PSA: Teen Texting on Facebook While Driving Kills 2 and Paves Way to Prison

Government will never do that. How do you prove it's the driver phone and not the passengers?

Backup camera law is stupid. Why do I need a backup camera in my vehicle? I know how to drive, I know how long my truck and cars are. I look behind me while backing up via mirrors or turning around. So now you get a camera in a rearview mirror, which you would be looking at in the first place? Dumb. The American public is becoming so reliant on technology it isn't funny. Cars come with blind spot mirrors, auto-parallel parking, auto-braking, etc. LEARN TO DRIVE! You should be retested for a driver's license every 5 years. If you can't parallel park your car without hitting another vehicle/cone/etc during the test, you shouldn't be allowed to drive.

Here is an idea. Make the penalties stricter. 1st offense - $500, 2nd offense $2000, 3rd offense $5000 with jail time.

 

Passing a mandate to stop text-driving at the device level is impossible to do in less than a decade. Look at how long rear view cameras were available before a mandate arrived. You'd have to get manufacturers onboard and they'd have to legislate rules for mod'ed devices as well.

With the current push for self-driving vehicles this might be over soon anyway. They've already slated for the roads and highways in my area be open to autonomous vehicles and real-world testing next year. I honestly think in 15 years we'll have, at least, part time autonomous vehicles available for sale.

 

Spending 12k or so miles a year on roads on a motorcycle, I am all too aware of how many distracted drivers there are. I have even been hit by one who wanted to make a right turn into a parking lot, from the left hand lane, never looking or signaling, he turned right in front of me, clipping me, and my leather jacket got caught up on his exhaust pipe of his F350, and he dragged me 30 yards through the bank parking lot... Have a nice long purple scar across my lower back to remind me of the encounter...

Being on a bike, I have no distractions other than cars jumping in front of me. I have nothing better to do than watch my surroundings. I don't have the luxury of a cage around me, airbags, sound proofing, a booming stereo, a cell phone, DVD player, kids yelling in the back seat, a soda, a cheeseburger, Facebook, the list goes on...

I get to ride each day like it is a life and death obstacle course, and in most regards, it is. Until you put yourself out there with nothing between you and some SUV except for some denim and 3.5mm of leather, you don't truly appreciate just how crappy the average driver is. I almost wish it was mandatory that every motorist, have to spend 6 months riding a bike in traffic, to really see what goes on. Most people would be shocked and appalled.

Everyone thinks that they are a good driver. Just because you haven't slammed into another vehicle lately, doesn't make you a GOOD driver.

I would say that most drivers, are barely competent. Our driving test is a joke. Most people don't even use turn signals... they just wander around from lane to lane with no warning, causing accidents, largely oblivious...

Texting, is just one of MANY distractions that drivers today have...

 

this is sad and harsh reality..

 

15,000 back up accidents a year are the cause for the mandated backup cameras. Those are accidents with injuries to people. It was supposed to be in effect already, but it looks like they have until 2018 to be in compliance.

I believe they should ban all cellphone activities in a vehicle. For decades people were just fine without having a phone inside of a vehicle and I believe we would be just fine without one now.

If it would save even one life I will vote for it. I have a fully functional bluetooth system that reads and responds to texts, but it won't stop me from being on facebook, youtube, etc.

 

This however, is your choice...not a requirement. My old man taught me a long time ago that if you ride motorcycles it's not a matter of if you'll have an accident, but when and how badly. And bikers are every bit as bad as drivers are. I can count on at least four hands the amount of times I've had people on bikes ride my bumper on a single lane street, zip between me and another car on a double lane street at +20 more than the limit, et cetera.

The problem is that people turn into monsters when they're on the road, regardless of their means of transportation. Driving has become so ingrained in the culture of first world countries that your vehicle becomes an extension of you. You forget that you're driving an 1800 kilo death machine or riding around on a two wheeled accelerating human catapult.

Here in the US you can't own a rifle until you're 18, a pistol until you're 21...but you're allowed to pilot a hurling amalgamation of metallic fury as early as 14 in some states with supervision, and alone by the time you're 16. The lack of logic is astounding.

 

Several reasons I disagree. Whether it be a long trip to grandma's or getting info about the kid, I don't see an issue with the passenger using the phone. Again this is similar to any other argument in saying we are going to restrict the responsible for the irresponsible, when the irresponsible is still going to continue to ignore the laws and bypass the system any way.

I say stiffen the penalties and have law enforcers actually crack down and start fining people.



Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

If you are the passenger you have the option to turn the feature off.Once you hit 15mph it will put the drive mode screen on your phone but it has an off button.

 

What if there's a device that detects any cellular device within immediate arm's reach of the driver of the vehicle. If the cellular device is detected, it must be placed on a driver's docking bay in order for the vehicle to start. This docking bay will put the device into a travel-mode, and will immediately sync the device to the car's stereo system for calls, and it will prevent notifications of any sort aside from phone calls. If the device is removed from the docking bay (which will be a simple box the phone can be set down into, large enough to be universal for any cellular device), the driver will have 15 seconds to pull over, or replace the device, or the vehicle will safely slow itself to 15mph while warning the driver to pull the vehicle to the side of the road. The vehicle must then come to a complete stop, and the device must be placed back in the docking bay or removed from the driver's reach before the car can accelerate past 15mph.

Obviously this is not a perfect system. It would be a huge annoyance..... to some. I think it would especially annoy the people who text and drive, and I think it might just do it to the point where they'll finally stop texting and driving. Granted, if it was implemented today, it would be years before it was a standard.

 

I see both sides of the debate on this. I am responsible enough to not be distracted by my phone while driving. Then again, I am also the type of person that will not get up off of the couch to walk over to my phone if it rings or gets a notification either. It's just not that important to me.

Now the other side of the fence...
While in the vicinity of a group of people, say in a store, at the gas station, dmv, etc how many people immediately draw their attention to their phones when their phone gets a notification? The majority.

Look around at the vehicles that surround you and the large majority of their drivers have their faces buried in their phones. On the interstates, inside of city limits, no matter where you are it is prevalent.

One sheriff writing one ticket every 45 minutes is not enough. It's the same way with speeding...everyone slows down IF they see a sheriff and then immediately speed back up afterwards.

When the eye tracking recognition technology in vehicles becomes mainstream this will be a moot issue. Until then I am all about a blocking technology.

 

I don't jump when my phone goes off. All my friends do and get mad when I don't respond for hours. If its urgent call me.