Teen Takes on Texting Driver

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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?

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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.