Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

I will admit that I have been guilty of this in the past but I'll share this anyways as it is a good message and a good reminder for us all.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DebhWD6ljZs&hd=1

mike[piston eater]

iTrader: (3)

this video i sad and an eye open

i have this thing on my phone that automatically replies to a message i receive while driving so people don't text

www.drivesafe.ly


and this is just as serious as drunk driving

bse50

Yeah, if they didn't charge us 12cents of € for each text with the basic\pre-paid plans here
I'd rather wait and reply when i'm not driving for that price!

Texting while driving is something i try to avoid. I'd rather call in that case, at least i'll be keeping my eyes on the road instead of using them to read...

mike[piston eater]

iTrader: (3)

there is a free android version

alfy28

ty for the share jedi, and thanks mike for the app link

bse50

It's the cost of sending a message mike. Anyway you see accidents happen every day at a random intersection here.
Traffic jams are the rule so somebody textes while standing still and often somebody else honks to tell him to move on. When there's a scooter or a bike scooting in front of him the result isn't funny at all.

I guess that people are just too stubborn and self unconscious to behave safely when driving.

fuztupnz

iTrader: (4)

Damn. It's a good message to send. I just saw a very short but to the point AT&T commercial tonight. It appears they are broadcasting quite a few short ones. I'm glad they're getting the message out there. I've done it before, but always try to have the wife type for me, or pull off/wait until I get where I'm going.

Here's the one I saw earlier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se1_ybhkxeQ

9kBeep

i recently got a new htc evo, and one of the features it has is that while you are in a text message you can click a little icon and you can actually talk to the phone and it will translate a verbal message into a text message. if you talk clearly its very accurate. you can even say "comma" and it will place a "," or if you say "haha" it puts "haha" etc. its much more convenient than having to type.

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

is everyone in that much of a rush to respond to a text? Is everyone so "important" that they can't wait a few minutes till they get home, or pull over safely???
It's not the texting that distracts one from the road. It's the ability to concentrate on the road. I don't take calls, whether I have bluetooth, speaker phone, etc. It's just not worth the risk.
Believe me when I say this: I've driven in Afghanistan, and I feel safer driving there than I do on our crowded, busy streets. People are just to self-absorbed in their own world here, "safe" at home. Look at the statistics.
Here is to a safe and (hopefully) accident-free new year

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

Sad. Affecting. Powerful. Compelling.
And completely ineffective.

"Yeah, yeah. But I am a better driver than those kids."

Until cell phone operation is completely illegal and blocked from the driver position, stories like those in this video will have ZERO effect.
Almost no driver that texts while driving is capable of changing the mindset that they are above this.

We make the penalties for drunk driving so onerous that it is inconceivable that people drive drunk. Yet, a huge portion of the population drives drunk.
We make people use interlock devices, so they get their sober friends to blow into the thing for them.
At some point, the call for cell blocking devices will go up and they may get implemented.
And the same ******** that text while driving now will line up to get defeaters for the blocking devices.

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

And the sad thing is: that's so true

mike[piston eater]

iTrader: (3)

sad but true, well as long as people do their little part lol gotta be optimistic

slvrstreak

iTrader: (3)

thanks for sharing jedi

Mazurfer

Many of us have the same thing, so what?
Are you seriously saying this makes it okay? You learned nothing?
Pull the "F*&^" over and make the call or respond.

I seriously wish there was a way with EMP or something that would permanently brick a phone if it was used from the drivers position with the car moving(hands free or not, I don't care). I know there has been talk by car companies(via federal mandate) to make cellphones inoperable whilst driving, just not sure how they are going to pull it off. I say.........just zap the damn thing and be done with it.

Jorge, thanks for sharing.

Mike, thanks for the link, might be useful to my daughters, however they've been trained pretty well.

Jeff, sad but true................I am constantly amazed at how many people cannot even get in a car now without being on the f*&%ing phone.

Go sit at the side of a road for 20 minutes and count the number of people that go by talking on the phone. It's just crazy.

Domenico

iTrader: (6)

Im guilty of doing this, but only when no other vehicles are around. Im not going to do it anymore I couldn't live with myself ruining someone elses life.

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

Over the past few weeks, I've watched DOZENS people walk out of the bank, grocery, hardware store, load their cars, strap in their kids, get in, belt up, start the motor put it in gear and then initiate a phone call as the back out and drive off.
Last week, I watched a woman back into the shopping cart corral without flinching as she did this. I just wanted to punch her in the face and deliver her kids to child services.

I think people are so disengaged from the driving process that calling someone is the only way for them to stay awake.

I actually did develop a little toy several years ago that wreaks havoc on little scenarios like this. Its only drawbacks were that: 1) you lose the device each time you use it (though it was fairly cheap); and, 2) it also disabled the engine management computer.

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

If this did in fact change your mind about text messages then it was worth the effort to post it. Honestly, if this only helps ONE person see the error in their ways then we're all better off.

that sounded awesome till we got to draw back #2.

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

I actually enjoyed drawback #2.
Not only does it kill their phone, it kills their vehicle.

Of course, the average reaction - instead of putting down the phone and carefully exiting the highway - would be to crash directly into the surrounding vehicles, clutching the phone even more dearly.

Kane

iTrader: (1)

This is one thing that makes me almost violently angry.

I don't even typically DRINK while driving, never mind eat, smoke, etc....

Driving time is for driving time.

This whole instant communication thing is out of control...like people who are talking to me in PERSON, phone rings, "uh; hold on let me get that!" Are you ******' kidding me, you are going to make a live human being wait so you can talk to someone electronically?

I definitely think they should be illegal in cars. The military did it a long time ago (on base) - works well since we all have to follow the rules. Now I watch people drive off base, and as soon as they cross the line, out comes the phone.... ugh!

bse50

Jeff... teh details. Give'em to me. NAAAOOOH


Since i'm technologically handicapped all I do when a soccer mom searches for her mobile phone while standing in traffic and\or textes is HONK.
They usually accelerate without even looking, rear ending the cars at the front.
Then it's time to grab your pop-corns. I'll show you how cool it is and how much you can laugh whenever you'll decide it's time to visite rome!

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

I am constantly amused when I receive flabbergasted stares after informing people that I don't listen to music or the radio when I drive.

It is my belief that those distractions take way too much brain space away from driving.

Lets just say it involved a fairly big capacitor, a rare earth magnet and a few other off-the-shelf components.

mike[piston eater]

iTrader: (3)

then now there is people tweeting and facebooking while driving thats even scarier

bse50

My brain stops listening to the music in the moment that I start driving. Same happens with conversations. I simply stop talking and people think that I am rude.

As for the parts... you have my email, feel free to send some instructions lol!

fuztupnz

iTrader: (4)

more sadly i see this as the the outcome more often than not. I was following a young lady chatting away on the phone a while back who swerved into traffice when the car in front of her short stopped at a light. Luckily no one was coming the other way


yeah, it's even worse when they include a picture of whatever their other distraction from driving is at the time.

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

I think that some of us just feel properly engaged when driving.
It does take a massive amount of your cortex to do it right.

"Speed kills" is easier to sell to the masses than "distraction kills". It is also easier to enforce.
But if it was the truth, there would be no such thing as competitive racing.

I've actually thought about making a cookbook for this, but I am honestly a bit afraid of the Federal interference I might become entangled in.