Texting While Driving

[ShelbyAD]

I heard on the news the other day that a person (didn't catch age or M/F) was text messaging while driving, hit the car in front of them so hard that, that car hit the one in front of them and that car burst into flames. Everyone in that car died.

I can't understand how people can text message while driving. As you can see it's very dangerous. If I was the parents of the people who died, I would definately bring up legal charges to the person who was texting. I hope that person was put in jail

[2Epcot]

That is very sad to hear. I think people get so used to texting all the time that when they receive a message when they're driving they feel they have to respond. I have texted while I'm in my car on my way somewhere, but I'm sitting at a stop light waiting for it to change, not moving when I text. I don't see how you can find they keys while you're moving.

[Miss Mouse]

I heard about this on an episode of the Dr. Phil Show a while back that featured a teenaged girl who had a terrible habit of while driving. And she was driving a stick! So, she's texting with one hand, shifting with the other... how is she steering the car?! She'd been in multiple minor accidents, had a few near-misses with pedestrians, etc and still couldn't see why everyone was making such a big deal out of what she was doing. There was a young man on the show who had got into an accident while texting and someone had died as a result. When the girl heard this story and asked what she thought about it, guess what her reply was? "He must not have been very coordinated. I'll never be involved in something like that because I'm well practiced at what I'm doing." HUH!?

This, to me, shows just how self-involved some people can be. Car accidents are already occurring far too often, why people would just further endanger themselves and others over something so trivial is simply beyond me. Can you imagine being the family member of someone who was injured or, heaven forbid, died so needlessly? Grr...

[Jasper]

Very simply put, the laws CANNOT be strong enough against things like this. And then the enforcement has to be equally as strong.

It is bad enough that people show no respect for others by talking on/texting from their cell phones when they are talking to others but it just simply goes over the line when it is done while driving! Where have simple manners and simple common sense gone?

[Disneyatic]

I have to admit that I have in the past text messaged while driving. Not very often and it is usually followed by the thought that I should not be doing it. I try my best not to do it anymore and to limit even talking on the phone while driving. I would expect my daughter to be safe and NOT do it, so why should I allow myself to?
Accidents occuring and people dying are horrible and I can't imagine the guilt that people have to live with from causing that because of such an avoidable circumstance.

I also agree that people who are texting or constantly checking their phones while with a group of friends drive me NUTS! I have a close friend who does that and it makes me crazy.

[PirateLover]

2Epcot hit it on the nose. People have gotten so used to texting and instant gratification that you sometimes feel you need to reply right away. Very selfish, yes. I've also texted at stop lights before, but only because I have a friend that is extremely phobic and won't call you and gets panic attacks if you're running late. If it's something long I pull over and if I'm in traffic or on the highway I won't even look at the phone.

[RedheadWriter]

This is very disturbing. As I said in another post, as a former EMT who at the time was seeing a funeral director, I have seen what being in a hurry and inattentiveness can do. We both learned how precious life was after seeing the results of a poor decision made while behind the wheel.

[disneydave4479]

There have been way to many people just not paying attention without any type of distraction like texting while driving. Today while at lunch there were 3 cars that made a right-turn only lane into a straight-thru. Then when coming back from lunch one car decided to cut straight-thru from a left-turn only. That wasn't the end from him. He then cut back and forth a couple of times between the two available lanes and then made a u-turn in the middle of the road with on-coming traffic. I just looked at him like "What on Earth are you doing?". He had this blank I haven't a clue what I'm doing stare. Last night had 3 people within 15 seconds decide they didn't want to be in the lane they are in, and tried to access lanes over median--right in front of me!!

I have to keep all of my attention on the road and the other drivers just to avoid being hit by people that can't drive. How can someone find time to text message?!? It's absurd.

I really believe that driver's licenses should be MUCH harder to get than they currently are. Along with re-testing every-so-often.

I'll get off my now.

[NJMommy3]

I must be hopelessy archaic, because the whole texting thing just escapes me. With all due respect to texters out there, in my personal experience, I find it rude and impersonal. I've had people text while holding a face to face conversation, had grocery checkout girls stop in the middle of my check out to text. I have a co-worker who has actually stopped mid-procedure to text (I work in Radiology). Saddest of all, I can't count the number of times I've been in restaurants and seen families at the same table, with kids texting and moms and dads looking like the most forgotten folks on the planet. A rare chance for a family to be together and interact and all I see are thumbs flying and no conversation. When I was a kid, I couldn't bring anything to the table but my appetite and my mom wasn't even strict. But manners were very important to her and me and I really think there is a loss of ettiquette with texting. Of course, not everyone...I wouldn't generalize like that, but enough to make you wonder what the heck is going on!

[Marker]

Should people attempt to text message while driving, absolutely no.

However, before condemning those guilty of such irresponsible behavior, perhaps we should reflect on our own behavior. I would be willing to bet that many of us, myself included, are guilty of occasionally allowing ourselves to be unnecessarily distracted while driving. Perhaps not from texting, but from an endless list of other possibilities.... making a phone call, tuning the radio, looking for a cd, lighting a cigarette, searching for a lighter, searching for toll money, talking to someone in the seat beside you, yelling at the kids in the back seat, taking a drink from the soft drink, fishing a burger out of a bag, reading, putting on make-up, flipping off the driver next to you, car dancing, trying to operate you new GPS unit, etc, etc, etc. All voluntary choices of behavior and all distracting from attentive driving.

And in reality, how do you enforce a law against texting while driving. How do you prove someone was texting while driving?

Now what I'd really like to see is a way of outlawing driving while stupid. You know, running red lights, u-turns in the median, entering a highway at 30 mph and THEN speed up, stopping at the end of an on ramp, driving past a line of backed up traffic only to attempt to merge in at the front of the backup, endlessly honking for the person in front of you to go when there is no possible way they can go anywhere.... again, the list goes on and on and on.

[ShelbyAD]

entering a highway at 30 mph and THEN speed up, stopping at the end of an on ramp, driving past a line of backed up traffic only to attempt to merge in at the front of the backu

OMG, I see this every day on my way home. Especially doing 30 on the ON ramp. I don't care what time of day it is, it happens every day.

I do change radio stations, look for CD's (but they are in my middle console and I just pick the first CD on top) and sometimes car dance (if it's the right song and I'm in the mood).

[Fallendroplet]

However, before condemning those guilty of such irresponsible behavior, perhaps we should reflect on our own behavior. I would be willing to bet that many of us, myself included, are guilty of occasionally allowing ourselves to be unnecessarily distracted while driving. Perhaps not from texting, but from an endless list of other possibilities.... making a phone call, tuning the radio, looking for a cd, lighting a cigarette, searching for a lighter, searching for toll money, talking to someone in the seat beside you, yelling at the kids in the back seat, taking a drink from the soft drink, fishing a burger out of a bag, reading, putting on make-up, flipping off the driver next to you, car dancing, trying to operate you new GPS unit, etc, etc, etc. All voluntary choices of behavior and all distracting from attentive driving.

I would have to say that I completely agree with you!

[Marilyn Michetti]

We don't have cell phones that do anything that fancy, and I don't even like to answer my phone while I'm driving. I'm 63, and I have M.S. My reflex's are moderately poor. I'm a really poor risk to do any more than drive from point A to point B with a minimum of distractions. My DH drives a stick shift at a "little" (cough), over the speed limit, eating, changing CD's, and occasionally, reading something, and it scares the **** out of me.

In Phoenix, if you get caught texting while driving, you get arrested !!!!!

Folks, do what everyone I know does. Text in church - sometimes it helps.

[TheDuckRocks]

Waiting at a red light the other day, I glanced over at the car next to me and the girl driving was talking on her cell phone with her left hand and texting on another cell with her right hand.
OK, I thought she would probably at the very least hang one or the other up when the light changed. Oh no, she proceeded to drive on steering with her elbow!
Needless to say I made a hasty turn at the next street and took an alternate way home.

[pink]

I'm 18 and three of my best girlfriend all text while they're driving. Ever since the sidekicks came out they've been doing it and it's so dangerous. Sometimes at a red light they will be talking to someone and the light will turn green and they don't even notice but they don't pay attention and I have to yell at them to drive! They are so oblivious to the danger of it and it scares me. Sometimes I do talk on the phone while driving but I make sure it's on speakerphone and the phone is on my lap so no hand contact is involved.
My prayers go to that family in the accident.

[HollyB]

A couple of years ago, a teenaged girl was driving along a rural highway near here. She was downloading ringtones to her cell at the same time. She got so far off the road, that she hit the guy riding his bike way off on the shoulder of the road. She didn't see him until she heard the thump he made bouncing off her car.
He later died. He was in his mid 20s. She was 17 or 18. They charged her with something like "improper lane usage" because there was no law against using your cell while driving. She says she has nightmares. His parents are trying to get the laws in Illinois changed. Countless lives ruined by one thoughtless moment. It's tragic.

[Dsnygirl]

I must be hopelessy archaic, because the whole texting thing just escapes me. With all due respect to texters out there, in my personal experience, I find it rude and impersonal. I've had people text while holding a face to face conversation, had grocery checkout girls stop in the middle of my check out to text. I have a co-worker who has actually stopped mid-procedure to text (I work in Radiology). Saddest of all, I can't count the number of times I've been in restaurants and seen families at the same table, with kids texting and moms and dads looking like the most forgotten folks on the planet. A rare chance for a family to be together and interact and all I see are thumbs flying and no conversation. When I was a kid, I couldn't bring anything to the table but my appetite and my mom wasn't even strict. But manners were very important to her and me and I really think there is a loss of ettiquette with texting. Of course, not everyone...I wouldn't generalize like that, but enough to make you wonder what the heck is going on!

I totally agree with you... and mostly b/c I just don't get the popularity of texting!! I've only done it once, after a friend sent me a picture of her new puppy on my phone... so I sent her a note back, the whole time not even sure if I was doing it right!! And boy did it take me longer than just calling her... I could've said all I'd texted and then some!! It seems cold, impersonal and impossibly dull... I'd much prefer a conversation. If something's that important and the person is unavailable, I suppose it works well as a message - but so would a phone message! I'd never want to be interrupted in the middle of something important for a text message, esp. if it was an emergency - I'd much prefer some kind of a phone call, even if it pulled me away from what I was doing. I guess I just don't get it. (And I'm not that old, either! Just a pen & paper girl in a computer driven world... )
And then to consider that people are dying just so others can converse on their phones, if you want to call it that... I hope the laws get stricter, I can tell you that!

[pink]

can't count the number of times I've been in restaurants and seen families at the same table, with kids texting and moms and dads looking like the most forgotten folks on the planet. A rare chance for a family to be together and interact and all I see are thumbs flying and no conversation.

I agree! If I ever get a text message when I'm out to dinner with my family or anyone for that matter I never respond because it's so rude. Especially when two people are texting back and forth- it makes it seem like the person you are talking to is more interesting than the one sitting right in front of you! I get very upset when my friends do this to me.
One time I was hanging out with my girlfriends and they actually were texting each other instead of talking to one another! That baffles me.

[tinksmom02]

I'm another person who is baffled by texting. I think I've gotten two, maybe three, in my whole life, and they were messages that could have just as easily been told over the phone. I just don't understand why you would take the time to text someone when you could simply pick up the phone and say, "I've only got a minute but I wanted you to know..."

[Catwillow]

Just another reason as to why "I" don't have a cell phone and never will. Everyone STILL tries to convince me that I need one "in case of an emergency" or "in case they need to get hold of me" or "......." and my response is --- I have lived 45 1/2 years of my life WITHOUT a cell phone. I have traveled 1000's (across the United States several times) BY CAR WITHOUT a cell phone. I have made millions of trips to the department store, grocery store, mini mart, etc WITHOUT a cell phone. I raised 2 kids (they are 26 & 25) WITHOUT a cell phone. I will continue to live my life without a cell phone.