Former Astronaut Dies After Cycling Accident

[Eden]

I'll agree that there's nothing in either article to indicate texting was in any way at fault, but overall I'm much more in agreement with Oak.

Driving is treated way to lightly in this country. It is an activity that is acutely dangerous, yet we are very accepting that one might have a "moments inattention" and have an "accident".

I don't hold with the idea that inattention = accident. Inattention = negligence. I don't think it should be a felony, but I do think it should have consequences beyond you'll feel sorry.....

For the last 15 years drivers have pretty consistently killed from 37 to 44 thousand people every year. That's as many people as breast cancer kills every year, and we have yet to whip out a ribbon campaign for car accidents. We have the dubious distinction of having the #1 automobile accident death rate per population in the developed world. Auto accidents are the #1 killer of children in the US- above all childhood illnesses - combined....

I think our laws regarding driving should be much more stringent. I think our system for getting and keeping a drivers license should be much more difficult and I think that if you ever grievously injure, maim or kill someone because you were inattentive or aggressive behind the wheel - unless it was truly an accident - you should lose your license to drive - forever.

[redrhodie]

I agree with much of what has been written in this thread, from both sides, but I agree with this most of all:

I think our system for getting and keeping a drivers license should be much more difficult and I think that if you ever grievously injure, maim or kill someone because you were inattentive or aggressive behind the wheel - unless it was truly an accident - you should lose your license to drive - forever.

It's far too easy to get and keep a driver's license. I've had one driver's test in my life, when I was 16 years old. Isn't it time for a refresher course and a new test? I can't see why this isn't done every 10 or 12 years.

[zoom-zoom]

I think our laws regarding driving should be much more stringent. I think our system for getting and keeping a drivers license should be much more difficult and I think that if you ever grievously injure, maim or kill someone because you were inattentive or aggressive behind the wheel - unless it was truly an accident - you should lose your license to drive - forever.

Another ditto from me. If a person "accidentally" kills someone with a gun the punishment is usually more fitting. If they do so with a car it's often a slap on the wrist. A friend of a friend killed someone while drunk driving...to the best of my knowledge she served no jail time and had her driving PRIVILEGES restored just a year or two later...WTF?!

Too many view driving as a right. I'm all for the technology that prevents ANY cell phone function from a moving vehicle. My hubby pointed-out that this would prevent passengers from using the devices, too...tough sh!t, I say. No one will die from being unable to use a mobile device in a moving vehicle.

[channlluv]

Amen to that.

Whatever did we do in the back seats of cars before cell phones came out...oh wait, that came out wrong. I meant as kids, while our parents were driving.

The only thing I use my cellphone for while driving is to reference the GPS app, and then I always review all the directions before I start the trip and try to memorize the street names I need to look for.

I almost hit a teenage boy on a bike a few days ago. I was in a mixed residential/commercial neighborhood looking for an address, so I was driving slowly, thank goodness, because this 14- or 15-year-old bolts out from between parked cars on this little black BMX-looking bike with one of those really tilted back saddles -- how do they ride those things? -- and right through the street in front of me. No helmet, of course. If I had been going much faster he would have been a hood ornament.

Cyclists need to be educated about safety just as much as motorists do.

When I was little, our small town police department had this half-block-sized miniature town called Safety Town where our elementary school class -- I must have been in Kindergarten or first grade, maybe -- went to learn safety rules about where to cross the street, looking both ways, the various traffic signs, and so on. I don't remember riding my bike there on that field trip, but the mini-streets were big enough for kids to do that. Wouldn't it be great to have something similar in every community to teach kids real safety rules?

And +1 on the too-easy-to-keep-a-license point. My 84-year-old grandmother just renewed her driver's license by mail. No test. Nada. Just sign here, send the check, and look for it in the mail. I'm so glad she doesn't own a car anymore.

Roxy

[Veronica]

Are you willing to pay extra money so you can have someone to give you that driver's test every ten years?

Are you willing to pay extra taxes so that there can be an after school program to teach kids bike safety? It can't happen during school time - I don't have enough time to cover my required curriculum.

And maybe you as an individual are willing to pay for those services, but do you think society at large is?

Veronica

[Eden]

That argument, though I'm sure it would be effective for many, only looks at the short term and doesn't see the forest for the trees.

Automobile accidents are expensive too - to the tune of $230 billion per year. If a prevention program worked it wouldn't necessarily add to the average person's cost of living, and could possibly actually save money. How much higher are your insurance premiums (health and auto) because of all those accidents? How much more in taxes do you pay because of benefits to people who are hurt or killed, to support hospitals who treat the uninsured? To support people after their lives and finances have been torn apart? Prevention is generally cheaper than cure....

[redrhodie]

Are you willing to pay extra money so you can have someone to give you that driver's test every ten years?

Are you willing to pay extra taxes so that there can be an after school program to teach kids bike safety? It can't happen during school time - I don't have enough time to cover my required curriculum.

And maybe you as an individual are willing to pay for those services, but do you think society at large is?

Veronica

Yes, I'd pay for the test. The fee in my state for a road test is $26.50. That seems fair to me, especially if it was only every 10 years or so.

I'm sure most other people wouldn't want to pay for it, would argue it takes too much time, is not fair, whatever. I'm sure it would be extremely unpopular. I think it would probably make people better drivers, though. Maybe insurance providers, or AAA could give discounts for a good score.

I'm not sure how I feel about teaching kids bike safety after school with tax dollars. It certainly would have helped me avoid being doored when I was 14. Do schools still teach driver's ed, and is that covered by taxes?

[Aggie_Ama]

I would pay more for my driver's license if it meant it was harder to get one. When I renewed mine last year (done every six years) it was $25. That is $4.17 a year! Judging by the number of people I see carelessly driving I would happily test again to prove I am not one of them. Driving isn't a right, it is a privilege and should be regulated as such. I had been tested at 26 to make sure I was still up to par on driving I would have accepted it. Or if they based it off your driving record, I have known people who have had wrecks every 3 years that were their fault and they are just cruising along with the rest of us!

[Crankin]

Around here, most towns do driver's ed through Community Education; not part of HS curriculum. So, subsidized a little by taxes, but parents still have to pay a nice sum. Most people I know send their kids to private driving schools, where it is easier to schedule the behind the wheel time required.

[PamNY]

In a perfect world, driver's license tests would be more frequent, and enforcement of traffic laws would be better.

Cyclists would be licensed, too, and somehow prevented from phoning/texting while on the bike.

[oxysback]

In a perfect world, everyone would follow the law. Therefore, we wouldn't need any additional testing, fees, whatever.

You can have all the laws you want. Doesn't mean every single person will follow them.

[lph]

I took my drivers licence when I was 35. I was freaking terrified. I was adult, conscientious, aware, a mother, a seasoned cyclist well used to duelling it out at close quarters with cars, trucks and motorcycles at high speed, and I was terrified I'd kill someone.

I realize now that much of that feeling was not having car handling under my skin, and now that I drive regularly I know the car and how to position it a lot better. But I try to never forget that feeling of how much you don't see from a drivers seat, and how very little time it takes to lose control. The feeling of danger I had was exaggerated, but still real and justified. I use that memory to remind myself to practice often and keep up my skills, and to actively judge if I should drive at all under difficult conditions.

I would welcome a compulsory re-test for a drivers licence after ten years. At age 16 (18 here) you may be old enough to master the physical act of driving, but at age 26 you're a responsible adult old enough to really come to grips with what you're doing and how it can affect lives.

[jessmarimba]

A repeat test would be good, but what about people who WILLFULLY don't follow laws? I'm sure plenty of people know that they SHOULD use their turn signal and not run red lights, and that tailtgating while going 80 mph is a bad idea...but would remember well enough to behave with an instructor in the car.


A lot of people get so entitled behind the wheel. I like the theory - I can't remember who wrote the essay - but if we all drove around with a giant metal spike sticking out of our steering wheels and no seatbelts, we'd all be much better drivers.

[sundial]

When I see a cyclist riding on a busy highway, I almost cringe. So many drivers are distracted and it only takes a second for a life to be completely changed.

[channlluv]

I saw three riders today on the streets near my school. Two men and a woman all riding and chatting -- it was a great day for it -- and then as I was leaving the school parking lot, I saw them again, only this time the woman was lagging behind because she was focused on dialing her phone. It took her a few seconds and both hands off the handlebars to do it, and then she rode on down the road one-handed while holding the phone to her ear. I'm glad it was the middle of the day and traffic - cars and kids crossing at the crosswalk between the schools - was minimal.

Roxy