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Here’s my question: What is so important that you can’t wait until you’re at your destination? What did people do before cell phones?
And I’ve seen adults, not teens, holding their cell, a cigarette and a coffee at the same time. How do they steer? Don’t have a clue!
pant, pant, pant… yesh, it’s a sore subject with me!
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http://www.sarahjestin.com/feedbacklists.htmIt’s so easy to get distracted while driving. I have a friend whose parked car was totaled by a new driver. He glanced down to change something on the radio, swerved over and pushed her car into a light poll. He’d had his license less than a week if I remember right. Fortunately the rest of her family’s vehicles weren’t home at the time or they could have possibly been taken out by either her car getting pushed or the falling light poll.
I don’t talk on my cell phone while driving for two reasons. The first one is if you get caught talking on a cell phone on base with out a hands free device it’s either an automatic $50 or UCMJ depending on if you are civilian or military.
The second one is in July 2005 after my husband deployed the first time (Jan 2005) I was in an accident (it was my fault). My cell phone was in my purse and it started rining. I was stopped at a light so I didn’t think anything of fishing it out. Well while I was trying to get it out my foot slipped off the brakes and onto the gas. I hit the Chevy Blazer in front of me and pushed him into the truck in front of him. I stop far enough behind people that if I were to get hit from behind I won’t hit the person in front of me, that unfortunately gave me enough speed to push him (I personally think he was stopped too close to the person in front of him, but since I drive a Ford Focus SE there is no way I can say for sure). I do know I didn’t get going fast enough for my air bags to deploy.
Needless to say, our insurance is still a little high because of this accident. I no longer fish for my phone when I’m driving. I either put it somewhere I can get to easier, pull over to answer it or wait until I get where I was going to call the person back.
Necron99 wrote:my mother does that texting and driving crap. she did it once while i was in the car, so i took it from her and tossed it in the glove box
Good for you!
And, ski, I’ve driven in Hawaii – you really need all your attention on the road because there are idiot tourists (like me! 😆 ) who don’t know where they are going who do really stupid stuff. My friend that lives there totally rear ended a pair of tourists at the approach to the Like Like Highway – they suddenly realized they needed to go right, slammed on their brakes and veered over. She tried really hard to miss them but there wasn’t enough room at the speed everyone was travelling to stop in time. The cop totally commiserated with her – it was obvious what had happened – but he had to ticket her because she hit them from behind. And while I do speed (hey, I live in NJ – 65 is just a suggestion 😉 ) I’m actually really good about my signals and I try not to cut people off. I let people into flow of traffic all the time.
Ski, you know I love you! <3 But you're scaring me with this one. Please at least reconsider next time you have a text to send. I know you're older than I… if I can remember a time when we all got on just fine without using cellphones in our cars, I'm sure you can! 🙂
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My art: featherdust.comThere are a million and one things people do that distract them while driving, cell phones being only one of the million. Why not peeve about the folks who read while they drive? Or put on makeup, or talk animatedly to their friends in the back seat? Or eat?
Anything can distract you for that one fatal second, and we’re all guilty of something (and don’t say that you aren’t, either, you know you are).
At the same time, I often wonder if the age for getting your driver’s license ought not be raised to 18, or even 21 in some cases. Sure, get them their permit at 15, but make them practice driving with someone more experienced in the passenger seat for more than a year.
I got my license at 16, but I gotta admit, there were moments during my teen driving days when I sure didn’t feel experienced enough to handle what was going on on the road.
Rusti wrote:There are a million and one things people do that distract them while driving, cell phones being only one of the million. Why not peeve about the folks who read while they drive? Or put on makeup, or talk animatedly to their friends in the back seat? Or eat?
We would be peeved about these things if they happened often enough to be a noticeable threat, or actually caused enough crashes. I’ve seen a couple of people reading whilst driving. I’ve seen a couple of hundred thousand people (not necessarily different people; just different times) talking on a cell-phone whilst driving.
I’ve driven behind people talking on cell-phones and I keep my distance because more often than not they are all over the road. On the other hand, people smoking or eating or drinking seem to drive quite well.
Rusti wrote:I often wonder if the age for getting your driver’s license ought not be raised to 18
By the age of 18, kids are leaving school, leaving home, going to college, getting a job, getting married, or so on. They don’t need “learning to drive” thrown into the mix at that point. I like the 15-16 age. Kids have the time to learn to drive, the time to hang out with friends; the time to actually practice driving the relatively save routes between home, school, and the mall.
Also, they have the opportunity (school parking lot, mall) to get into a potentially dangerous situation, that they come through shaken but OK (fender bender, almost hit someone, had to lock up the brakes to avoid a collision) that acts as a wake up call to the reality of being in charge of an amazingly massive object.
Of course, people will get killed by new and inexperienced drivers, but that’s going to happen whatever age one starts. And, as you are pointing out, crashes are also caused by experienced drivers doing stupid, or at least thoughtless, things.
I well remember one crash expert talking on the subject of making cars more and more able to protect the driver in a crash. He pointed out that this is the wrong approach. It makes us cozy and gives us a false sense of invulnerability, so we actually pay less attention when driving because the more dire consequences of failing to pay attention are mitigated. His answer, possibly tongue in cheek, was to install a six-inch spike in the middle of the steering wheel, pointed at the driver’s face or chest. No-one would drive recklessly if getting into a crash would likely kill them.
I don’t text while driving and try not to talk.
I have seen what happens when people play with their phones and NOT pay attention to the road… its freakin scary!!! 😯
dragonmedley wrote:Here’s my question: What is so important that you can’t wait until you’re at your destination? What did people do before cell phones?
And I’ve seen adults, not teens, holding their cell, a cigarette and a coffee at the same time. How do they steer? Don’t have a clue!
pant, pant, pant… yesh, it’s a sore subject with me!
Agreed! I’ve seen people talk on a cell (haven’t seen texting yet), put on makeup, comb their hair, drink coffee, even floss! 😯 To be honest, I think they steer their vehicles with their knees when they do all of this! 😮 But as Rusti said, anything can distract you while driving.
I don’t talk on the phone and drive. If I receive a call, I let the machine get it and check it when I get off the road. I used to pull over and take the call, but there are a lot of instances when I can’t do that. I don’t even listen to a lot of music in the car because I still find it to be too distracting! You have to be so careful!
😆 I know you love me, Nam, and I also know that I have flaws. That was hard to admit… ack… Like I said, everyone disobeys rules of the road and everyone feels differently about which is worse. What is so important that I cant wait? Lots of times its work related and things dont get done and info doesnt get dissemanted unless I do it. If I cant do it in a timely manner, then I feel like I cant leave work and all the stuff I need to do gets pushed to the rear. Causes lots of stress on me in the long run. Or I forget about it and something doesnt get done. Other times its a text to my hubby. I can text w/o taking my eyes of the road for more than say, the same time it takes to check my blind spots. Should I stop? Yes. Should everyone else stop breaking the law, too? Yes. Will we all do it? Probably not.
Basically I just posted about texting because that was the news story – which was prompted by a tragic crash that killed 5 teenagers and texting was implicated in the cause of the crash. But, absolutely, other behavior that distracts while driving should be banned as well. Applying makeup, shaving, reading 😯 are also inappropriate while driving. I hate to admit it but I tend to drink (slurpees!) while driving, especially on long drives. I just think people shouldn’t do ANYTHING while driving that distracts their attention from the road.
I’m guilty of talking while driving, but I’m a fanatic about using the hands free.
Two different episodes come to my mind that scared the poo outta me–I used to have a 1996 Ford F-250. A big pickup, 4 wheel drive, not Bigfoot, but certainly bigger than most other vehicles on the road. I was eastbound on I-195 on my way into work in the fast lane, doing 80 mph. (yeah, I know…but like ddvm said, this IS NJ…It’s root, hog or die when it comes to the interstates…) I looked up in my mirror, and see just the roof of this car literally on my bumper. I looked again and I could see just the top of a freakin’ NEWSPAPER. I pulled over into the right lane to let this idiot past just so I could make sure that I had *really* seen what I thought I had. And sure enough, this guy cruised past me (and I was still doing like 80…) with the paper up against the steering wheel. WTH??The second episode was in NY. I was in my little Nissan commuter car on my way home, and had to slow down for traffic. I checked my mirror, and here’s this big, honkin’ SUV right behind me with a woman TEXTING and not looking up. I discovered that I *DID* know what the saying “pucker factor” really meant…. 😈 Lucky for me she remembered that she was in traffic and hit her brakes. I think she missed me by maybe a foot. I know all I saw was the grill of her SUV…. 😯
That would be very scary. I know of a trucker that was watching a movie while driving. He swerved into the opposite lane and ran head on into a family and killed some if not all of them. Very sad. I will let you know that my man texted me while I was driving to the dog park today and I did indeed think of you guys and waited till I was at a stop light to reply. I can be taught!
Good for you, Ski. I’m sure he’d feel horrible if he caused you to get into an accident. Better to be safe than sorry.
I’m such a nerd: I don’t cell, text, read, makeup, drink coffee, eat, etc. when I drive. I do sing along to my favorite songs on the radio and when my husband and I are in the car together, we do talk. That might get me distracted enough to miss my exit, but never to break too late.
Read my books! Volume 1 and 2 of A Dragon Medley are available now.
http://www.sarahjestin.com/mybooks.htm
I host the feedback lists, which are maintained by drag0nfeathers.
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