More U.S. Teens Killed Texting While Driving Than Drinking

What is wrong with pulling over to text if you have such an obsession with texting that you cannot wait until you reach your destination.

We spend money on the best car we can afford, we take good care of it, only to do stupid stuff that risk getting into an accident. I just can't understand such stupidity.
 
Reckless and dangerous drivers will try to rationalize their near-criminal disregard for others' lives. There's really no reasoning with them, that's just how they are.
I hope you aren't talking about me, because all I've ever been doing is criticizing dangerous and reckless driving and criticizing drivers who lack an understanding of risks involved in driving and criticizing drivers who selfishly drive recklessly and dangerously.
 
What is wrong with pulling over to text if you have such an obsession with texting that you cannot wait until you reach your destination.

We spend money on the best car we can afford, we take good care of it, only to do stupid stuff that risk getting into an accident. I just can't understand such stupidity.
And hey, I agree, I'm all in support of pulling over to read a text or write a text or even answer a phone call if the conditions are too dangerous to so safely while moving. I just wish the focus was off "ZOMG, phones are dangerous" and was on "ZOMG, dangerous drivers are dangerous, maybe we should do something about that".
 
We didn't need another study on this.
We know it already.

Teens, and most people, suck at multitasking.

I don't mind them killing themselves. But if they ever crash into me, I'm going to bash their head against their steering wheel until they are no longer capable of texting.
 
I think the law should stat that phones should be turned off in the vehicle. For the person driving that is. I see the stupid moves every day and it's usually because the driver has the phone in their hands. I too am a cyclist. Two very well respected good family men ( cyclists) I knew personally were killed on their bikes. In both cases the young men driving were using their phones. These guys are sorry for what they did and they have to live with the fact that they killed someone for the rest of their lives. Is that stupid little conversation worth killing? C'mon people, please just quit using your phones when you are behind the wheel. I personally don't use my phone when I'm driving because I know anything can go wrong and that scares me.
 
It amazes me how many people still drive and text today even with all the warnings. If you are at a complete stop (stoplight, complete traffic jam, etc.), fine. As soon as your car starts moving more than 1 mile/hour... phone should no longer be in your hand.

Now, with that said, what irritates me even more is the constant linking of texting and talking as being distractions. There is a huge difference between texting (which requires taking your eyes off the road) and talking on a headset. It's crazy how we have started demonizing these "distractions" yet no one bashes people eating their double-cheese burgers, putting on makeup, or reaching back to bitch-slap the kids acting up in the back seat ;)

Where is the national "No Cheezeburgerz while Driving" campaign? Or the "Put your damn makeup on at home!" campaign?

Gotta say that I feel I'm driving much more dangerously when I'm flying down the freeway steering with my knees because both hands are on the bowl of cereal I'm eating while driving at 65 mph... compared to taking a conference call on my headset that I don't care about and keep having them repeat their questions because I was watching the road instead :p
 
It's all about justification. Drinking and driving has been so demonized—and not without reason—that assholes who text and drive are offended when they are lumped in with drunk drivers.
They are willingly putting other people lives at risk for their own selfish reasons.
The results of their arrogance and willful ignorance is the same.
They deserve to be "lumped" into the same group.
I don't feel sorry at all.
 
I am glad when someone darwin-award idiot kills themselves will texting and driving, or putting on makeup, reading the newspaper, eating lunch, etc while driving. Another oxygen thief removed from the gene pool as far as I am concerned. I get VERY angry though when these inconsiderate idiots kill someone else.
 
It amazes me how many people still drive and text today even with all the warnings. If you are at a complete stop (stoplight, complete traffic jam, etc.), fine. As soon as your car starts moving more than 1 mile/hour... phone should no longer be in your hand.

Even texting at corners is dangerous. There's things you should be doing at a stoplight. Here's a couple.

1) If you're in the front, watching for fast moving cars that might run the light when it changes. You're risking getting T-boned because you didn't see the speeding car that runs the red light because your attention was on your damn phone
2)Watching for pedestrians crossing to your right/left (especially at night when they would be less visible)

The biggest thing is, most people don't simply stop the second the light turns green. They finish up their last text while they start moving, etc. Thus more risk of either of the above.

If there's something that fucking important that can't wait a few minutes, make a damn phone call instead. At least then your eyes are on the damn road.
 
This translates to what percentage of the US teen population dying every year? Likely around 0.01%
 
Same here... well, not for that long... but yea, 0 close calls or wrecks.

People will just say you've been lucky and it'll happen sooner or later or whatever... Guess that'll probably apply to everythign else, and they just don't want to admit it.

That said, texting and driving isn't very safe. It should be discouraged. I don't know how you do it, but I've seen people drive, look DOWN to text and drive. Idiots. At least make it so you can see the road, when you're looking down, you have no sight to see if you're about to hit someone or not. If you don't have that much common sense, just stop driving altogether.
I never got in an accident while driving wasted. I suppose that makes it okay, right?
 
This translates to what percentage of the US teen population dying every year? Likely around 0.01%

The deaths are only 0.015% but the injuries are much higher (1.5%) ... and that is just the human portion of that ... how much damage to vehicles and property is caused by this ... this is a valid financial and human safety issue ;)
 
There was a time when we didn't have cell-phones and people drove without the distraction and everything was fine. I'm not sure why so many people think that they are so important and a call can't just wait until they finish driving. The world will not end if you don't answer that call or reply to that text.
 
I'm a pretty bad driver and I know it so I'd never send a text while driving. There's nothing that important in my life that I need to respond to instantly. Though I think those screens they stick into cars now with GPS and junk integrated are kind of distracting, maybe a little worse than a radio with knobs that you can feel around taking your eyes off the road.
 
Why don't we put all people from the age of 13 to 21 in an incubating cocoon, pump them full of steroids and hormons to accelerate their cranial gorwth, microchip them to wirelessly block cell phones in a vicinity of cars, and then have a radial sawzall blade detonate on the steering wheel if they try to drive?
 
And hey, I agree, I'm all in support of pulling over to read a text or write a text or even answer a phone call if the conditions are too dangerous to so safely while moving. I just wish the focus was off "ZOMG, phones are dangerous" and was on "ZOMG, dangerous drivers are dangerous, maybe we should do something about that".

Howabout ZOMG people using phones while driving makes them dangerous? Just because you haven't fucked up doesn't mean it's a safe thing to do.
 
It takes the stupid people out of the gene pool, and that's a good thing. Sure, some smart one dies as a result of the stupid ones, but that's the way it works in a free society.
 
The solution here is so painfully obvious, hook up kids with those faux iPhone flasks to replace their smartphones.

But seriously though, I'm usually all for freedom, but the difficulty in enforcing no-texting/non-handsfree calling from police though IMO means that we need to enact laws carrier side to address this.

Most smart devices have at least A-GPS now, and as such when the vehicle is in motion it simply needs to disable input to the keyboard/touchscreen to type or place calls. You can always receive calls wirelessly through your car's built in system or bluetooth add-on unit.
 
It takes the stupid people out of the gene pool, and that's a good thing. Sure, some smart one dies as a result of the stupid ones, but that's the way it works in a free society.
Unfortunately, like drunk driving, the person in the car that is hitting others perfectly head on from their perspective usually live and reproduce just fine.

The person that got side-swiped by them while they ran a stop sign or hit a pedestrian or me on my motorcycle however are usually just regular Joes that don't deserve to suffer at the expense of these people.

Texting and placing calls non-handsfree is so commonplace now and so hard to enforce that clearly a freedom needs to be taken away that relies on the "honor system" and handled carrier/phone side.

After all, we have always known that our freedoms end as soon as they severely and directly impact your neighbor. You don't have the freedom to blast your music at 2AM, because that directly impacts your neighbor.

Likewise, you don't have the freedom to text and drive and directly impact your neighbor... literally... with your 4000 pound car. :rolleyes: ;)
 
In a free and open society you have to take the good with the bad, if not go live in a Socialist cradle to grave state.
 
This is such a common occurrence it's not even funny (just as it is outside the automobile). People texting and talking on cell phones while driving is an epidemic and I don't know how it's going to be stopped. If cops stopped people just for this, they would be working nonstop their whole shift so they don't do it. There aren't enough cops on the street to police this. Cellphones are turning society into Robots.

I was two dudes in a low rider once both on cellphones riding slow and acting cool. The stupid asses were talking to each other!
 
It takes the stupid people out of the gene pool, and that's a good thing. Sure, some smart one dies as a result of the stupid ones, but that's the way it works in a free society.

All of those wrecks also have an effect on your insurance rates.

Texting while driving takes your eyes off the road for an average of five seconds at a time. That's a long time rolling down the road at any sort of speed.
 
Amazing. 3000 of the 3331 accidents involving distracted driving were teenagers? And they all died?

Someone's fudging numbers.

These studies are usually fudged. IIRC they count texting and driving as either receiving or sending a message within 10 minutes of an accident.

Think about that. You could have sent a message, then gotten in your car, and as long as it was within 10 minutes you got in an accident because of texting and driving. If you are driving and receive a text message then get in an accident, the study assumes you were reading or replying to the message and that's why you got in an accident.

The data on these studies is so thin it's laughable.

Is texting while driving distracting? Sure it is. But these studies REALLY stretch the data to make their points. It is VERY hard to actually determine if someone was reading or typing a text at time of accident. Just because X happened within a certain amount of time of Y doesn't mean X caused Y.
 
All of those wrecks also have an effect on your insurance rates.

Texting while driving takes your eyes off the road for an average of five seconds at a time. That's a long time rolling down the road at any sort of speed.
I put it in a harsh way I admitt, but hey look, people have to think a bit more before acting, use common sense. I mean that's why it is called common sense. Everyones got it. They just have to use it.

If I talk on the phone when driving I either use a handsfree, or keep the call very short, letting the person know I'm driving and that I will call back.

People who text when driving are complete morons IMO.
 
In a free and open society you have to take the good with the bad, if not go live in a Socialist cradle to grave state.

Socialism is an economic system and has nothing to do with the "Rule of Law" ... by that rationale we couldn't make murder illegal either since a free and open society can't regulate anything (that is anarchy)

What you do in the privacy of your own home is usually your own business as long as it doesn't involve anyone else ... as soon as you go into public areas (or involve other people in your activities) you are bound by group rules, not just your individual rules ;)
 
Most smart devices have at least A-GPS now, and as such when the vehicle is in motion it simply needs to disable input to the keyboard/touchscreen to type or place calls. You can always receive calls wirelessly through your car's built in system or bluetooth add-on unit.


The biggest problem is the passengers in cars, buses, or trains, can't text.
 
The whole "rise texting deaths" were brought to light a couple years ago. Nothing new.
 
This is why I like Siri so much. If I get a text while driving I can have her read it to me and then reply back all hand free.

It really is the future now heh.
 
So true for adults too. I drive 60 miles a day for work (30 to work and 30 back home). I can't tell you how many people I see, EVERY DAY, texting and driving. Why? What is so important that can't wait the 10-30 minutes it takes a person to reach their destination? Put the phone down people!!!!!!

Drunks, drift in and out of their lanes... so do Texters
Drunks speed up and slow down bogging down traffic behind them. So do texters.
Drunks misjudge the breaking distance to a sudden situation in front of them ... so do texters.
At least drunks are looking forward... texters are looking down.

The only way you are going to get people who think they can continue to text and drive is to make the consequences extreme. Extreme enough to make you way too paranoid to even think about responding or sending a text. If you get caught, you loose your license for 90 days. Think about that. To not be able to not drive for a week let alone 90 days would be devastating and a scary option to even risk having. Drivers forget that it's a responsibility, to your self and others, and not a privilege.
 
I think you guys are frustrated for the wrong reasons. I think everyone should be frustrated because someone PAID people to do this research...

It's COMMON SENSE. Every teen has the opportunity to have a phone. it is not illegal. It IS however, illegal to drink as a teen in the US. Therefore it is harder for a teen to drive drunk than it is to drive with a phone... Ipso facto, there are more deaths caused by texting.

This was real research? Someone paid for this? Stop wasting my time and do research on things that will better the human cause.
 
It's COMMON SENSE.

Common sense is a gift given to kids raised by parents who instill the knowledge of common sense. I told my wife when my kids get their phones and are able to drive, I'm taking them to make their " last will and testament" in case they decide not to listen to information given and risk their lives as well as the others.... So I would like to know where there stuff is going once they are dead from texting and driving. Yea it's sad, it's tough, but its the truth and tons of teens are jaded from the truth because they are "sensitive"...

We pay farmers to not grow crops..... I don't think that is common sense.

I think I got off subject. Back to idiots texting and driving!
 
We pay farmers to not grow crops..... I don't think that is common sense.

It is common sense if you understand why they do so. At first glance it is like WTF? Pay me to do nothing? Look into the economic side of things and see what too much can do then you'll understand why farmers get paid not to overproduce.

Common sense really doesn't apply to those types of things. Common sense applying to texting and driving is 100% different. An average text can take you the length of a football field without watching the road or losing site of peripheral objects and slows reaction time.

Brain games just did a show on distracted driving, pretty fascinating.
 
Socialism is an economic system
You don't have to explain Socialism to m. I am more then well aware of that system. I mentioned it. Because I saw you express the exact mindset which paves the way for the cancer that is Socialism.

That's all.
 
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