Is That One Text Worth Your Life... Anti Text And Drive Video

Sweettooth

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I occasionally find myself texting and driving. For some of us, old habits die hard and there truly is no learning until something bad happens. The best proactive approach I've been able to come up with short of not texting and driving is to try and text ONLY at red lights then immediately put the phone down when it turns green. Thanks to Google's awesome voice recognition and autocorrection technology it makes texting a breeze. If you have poor peripheral vision however, then this probably will not work for you.

While I do think texting (no matter how important the message may or may not be) and driving is very foolish, I disagree that violators should be labeled "idiots." If we're going to come down on texting, why not come down on every other distracting element in and perhaps even outside your vehicle? All of these cause you to take your eyes or attention off the road and more specifically, what's in front of you and all of these have likely caused an accident at some point which may have resulted in death:

Gauges, other people inside the car, the radio, GPS units, talking on a Bluetooth earpiece (eyes on the road, attention somewhere else) various buttons/switches inside the vehicle, billboards and other advertising, emergency vehicle lights/sirens, another driver blowing their horn...

I'm sure there are more but the point is there are just as many legitimate things that can take your attention away from driving safely as there are not, and almost none of them are absolutely crucial to reaching your destination. Humans risk their lives every day at some point, no matter how safe they are, so if you're going to spend your life fearing the consequences of every action, then you should probably just stay inside.

Folks, use your common sense and be proactive; when that fails, be reactionary and hope for the best. If that fails then hey, there are always more humiliating ways to die...
 

KZIWarrior

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Folks, use your common sense and be proactive; when that fails, be reactionary and hope for the best. If that fails then hey, there are always more humiliating ways to die...

Speaking of which anyone heard of any good Darwin Award recipients lately??
 

Kag Pirate

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I occasionally find myself texting and driving. For some of us, old habits die hard and there truly is no learning until something bad happens. The best proactive approach I've been able to come up with short of not texting and driving is to try and text ONLY at red lights then immediately put the phone down when it turns green. Thanks to Google's awesome voice recognition and autocorrection technology it makes texting a breeze. If you have poor peripheral vision however, then this probably will not work for you.

While I do think texting (no matter how important the message may or may not be) and driving is very foolish, I disagree that violators should be labeled "idiots." If we're going to come down on texting, why not come down on every other distracting element in and perhaps even outside your vehicle? All of these cause you to take your eyes or attention off the road and more specifically, what's in front of you and all of these have likely caused an accident at some point which may have resulted in death:

Gauges, other people inside the car, the radio, GPS units, talking on a Bluetooth earpiece (eyes on the road, attention somewhere else) various buttons/switches inside the vehicle, billboards and other advertising, emergency vehicle lights/sirens, another driver blowing their horn...

I'm sure there are more but the point is there are just as many legitimate things that can take your attention away from driving safely as there are not, and almost none of them are absolutely crucial to reaching your destination. Humans risk their lives every day at some point, no matter how safe they are, so if you're going to spend your life fearing the consequences of every action, then you should probably just stay inside.

Folks, use your common sense and be proactive; when that fails, be reactionary and hope for the best. If that fails then hey, there are always more humiliating ways to die...

I'm sure there are more

LOL When I'm driving and I see a Good looking Women .... Oh look, oh look at road..... oh look .......... :D Man I hate that..... :icon_eek: But most of all I agree with Sweettooth.
 

justin82

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This is the third thread I've seen on texting and driving. I'm real sorry to see it because they never turn out well. I closed the other two, I suspect I'll close this one eventually as well.

they do usually turn pretty heated.. But it keeps you from getting bored.
 

xmguy

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I can barley turn stations on the radio while driving. Let alone text. I pull over on the side of the road before I text.
 

Jim 777

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"Breading pool"? Is there a pool of people making bread? The loaves club? :D

This is the third thread I've seen on texting and driving. I'm real sorry to see it because they never turn out well. I closed the other two, I suspect I'll close this one eventually as well.

Why? what doesn't turn out well, the video or the thread?
I think it's a great topic to talk about and heighten the awareness, especially with people that are really in to their phones. Think about the accidents that can be avoided by just heightening the awareness. I think it shows good taste as long as everyone plays nice.

JMHO
 

JohnnytheK

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I like that app that stops your phone from ringing when your in a moving car.
I do see some problems, with this tech a passenger wouldn't ring too.

I never text while driving, I almost bumped someone the other day playing
with my ipod coming to a stop. No contact but closer than I'm comfortable
with.
 
R

RETG

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I hope it works, but I have my doubts. Years ago, a Federal agency had a seat belt video produced similar to this; only it was a bit bloodier for impact on the viewers. Some states were showing it in driver's ed, but too many complaints from parents had it pulled. Don't want their kids seeing real life death or bloody people (ok in a make believe movie). Not sure if anyone did any studies to see if it worked or not.

As people ignore drinking laws they will also ignore laws against texting.
 

KZIWarrior

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I hope it works, but I have my doubts. Years ago, a Federal agency had a seat belt video produced similar to this; only it was a bit bloodier for impact on the viewers. Some states were showing it in driver's ed, but too many complaints from parents had it pulled. Don't want their kids seeing real life death or bloody people (ok in a make believe movie). Not sure if anyone did any studies to see if it worked or not.

As people ignore drinking laws they will also ignore laws against texting.

Was that the one that dad the baby fly out of it's moms arms and smash into the windshield?? I LOVED THAT VID:icon_ banana::icon_ banana:it was just making its way around emails a few weeks ago.
 

KZIWarrior

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Ah, here we go. This is just a better safety video in general (warning, it's graphic):
[video=youtube;_1cRPbQfgMk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1cRPbQfgMk[/video]
 

Vulcan1600

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I am an older cell phone user, but I also text about 2,500 to 3,000 messages a month. I used to text and drive all the time. A couple of years ago I saw a video, I believe the same one that KZIWarrior just posted, and I stopped forever. Then in 2009 my son and I were on our way to see the Penn State football game. It was his first college game and he's a big PSU fan. I hadn't been to State College in about 30 years and was unfamiliar with the area. I was about 3 miles from the stadium and looked up to check out the exit signs for the exit I needed. Traffic was moving about 50 mph at the time. I didn't look up for more than 2 seconds and when I looked down I was headed right for a line of traffic that was completely stopped because lanes were merging back to a single lane. All I could do was slam on the brake as hard as I could and tried to get into the right shoulder as hard as I could. I completely totaled the car in front of me, but thankfully by swerving into the right shoulder the car I creamed did a complete 360 degree turn and just slightly smacked the truck in front of it - with 3 kids in car carriers in the back seat. I hurt a lady very badly, nobody died, but as sorry as I am that this happened, I have a completely clear conscience that I wasn't texting or on my Blackberry at the time. If I would have been texting, I'd have carried a lot of guilt the rest of my life. My air bags opened, my son was unhurt and I had 14 stitches in my right knee and dislocated my right ankle from trying to hit the brake so hard. The ankle will be a constant reminder for the rest of my life what happened.

Please carefully consider the consequences of just looking down to read a message, or click on the feature to convert text to audio, or adjusting the stereo button, or playing with the GPS on your droid, that it only takes a second or two to ruin your life or someone else's life. I am also an avid motorcycle rider like Jim 777, we both see close calls every day because of stupidity in drivers not paying attention.

I also posted this on my Facebook page tonight and I encourage people who see this video to do the same thing. Let's get the word out.
 

abcstyers

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its too hard to txt and drive with a touchscreen (req's too much attention) I used to txt and drive when I had an old flip phone using T9word. But not anymore. And having 2 kids in my car most of the time I don't ever do it. Its not worth the risk. If it was that important the person could call me
 

KZIWarrior

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I am an older cell phone user, but I also text about 2,500 to 3,000 messages a month. I used to text and drive all the time. A couple of years ago I saw a video, I believe the same one that KZIWarrior just posted, and I stopped forever. Then in 2009 my son and I were on our way to see the Penn State football game. It was his first college game and he's a big PSU fan. I hadn't been to State College in about 30 years and was unfamiliar with the area. I was about 3 miles from the stadium and looked up to check out the exit signs for the exit I needed. Traffic was moving about 50 mph at the time. I didn't look up for more than 2 seconds and when I looked down I was headed right for a line of traffic that was completely stopped because lanes were merging back to a single lane. All I could do was slam on the brake as hard as I could and tried to get into the right shoulder as hard as I could. I completely totaled the car in front of me, but thankfully by swerving into the right shoulder the car I creamed did a complete 360 degree turn and just slightly smacked the truck in front of it - with 3 kids in car carriers in the back seat. I hurt a lady very badly, nobody died, but as sorry as I am that this happened, I have a completely clear conscience that I wasn't texting or on my Blackberry at the time. If I would have been texting, I'd have carried a lot of guilt the rest of my life. My air bags opened, my son was unhurt and I had 14 stitches in my right knee and dislocated my right ankle from trying to hit the brake so hard. The ankle will be a constant reminder for the rest of my life what happened.

Please carefully consider the consequences of just looking down to read a message, or click on the feature to convert text to audio, or adjusting the stereo button, or playing with the GPS on your droid, that it only takes a second or two to ruin your life or someone else's life. I am also an avid motorcycle rider like Jim 777, we both see close calls every day because of stupidity in drivers not paying attention.

I also posted this on my Facebook page tonight and I encourage people who see this video to do the same thing. Let's get the word out.

Dam, glad you came out of it with so few injuries (considering). I agree with the stereos and GPSs. It's a good thing most new cars (mine included) come with steering wheel mounted controls. As much as I hate Ford(s) I do really like their 'sync' systems (especially since I'm a Zune user). Hopefully as technology advances (and the herds of stupid people thin out) accidents caused by such things will go down significantly.
 
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