Teen Takes on Texting Driver

[Thorn]

One of those articles that give you hope.....

I love her acronym -- Stop Texting And Talking In Cars (S.T.A.T.I.C.) and am really impressed by what she's accomplished at 18.

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/lakefore...410-s1.article

[Irulan]

People are idiots. I had a cell phone blabber tailgating me yesterday.

They recently made using a hand held cell phone a primary offense here. This means, they could write you a ticket for $124. But they don't write the tickets! I don't understand: they could sit an officer at any major intersection or on any arterial and solve the budget crisis in about 45 minutes. I see a rare person actually pulled over to take a call now, but really i've never seen such blatant disregard for a law before.

[Thorn]

It gets worse. I read a stat that said that areas where they enacted no texting laws actually see an uptick in texting related accidents. The reason is that now drivers are holding the phone below the window so as to not be caught and not even looking at all in the direction of travel. Arggghh....

I was waiting to cross a major highway the other day and counted cell drivers vs. non cell drivers. It was 1 in 4 drivers on the phone. 55mph on a city highway (2 lane divided road with lots of driveways and intersections). Frightening.

[bikerHen]

It gets worse. I read a stat that said that areas where they enacted no texting laws actually see an uptick in texting related accidents. The reason is that now drivers are holding the phone below the window so as to not be caught and not even looking at all in the direction of travel. Arggghh.....

Very true. I've seen it many time since the law was passed here in Washington State. I was waiting to turn left behind a car driven by an older women. I started to move when the light changed, she didn't. When I was even with her car, she was busy texting, phone in her lap. I tap her window and told her to stop texting and watch the road. I got a major dirty look as she sped off. It made my day. bikerHen

[Irulan]

Very true. I've seen it many time since the law was passed here in Washington State. I was waiting to turn left behind a car driven by an older women. I started to move when the light changed, she didn't. When I was even with her car, she was busy texting, phone in her lap. I tap her window and told her to stop texting and watch the road. I got a major dirty look as she sped off. It made my day. bikerHen

lol. Esp since we live in the same town, this is really easy for me to picture.

[Bike Chick]

Very true. I've seen it many time since the law was passed here in Washington State. I was waiting to turn left behind a car driven by an older women. I started to move when the light changed, she didn't. When I was even with her car, she was busy texting, phone in her lap. I tap her window and told her to stop texting and watch the road. I got a major dirty look as she sped off. It made my day. bikerHen

Good for you Bikerhen! I met a woman on my Tuesday run that was talking on the cell phone (left hand) and holding a V8 (right hand). I kid you not!!Tell me how she was steering!!! Her knee??? Come on people!

[SLash]

It is nuts. I saw a guy the other day that had a laptop computer mounted to his dash with a swivel base which was pointed toward the driver and it was on.

The world has gone insane.

[zoom-zoom]

People are idiots. I had a cell phone blabber tailgating me yesterday.

They recently made using a hand held cell phone a primary offense here. This means, they could write you a ticket for $124. But they don't write the tickets! I don't understand: they could sit an officer at any major intersection or on any arterial and solve the budget crisis in about 45 minutes. I see a rare person actually pulled over to take a call now, but really i've never seen such blatant disregard for a law before.

Too bad cops can't just shoot the tires of drivers they suspect of texting while driving (or reading or applying makeup or paying more attention to their phone conversation than to the road). See how quickly people would change their horrible habits, then!

[OakLeaf]

Meh. Ever look inside a cop car?

[zoom-zoom]

Meh. Ever look inside a cop car?

True. That's where those swivel dashboard laptop stands originated.

[SLash]

Meh. Ever look inside a cop car?

Yeah, but this wasn't a cop car, just some joe with average driving skills at best. Cops received specialized training and laptop is part of the car for them. Call me skittish.

[Irulan]

Too bad cops can't just shoot the tires of drivers they suspect of texting while driving (or reading or applying makeup or paying more attention to their phone conversation than to the road). See how quickly people would change their horrible habits, then!

they could use the red light cameras to take photos of them. I wonder how much of a correlation there is.

[Bike Writer]

A few weeks ago I was bike riding down Main St. (on sidewalks) and a young gal on a bike was approaching. She was texting, I gave a partial little ding of my bell but she was intent, another little ding, still no reaction. I was edging over as far as I could but was running out of space as I was now up against the buildings. Finally I let loose a full Brrrrrrrrinnnnnngggggg. That got her attention, she snapped up, swerved, laughed and kept right on.

I tossed a stern "no texting while driving" over my shoulder but all I could imagine is that she must have thought I was nuts because she was not driving a car. The world has gotten carried away with this whole thing of being tethered to a stream of communication that never ceases.