Distracted driving from cell phones needs to stop

Digital Joker

Do I look like I'm joking?
Sep 22, 2013
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Edmonton Alberta
Its the greatest cause of automotive accidents. Countless people are killed or seriously injured everyday because of texting and other cell phone usage while driving. New laws created to curb distracted driving have had little success as you can see someone using their phone while driving at almost every intersection.
Since we're clearly too stupid to change our behaviour I think auto and cellular manufacturers need to get together and come up with a solution. Personally Id like to see technology that disables cell phone usage within the confines of an automobile. Ideally it'd only effect the driver but you just know there'd be people trying to lean into the back seat to text while still driving if that was the case.
Thoughts on the subject?
 
Crazy idea: include Cell Phone usage in driver's ed training.

What I don't get is Cell Phone's don't have to be dangerous. I've used them while driving including Semi Trucks. It's all very situational. If I'm rolling down the highway with little traffic, it's no big deal to take a call. If I'm in Chicago, f*** the call. Same goes for weather conditions. I'm not using the cell phone during icy snowy weather. It can be safely used though if you have any sense.

I never texted on the phone while driving, but I did send messages to my trucking dispatch and I typed while driving. Again, only on the highway when clearly nobody is near me. I'd never do that in the city or a busy beltway.

Aside from that, maybe restrict how much phones can be used while in motion or by GPS location. If a Smartphone knows it's on the Interstate by GPS, it can be more lenient. If a Smartphone knows by GPS it's in a congested Metro area, have the ringtone disable and let it take voicemails only. Maybe let the phone have the ability to call out 1 or 2 times within 30 minute time blocks even in the Metro zones to allow for emergency calls. Of course, 911 would be unrestricted.
 
Auto manufactures are integrating touch free phone systems now. Texting is a whole other situation though. Touch free, or Bluetooth is okay with me. But holding a phone, shifting gears, and using the steering wheel is surely dangerous. The laws on texting need to be as harsh as DUI imo. Heck its dangerous just to take your eyes off the road long enough to play with the stereo, let along try to read, or even worse type.
 
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If I was a cop Id pull over ever single person using a cell while driving. I wouldn't give a warning. It would be the most expensive ticket I could write. I absolutely hate when people do this. And sorry, if your phone is on speaker, and and you're holding it, it's not hands free. You're getting a ticket.
 
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I think it is a generational thing. I'm driving and my phone goes off? I ignore it, or if I am expecting an important call, I pull over and stop.

Younger people though grow up always being connected. The idea of ignoring your phone is just unheard of to many of them. I work for a university and the students complain all the way up to the president of the university about how they get no cell signal in the elevators in the dorms (a 30 second ride). That's unfortunately the mentality younger people often grow up with.

Texting is the worst. Before it was illegal, sometimes I would try to text at a red light, but even then often times I miss the light change and someone behind me would honk. A moment's distraction is all it takes to cause an accident.

Also, people have enough trouble driving safely even when not using their phones.
 
10 years ago you never saw people texting and driving.

Today, every third car has a driver on their cell.

Have accident rates gone up drastically over the past 10 years? I know vehicle fatalities continue to drop each year but that's not exactly the same.

If accident rates aren't going up then all you people complaining need to STFU and stop getting offended over everything.

Text at red lights and on straights when no other cars are around. Stupid people get into accidents. I suspect it has very little to do with texting.
 
10 years ago you never saw people texting and driving.

Today, every third car has a driver on their cell.

Have accident rates gone up drastically over the past 10 years? I know vehicle fatalities continue to drop each year but that's not exactly the same.

If accident rates aren't going up then all you people complaining need to STFU and stop getting offended over everything.

Text at red lights and on straights when no other cars are around. Stupid people get into accidents. I suspect it has very little to do with texting.

Is it possible we just simply have more freakin cars on the road than ever before? Traffic in some cities is just insane.
 
Its the greatest cause of automotive accidents. Countless people are killed or seriously injured everyday because of texting and other cell phone usage while driving. New laws created to curb distracted driving have had little success as you can see someone using their phone while driving at almost every intersection.
Since we're clearly too stupid to change our behaviour I think auto and cellular manufacturers need to get together and come up with a solution. Personally Id like to see technology that disables cell phone usage within the confines of an automobile. Ideally it'd only effect the driver but you just know there'd be people trying to lean into the back seat to text while still driving if that was the case.
Thoughts on the subject?


I so hope apple follows your idea and disables cell phones while people are driving so i can buy their stock once it hits bottom and then ride it all the way back up after they realize their huge mistake. cell phones are no more distracting than, radios, maps, make-up, kids, kids again and kids for a third time, other people in the car, hot women, food, really hot women, accidents on the side of the road and a host of other things.
 
If I was a cop Id pull over ever single person using a cell while driving. I wouldn't give a warning. It would be the most expensive ticket I could write. I absolutely hate when people do this. And sorry, if your phone is on speaker, and and you're holding it, it's not hands free. You're getting a ticket.

tumblr_m9v3menU4v1r49x7wo1_500.jpg
 
Is it possible we just simply have more freakin cars on the road than ever before? Traffic in some cities is just insane.

The key word here is traffic accident RATES.

That usually means per 100,000 vehicles from the statistics I've seen.

I'm pretty sure driving has never been safer than in 2015.
 
Accident rates (not fatality rates) seem to be going down as well. If texting was such a hazard we would see accident rates jump up over the past 10 years. They're not.
 
Accident rates would be the useful stat, as obviously cars get safer all the time reducing injuries and fatalities.

My gut tells me that people are worse drivers now, but of course I have no data to back that up. Could just be me getting older and noticing it more. Yesterday I'm going through a construction zone where everything is down to one lane in each direction. Well, the guy in front of my suddenly stops and decides to make a u-turn... across the construction work in the middle of the road. The construction ended just ahead, but he decided cutting across the cones where guys were working was the best idea.

Although to be honest, I drove like an a-hole back when I was younger too.
 
If accident rates aren't going up then all you people complaining need to STFU and stop getting offended over everything.

Text at red lights and on straights when no other cars are around. Stupid people get into accidents. I suspect it has very little to do with texting.
If you took a moment to do a little research you'd find that distracted driving is the leading cause of accidents and that you're 27 times more likely to be involved a vehicular accident while using a cell phone.
Perhaps you should STFU and educate yourself about something before posting your stupidity.
 
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If you took a moment to do a little research you'd find that distracted driving is the leading cause of accidents and that you're 27 times more likely to be involved a vehicular accident while using a cell phone.
Perhaps you should STFU and educate yourself about something before posting your stupidity.

What commercial did you hear that on?

Once again. Cell phones are a new variable in the public commute. If they are 27 times more anything, why have accident rates gone DOWN in the last 10 years? Use you head.
 
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/03/28/cellphone-use-1-in-4-car-crashes/7018505/

Article from last year citing that 1/4 of accidents caused by cell use. Of those only 5% involved the driver texting.

It seems that even speaking on the phone is a major distraction. Anything but hands free should be a ticket imo.

It's driver stupidity that causes accidents. We all make bad decisions when we're fatigued, stressed, or distracted. Let's stop acting like cell phones are the first thing to distract drivers since the invention of automobiles.
 
It's driver stupidity that causes accidents. We all make bad decisions when we're fatigued, stressed, or distracted. Let's stop acting like cell phones are the first thing to distract drivers since the invention of automobiles.
Nobody is saying that it isn't driver stupidity, but it's easier to simply remove cell phones from the equation than it is to change someone's irresponsible nature. Are you arguing that if cell phones weren't used at all while driving then the accident rate would remain the same?
 
Nobody is saying that it isn't driver stupidity, but it's easier to simply remove cell phones from the equation than it is to change someone's irresponsible nature. Are you arguing that if cell phones weren't used at all while driving then the accident rate would remain the same?

Well...accident rates were higher in the 1970's, 1980's, and 1990's. How many people were texting then?

Why should responsible people be punished for the actions of the less intelligent? Yeah, we could remove cell phones from cars but we could also remove radio's, passengers, food, knob adjustments of any kind etc...
 
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