete of crimes I wonder where texting fits in or does it even have a ranking.
Technology and stupid people caused this problem - - let technology and education resolve the problem.

 

[Bill Hoffman]

Gee, maybe no one should be using interactive communication while a vehicle
is in motion.

As far as deaf people driving, I have severe hearing loss, so any outside auditory
distraction makes my job of driving safely even more difficult. If you're hard of
hearing, you compensate by greater visual attention as Dave said. If you have
normal hearing, your other senses don't compensate, so in a sense, you're driving
with a sound distraction.

Driving is a full time, full attention required job. If you aren't paying full attention,
you're impaired.

 

[grsthegreat]

Deaf people do drive. I'm not deaf, but close to it. The eyes have to do double duty looking for what may not be heard.

blind people drive also, why else would they have braille at drive up teller windows.

 

[dave1949]

blind people drive also, why else would they have braille at drive up teller windows.

LOL

I will assume it's because they use a standard ATM machine face; walk up or drive up.

 

[Mace Canute]

LiveLeak.com - Dashboard video of trucker who crashed into police cars

 

[JasG]

Some towns are fining people for texting while walking. People walk out in front of cars and end up dead.

Texting while walking blamed in the nationwide increase of pedestrian deaths | Mail Online

 

[JasG]

Digital Dilemmas:

 

[3930dave]

And if texting wasn't bad enough.....

"People Who Take Selfies On Instagram While Driving Are The Worst People". Kinda sounds like a drug combo...

People Who Take Selfies On Instagram While Driving Are The Worst People

Every time I think "It's not possible for people to become more self-absorbed"..... I end up being wrong.

Rgds, D.

 

[JasG]

From your link, yet people keep doing it. Too bad someone isn't able to go after those who do that and charge them.

Using cellphones while driving is a huge problem in the U.S. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 31 percent of drivers in the U.S. between the pages of 18 and 64 reported that they had used their phone for texting or emailing while driving within the past 30 days. 3,331 people were killed in crashes that involved a distracted driver in 2011.

The absolute worst I know of though was a woman a few years ago that hit a utility pole. She was huffing keyboard cleaner at the time. One of the side effects of keyboard cleaner is paralysis, so she was going down the road knowing full well she wouldn't be able to control the car.

 

[JasG]

This isn't the woman I was thinking of, but it seems it is not uncommon. Thank god it's no where near as common as texting while driving.

Mass. woman pleads guilty in "huffing" crash - Boston.com

Prosecutors said 18-year-old Catherine Gaudette pleaded guilty Tuesday in Lowell District Court to charges including aggravated assault and battery causing serious bodily injury, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and impeded operation. She was sentenced to two years in prison, along with two more years on an unrelated drug charge. She will serve three years' probation afterward and lose her driver's license for five years.Police said Gaudette lost consciousness behind the wheel last October while "huffing" a can of computer keyboard cleaner to get a cheap high. They said she struck a woman crossing a Lowell street, then traveled another 50 feet and hit two more people -

 

[3930dave]

What I don't get about texting, and these new forms of digital narcissism, is:

Are all these people actually that stupid ?

or

Do they just don't care ?

I don't see to many other options.

Rgds, D.

 

[JasG]

What I don't get about texting, and these new forms of digital narcissism, is:

Are all these people actually that stupid ?

or

Do they just don't care ?

I don't see to many other options.

Rgds, D.

I think there are several reason, some I think are addicted to their device and can not even think of turning it off or waiting to reply. I think others think they can handle it, all while weaving in the road. I also think yes, there are people that just don't care, and yes there are people that are just plain stupid.

 

[PILOON]

I think there are several reason, some I think are addicted to their device and can not even think of turning it off or waiting to reply. I think others think they can handle it, all while weaving in the road. I also think yes, there are people that just don't care, and yes there are people that are just plain stupid.

And I think that the latter is most likely the case.

 

[NorTracNY]

What I don't get about texting, and these new forms of digital narcissism, is:

Are all these people actually that stupid ?

or

Do they just don't care ?

I don't see to many other options.

Rgds, D.

I think the elected leadership in this country answers your questions.

 

[3930dave]

I think the elected leadership in this country answers your questions.

While occasionally I can correctly be accused of over-simplifying, unfortunately the Stupid ? or Don't Care ? bins fill up with the answers to many situations today.

I do distinguish between Stupid and Ignorant. Given the scale of the problem, and ease of access to information today, I can't see how anybody can plead true ignorance of the risks being discussed.

JasG makes a good point about the addiction angle. Rainy day reading for me is to try and track down studies on how and to what extent these constant forms of digital "communication" have morphed people's thought patterns - the general results are publicly notable, so the clinical studies should be fairly advanced by now.

In some respects, these digital communication technologies tend to divide, more than unite. (Ex. - I think most agree that the behaviour on TBN is usually more civil than most boards on the web). At the same time, the younger generations think it is normal to spew all their thoughts and activities publicly onto the web.

Take (Divisive technology) + (social conditioning to be an exhibitionist) + (Mega scale data logging and Search ability) = a vector result well beyond what Orwell penned.

Leads me to believe - only really parents can teach responsible driving habits, I don't expect much correction to be applied elsewhere.

Rgds, D.

 

[NorTracNY]

Never underestimate stupidity! Also don't dismiss the fear of people to confront their problems and just pretend that the obvious truth doesn't exist.

Is there much difference between someone choosing to text on a phone while driving and someone choosing to drink alcohol away from home and not having a preplanned way home that doesn't involve them driving?

 

[JasG]

Came across this today. Mrs. Cowit hit several cows.

Daisy Cowit, driver, accused of texting after hitting cow herd

Someone obviously didn't watch Werner Herzog's PSA on texting and driving. Witnesses in Mount Hope, N.Y., say the perhaps unfortunately named Daisy Cowit was texting behind the wheel Monday afternoon when she plowed right into a herd of 50 cows crossing the road. Cowit denies she was sending messages she says she merely looked down to check an incoming call, an excuse that isn't satisfying the cows' owner, farmer Mike Hosking. "If you don't see 50 cows in the road, you're doing something [you shouldn't be doing]," he told the Times Herald-Record. Three of the cows were seriously hurt, though Hoskins is grateful the accident wasn't worse. If it were a different time of day, "she could have hit kids who were waiting for a school bus," he said

 

[Midniteoyl]

Always scares me.. even if I do pull out my phone to see whos calling, or tune radio, or whatever, I am always looking at the road a heck of a lot more than in the car. As they say, "Eyes out!"