Community weekly poll: What is the biggest threat to safe driving?
- 8/1/05 5:10 PM
cell phones
by tek835 - 8/2/05 1:41 PM In reply to: What is the biggest threat to safe driving? by Marc Bennett
People may beleive that they can drive & hold a conversation at the same time, but it's not really possible.
Real driving consists of constantly watching changing road and traffic conditions, to be able to quickly respond when something unexpected happens.
If the person is talking, their attention isn't completely on driving.
Then they wonder where that car came from, that is suddenly in front of them. I've seen drivers that can't even stay in their lane, while talking on the phone.
I, too, yell, "shut up and drive" to so many...
Yes, I consider myself a professional driver, with 800K+ mi under my belt. My one major accident in 40 yrs was 100% the other person's fault.
t
It's worse than that...
by DarkHawke - 8/2/05 1:55 PM In reply to: cell phones by tek835I have had a number of close calls as a pedestrian, crossing the street at the corner, in the crosswalk and with the light, in broad daylight, with some jagg-off pulling a left turn in front of me, no signal whatsoever and a frelling CELL PHONE held to one ear! In fact, EVERY TIME I've had this kind of near-hit, the fracker's been yakking on a cell phone and completely oblivious to having nearly creamed me in the crosswalk! Let's face it: cell phones are a blight to civilization, and in no more important or hazardous an arena as distracted driving. What the man said: SHUT UP AND DRIVE RIGHT!
Public bus drivers on cell phones
by tiffanywalk - 11/25/05 8:33 AM In reply to: It's worse than that... by DarkHawkeI live in Boston, MA and I see bus drivers on our public transit system on a regular basis talking on their cell phones while driving a bus that poses a serious safety threat..I report them when I see them.....it's not their personal vehicle...but I do see drivers so engaged in the cell phone conversation as well as other activities and are way too distracted to be safe on the roads.
re:cell phones
by rokinroj - 8/2/05 2:37 PM In reply to: cell phones by tek835[quote]People may beleive that they can drive & hold a conversation at the same time, but it's not really possible.[/quote]
So then is it possible to sing while driving? How about talk to yourself? By your scientific deduction above it would seem that even thinking about a conversation that you might have later isn't really possible either.
You should give people a bit of credit. I agree that driving comes first, and all distractions should be avoided, but if you think that the cell phone is the biggest threat to safe driving, one might think you were just hell bent on that hot button issue and hadn't really thought out your response.
Talking takes away from concentration
by matt1945 - 8/2/05 3:46 PM In reply to: cell phones by tek835In a previous life, while working as a tv sportscaster, I was doing a "George Plimpton" thing in a Formula Ford race car. I was being taped by my cameraman and, unbeknownst to me, the car owner and his pit crew were timing me and gave me the time sheets before I left for the station to edit my item. As I began watching the tape and listening to my comments--with the occasionial glance at the timing sheet--something jumped off the page at me. My laps were in the 75 to 85 second range AND my best lap while talking was two seconds slower than my worst lap when I wasn't talking! I wasn't holding a mic, phone or doing anything with my hands other than drive the car and I wasn't responding to anything anyone else was saying. I was simply describing the feeling of driving the car here and there during some of the laps and that cost me 2.6 percent in terms of lap time. Next time you see an IRL or Champ Car race on tv, check out the times and see what a difference 2.6 percent during qualifying would make on one's starting position. My guess is it would mean pretty close to the difference of starting on the pole and starting last.
To this day, I'm astounded at how much variance there was in my lap times.
are you sure?
by eulalia - 8/2/05 5:21 PM In reply to: cell phones by tek835Are you absolutely sure there was no way, not a thing you could do using defensive driving techniques, to avoid that accident?
Let's say you were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, stopped dead still, with no room in front of you, and the person behind you is breaking but still rear ends your car. Yep, in that case, it was 100% the other guys fault. No way you could have used defensive driving to avoid that one.
On the other hand, if you were stopped but there was space in front of you, at least a car length, and you noticed in your rear view mirror that the guy behind was breaking hard and looked like he was going to rear end you, a defensive move would be to inch your car forward enough to avoid being rear ended. I've successfully avoided being rear ended that way.
If the person behind me had hit me, cop-wise, it would have been 100% their fault. But in my heart, I would have known that I missed doing something to prevent that accident.
if you leave a space in front of you another will squeeze in
by sharpeagle - 11/25/05 12:13 PM In reply to: are you sure? by eulaliaI always keep my distance from the car in front of me. This gives everyone room to brake and to move out of the way. In LA however that is an open invitation for someone to slide in and you are now bumper to bumper with this car. If you try and move over to get to the next lane people in that lane will speed up to keep you from moving in front of them. I have my signal on and am coming up on my exit and they will not let me over. I even start moving over when I have room (signal on) and they come barreling by me like I was not even there. Again, they are all different ages and sexes.
The way to change lanes in LA (by my observations of other drivers) is to speed up and swerve into the lane with out giving them warning so that they are not prepared to block my move. It is sad but true.
are you sure?
by eulalia - 8/2/05 5:25 PM In reply to: cell phones by tek835(with spelling correction)
Are you absolutely sure there was no way, not a thing you could do using defensive driving techniques, to avoid that accident?
Let's say you were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, stopped dead still, with no room in front of you, and the person behind you is braking but still rear ends your car. Yep, in that case, it was 100% the other guys fault. No way you could have used defensive driving to avoid that one.
On the other hand, if you were stopped but there was space in front of you, at least a car length, and you noticed in your rear view mirror that the guy behind was braking hard and looked like he was going to rear end you, a defensive move would be to inch your car forward enough to avoid being rear ended. I've successfully avoided being rear ended that way.
If the person behind me had hit me, cop-wise, it would have been 100% their fault. But in my heart, I would have known that I missed doing something to prevent that accident.
?????
by toddtee - 11/25/05 8:41 AM In reply to: are you sure? by eulaliaI'm sorry, but I see no connection of your comments to the cell phone issue. Is there one I missed?
check the facts
by big guy - 8/2/05 6:57 PM In reply to: cell phones by tek835the fact is stupid people do stupid things. if they didn't have a cell phone they would still be a danger on the road. a few years ago the AAA published a study done by the university of North Carolina on distracted driving. it found cell phones to be be low on the list. (15 percent) were not paying attention. (29.4 percent) distracted by something outside the vehicle. (11.4 percent) adjusting radio or cd player.(10.9 percent) talking with other occupants. (2.8 percent) adjusting climate control.(1.7percent)eating or drinking. (1.5 Percent) CELL PHONE USE. (0.9 percent) smoking.
Now where do your driving habits fall on this list?
Cell phones are easy targets because you can see that a person is on the phone when they do something stupid. Ever see someone driving while drinking coffee from one of those large coffee cups?
So if your really serious about distracted driving then eliminate eating,drinking, smoking, adjusting any controls in the cars including your tunes. Basically when your driving just drive and pay attention.
Agree! Check the facts
by camkun - 11/26/05 2:02 PM In reply to: check the facts by big guyI read the same study. I completely agree. There are other behaviors done in vehicles that are much more dangerous than talking on a cell phone. Eating, drinking, adjusting radio/climate controls, and having other people in the car are just as distracting if not more so than a cell phone. The North Carolina study said that something outside of the car was the biggest cause of accidents because the driver was not watching the road. So rubber necking should be the biggest concern of drivers.
Basketball in car
by photoxprt - 11/30/05 1:17 PM In reply to: Agree! Check the facts by camkunYou won't believe this....or maybe you will..... picture this: I-85 N. from Atlanta...speed 35 to 40 mph, and this yo-yo in front of me is tossing a basketball from hand to hand. OMG!
Best defense? Get into another lane and put at least 3 other cars between me and "Kareem"
Thinking about it, most 'jams' are simply caused by rubberneckers, and probably our so-called 'professional' drivers.
No Doubt About It: America Has Been Dumbed-Down
by HolyCow! - 8/3/05 4:43 PM In reply to: cell phones by tek835Tek is right-on, of course.
As Americans, we have been evolving into a nation of crybabies who selfishly value the rights of the individual over the rights of society.
What reasonable person would suggest that brainlessly holding a mug of coffee in one hand while steering with the other even REMOTELY compares to diverting one's attention and focus from the life and death task of driving safely - by use of a cell phone?
Let's see. I'm driving down the X-way at 70 mph, sipping from my mug of coffee while paying strict attention to my responsibilities as an operator of a motor vehicle.
Suddenly, my wife calls me on my cell phone and proceeds to tell me that her sister is currently helping her pack all of her things into the rental van, and that she's leaving me to run away with a guy from her office. But am I worried or upset? Naaaw! According to some, this situation is no more distracting than sipping coffee.
Geesh! Duh! There are minor distractions, and then there are major distractions. The degree of awareness and focus involved in shifting one's focus from driving to lifting a mug of beverage to one's lips is a bit different than the focus shift involved between driving and engaging in a discussion. To not recognize the inherent differences is becoming all too common in the common citizen. Clearly, our nation is not thinking clearly.
It would be much better to err on the side of safety, and immediately enact laws against use of cell phones while operating a motor vehicle. Then let the discussions and disagreements commence. Let's see compelling evidence that there is little to no decrease in driving skills and reaction times, then reinstate the legal use of cell phones by drivers.
Two neighbor children of mine were killed by a driver who was so engaged in his cell phone conversation, he allowed his vehicle to drift to the right of the roadway, striking and killing the two young boys. I'm sure it's not the only such instance of losing focus on one's driving due to cell phone use.
How many must die due to a misguided notion by so many that they can safely multitask while driving? What does one say after you kill an innocent pedestrian - "Oh gee, I guess I really can't drive as safely when using a cell phone while driving"? Does that compensate in any way for the death and destruction?
Certainly not. But then again, there will be those who disagree with what I've written. That's OK. Disagreeing is fine, but please don't continue to support vehicular homicide via cell phone distraction, in the name of some misguided view that you have an individual right to decide for all of us that a relatively new technology is safe for use while driving.
So, continue tapping your unused stash of Vioxx, ephedra, marijuana, and heroin because, in your heart, you are certain that you know more about what is safe and what is not than some geeky scientists! And if you haven't noticed yet, it IS illegal to drink and drive. Now we need to add some more items to that list! Especially one item which is not prohibited because it simply did not exist until recently.
No Doubt About It: America Has Been Dumbed-Down
by lynb - 11/25/05 5:14 AM In reply to: No Doubt About It: America Has Been Dumbed-Down by HolyCow!Tagree with every word you wrote. keep up the rational thinking
WOW!
by rokinroj - 12/16/05 3:23 PM In reply to: No Doubt About It: America Has Been Dumbed-Down by HolyCow!Amazing how you took your personal peeve and by the end of it all made anyone who disagrees with you into the nation of dumb, dangerous, murdering, drug using, criminals. All just because it bugs you?
The statistics don't back up your statements, so it can only be a personal problem you have. Don't be such a dolt.
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