Texting While Driving

[jabberwocky]

I personally think the penalties for using a phone in any way while driving (texting, talking, hands free, whatever) should be comparable to penalties for drunk driving. People need to get over this idea that sitting behind the wheel is time for doing anything except for paying attention to your goddamn driving.

[JimF22003]

I don’t get why texting is any worse than anything else you do on a phone (including just TALKING on it.) Scrolling a playlist, looking up a contact etc. all take your eyes (and your concentration) off the road.

[Tim Kelley]

@JimF22003 36514 wrote:

I don’t get why texting is any worse than anything else you do on a phone (including just TALKING on it.) Scrolling a playlist, looking up a contact etc. all take your eyes (and your concentration) off the road.

Google says, “Trying to do two visual tasks at once hurt performance in both tasks significantly more than combining a visual and an audio task…”

[pfunkallstar]

Let’s not even get into the sexting while driving… all of those Negative Nancys and Prudish Petes. This is America and I should be able to send adult erotic digital messages whenever I want.

[ShawnoftheDread]

How are we defining “while driving”? Because I care about people rolling down the road looking at their phones, while MPD seems very concerned with people they see stopped at red lights.

[baiskeli]

@JimF22003 36514 wrote:

I don’t get why texting is any worse than anything else you do on a phone (including just TALKING on it.) Scrolling a playlist, looking up a contact etc. all take your eyes (and your concentration) off the road.

Texting takes alot more of your eyes than talking does.

[PotomacCyclist]

I took a brief survey a couple weeks ago. I was riding in a taxicab. (Thus, I myself did not need to be focused on the road ahead.) I decided to observe the drivers in adjacent cars and see how many of them were texting or websurfing on their phones. I looked at the first 20 drivers. Of those 20 drivers, seven of them were texting or websurfing, or looking at something on their phones, 35 percent.

To make matters worse, the cab driver, who had been standing around chatting with other cab drivers before I started the ride, suddenly decided that he had to grab something out of the glove compartment while he was driving. I thought that maybe it was a paper map, or… well, I don’t know what he needed so urgently. It was… a bottle of hand lotion that he used to moisturize his hands. Uh, hello! I watched the road to make sure that he didn’t start swerving. After he finished his vital task, I politely mentioned that using hand lotion wasn’t really a good reason to reach across the front seat, open the glove compartment and completely ignore the road while driving. He looked embarrassed, as he should.

Is this is a scientific survey? No. But from what most of us see every day and every week, it’s not completely off-base. Everytime I ride on a somewhat busy road, it’s almost guaranteed that at least a couple car drivers will be texting or websurfing while they are supposedly driving. I hope they pass this law.

[jrenaut]

@PotomacCyclist 36569 wrote:

I hope they pass this law.

I do, too, but as we’ve seen with PA Ave u turns, laws are pretty useless unless they’re regularly enforced.

[rcannon100]

Enforcement is always an issue – and it is important to consider whether a law is enforceable.

However, two thoughts.

First, is the story that started this. A judge refused to impose a “reckless driving” sentence bc in VA texting while driving is a misdomeaner. The driver was involved in a fatal accident, and reportedly all the judge would do is make a finding under the misdomeaner law. This is a time when the law matters.

Second, there is an educational factor to this. There is an amazing discussion about whether distracted driving is a bad thing or not. People I know – particularly young – particularly techies addicted to their devices – will swear up and down that there is nothing wrong with fiddling with their smart phone while driving. With no law – you can argue the point, but that’s about all. With a law, there is an educational moment that society has looked at this in the clumsy thing we call the democratic process and we have concluded that distracted driving is a significant safety concern. The fact that there is society consensus or societal normals about this may help sway some people away from doing it. It also means it gets taught in drivers education courses. It changes the discussion and moves it one notch away from “he said – she said” to “we have consensus that this is stupid – could you please not do it.”

I have had endless discussions with people who are persuaded that there is nothing wrong with texting while driving – now you would be able to say the law does not agree with them.

[americancyclo]

I’m not a big fan of anything that might create an unexpected ride in an ambulance. Also not a huge fan of people talking on the phone while turning through intersections. I see that a lot on the bike, and it makes me a bit nervous. Texting is bad, but talking isn’t much better. when on the phone you are an active listener (as opposed to radio) and your mind is not focused on your immediate surroundings.

[Steve]

Another update to this story today…..

http://www.wtop.com/120/3142707/Va-to-consider-tougher-laws-on-texting-while-driving

[Terpfan]

Texting isn’t the problem, it’s a symptom of distraction. Folks get hung up on “texting while driving” because they presume someone looks down and engages his or her phone with both hands. It’s definitely a horrible distraction, people definitely should not do it while driving, but quite frankly they shouldn’t be driving distracted at all. I see people trying to light tobacco products, eating, putting on makeup, putting on ties, and all sorts of insane things that are quite simply not safe. So part of what worries me is we overfocus our attention on simply cell phones and that reinforces folks committing other distracted sins because they think they’re doing well by not texting.

It’s why I find the texting-only laws kind of pointless. I would rather they come under distracted driving and the penalty be something extremely high (like when VA did the crazy speeding ticket fines).

On an unrelated note, this fall/winter, I have been behind a few of our own on two wheels holding full length conversations. I’m baffled at how they brake effectively, but I must say a little part of me is also impressed as it’s something I couldn’t do.

[Tim Kelley]

@Terpfan 37283 wrote:

Texting isn’t the problem, it’s a symptom of distraction. Folks get hung up on “texting while driving” because they presume someone looks down and engages his or her phone with both hands. It’s definitely a horrible distraction, people definitely should not do it while driving, but quite frankly they shouldn’t be driving distracted at all. I see people trying to light tobacco products, eating, putting on makeup, putting on ties, and all sorts of insane things that are quite simply not safe. So part of what worries me is we overfocus our attention on simply cell phones and that reinforces folks committing other distracted sins because they think they’re doing well by not texting.

It’s why I find the texting-only laws kind of pointless. I would rather they come under distracted driving and the penalty be something extremely high (like when VA did the crazy speeding ticket fines).

On an unrelated note, this fall/winter, I have been behind a few of our own on two wheels holding full length conversations. I’m baffled at how they brake effectively, but I must say a little part of me is also impressed as it’s something I couldn’t do.

Did you hear about Toronto this summer? http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/14/toronto-police-to-mayor-rob-ford-get-a-driver-saving-money-not-worth-the-risk-to-citizens/

[Terpfan]

@Tim Kelley 37284 wrote:

Did you hear about Toronto this summer? http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/14/toronto-police-to-mayor-rob-ford-get-a-driver-saving-money-not-worth-the-risk-to-citizens/

Precisely. He was almost as bad as the guy I saw reading a newspaper the other day.

Either people are far more talented than I am OR they’re more lucky.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@Terpfan 37299 wrote:

Precisely. He was almost as bad as the guy I saw reading a newspaper the other day.

I hope it wasn’t the mayor…

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