Driving and Cellphones

[Racket_Man]

my problem withe being on the phone or texting while driving is this:

I drive for a living. my car IS my office so to speak BUT doing what I do (pizza delivery) calls for me to pay attention to the road and all of the hazards that are present. the hazards include:

children who think they are immortal running or playing in the street.
skateboarders
scooters (either RaZor types or the Vespa type)
bicycles
dog walkers
drivers operating any type of vehicle yakking on the phone not paying enough attention to the road

MY BIG problem during the warmer months is this:
skateboarders =humming along the street yakking or texting
gas powered scooters with riders humming along the streets yakking or texting
bike riders humming along the streets yakking or texting

YES every summmer I almost splat more then enough of these person who whould know better.

[protege]

When you consider how great an impact it has on something like that, and then realize how little time it takes to avoid or be involved in an accident, it's obvious that talking on the phone while driving is a risk that should be avoided except in extreme circumstances. Especially considering that it's possible that you could end up responsible for the death of others over it; it's just not worth it.

^This

Some of you might remember that my brothers were in a serious accident a few days after Christmas in '99. They were on their way to job interviews at the local amusement park. As their car was turning into the parking lot...some asshole in a pickup plowed into the side of their car. My one brother got off lucky--his only serious injury was a huge cut on his head, possibly from the car's sunroof caving in, and the glass hitting him. My other brother...wasn't as lucky. He took the full force of the wreck--the truck plowed right into his door--and suffered massive internal injuries. We're talking a lacerated liver, internal bleeding, and other serious shit. As if that wasn't enough, they had two friends in the back of the car. Other than some serious cuts (from flying glass), they came out OK.

Anyone want to guess what the pickup driver was doing? That douche was too busy fucking around with his phone...and didn't see that his light was now red. He was so busy on that "important" phone call, that he nearly ended my brother's life. Sure hope that the massive lawsuit that came was worth it. Fucking prick.

Oh, and some of you might also remember...that *I* got hit 2 days the following New Year's' (2000), by *another* asshole who was too busy with his phone. I was on my way to work, and had to stop for a light. For some reason, I got the feeling that I was about to be hit. I look up in the mirror...and I see a white Lexus bearing down on me. I stood on the brakes, and he rammed me. Luckily, I didn't hit the cars in front of me. I'd actually passed him earlier in the morning, and he was on the phone. Didn't think much about it at the time. Other than some whiplash, I got off lucky. The accident could have *easily* been much worse--he could have hit me hard enough to push me into a pole, or even out into oncoming traffic

As you can tell, I can't stand people who are on the damn phone while driving. Seriously, calling/texting your "BFF" can wait. It's not worth jeopardizing the lives of others. No matter what you think, you're *not* capable of driving and talking on the phone at the same time. Don't believe me? Why is it, that whenever I see a car weaving all over the place, or going well under the speed limit...there's a phone involved? Hang the fuck up, and drive.

[DrFaroohk]

I think people sometimes exaggerate the "almost hit me" phrase. I used to get it as a teenager. Some adult would be like "YOU ALMOST HIT MY CAR!"

"No I didn't."

"Yeah you did, you were six inches away from scraping it!"

"No, your car is six inches from where i had to park. 6 inches away is "not hitting it", not "almost hitting it"."

Anyway, I think sometimes you can be, say, walking down the sidewalk, and you see someone come driving by and think "He's awfully close to me!" and then you see the cellphone in his hand, and you assume "he almost hit me" when in fact he didn't, it's just he was going his way, you were walking your way, and your paths were close.


"Almost hit" something means you lost control of the vehicle, and only recovered in the nick of time to narrowly avoid a collision. Anything else is "didn't hit."

[siead_lietrathua]

i'm sorry, but if a moving car comes within 6 inches of me, as a pedestrian or in my car, that is way to damn close. 6" is about the same length as my car's side mirror. if a car is as close to me as that, it leaves zero reaction time if they were to lose control. so that incredibly unsafe driving, in my opinion. a good bump could jerk the car sideways that far.

[DrFaroohk]

But if you're just on the sidewalk, and the sidewalk happens to be six inches from the road, and the driver is driving a perfectly controlled straight line down the road, he's not "almost hitting you".

[Andara Bledin]

But if you're just on the sidewalk, and the sidewalk happens to be six inches from the road, and the driver is driving a perfectly controlled straight line down the road, he's not "almost hitting you".

Nice straw man.

I almost plowed into the driver's side of some dumb bunny mucking about with her cell phone who drifted out into my lane of travel from a side street. Considering that I was in a 70s era land yacht, she'd have been creamed. The only reason I didn't was because I'm paranoid about intersections (that's actually saved me from getting into half a dozen accidents from other people either running red lights or just not paying any freaking attention to the 2-ton death machine they're controlling) and managed to swerve around her. And despite the 6-inch clearance between our vehicles, I absolutely did almost hit her.

^-.-^

[siead_lietrathua]

But if you're just on the sidewalk, and the sidewalk happens to be six inches from the road, and the driver is driving a perfectly controlled straight line down the road, he's not "almost hitting you".

if the sidewalk is 6" from the edge of the road (white line then), the only way the car would be passing within 6" of someone on the sidewalk is if the car was riding the white line or over it, and if the person on the sidewalk was at the same time walking on the very edge of the sidewalk. most people in cars travel as center as possible. same with people on the sidewalk.
again, 6" is a remarkably small distance. the length of most car's mirrors.
perhaps it's diffrent up here, but between sidewalks and the white line in most urban areas here there is at least a foot of space.

[DrFaroohk]

Nice straw man.


^-.-^

Nice nonsensical rant.

As I said earlier, which people have ignored, regardless of six inches this or where the fuckin sidewalk is (seriously people?), there are MANY times where someone is "almost hit" and they have a big menstruating fit over something they perceived which is entirely incorrect, case in point it's happened to me many times. People just assume what they want because they're too stupid to think for themselves or accept any outside opinion. Someone thinks you almost hit him, he's gonna believe it, no matter how wrong he might be.

[Nekojin]

I know that this post is talking to thin air, but it needs to be said.

6 inches is a tiny margin. Hell, a foot is a tiny margin, when you're talking about a 12+ foot long, 2+ ton metal cage. If a bicycle passes within a foot of me (much less a car), he has almost hit me. I may or may not make a big deal about it, based on my perception of his control and awareness, but you are in no position to declare that it's no big deal, and I wasn't "almost hit."

Good day, sir.

[woodensunshine]

Back to the topic...

There are a lot of people up here (and I say up here, because it's where I've seen it the most) that tend to drift into my lane. I almost had a guy hit me because he wanted to be in my lane while I was still in it. But, I guess it's not almost hitting me, because he was only six inches into my lane

Also, what's frustrating is the pedestrians who tune out the world with their iPods or cell phones and can't hear me driving up behind them.

Nomophobia?

[ngc_7331]

There is a minor amount to that, but compared to holding a conversation, it's a magnitude of difference.

There's something that goes on in the brain when holding a remote conversation, particularly if you actually know the person involved, that really takes away from your ability to do other things.

But what's the difference between me talking on my bluetooth to say, my mom, or talking to her while she's in the car with me? I agree that you shouldn't be dialing unless your car is not moving and definitely not texting but a conversation is a conversation.

Actually, I would think it would be safer to talk to someone over the phone then in the car since it would eliminate the instinct we have of looking at the person we're talking to.

[Andara Bledin]

But what's the difference between me talking on my bluetooth to say, my mom, or talking to her while she's in the car with me?

You'd think the former would be safer, but if someone is there with you, you don't have to imagine what they look like at any given time, because you can just glance over and see. The difference in distraction level and duration is a lot more important than most people are aware.

Also, it's worth noting that if you are talking on the phone, your head will drop. I don't know why this happens, but someone doing a study on the difference between holding a phone to their ear or using a bluetooth headpiece noted that they did the same exact thing with either device, and their reactions were just as impaired with either device. They came to the conclusion that they should never attempt to drive and talk on the phone at the same time.

I imagine that CB radios would have somewhat similar but reduced impact. Since the conversations are not on-going and the participants can be much more than two, I suspect that much less effort is put into visualizing the other side and more just remembering which handle goes to which voice.

^-.-^

[blas87]

I drive best, but most aggressive, when alone.

For some reason, having someone else in the car, I don't drive like such an asshole. I still get upset over stuff others do, but I tend to stay more reasonable and patient than say, driving to work alone or driving home alone. But, with someone else in the car, I can be more apt to have a slower reaction time, or speed without noticing.

Probably because I don't want to be responsible for hurting another person and my insurance is so crappy, they don't really pay out well if another person gets hurt in my car.

[Greenday]

I drive best, but most aggressive, when alone.

For some reason, having someone else in the car, I don't drive like such an asshole.

That's pretty much how it works when I drive. If I wreck and injure/kill myself, yea, that'll suck. If I wreck and injure/kill someone else, forget it. I wouldn't be able to live with myself.

My new car will have blue tooth sync. I can talk to my car and it does everything for me. God I can't wait (4 more weeks...).

[AdminAssistant]

I hope you have better luck with Sync than we have. It's great....when it actually recognizes what you're saying.