Texting while driving... wow.

[Stevisiov]

Or shaving, putting on makeup, looking for a CD, looking back and forth while talking to a passenger, tuning the radio, looking at someone else's accident/construction, picking your nose, shaving, rubbing your eyes, flicking a cigarette butt out the window, picking the cigarette butt out of the rear floorboard after it blows back in, putting out the smoking fie in your crotch from the cigarette blowing back in, calming a screaming child, eating a Big Mac, drinking a soft drink, scratching an itch on your back, etc.

Shaving
I hope the car has soft suspension.

Personally, I have seen to many idiot drivers in a normal situation, then putting more distractions has to be very foolish.

I tend not to see many people using cell phones or other mediums for distraction, perhaps because it is far harder to do these things in the manual gearboxes we have in this country. Still many of the listed above seem plain idiotic even in a Auto....

 

[jammyozzy]

Heh, just yesterday my dad and I drove around a corner on a country lane to be greeted by the sight of a Xsara Picasso driving straight down the centre of the lane. The lady driving was looking straight down into her lap, and she only looked up when she she hit a bump in the road. Sure enough, as she drove past, she had the phone in her left hand, and was changing gear with her right hand.

That was a 'wtf' moment - not just because she was texting whilst driving a people carrier with 2 babies in while texting, but she seemed so engrossed she had both hands off the wheel, crossed over.

 

[Danoff]

Heh, just yesterday my dad and I drove around a corner on a country lane to be greeted by the sight of a Xsara Picasso driving straight down the centre of the lane. The lady driving was looking straight down into her lap, and she only looked up when she she hit a bump in the road. Sure enough, as she drove past, she had the phone in her left hand, and was changing gear with her right hand.

That was a 'wtf' moment - not just because she was texting whilst driving a people carrier with 2 babies in while texting, but she seemed so engrossed she had both hands off the wheel, crossed over.

She should definitely have been ticketed (possibly worse) for reckless driving.

 

[Sureboss]

It's a criminal offence in the UK.

Ooh time to tell a funny story.

My neighbour is a policeman and he was an assistant in a patrol car on the A259, a car passed doing 48 in a 30 zone. So they got back in the car and followed the car. Got to a set of lights and they pointed for her to pull over and she didn't (she was on the phone btw), they pulled up alongside her at another set of lights and Jason (neighbour) knocked on her window and pointed for her to pull over. She said "Can't you see I'm busy?"

He reckons she'll get banned: Speeding = 3 points, using a mobile phone = 3 points and failing to stop for a policeman = 6 points. (I can't remember if the points were in that order).

Some people are so stupid it's funny.

 

[Stevisiov]

Heh, just yesterday my dad and I drove around a corner on a country lane to be greeted by the sight of a Xsara Picasso driving straight down the centre of the lane. The lady driving was looking straight down into her lap, and she only looked up when she she hit a bump in the road. Sure enough, as she drove past, she had the phone in her left hand, and was changing gear with her right hand.

That was a 'wtf' moment - not just because she was texting whilst driving a people carrier with 2 babies in while texting, but she seemed so engrossed she had both hands off the wheel, crossed over.

When I read something like I can't stop thinking how bloody stupid it is of someone doing it. It is not just her she endangered but her kids and other road users as well. It is not the only distracition and believe me I have no vendetta on mobile phones, just bad drivers, and drivers using a mobile phone is a catalyst for bad driving.

On the point on CD's my Dad told me of a time way back, when he flipped a friends Peugeot 205 T16, while tuning the radio, or putting on a casette (something audio related) he missed a corner and ended upside down in a field , luckily it had a roll cage, but the car was wrote-off, leaving a not very happy friend after returning from holiday . My Dad is definetley a competent driver, however suffice to say he is an incompetant driver when he is not looking, who isn't!

 

[FoolKiller]

Shaving
I hope the car has soft suspension.

Usually it involves an electric shaver. The one that comes to mind is when my wife and I were headed somehwre and a guy kept speeding up and slowing down and as I tried to pass he nearly drifted over into me. I tpped the horn and the car straightened out, but as I passed he was back to shaving, turning his head up and to the left so he could get his neck real good.

I tend not to see many people using cell phones or other mediums for distraction, perhaps because it is far harder to do these things in the manual gearboxes we have in this country. Still many of the listed above seem plain idiotic even in a Auto....

I have seen or heard of all of the above, and more. Manual gearboxes do nothing with America's interstate systems. Long, wide, smooth roads make for setting cruise control in the top gear and having your hands just as "free" as the automatic drivers.

 

[Casio]

I often text while I'm driving. Usually to inform my girlfriend I just photographed an awesome car for the GTP Car Scavenger Hunt while driving.

 

[Orion]

Ooo, lord no. "The law is an ass".

OMG, I just corrected Famine. You should be ashamed of yourself home skillet.

 

[Famine]

It was a quote. One of the most famous quotes from Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist...

Get an education.

 

[Orion]

It was a quote. One of the most famous quotes from Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist...

Get an education.

Famine pwned me again.

 

[Blackbird.]

 

[GT Pro]

I don't know much in the area of mobile (phones) nor the area of law concerning such actions/omissions but isn't the rise of 'hands-free' mobile technology meant to prevent this from happening?

 

[FoolKiller]

I don't know much in the area of mobile (phones) nor the area of law concerning such actions/omissions but isn't the rise of 'hands-free' mobile technology meant to prevent this from happening?

Yes, but apparently, unless it's a $100+ Bluetooth device, hands free kits just aren't cool enough.

 

[Joey D]

Isn't hands free just as dangerous? I mean you still don't have complete concentration on the road.

 

[daan]

'hands free' kits are legal but bluetooth ones are expensive (you can get el-cheapo egay ones but no thanks) and the hands free kits with wires i cant keep them untangled!

Is £20 expensive if it keeps your license for you?

 

[FoolKiller]

Isn't hands free just as dangerous? I mean you still don't have complete concentration on the road.

But your hands are on the wheel and your eyes are on the road. If you have a passenger of any kind or the radio on then you don't have complete concentration. So it is no more dangerous than talking with a friend in the passenger seat or listening to your favorite song/yelling at a political pundit.

 

[V1P3R]

There are enough idiots around here that no.. that's still not a good enough solution because they are still a danger to me. That's what makes the talking on a cell phone without a headset law pointless.

 

[Azuremen]

Isn't hands free just as dangerous? I mean you still don't have complete concentration on the road.

Most people, including several in here, don't understand the vast majority of the danger is not having yer hands off the wheel, etc, but rather the mental distraction of a conversation.

Talking with your passengers is more distracting than fiddling with the Radio, and is the reason alot of states now prohibit young drivers from having passengers for the first 6 months.

I'm pretty focused when I drive, and not good at having a conversation, which drives some of my passengers nuts because well, I don't exactly hear what they tell me.

 

[Danoff]

Yes, the safest way to drive is with both hands locked on the wheel, eyes trained on the road without blinking, no sneezing, no radio, no passengers, a clean windshield, and always maintaining a slow steady pace with copious amounts of distance between you and the next car, with a good long blinking period before changing lanes, always head checking your blind spots even though you've eliminated them with convex mirrors... oh and remember, never drive if you're upset at all.

Of course that's not particularly convenient or fun is it? I think people can get a little too safety conscious and forget that there are always risks in life. I drive with passengers and radios on all the time... sometimes both! I know, I'm a big risk taker, but somehow I've managed to survive.

 

[FoolKiller]

Yes, the safest way to drive is with both hands locked on the wheel,

You forgot at 10 and 2.

Of course that's not particularly convenient or fun is it? I think people can get a little too safety conscious and forget that there are always risks in life. I drive with passengers and radios on all the time... sometimes both! I know, I'm a big risk taker, but somehow I've managed to survive.

Check out Evel Knievel over here.


My problem is that, even if I didn't have my radio on, my car has such good seals that I hear very little outside noise. So, why not a little music?

 

[Azuremen]

Yes, the safest way to drive is with both hands locked on the wheel, eyes trained on the road without blinking, no sneezing, no radio, no passengers, a clean windshield, and always maintaining a slow steady pace with copious amounts of distance between you and the next car, with a good long blinking period before changing lanes, always head checking your blind spots even though you've eliminated them with convex mirrors... oh and remember, never drive if you're upset at all.

Of course that's not particularly convenient or fun is it? I think people can get a little too safety conscious and forget that there are always risks in life. I drive with passengers and radios on all the time... sometimes both! I know, I'm a big risk taker, but somehow I've managed to survive.

Yes yes, I know. Somethings are more distracting than others. With the radio, a normal person is generally not formulating a reply to most things on it. Blinking and sneezing, meh, it happens. I still check my blind spots, just cause.

Passengers are fine, just don't get into a big conversation with them. Listen to the radio instead And I do keep both my hands on the wheel most of the time. I'm hardly a safety nut though, just more of a driver that treats driving like serious business, instead of get into car and zone out into auto pilot mode.

 

[Christhedude]

sorry guys, but i'm one of these people who text sms while driving. if i do so (which is like once a month) then i write a very short text and only if i'm on a straight away with low traffic

 

[V1P3R]

Yeah straight away and then a truck pulls out and you flip your car in mid air and over another car and land on your wheels but destroy your suspension.

 

[Blackbird.]

Yeah straight away and then a truck pulls out and you flip your car in mid air and over another car and land on your wheels but destroy your suspension.

Wouldn't that be the truck's fault for pulling out in front of you?

 

[Stevisiov]

Wouldn't that be the truck's fault for pulling out in front of you?

Yes but it happens, it is amazing how many times I have seen someone cut-up by someone else even when there a few other cars on the motorway, truth is there are many bad drivers out there, come september time I may find out I am one of them.

 

[Kylehnat]

Wouldn't that be the truck's fault for pulling out in front of you?

Only if the truck driver was on his phone.

 

[V1P3R]

I don't care whoevers at fault but most of the time if I see a bus heading straight for me I don't just stand there.

Oh and just because it's a straight away doesn't mean noting can happen... There are many people that have proved this amazingly.

Anyway, I was being sarcastic about the other post and using a certain movie scene that it seems noone got. Oh well.

 

[V1P3R]

As long as you can still drive I don't care what you do.

Ok, so... black and white right? So, People that are drunk or buzzed and can still keep it together are ok on the road? I'm honestly asking because I'm sure there are people that do it. even me...

 

[xXSilencerXx]

I've done it before. Bad habit and stupid. i haven't done it in a long time I just wait till I'm where I'm at or have my passenger do the typing.

 

[Philly]

I often have my passenger have the text conversation for me. I will occasionally type a text while driving, but I try to avoid it, and it's usually something like "later" or "gotta go."

I don't find conversations all the distracting, but I'm usually pretty much not concentrating on my passengers when driving. And my brain totally shuts out anything when I really need to concentrate.