Texting Bans Cause More Crashes?

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
A new study says automobile crashes have actually increased since a ban was placed on texting while driving.

"Texting bans haven't reduced crashes at all. In a perverse twist, crashes increased in 3 of the 4 states we studied after bans were enacted. It's an indication that texting bans might even increase the risk of texting for drivers who continue to do so despite the laws," says Lund.
Click to expand...

Using the same logic, earthquakes and tornadoes are also on the rise (as is the temperature around the globe)…all since texting while driving has been banned. That means, for the good of every man, woman and child on the planet, texting while driving must once again be legalized! :rolleyes:
 
And did you know before the fall of the Soviet Union there were zero deaths from texting? Apparently communism and cold wars save lives.
 
I saw this on the news today. Has to do with the fact that people now try to hide the phone while doing it, so they are holding it lower or whatever and it's even more dangerous. Makes sense to me. It's like drugs; people are going to do it regardless.
 
Worth more study; but then again, we can't have facts interfering with preconceived ideas of how a law is going to work...
 
I just wish people would concentrate on driving ... I know it's a lot to ask for.
 
Anybody that has tried to text while driving sees it is dangerous right away. If you ignore that then there is no chance of following a law when there is an easy way around it.
 
I think what will cheer me up even more would be that anyone caught texting while driving will be subjected to the court of public opinion, in some form of TV wall of shame, so we can recall their moment of idiocy for posterity...
 
john doe 182 said:
Anybody that has tried to text while driving sees it is dangerous right away. If you ignore that then there is no chance of following a law when there is an easy way around it.
Click to expand...

At risk of sounding like a heartless jerk: good. Let the people who can't pay any attention get themselves killed, I just hope they don't take out anyone worth keeping around in the process.

If you're sitting in the drivers seat of a 3,000 (more often now 6,000) lb vehicle and you can't wait five-thirty minutes to text someone I have extremely little sympathy if you get horribly maimed or killed.

That sort of idiocy should be stopped before it can spread.
 
Common sense (which isn't very common apparently) tells us that texting while driving isn't a smart thing to do, agreed. That being said, neither is talking on the phone, playing with the radio, eating anything at all while driving, drinking anything at all, having any conversation (especially arguring), putting on make up(which I see women do all the time in the am), picking ones nose, basically anything that will take away from your attention on the road. Ya we get it I guess it's just safer if we all go back to riding horses and just put the cars away since humans , last I checked, are way too flawed to drive safely. Or better yet just ban thought of any kind while driving and there you have it. Sounds silly amirite? I thought so too.
 
@Savoy: Common sense (which isn't very common apparently) tells us that convenience should be balanced by caution. That being said, manslaughter, abandonment of fiduciary duties, failure to follow rules, endangering others. Yea we get it I guess it's just better if we all go back to a society with no legal codes and just leave it to people since human, last I checked, are very fair with each other. Or better yet, just let people work out any issue that may arise. Sounds silly amirite? I thought so too.
 
Savoy said:
Common sense (which isn't very common apparently) tells us that texting while driving isn't a smart thing to do, agreed. That being said, neither is talking on the phone, playing with the radio, eating anything at all while driving, drinking anything at all, having any conversation (especially arguring), putting on make up(which I see women do all the time in the am), picking ones nose, basically anything that will take away from your attention on the road. Ya we get it I guess it's just safer if we all go back to riding horses and just put the cars away since humans , last I checked, are way too flawed to drive safely. Or better yet just ban thought of any kind while driving and there you have it. Sounds silly amirite? I thought so too.
Click to expand...

See, it isn't that difficult to drive without being a distracted fool. You know when I drink anything while on the road? At red lights. Eating? Again, if I'm moving no. Mess with the radio? I have controls on the steering wheel now, but before that same deal.

People need to ****ing slow down for once and stop rushing to do everything faster, it'll only make you less effective at each thing and give you hypertension.
 
Should do what we do over here in social medicare-land. Average cost of a license, driving classes and tests is over $2200. The number of people who died in traffic related incidents last year was 355, and we're almost 10 million people large.
 
Retarded study. Its basically this. More accidents are attributed to texting because it is now illegal. Before, the cause of the accident would be something non-specific like "driving without due care and attention". Since the ban cops/insurance companies are able to cite the cause as "texting whilst driving" rather than something more vague.

Notice how you never hear about crashes being caused my high heels. Bring out a law about wearing high heels whilst driving and i guarantee there will be a massive spike in high heel related accidents.
 
Steve said:
Using the same logic, earthquakes and tornadoes are also on the rise (as is the temperature around the globe)…all since texting while driving has been banned. That means, for the good of every man, woman and child on the planet, texting while driving must once again be legalized! :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I think its safe to say there's no logic at all present in this fallacy.

The point they are making is that if you aren't holding your phone up near your field of view of the road, such as when hiding your cell down below the line of sight of your windows, then you are more likely to have an accident because you are no longer using your peripheral or unfocused vision to watch the road, and the angle between the phone screen and the window is going to be too far you your eyes to focus quickly between the two compared to the simple refocusing of your eyes when the phone is at eye level.

Runningflame570 said:
At risk of sounding like a heartless jerk: good. Let the people who can't pay any attention get themselves killed, I just hope they don't take out anyone worth keeping around in the process.

If you're sitting in the drivers seat of a 3,000 (more often now 6,000) lb vehicle and you can't wait five-thirty minutes to text someone I have extremely little sympathy if you get horribly maimed or killed.

That sort of idiocy should be stopped before it can spread.
Click to expand...

You do realize that this law will cause the deaths of people who would have otherwise not died or killed others, had they been holding their phones in their field of view, right? Or is the cognitive dissonance from ignoring that just a faint annoyance to you? And, who the fuck drives a 6000lb vehicle?

Skirrow said:
Retarded study. Its basically this. More accidents are attributed to texting because it is now illegal. Before, the cause of the accident would be something non-specific like "driving without due care and attention". Since the ban cops/insurance companies are able to cite the cause as "texting whilst driving" rather than something more vague.

Notice how you never hear about crashes being caused my high heels. Bring out a law about wearing high heels whilst driving and i guarantee there will be a massive spike in high heel related accidents.
Click to expand...

You have any proof of this other than your gaping ass you just pulled it from? Why would they be more likely to ignore the cause of the crash before? If anything, people would be more likely to lie about the cause in order to protect themselves.
 
Runningflame570 said:
See, it isn't that difficult to drive without being a distracted fool. You know when I drink anything while on the road? At red lights. Eating? Again, if I'm moving no. Mess with the radio? I have controls on the steering wheel now, but before that same deal.

People need to ****ing slow down for once and stop rushing to do everything faster, it'll only make you less effective at each thing and give you hypertension.
Click to expand...

I agree, I watch people speed around me, tailgate, run to get that last spot, blow through stop signs and still end up showing at the same place as me (these are my co-workers) at the same time as me. Only difference is I've used 1/3'd the gas they did...

Also texting doesn't make people get into car accidents, bad drivers get into car accidents.
 
People have been reading maps, eating, reading the paper, watching TV, jammin on air guitar and putting on mascara all while driving for a very, very long time.

It's not that the law increased accidents. I don't believe that. But what didn't happen is it didn't reduce them. It didn't cut them in half or have any noticeable reducing effect on accidents.

Guess what. Texting may not be smart, but it wasn't the huge problem they made it out to be. Bad drivers are the problem and ones with low experience who are also bad, the worst of all. The good news is that, with practice, most folks can become decent drivers.

But saying you can't text, but you can reach back into the far back seat and grab that toy out of Joey's hand while driving 70mph, is just silly. Both things are dangerous. Just one garnered enough hysteria to become illegal.
 
I can't stand seeing cars, PULLED over, people stopped to use their phone. Blocking half the road, in people way.

You guys are doing it wrong. Either talk on your phone or don't pick it up. You're creating a bigger problem if you're stopped on busy roads like this.
 
colinstu said:
I can't stand seeing cars, PULLED over, people stopped to use their phone. Blocking half the road, in people way.

You guys are doing it wrong. Either talk on your phone or don't pick it up. You're creating a bigger problem if you're stopped on busy roads like this.
Click to expand...

Are you saying people stop in the middle of the road to use their phones?
 
NahBrah said:
You have any proof of this other than your gaping ass you just pulled it from? Why would they be more likely to ignore the cause of the crash before? If anything, people would be more likely to lie about the cause in order to protect themselves.
Click to expand...

No need for that. Its just common sense. I'm not saying people wont lie. I'm not saying the cause would be ignored. I'm talking about what you can legally be charged with.

Before the law you can only be charged with 'Driving without due care and attention'. That is vague and so the media doesnt pick up on it. A DUI falls under the same category but since it has specific laws pertaining to driving under the influence of alchohol or drugs it has a seperate charge so the media or study has no legal issue with saying that a certain accident was directly attributed to alcohol or drugs. Before the law was passed the act of texting whilst driving was treated the same as changing the channel on your radio and therefore circumstantial. So the media and/or study couldn't conclusively say that texting was to blame. Now that texting whilst driving is an illegal act, any accident that has had this as a contributing factor is legally validated. Therefore any study or media story can rightly cite texting as the cause.

Because of this law more accidents have been attributed to Texting whilst driving and therefore statistics are UP.

Before the law, Texting was considered a contributing factor. After the law, texting was considered the cause.
 
its likely the statistical rise is due to the police actually looking for it as a cause vs before when there was less attention on texting while driving.

the only way to combat it is to empower the police to do "searches" of the phones in a car, which some lame ass lawyers will argue is invasion of privacy. not to mention "its not my phone" or passing the phone to other passengers. eventually you will end up with phones that cannot have their timers erased, so they can be used as evidence of this.

but the only way to deter people is to make the penalties heavy enough that they will think twice. but this is true of all traffic crimes, not to mention police are under more load so they only take time to enforce simple traffic crimes(speeding). current punishments are a joke, if they actually have any.

DRIVING IS A PRIVILEGE NOT A RIGHT

as someone who drives as part of my job, i notice texting while driving is not going away and is way more apparent now then 2-3 years ago.

but how will people ever survive without cellphone earrings and 24/7 texting ??!?!
 
I like when I'm driving on the highway and texting and I look around and people in the cars around me are doing it too. We're the cool kids on the road. You're just jealous.
 
Joe Six Pack: "Hey babe, check out what I can do. It's badass cause it's illegal. I can text while I drive. Bet your other boy friends couldn't do that?"

Sally Six Pack: "But Joe, you're stupid, and you'll crash"

Joe Six Pack: "No worries babe, I got this under HOLY FUCK WHERE THAT WALL CAME FROM!"

Ker splat.... blood blood blood blood blood
 
Trimlock said:
I agree, I watch people speed around me, tailgate, run to get that last spot, blow through stop signs and still end up showing at the same place as me (these are my co-workers) at the same time as me. Only difference is I've used 1/3'd the gas they did...

Also texting doesn't make people get into car accidents, bad drivers get into car accidents.
Click to expand...

like guns don't kill people, people do. if someone is going to kill someone, they will find another way if the gun wasn't there.
 
Why are people under the impression that making texting illegal will actually get people to stop doing it? It's one of those laws that is impossible to enforce. It's only there to ensure that when someone gets sued it's an easy case. It's not a law that is supposed to save lives.
 
Why focus on saving lives though? The point is to to simply get to step no.4, being profit! from those individuals that would text while driving. Nothing more, nothing less. Step no.3 after all is ????, up in the air...
 
can't believe a lot [H] people will at one time support texting while driving though, imo doing anything while driving "will increase your chance f*cking something up" , maybe most of you are perfect intellectual people who have fast reaction times and godly multitasking capabilities, but have you ever considered how many stupid people are out there? lol
 
texting is the dumbest shit ever. Use the goddamn phone and TALK.
people have all become deaf mutes.

that said, i don't mind if you text.
but if you crash into me, and I find a phone in your hand, I will beat you with my tire wrench.
 
NahBrah said:
Are you saying people stop in the middle of the road to use their phones?
Click to expand...

Pretty much. You've got a 3 lane-ish road with everyone going 35mph and one person pulls over to talk on their cell... it drives me and others nuts! Not only do I need to watch out for them because they are blocking the road and a stationary object, but "why are they stopped in the first place?" are they broken down? Ohh... they're on their phone! (after looking in my rear-view mirror). The same thing goes for the freeway.

I don't like it. Headsets are one thing, pulling over and taking up a lane is another.
 
dyzophoria said:
can't believe a lot [H] people will at one time support texting while driving though, imo doing anything while driving "will increase your chance f*cking something up" , maybe most of you are perfect intellectual people who have fast reaction times and godly multitasking capabilities, but have you ever considered how many stupid people are out there? lol
Click to expand...

People's intelligence can range from stupid to smart, but when stupid tries to play smart is the problem. I can drive and multitask, because I can. I'm not saying I try to make a habit of it, but I shouldn't be punished if I do.

Driving is second nature to me, that my mind can take over and follow a path I frequent. It happens to me many times, and I won't realize it until I'm at my destination. Only new paths require me to pay attention.

A lot of people can't multitask, and force themselves to do so. Usually the new drivers, who I've seen swerve just from drinking a soda. There shouldn't be a law, for something people should be able to judge for themselves. If you can't multitask, then don't.

Texting is just one of many things people do in cars that can cause accidents. Changing Radio stations, drinking coffee, and smoking are multitasking you shouldn't do either, but last I checked radios, cup holders, and cigarette lighters come in all cars. So it's like we encourage drivers to practice multitasking. So of course things like cell phones and texting are just some things people will also attempt.
 
Testing whilst driving is ridiculously stupid, theres no justification. Just like wearing headphones whilst driving.

Even just using a phone whilst driving is illegal now in the UK. Pretty sure sat navs too.
 
Unknownsock said:
Testing whilst driving is ridiculously stupid, theres no justification. Just like wearing headphones whilst driving.

Even just using a phone whilst driving is illegal now in the UK. Pretty sure sat navs too.
Click to expand...

Majikka said:
like guns don't kill people, people do. if someone is going to kill someone, they will find another way if the gun wasn't there.
Click to expand...

Another justification for legal guns? Always found that funny tbh.
 
Unknownsock said:
Testing whilst driving is ridiculously stupid, theres no justification. Just like wearing headphones whilst driving.

Even just using a phone whilst driving is illegal now in the UK. Pretty sure sat navs too.
Click to expand...

Here in The States, we embrace our stupidity.

If texting wasn't a stupid and frivolous enough exercise, leave it to us Yanks to make it even more ignorant by doing it while driving. We're smrt that way. :cool:

Where u at?!
 
texting should be fined twice as much as a typical speeding ticket and if you cause an accident the insurance company shouldn't cover you. you better have enough money to cover the cost of your car's damage and the damage of the car that you hit.
seriously! stop texting in the car. get an ear-piece or a in-car speakerphone and talk hands-free.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top