texting and driving

[ThomR]

A couple months ago I was rear ended at a stop light for some bridge construction while on my way home from work. There are two bridges maybe a quarter of a mile apart from each other that are being replaced, and thankfully are almost done. My self and a truck that was in front of me were stopped at the second light around 11:30pm. I was hit so hard that my car slammed into the truck in front of me and bent the trailer hitch almost straight down on the truck. My car was completely totaled. Thankfully neither myself or my wife were injured. The guy driving the truck that hit us said he dropped his cigarette.

[Tom W.]

In Georgia if you are driving it needs to be "hands free", and is illegal for the phone to even touch your body. The only exception is an emergency. If you are parked then you can call. $50 for the first offence, and more as the offences mount. In Alabama the law is similar, but it hasn't been broadcast as much as the Georgia law is, probably because we get Columbus Ga. t.v. stations and maybe one from Montgomery......

[abunaitoo]

On the military bases here, if your in the vehicle, with a phone to your ear, they will charge you.
Had a fiend who was delivering on base.
He was sitting in the truck, talking to dispatch.
MP stopped behind him.
Gave him a ticket, escorted him off base.
He was banned for a month from driving on to the base.
Boss wasn't to happy with him.
I've heard the only people on base that were immune, was the commandant and his wife.

[Walks]

It's illegal in CA too.


DOESN'T MAKE A BIT OF DIFFERENCE.

I've been driving SoCal freeways for almost 50yrs. Used to drive back & forth from the Harbor area to downtown every day BEFORE cellphones. I used to see woman puting makeup on, men reading newspaper's, and these WERE THE DRIVER'S.

Now every time you look over at another driver, most of them are using cellphones. Not hands free either. Age & Gender don't seem to matter either.

[Lloyd Smale]

should be made a felony in every state. Even hands free cell phone talking. I passed a guy the other day that was doing about 50 in a 65 zone who was screaming so loud I could here him when I passed him. Im sure he was having a fight with his wife or a bad business deal but he was defineately distracted. Just because your not holding a phone up to your ear or are tapping a text out doesn't mean your not distracted. I say make them go back to pagers. If you get a page pull over and call the person that wants to talk to you. NO MORE blue tooth or wi fi hots spots in vechicles. If a call is important enough that you need to respond right away pull over and call. I shake my head at texting. My wife is addicted. She was trying to get ahold of the granddaughter the other day and sat there tapping messages on the phone. took longer to do it then if she actually called her. I swear some would rather text a person 50 feet away from them then actually walk up and talk to them. I hear business men all the time saying they HAVE to have phone capabiltys in there car. What the heck did they do before they had cell phones. I don't say take them away from them but make it a felony to use them in a moving vehicle. At least make it a mandatory 2k fine. In my whole life ive never had a SINGLE phone call that couldn't wait long enough for me to pull off a road. When we first got them in our trucks at work I too was guilty of it. Never gave it a thought. Today though its been proven to have killed people. The guys that work there now told me its a 10 day layoff if they get caught on the phone in the truck while its moving. They even made rigid mounts for the lap tops we got our orders from while doing storm restoration and power outages that face away from the driver. Get a message on it, you pull over and get out and go around to the passenger side and read your message. Kind of a pain but if even one life was saved its worth it.

[Mr_Sheesh]

WA State has a law that they are creatively interpreting such that if you have the key in the ignition (even if in the "Accessory" position, with the car in Park, and the e-brake on) they count you as Driving, if you are texting. Seems a little much to me as I've never seen a car move much in that situation. And it's basically unenforceable - And not seen it enforced once, so far. Seems like I see 2/3 men driving while using their cells and 1/3 women, roughly. Could just be a local anomaly though.

[Rick N Bama]

In Georgia if you are driving it needs to be "hands free", and is illegal for the phone to even touch your body. The only exception is an emergency. If you are parked then you can call. $50 for the first offence, and more as the offences mount. In Alabama the law is similar, but it hasn't been broadcast as much as the Georgia law is, probably because we get Columbus Ga. t.v. stations and maybe one from Montgomery......

Tom I think I've heard about the no texting law maybe one time from the Huntsville stations. April 10, 2014 I was broadsided at a Traffic Light in Cullman by a man texting. My Toyota Tacoma had some major damage to it. On Jan 19 of this year I was less than 1/2 mile from home when a young lady crossed crossed the center line and totaled our Toyota Venza, yep she was texting or at least I think she was. She was sited for driving while suspended and for failing to maintain her lane. The young lady was 24 at the time!

[Tatume]

I cross a long, narrow bridge on my daily commute. One day as I crested the high-rise portion, there was an oncoming, white Ford truck in my lane. The drivers' face was buried in a cell phone. I laid on the horn and the brakes. He reacted in time to avoid a head on collision. There was nowhere for me to go. I was shaken. About two weeks later, it happened again! Same truck!

Another time I was behind a yellow Jeep driven by a young lady. There are no shoulders on the roadway of this bridge, just a curb and a guard rail. All of a sudden the Jeep went up on the curb, bounced off the guard rail, swerved to the other side and bounced off the curb on that side, then was brought under control and continued on. My guess is a cell phone was at the center of the drama.

[Hickory]

Mothers against drunk drivers (MADD) got laws put in place to increase penalties on drunk drivers. If it is a concern to anyone anyone at all contact your state or federal representative to see if increased penalties and jail time might be an option for this serious and deadly crime!

[smokeywolf]

Mothers against drunk drivers (MADD) got laws put in place to increase penalties on drunk drivers. If it is a concern to anyone anyone at all contact your state or federal representative to see if increased penalties and jail time might be an option for this serious and deadly crime!

I wonder how many of the MADD people and members talk and text while driving. And likely feel they have a right to.

[Hickory]

I wonder how many of the MADD people and members talk and text while driving. And likely feel they have a right to.

I don't know.
I know this though, it scares me every time I ride my motorcycle.
I had two close calls in the last 6 years and have seen one texter go in the ditch after weaving all over the road.
It just scares me.

[smokeywolf]

In 2002 I was hit by a kid who was talking on his cell phone and suddenly realized he needed to be in the right lane to make his right turn onto a freeway on-ramp. I was where he wanted to be. In spite of the fact that his right rear wheel was just about even with my left front wheel and the freeway on-ramp was not more than 30 feet ahead, he whipped his little rice-burner (think it may have been a Mitsubishi) toward my left front fender, I stood on the brakes and cranked the wheel to the right and still caved in his right quarterpanel.

My 3/4 ton pickup had a rub mark on the rubber bumper trim.

Mexifornia drivers scare the daylights out of me anyway. Put them on a cell phone and they're nothing more than an accident looking for a place to happen.

[lightman]

There are a lot of brain dead people on the road. It seems like Arkansas has more than their share.

[2wheelDuke]

Somehow there should be a motion detector installed in ALL cell phones that shuts off calling and texting after 10-12 mph. It would save a lot of lives. My Harley collects dust in my garage because of this very reason. IMO the majority of the offenders I've seen over the years are young kids...mainly girls.

What about passengers? This seems to be similar logic to the nanny state gun ban pushers.

[AaronL]

My 14 year old son was hit while riding his bicycle 3 years ago by a woman who was texting while driving. He spent 39 days in Children's Mercy Hospital. The first 9 were in the PICU. She said she never saw him until he was coming down in her rear-view mirror. The police measured his point of landing at 27 feet from the point of the collision and his bicycle 70 feet away.

It still makes me angry any time I see someone texting while driving.

[smokeywolf]

As long as more people want to do it (text while driving), than to stop it, people will keep getting injured and killed.

[MaryB]

Cars should all be equipped with a cell phone jammer.

[xs11jack]

I agree Mary, and if not, I would like to see the Fine for 1st offense be set at at least $500 or more. I want to shake these people up right now, not after their 2nd accident which might be a fatality.
Ole Jack

[Love Life]

Texting and driving should be a right...just like owning Pit Bulls. To soon?

[Lloyd Smale]

well at least they should ban putting options in cars that make it easier to use your cell phone. I like triplebeards suggestion. About all phones made today have gps so a auto shut off at say 10mph would be easy to program in. Add to that your suggestion of putting a jammer in every new car made. Youd still have older cars without it but eventually most cars would have them that are on the road. I could care less if it makes it so a passenger cant text or drive. If they want to send a message or make a call that bad they can pull over, get out and use there phone. I don't care if your business make a phone about mandatory. You still can pull over or wait until you can pull over to use your phone. they could even put a speed blocker in it that still allowed it to beep to let you know you need to pull over (if its really that important to you) and call back.

Cars should all be equipped with a cell phone jammer.