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She Texted About Dinner While Driving. Then a Pedestrian Was Dead

22 points by tysone 7y ago

ne0flex 7y ago
>New York, in 2001, became the first state to outlaw driver cellphone use. I live in Manhattan and walk to work. The amount of drivers I see using their cellphones while driving on during my daily commute is ridiculous. Sometimes the drivers are in plain sight of officers whom are standing on the crossing an at intersection. It's ridiculous. Sometimes I feel like some sort of program should be introduced where if a pedestrian can obtain evidence of a driver on the phone or something, it can be submitted and the driver receives a fine while the person that submitted the evidence gets rewarded.
- oil25 7y ago
  What's the penalty? It ought to be equivalent to a DUI, given the impairment is similar if not worse from phone distraction at the wheel.
  - mindslight 7y ago
    Driving drunk is safer than texting. With DUI, at least your reaction time is just scaled by a certain amount. Whereas when inputting something with a touchscreen, your road attention completely disappears for imperceptible spurts of time.
- satori99 7y ago
  My city (Sydney, Aus) has recently been rolling out cameras specifically to catch drivers using phones and other devices. These are not speed or red-light cameras -- their only purpose is to determine if a driver has both hands on the wheel and it not distracted by electronic devices. https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2019/09/phone-detecting-cameras-what-nsw-drivers-need-to-know/ https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2019/09/phone-detecting-camera...
  - NullPrefix 7y ago
    >determine if a driver has both hands on the wheel Wait what?
    - mc32 7y ago
      Yeah. No phone; I’m glad about that. Two hands on the wheel? That’s not necessary and also not possible in some legal scenarios (using car central console, shifting)
      - satori99 7y ago
        Australian law says you must keep both hands on the wheel at all times unless changing gears or indicating. And regarding phones; it is illegal for a driver to be distracted by an electronic device -- even if a passenger is the person using it. It is quite strict, but the number of preventable deaths with this sort of distraction as a contributing factor is staggeringly high.
        smabie 7y ago
        How about rolling down the windows? Or what about when you have to turn the wheel a lot and reposition your hands? Or turn on the air conditioning?
        mc32 7y ago
        Also what about people who’re wearing a sling or a cast with an automatic, are they not allowed to drive?
        satori99 7y ago
        The law does not distinguish between automatic or manual transmissions. I am not sure about the cast/sling situation. But I imagine if it was considered a contributory factor in an accident, you would be culpable. https://www.canstar.com.au/car-insurance/6-road-rules-youre-probably-breaking/ https://www.canstar.com.au/car-insurance/6-road-rules-youre-...
- perl4ever 7y ago
  When I read discussions like this, I generally have no idea what people are talking about. For instance, people constantly talk about "texting while driving". Maybe it's because of my age, but if this actually means typing on a phone's on screen keyboard, I just can't understand how someone could actually be good enough at this to not crash immediately. But conversely, I don't understand how anyone can not "use their cellphone while driving". Isn't cell phone navigation the standard way of getting around these days? Who uses built-in car navigation or paper maps? And finally, if anyone cared about distractions, then why does my streaming music app stop every 20 minutes while I'm driving (I generally ignore it, or else I pull over to reset it, but if I could fix it while driving it would be very tempting)
rjkennedy98 7y ago
Good. As someone who bikes to work and sees the disgusting displays of drivers on a daily basis I hope for more of this.
- smabie 7y ago
  More dead pedestrians?
didgeoridoo 7y ago
My dad gave me some great advice when I started driving: “Drive like every car and pedestrian around you is about to make the worst possible decision.” I simply can’t understand how people think it’s OK to take their eyes off the road while conducting a multi-ton chunk of steel and glass at highway speeds. I’ve taken stick over the years for refusing to even touch my climate controls or radio while driving. But, I’ve had two close calls in recent memory where, had I been looking away for just a second, something catastrophic would have happened. And it would have been my fault.
- infradig 7y ago
  The advice i gave to my kids when walking to school... don't assume a vehicle is going to stop for you at a crossing.
- colejohnson66 7y ago
  They do it because they’re “not distracted at all”. Seriously. That’s what I’ve heard from people.
upofadown 7y ago
The really interesting thing here is that it had to be shown that there was texting occurring. It seems that slamming into the back of another vehicle and killing someone would be A OK otherwise. Driving is a responsibility free zone in our culture...

22 points by tysone 7y ago

>New York, in 2001, became the first state to outlaw driver cellphone use. I live in Manhattan and walk to work. The amount of drivers I see using their cellphones while driving on during my daily commute is ridiculous. Sometimes the drivers are in plain sight of officers whom are standing on the crossing an at intersection. It's ridiculous. Sometimes I feel like some sort of program should be introduced where if a pedestrian can obtain evidence of a driver on the phone or something, it can be submitted and the driver receives a fine while the person that submitted the evidence gets rewarded.

oil25 7y ago
What's the penalty? It ought to be equivalent to a DUI, given the impairment is similar if not worse from phone distraction at the wheel.
- mindslight 7y ago
  Driving drunk is safer than texting. With DUI, at least your reaction time is just scaled by a certain amount. Whereas when inputting something with a touchscreen, your road attention completely disappears for imperceptible spurts of time.
satori99 7y ago
My city (Sydney, Aus) has recently been rolling out cameras specifically to catch drivers using phones and other devices. These are not speed or red-light cameras -- their only purpose is to determine if a driver has both hands on the wheel and it not distracted by electronic devices. https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2019/09/phone-detecting-cameras-what-nsw-drivers-need-to-know/ https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2019/09/phone-detecting-camera...
- NullPrefix 7y ago
  >determine if a driver has both hands on the wheel Wait what?
  - mc32 7y ago
    Yeah. No phone; I’m glad about that. Two hands on the wheel? That’s not necessary and also not possible in some legal scenarios (using car central console, shifting)
    - satori99 7y ago
      Australian law says you must keep both hands on the wheel at all times unless changing gears or indicating. And regarding phones; it is illegal for a driver to be distracted by an electronic device -- even if a passenger is the person using it. It is quite strict, but the number of preventable deaths with this sort of distraction as a contributing factor is staggeringly high.
      - smabie 7y ago
        How about rolling down the windows? Or what about when you have to turn the wheel a lot and reposition your hands? Or turn on the air conditioning?
        mc32 7y ago
        Also what about people who’re wearing a sling or a cast with an automatic, are they not allowed to drive?
        satori99 7y ago
        The law does not distinguish between automatic or manual transmissions. I am not sure about the cast/sling situation. But I imagine if it was considered a contributory factor in an accident, you would be culpable. https://www.canstar.com.au/car-insurance/6-road-rules-youre-probably-breaking/ https://www.canstar.com.au/car-insurance/6-road-rules-youre-...
perl4ever 7y ago
When I read discussions like this, I generally have no idea what people are talking about. For instance, people constantly talk about "texting while driving". Maybe it's because of my age, but if this actually means typing on a phone's on screen keyboard, I just can't understand how someone could actually be good enough at this to not crash immediately. But conversely, I don't understand how anyone can not "use their cellphone while driving". Isn't cell phone navigation the standard way of getting around these days? Who uses built-in car navigation or paper maps? And finally, if anyone cared about distractions, then why does my streaming music app stop every 20 minutes while I'm driving (I generally ignore it, or else I pull over to reset it, but if I could fix it while driving it would be very tempting)

rjkennedy98 7y ago

Good. As someone who bikes to work and sees the disgusting displays of drivers on a daily basis I hope for more of this.

smabie 7y ago
More dead pedestrians?

didgeoridoo 7y ago

My dad gave me some great advice when I started driving: “Drive like every car and pedestrian around you is about to make the worst possible decision.” I simply can’t understand how people think it’s OK to take their eyes off the road while conducting a multi-ton chunk of steel and glass at highway speeds. I’ve taken stick over the years for refusing to even touch my climate controls or radio while driving. But, I’ve had two close calls in recent memory where, had I been looking away for just a second, something catastrophic would have happened. And it would have been my fault.

infradig 7y ago
The advice i gave to my kids when walking to school... don't assume a vehicle is going to stop for you at a crossing.
colejohnson66 7y ago
They do it because they’re “not distracted at all”. Seriously. That’s what I’ve heard from people.

upofadown 7y ago

The really interesting thing here is that it had to be shown that there was texting occurring. It seems that slamming into the back of another vehicle and killing someone would be A OK otherwise. Driving is a responsibility free zone in our culture...