NY Police Get Tall SUVs To Combat Texting While Driving 319
coondoggie writes "The New York State Police have a new weapon to fight the plague of drivers that insist on texting while operating their vehicle: tall SUVs. Most recently reported by the AP, NY has begun operating a fleet of 32 unmarked SUVs that let troopers more easily peer down into a car to see if the driver is texting or not. 'Major Michael Kopy, commander of the state police troop patrolling the corridor between New York City and Albany, quoted a Virginia Tech study that found texting while driving increased the chance of a collision by 23 times and took eyes off the road for five seconds — more than the length of a football field at highway speed. Kopy worries that as teens get their driver's licenses, texting on the road will become more prevalent. "More people are coming of driving age who have had these hand-held devices for many years, and now as they start to drive, they're putting the two together, texting and driving, when they shouldn't."'"
Re:Distracted driving (Score:2, Interesting)
And how far does an SUV travel while the driver tries to see whether a person in another car is texting?
About as far as an ambulance drives, while the driver radios ahead to the hospital, simultaneously remaining in communication with his partner, who is busy attending to the patient they picked up from the automobile accident caused by distracted driving.
anti-texting hivemind in full effect. (Score:1, Interesting)
It's amazing how the outrage of the day really riles people up into frothy frenzy. It seems that the root problem is the lack of respect and attention people pay towards driving. Texting is a convenient target, but I'm willing to wager that the same people who think it's 'okay' to text whilst driving are the same who wouldn't think twice about eating, applying mascara, checking a map, scolding their children, restraining a dog, driving while tired, changing the radio station, looking for a CD, singing along to a song, or any of the fuckmillion other ways people can distract themselves while operating a car. Guess what... distracted people kill other people. you can't legislate common sense. stop fucking trying.
Until there are 0 murders, robberies, arsons, rapes, financial crimes,dog thefts,sugared soda sales, or $crime in the city, cracking down on drivers while texting should be pretty much of 0 importance.
zero sympathy for those who get caught.... (Score:2, Interesting)
.... if you're so oblivious that you don't even notice the large SUV in the next lane, with driver staring intently at you, you deserve the bloody ticket. Police cruisers, even unmarked ones, have all manner of features that scream "COP", but of course you'd have to be paying attention to actually notice them....
Maybe they'll shift enforcement resources to texting and leave us open-highway speeders alone. I'll take 80 with both hands on the wheel and eyes on the road over 45 with both hands on the phone, a knee doing the steering, and eyes glued to a cell phone....
Re:Cost-benefit analysis (Score:2, Interesting)
I'd go further, the only time the extra foot or so of height is going to let you see someone texting is when waiting at lights, stuck in traffic, or travelling side-by-side on multi-laned straight roads in smooth uniform traffic.
Only the latter situation is actually remotely dangerous to glance down at a phone (in case someone ahead emergency brakes), but still about the least dangerous of all possible traffic conditions. So even if it makes a difference, you may end up training people to only avoid using their phone when it is safe to do so. Surely the opposite of what you want.
Re:It is not kids (Score:2, Interesting)