Text In Traffic, End Up On A Billboard

What I use it sort of an answering service for my text messages while I'm driving. It responds automatically and tells them I am driving. I will answer a call with my hands free car stereo if what they have to say is actually that important. In most cases that works fine for me. It might be worth it to have incoming messages read to me in the future. For those interested I use Tasker for android to do all this automation.
 
Kaitian said:
People owning the passing lane pisses me off so much.
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People thinking that there always is a passing lane pisses me off. Fact of the matter if you have more than 3 lanes of on a highway/freeway you don't have a passing lane they made all those extra lanes because traffic is so fucking bad they need the extra capacity, and if there is no traffic at the time then chances are you can pass in any number of lanes
 
sfsuphysics said:
People thinking that there always is a passing lane pisses me off. Fact of the matter if you have more than 3 lanes of on a highway/freeway you don't have a passing lane they made all those extra lanes because traffic is so fucking bad they need the extra capacity, and if there is no traffic at the time then chances are you can pass in any number of lanes
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There aren't outright passing lanes, but a lot of states have laws that slower traffic should keep right, effectively creating a passing lane.
 
magoo said:
If you are looking at your iPhone while "changing songs" then you are doing the same thing as that guy texting.

You are paying attention to the phone, not the road.

You can still kill someone while distracted by trying to find your Justin Bieber .
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Honestly, the same goes for *anything* else you do in the car. Change a radio station, pop in a CD, unwrap your hamburger etc.
 
sfsuphysics said:
People thinking that there always is a passing lane pisses me off. Fact of the matter if you have more than 3 lanes of on a highway/freeway you don't have a passing lane they made all those extra lanes because traffic is so fucking bad they need the extra capacity, and if there is no traffic at the time then chances are you can pass in any number of lanes
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Where I live and work, the left lane is the passing lane period. It may not be the case where you live. So.... ball's back in your court.
 
Kaitian said:
Where I live and work, the left lane is the passing lane period. It may not be the case where you live. So.... ball's back in your court.
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I just looked this up, while there are laws in the majority of the state's requiring slower moving vehicles it seems most use it to only pull over suspicious vehicles.

Georgia is putting in a whole new law to ticket these people.
 
sfsuphysics said:
People thinking that there always is a passing lane pisses me off. Fact of the matter if you have more than 3 lanes of on a highway/freeway you don't have a passing lane they made all those extra lanes because traffic is so fucking bad they need the extra capacity, and if there is no traffic at the time then chances are you can pass in any number of lanes
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Uhhhh no.

The left lanes are ALWAYS for passing, no exception. If you are not passing, you belong in the right lane. If the highway is congested, then it counts as attempting a pass, so you are fine.

At no point in time EVER should you be in anything but the right most lane of a highway if there are no cars to your side or in front of you for a considerable distance. EVER. And people should not be passing you on the right, short of a traffic jam which makes normal lane position issues moot.

Learn2Drive.
 
Kaitian said:
Where I live and work, the left lane is the passing lane period. It may not be the case where you live. So.... ball's back in your court.
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And not just the left lane. ANY lane short of the rightmost is a passing lane. If lots of people are passing you on the right, you're in the wrong lane.

This is strictly enforced in Germany by police, and I love driving there as its so organized. It also explains why they have fewer fatalities, and WAY fewer minor accidents, despite having considerably higher speed limits on much more curvy roads than in the US.
 
Octoberasian, you have solutions for problems that already have solutions. Look, distracted driving is already on the books and it doesn't matter why you are distracted, that base is covered so there really need for special new laws just for texting.

Second, causing a death is already covered under the law and so if there is a fatality then again there ais no need for a special new way to handle deaths from distracted texting fools. It's covered, move on.

Last, a driver who causes an accident because of his foolish and inattentive texting can already be sued in court over causing a wrongful death so the civil side is covered too.

In fact, there is not any reason to add another law to anyone's books over this issue. As always, it's not a case of laws, it's a case of enforcement and holding people accountable to the law.

But hey, why should anyone have to obey such a law when they are so busy creating excuses why they don't have to obey other laws, like laws against illegal drug use, or laws against copy-write infringement, or whatever someone's pet law is that you like to flaunt.

See, once people start ignoring one set of laws they find it so much more convenient to ignore other laws. Principles, morals, ethics, they are not dirty words, they are concepts that help facilitate an orderly society.
 
Doh! I meant prevent everything BUT hands-free operation of the device while in motion.

In other words the phone will work, and it'll work as say a GPS for display purposes, but you can't type in a GPS address, type in a phone number, dig through your addres book, reply to an email, text someone, watch a movie, etc. To call someone you'd have to use hands-free features, via bluetooth integration or a single button on the side of the phone for audio command.

Not difficult to do at all.
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Ducman69, so after reading my ideas on this you still insist turning tech off instead of leveraging it in beneficial ways is the way to go?
 
Originally Posted by sfsuphysics View Post
People thinking that there always is a passing lane pisses me off. Fact of the matter if you have more than 3 lanes of on a highway/freeway you don't have a passing lane they made all those extra lanes because traffic is so fucking bad they need the extra capacity, and if there is no traffic at the time then chances are you can pass in any number of lanes
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You are wrong sfsuphysics, but so is Ducman69.

In fact, Yes the far left lane is for passing, (on a highway), but the other lanes, well slow traffic is supposed to be far right, some vehicles can't even reach the speed limit of a 75 or 80MPH highway so they belong far right. If you have three or more lanes you need to adjust by the principles. That being said, if you are on a highway that is in a metro area with frequent exit ramps you are best off not staying in the far right lane even if you are slow, too many cars coming and going. And furthermore, regardless, you are supposed to operate your vehicle in a safe manner moving along steady with the traffic and not become a problem darting and dashing around. Sometimes traffic is exceeding the speed limit, don't you worry none, someone will come along to slow things down one way or another. But being a clown and jamming the passing lane only creates road ragers and ... work ...
 
lcpiper said:
You are wrong sfsuphysics, but so is Ducman69.

In fact, Yes the far left lane is for passing, (on a highway), but the other lanes, well slow traffic is supposed to be far right, some vehicles can't even reach the speed limit of a 75 or 80MPH highway so they belong far right. If you have three or more lanes you need to adjust by the principles. That being said, if you are on a highway that is in a metro area with frequent exit ramps you are best off not staying in the far right lane even if you are slow, too many cars coming and going.
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If there are twenty lanes, it still doesn't matter, in Texas (most states are the same, except those that have exit ramps on the left), you belong in the right most lane that is not occupied and that you are not passing.

So if the far right lane 20 is either full or you are exceeding their speed, you are to pass on the lane one left of them, lane 19. If lane 19 is full or you come across someone in that lane you have to pass, and the person in lane 19 you are trying to pass cannot move over, you proceed to lane 18 to pass.

Once you have passed, if you are able to move over to the right without having to very soon move back over a lane to pass, you are required by law to move back over to lane 19 and then 20 as appropriate.

In this hypothetical rediculously wide highway, you can not cruise in lane 2 all day and night and have people passing you in the lanes to your right legally.

Its also completely irrelevant if you are traveling at 25mph over the speed limit. You MUST by law (in Texas, check your state) yield to faster traffic regardless of the passing car's speed or any other factors.

These are called "KEEP RIGHT" laws, and are very straightforward and quite universal. Check your state below:
http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/right.html

For the couple of states that don't enforce this common-sense rule you should have been required to know before being issued a driver's license as courteous behavior, here's a website on lane courtesy. I am absolutely AMAZED that everyone doesn't know this already. I assumed those that weren't obeying were simply self-important jerks:
http://www.motorists.org/lane-courtesy/
 
Some of us are older then the laws you quote and there is no refresher course requirement for driver's licenses in any state I have lived in. Be amazed ;)
 
"don't be a TWIT" is nothing more then a novelty in my opinion. I've noticed a lot of people drive with tunnel vision. The one that really gets me is the big semi rolling up to a big hill. You would think people would pass the semi before he gets half way up the hill and is only doing thirty with his flashers on. Nope, gotta wait til the last second and hope into the passing lane at thirty miles an hour. The other type of driver that always gets to me is the "pacer". Paces the vehicle next to him, even though he decided to hop in the fast lane. Doesn't even know there are 50 vehicles behind him ready to crawl up his ass. Thats when you get those weird empty spots on the freeway that are usually 100-400yds long. Sometimes it feels like I am driving on an accordion when I have to travel down I-5 or 167.
My 2 cents are this. Go ahead and text while driving. Just make sure to unbuckle your seatbelt before you do.
 
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