Community poll forum: What is the biggest threat to safe driving?

I do not agree!! The "worst" drivers in my area are the young girls (distracted),the hot shot boys and the daily work commuters. They drive like there is not another person around them. I am 72 and took 1st place in Demo Derby at 50 and was the last car on the track and 1st time at the track. I drive like EVERYONE ELSE on the road is drunk, crazy, stoned or all of the above - because they probably are! The only thing the mandatory driving classes seem to achieve is putting on the seat belt. The law here states that the trucks can ONLY use the outside lane when there are 2 or more lanes. The Canadian trucks sometimes obey but the drivers are primarily Mexican or "Third Worlders", most of whom don't speak much english and DO NOT HAVE to pass the stringent tests that US drivers do in order to get their license.
There too many drivers, too distracted and all in a hurry. Age and competence does not have much to do with it. Cell phone usage is the norm and is dangerous. So is eating, reading, visiting and fussing with a baby in the back seat. WA law states that 2 hands on the wheel (no arm around girlfriend, out the window or on the phone). Every vehicle must have a waste container, trucks and/or vehicles with tires that extend beyond the fenders must have mud flaps. Trucks with loads or canopies must have 2 side view mirrors and all vehicles must have front and back license plates, clearly visible. HOW MANY PEOPLE COMPLY WITH THE LAWS AND WHO CHECKS THEM??? I have also been in 11 car accidents, NONE of which were my fault in the last 39 years and none of the guilty parties were over 45 at the time of the incident and none were handicap qualified but me. Not all handicapped people are in wheelchairs or use a cane or are old and "feeble". I do think the elderly should be monitored and have a yearly relicensing instead of 4 or 5 years with the appropriately reduced fee.
I do agree that there are some drivers who should not be on the road. Family, friends and their doctors could help determine whether they should drive. In our area bus service is minimal and a lot of people have little choice on how to get to the store, doctor, etc. Most people now days seem to be too busy to help someone but themselves.
Off my soap box now, I have expressed my opinion and hope to keep driving safely for many more years. If I feel I cannot, I will not!!

I see someone is quite against smoking and driving. But yes, I agree. Smoking is a real distraction, just like cellphones. And just like cellphones, even ADULTS do it. Not just teens. I'm just trying to make it clear that teens are not the only ones causing the accidents. In fact, more death-causing accidents involve those above the age of 20 than they do teens. But i still agree that you want to smoke while driving, light the cig BEFORE you start driving on the road, or don't smoke while driving. some of us don't like smoke in our faces when our windows are down. it does stink.

But you have pushed a truly 'hot button' on me.
The Ga. legislature passed its' non-smoking laws without so much as a nod to us, the voters. And they're uding the same dam' silly EPA 'announcement' that has been declared illegal.
I'm not going to add any more politics to this except this..."The squeaky wheel gets the grease..."; and if you're a smoker, you better start squeakin', cuz YOUR rights are being torn from you.
You have all antismmokers making the noise while you sit on the sidelines....quietly.

I am a smoker myself. I do not smoke in my car because it makes the car stink, makes my clothes stink, hazard to my children and myself, but that is another topic. I sometimes smoke on the highway or in others vehicles that allow smoking and my weekend lumberyard truck. I am a very aware driver. Cigarettes have never been a problem while i was driving, but possibly because I am actually a professional driver and am cautious and observant while i drive and do not allow certain things to mess with my driving. I think it is not that smokers are a problem, i think that it is the driver's knowledge of driving that is the problem.

So now smokers are unsafe drivers? What next, the national rainforest decline due to smokers? I mentioned in my post that people have the tendency to blame inanimate objects for their unsafe driving. It's people like the smoking post that whine and complain until we have so many laws that eventually we work our way into communism. I don't recall the last time someone lit up and killed a family of 5. I thought that was drunk driving...hmmmm. The same malfunctioning grey matter people who think smokers are killing the world. Never mind that millions of human beings gave their life for our freedom to light up, not the whine@$$es. People like that are simple minded spoiled brats who feel the world should be made for their leisure. I don't get riled up about subjects like this too often, but as soon as I hear smokers this, smokers that, rrrrrrrr. The same people like to blame inanimate objects instead of their own or other's idiocy. You know, life is life, we live we die. I for one would rather die smoking than live in a plastic (safe bubble where I no longer have freedom). I worry since I have kids, what kind of whining ,B!tch!n@ , crying, poor me world do they have to live in? How much worse will it get before we cry ourselves into communism? Think it's far fetched? No it's not. Because of these type of thinkers, we have had thousands of needless lawsuits, laws, and other things put in our faces. I don't feel I am ever above anyone, you can have all the fur coats and fancy cars, all the whining, making laws, complaining about the poor person who's only relief in life is to have a cig at the end of a hard day, but you know what? You still poop, and we all end up 6ft under one day, the ground won't descriminate. Although, wouldn't blame it if it spit your sour but out. I don't agree with many things people do but i'll be damned if i'm going to act like I am any better, i'm not, not than anyone. If a smoker could save this person's child,or relative or friend, would they complain I wonder? Oh, no, you can't save them, you are a smoker, yeah right. When will people wake up and realize this is all a stupid game they play? I have a cell phone and i'm driving, big woop. who cares?? Keep your eye on the road instead! I mean , let's say someone was to looking for a grocery store and ran into someone, should we make a law or whine about people who look for a store to pull into? It's no wonder the country is in the shape it's in, and i am not afraid to say it either, too many spoiled do-goodies who's goal in life is to cry. Why not make a real difference huh? I don't say this for any recognition but I have save 1 little girl's life, and one mentally ill person's. Do you think they gave a rat's @$$ if I smoked? My grandfather spent the rest of his life hiding in a closet when it thundered from being shell shocked, did he do this so we can complain about a cig, or numbskulls who simply can't drive so we blame an object? He fought in the war for our freedom. You know what, my wife has cancer, spinal compression, among many other ailments, and I should be disabled but have to work, 3 kids all with chronic athsma, losing my house in 3 months due to medical bills, going to college, have no money, 1 month left to my internet, and I still don't whine about all these little things. I am simply happy to be and whatever life gives me, then so be it, but I won't ever take part in blaming, smokers, gamblers, cell phones, orange juice whatever! We should all just be happy to BE! Paul

I had gotten an email from theTRUTH anti smoker group. I wrote them a letter, it went something like this but very shortened here....
Car exhaust\polution is one of the number 1 causes of lung cancer, and this bothers me and I don't feel I should have to breath it. So, the next time winter rolls around, please walk to work for every time you start your car you contribute to the death of someone from lung cancer.

Needless to say, I recieved no reply. The scare was right on and I saw it coming a mile away. Just like the coffee shortage, jack up the price and once the shortage is over, the price still stays 30% higher than before the shortage. Scare people with tobacco , jack up the price. Also, second hand smoke is worse than first hand. LOL. They fall for that also. The person smoking is getting both so how is it worse for a non smoker getting the second hand smoke? In the 80's a study showed more people had lung cancer that didn't smoke. hmmmmmm. Tanning beds, cell phones, wireless microwaves, car exhaust, airplane fuel, rockets going into space...all that exhaust...TVs, appliances, headphones, chemicals in our food, nuclear testing, chemical spills, polluting lakes, I guess this is all done by a cig! It truly scares me with my kids to raise them in a world that falls for anything they are told. And yes this does pertain to the driving issue, we blame the object, not the person and so many actually believe it. This is scarier than driving.

Paul

By request from my friend who did the study, we can't officially post the findings. As you know by being a medical researcher, the AMA has been pushing your professions to urge patients to quit. The test was for my own answers to this. I don't smoke but more than that, I don't blindly believe what I'm being told anymore.
I can suggest that you buy a pack of cigarettes and run an analysis yourself. From what I have been able to find out about " The Truth " is they were given a grant ( unknown grantor ) to push the anti-smoking issue. The grant was like 6 mil and their campain less than 1/2 mil. Sounds like somebody pocketed a lot of cash to me. Don't know if this one is true tho.
One thing I can tell you is the only 2 items we found were salt peter and sodium chloride, makes the paper burn slower and not go out. As we all know from having older relatives who smoked pipes or cigars, if they didn't keep puffing it would go out. One more thing, if second hand smoke was so harmful why aren't the smokers dropping like flies from being exposed to both? And how did all our ancestors ever survive?
Of course I could be just talking out my butt and not have a clue as to what's going on. At any rate, I found out for myself and wish you good luck in discovering the real "Truth".

It's nice to see some of you guys in your line of work are truly looking into things instead of blindly following the leader. This issue seems to hold enough controversy to warrant it's own debate session. For instance, has anyone looked into what the hike in tobacco sales has done for the economy? And how much has Uncle Sam and our local government gained from it? Where it's being used at?
If you scare people enough about something, it will become unliveable without it. Now the price has no limit. Doctors used to be poor people like the rest of us but just wanted to help others. Modern medicine has people believing they can't exist without them. Brother! No offense to you, I prefer to let my body combat ailments itself and if not, then my time is just up, oh well.

If you are so smart, how come you replied to my post instead of the correct one? You know something, medical researchers are blowing more smoke than smokers. You say people live longer now, yet I see people dropping like flies at early ages. My wife doesn't smoke yet she is 30 and has cancer. She first got cancer at 16. My grandma smoked all her life and only lived, now get this, only until 86 years old. My grandfather, smoked , 89 years old when he died. I have lost two friends to cancer, 34 years old and 39. 3 of my wifes uncles died from cancer , in their 40's and 50's, one smoked. My neice is now 15 and has uterin cancer. I have seen more older generations watch their children die. Yet, the older generations drank, smoked, ate bacon, fresh milk from cows, eggs, etc...I have been to the cancer care ward at our hospital and there are kids,babies, with cancer. I suppose they all lit up too huh? My personal belief, nuclear testing, crap put in our foods, dietary sweeteners that consist of known cancer causing substances, tanning beds, microwaves, car exhaust, rocket fuel, airplanes, poluted drinking water, poluted air, the list goes on. See it's ok for those on diets, it's healthy to put artificial sweeteners in our food that cause cancer, this is acceptable. Tanning beds are ok, they make you look good until your freakin skin falls off. Transportation, the number 1 cause of pollution and lung cancer, want to argue that one? Get out of your car then and walk to work on a -20 degree wintery day, bet you won't. And you like all the others like to blame smokers, why? Because it has no real benefits to speak of. And number 1 reason? MONEY, after any anti anything, prices can be raised and no one will say a damn thing about it! In michigan our supposed cig tax all go to our schools. I had a teacher tell my son to tell me I should quit smoking, when I saw her she brought this up. I told her I was supporting our schools and she shut up. Keep in mind, I smoke only outside from my house and air out before going in. I don't subject my family to this. Also there was that crap argument about (it stays on your clothes) if they are that freakin toxic they should be quarantined! First we take away discipline from parents, have a generation of kids that don't give a crap except for themselves, they grow up, believe everything they are told by politicians and people like you, no common sense or caring or understanding about rights and all the poor souls who died for them. I didn't fight in a war, but still I respect every damn one of the soldiers who did and the ones who gave their lives for us. Now we have many brain washed do gooders who feel they actually make this world a better place by taking away yet another right. I am not a person who likes or wallows in conflict, but I would like for once to tell medical researches who try to sway people into believing whatever we are told, to (medically speaking) insert between gluteus maximus it into the colon, where there is lack of air, and the very star that warms our earth cannot reach.
But, being the nice person I am, I won't. so you have a wonderful day.
Paul

I assumed "which I usually know better" that you were questioning the study and his telling the truth. It somewhat came off that way. There are so many anti smokers out to kick you down these days it's easy to get offended. I don't usually get this upset in posts but reading so many ignorant comments...what the hell is wrong with this world? Blame handicap, smokers, old people, phones etc...How can people be so quick to put the blame on something other than their own driving or just being a bad driver, you know?
When I hear , medical research, you have to admit, that doesn't ring a trusting bell in many ears. I do apologize though and let's get started on a different note here.
My wife has uterin (if spelled right) cancer, spinal compression from neck down, torn shoulder, among other things and she is only 30.
Not to ramble but I want to give a personal example of why I get so defensive about people judging others for things and putting blame and having so much ignorance...Both my wife and I came from extremely abusive homes, had nothing, stabbed by my own father,beaten,etc...the old story. Anyway, we got together, her 16 me 18 and had our first child,a year and a half later, which both of us vowed not to drink or do drugs and make a different life for our kids, to break the chain handed down by the families. She got cancer right after, we had been kicked out of our home\rental so the guy\owner could move in with his girlfriend. We had no money, and were homeless. Years later we ended up buying a home, going good until I found out I have a bad back which is going to paralize me eventually, my wife and I had our gallbladders out within two years of eachother, my son had a tumor in between this, my younger boy had a possiblility of needing brain surgery, my older son has chronic athsma, allergies, etc..and was hospitalized for over a year.My wife got hurt on her job 2 years after me. I wanted to go to college to learn the pc trade to make a living for my family, construction was no longer an option. My daughter was born 8 months ago and stopped breathing, she was on monitors etc..while my wife's c section ended up going bad, she had major clotting through the whole area and almost died three days later. They had to rip her staples out without pain medication and her stomach had to remain open for over 6 months as they packed it with gauze until it healed. After my daughter got better she began having major acid reflux trouble and wouldn't sleep and was on medication for this. My knees are now bad due to artharitis along with my back. We are losing our home from lack of funds from medical bills etc...in the shape we are in, there is no help and I am still trying to get a job,go to college, and so is she. The school tried pressing truency charges on us even though my son was in intensive care at the hospital, we had many pissed off doctors on that one. My son got beaten by 7 little jerks at school and nothing was done. There are no jobs where we live and can't make ends meet. I am also losing my internet in a month. This believe it or not isn't even an ounce of things that have happened to us, not even close.
My point? We are simply happy people through all of this and have three polite, hard working children\save the 8 month old, but they are wonderful kids and people love them also. We still give what we can whenever we can and help anyone in need. We are poor but we are clean people, i find no excuse not to be. We are always being put down for being poor and discriminated against.
Yet we have never ever, hurt anyone, poked our noses in anyone's business, never stole anything in our life, if we see someone drop money we tell them, not keep it. We enjoy our time with our children, they are the no.1 most important things in our life. We will still have a wonderful holiday even without presents and crap, we have eachother. My kids understand that their xmas wish was that we are all together on the holidays.
So when I hear our spoiled rotten , do goody society complain, and cry because they are not happy, and can point a finger at those they feel are lower, and this shows with the driving issue....it ticks me off. Don't blame me, not my fault, smokers, cell phones, etc...yikes. I simply think that most should treasure the people in their lives, be respectful to others, and not cause such a rucus if something doesn't go their way. My family and I always respect others and remain good people (at least try our best). Why can't others do the same?
Take care, Paul

I agree with you on that. Actually my spelling and grammar are usually very good. When I get frustrated, I start typing away without a second thought. My fingers are going like Bruce Almighty answering prayers. And believe it or not, I have a couple of books written. Not that I have the cash to get them published but hey. That's why I don't like to get mad, most do not sound intelligent when they are mad, and in most cases, aren't. That does pertain to drivers also.
Any way, here's a tidbit for you, I have smoked since I was 14 years of age, I just had a checkup a couple of months ago and my oxygen level is higher than most non-smokers. 99%, very good. I am 34 so have smoked for 20 years now and have done so longer than I haven't by 6. I haven't killed anyone with my cigaretts, or driving with one. Of course, I am a curtious smoker. If someone doesn't like it, I won't do it. It's funny, of all the people I have talked to in all my current years, not all agreed with smoking but the ones who didn't still felt they shouldn't judge. Yet on TV, there are commercials etc...just flashing away. Brainwashed by the Boobtube yet again. Hey , that will be my next book, Brainwashed By The Boobtube!
lol yeah right.
Happy Holidays! Paul

I grew up mostly with my grandparents and remember their friends. There was a sense of respect and kindness you don't see anymore. I hear often,"you're only 34 for pete sake, you don't know about the old days." This may be true but growing up with people who were, clues you in on it. The old argument, that was then. Well, just because we have higher technology, never meant it came with a rule that respect had to be lost along the way. I see people who used to be decent, knew them all my life, suddenly becoming cold hearted in their ways, caving in to a cancerous society. It is sad to say the least. I always say, when I die, all I can take with me is the kind of person I was. Money won't buy a pass through those gates.
You take care, thank you for the wonderful comment, god bless. Paul

Cell phones, stereos, whatever. It all falls under "distracted driving" as a citation.

How long will they go on piling unnecessary laws
into the books? They probably will never come around.

It all boils down to the driver. Whether talking about guns, cell phones in cars, etc. It boils down
to the HUMAN element. New devices will keep coming.
Stuff we can't conceive of right now. New distractions.

The choice on how to make safe use of technology is the responsibility of the DRIVER. It's kind of funny that I'm professing what has been a hallmark of Republican philosophy for many years, but many republicans are taking part of this deluge of needless laws, removing responsibility and complicating government. The irony is that I'm anything but republican.

So there you have it. A little interjection of common sense.

Why blame the device. Anyone is capable of being distracted by anything. How liberal it is to blame anything but the pilot. Want to talk on the phone, pull over. Want to change the radio stations but have no idea what button to push, pull over. Need to answer a text message, get off the road. Want to eat a burger, take a break - get off the road where the rest of us are driving.

Bad drivers are incapable of making good decisions. Be it a decision about not being distracted or not getting angry about the traffic or the mistake all the other imperfect people make.

How absurd to think that we can do more than one thing at a time. Wherever safety is a concern, take the course of action that abates disaster. Dropping a cell phone, missing a call, getting that pickle out of your burger, and many other irresponsible driving habits never killed anybody. People making poor choices did.

Any liberals out there who want to take away my ability to use peripherals as I drive, kiss my blackberry! Taking away the device does not ensure good driving. Teaching good habits and skills and holding people accoutable for their actions does.

Albert Einstein once said "Only two things are infinite: The Universe and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about The Universe." I think that says it all.