State Bans Texting While Driving 329
netbuzz writes "The state of Washington yesterday became the first in the nation to ban text-messaging while driving. The law could use sharper teeth, but it's a natural and necessary progression of the movement to clamp down on those who find the need to constantly communicate more important than the safety of their fellow travelers."
Whatever happened to common sense? (Score:5, Informative)
already a law in europe (Score:2, Informative)
According to wikipedia, Israel, Japan, Portugal and Singapore all prohibit mobile phone use while driving.
Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the Philippines, Romania, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom require the use of a hands-free kit.
Re:Whatever happened to common sense? (Score:5, Informative)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1166267.stm [bbc.co.uk]
Re:Whatever happened to common sense? (Score:3, Informative)
she wasn't brushing her teeth, instead she was wrapping a gift for her grandchild's friend, and talking on a hand's free.
it was out in the suburbs and she pulled her car out from a side street onto a non-divided highway of 4 lanes, and the speed limit is 65mph.
my friends goldwing was going about that speed when the lady pulled out suddenly with only 20 feet to spare.
he pulled a nearly miraculous maneuver to miss the woman, leaning the goldwing to max lean angle...but they left the road, bodies separated from the bike, and two humans and a motorcycle tumbled into a convenience pole, and fence at high speed. helmets were of no use.
lady claimed that she never saw them. grandchild in the car, gave the cops very detailed info on what happened right before the accident.
jury will probably give her a years probation...if that.
Re:Whatever happened to common sense? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:This is a First Amendment Issue!!! (Score:4, Informative)
Forbes Article [forbes.com]
400% more likely claim supported by Berkely Lab [lbl.gov] Of course there is the psudeo-science of the Mythbusters as well where they placed a sober driver on the cell phone and a 'drunk' but under the legal limit of 0.8% blood alcohol level and put them both on a closed course and had them navigate it. They did it both sober with no distractions as a control as well I believe. Turns out they both did equally bad. I am not saying it is a perfect experiment (such would require more than 2 test cases) but it does illustrate that distraction or inebriation = bad for driving ability regardless of the exact percentages involved. and another article from The Straight Dope [straightdope.com]
Re:This is a First Amendment Issue!!! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:This is a First Amendment Issue!!! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I can drive safely while texting (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Amazing how defensive some people get (Score:3, Informative)
Traffic safety institues. Automobile associations. Insurance companies. There's an entire field of research dedicated to this sort of study called "Risk Management". Pretty much weekly another study is released showing similar results. You want citations of peer-reviewed studies? Sorry, I was posting to an Internet discussion forum. I'll remember to bring my proper references next time I'm testifying in front of a Senate committee.
And I bet 90% of the bad drivers you see are listening to music. Let's ban that in cars too. The fact is that when you notice that somebody is driving badly, you tend to look for someone to blame that driving on.
But you don't notice all the poor, black, or female people who are in fact excellent drivers. The same idea applies to cell phones. Most people can drive well and use cell phones responsibly. You just don't notice these people.
People listening to music don't typically focus most of their concentration on the music. Cell phone users do. Most people cannot drive well while using a cell phone, they just think they can. Hell, most people think they're perfectly good drivers after a few drinks. Ever watch someone on a phone call closely? People tend to focus most of their attention on the conversation, oftentimes blocking out the rest of their environment. Just watch someone sitting at their desk chatting - it's common enough to have to jump around and wave your arms just to get enough attention that they even realize you're standing right in front of them. Incidentally, I don't notice good drivers, that is correct. I do notice every time some asshat cuts me off, wanders between lanes, or trundles along doing 20 under the limit in the passing lane. 90% of the time they're on a cellphone. Most people aren't on cellphones when they drive. Anecdotal, but again, I'm posting to Slashdot.
Anyway, there's a reason a lot of companies ban the use of cellphones for their employees while driving on company business. It's not some silly moral play, it's not that the CEOs are all 70 years old and hating new technology. It's because when you put the average driver behind the wheel and stick a cellphone in their hand, they drive with the same degree of carelessness as if they were legally impaired. We've been seeing this in driving simulators for years now, and it's a good thing the law is finally catching up.