PSA for those who drive and text

[PR31C]

Received this link today. The video is graphic and to the point. It may not reach all, but hopefully it will wake up and stop a few. It is amazing how consuming texting is becoming.

[Irishsquid]

Originally Posted by PR31C

Received this link today. The video is graphic and to the point. It may not reach all, but hopefully it will wake up and stop a few. It is amazing how consuming texting is becoming.

Sad to say something that shocking is the only thing that gets to kids...
But if it works, it works.

[Pete]

The 60s were full of Signal 30 movies/PSAs that were shown during Drivers Ed.

You wanted a Drivers License you had to sit through at least a couple of these movies. I think the Ohio HP was known for the more Bloody ones.

Cell phones and texting have added a whole new angle to the "not paying attention" problem.

[Richard]

I think the Ohio HP was known for the more Bloody ones.

Yep - Death On The Highway (b/w) and Signal 30 (color) by the Ohio State Highway Patrol - who could forget them.

And then there's this to add to the debate:

If Sex at the Wheel Is Legal, Why Isn't Telephoning?
Der Spiegel, 20 Aug 2009

A German judge is trying to overturn the law against using a mobile phone while driving. If shaving, masturbation and having sex while driving are not illegal, he asks, then why is making a call so bad?

A German motorist was caught using his mobile phone while driving and eventually fined €245 ($350). That in itself is not particularly unusual. But what has caught the attention of the German media is what the judge who heard the motorist's appeal against his fine had to say afterwards.

Judge Albert Bartz from Gummersbach in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia said that the road rules in regard to this issue may actually violate the principle of equality as enshrined in the German constitution. After all, Bartz wrote in his ruling, if it is against the law to use a mobile telephone while driving, then why isn't it also illegal to do other dangerous things while you're behind the wheel? As examples of such risky activities, the 62-year-old judge mentioned masturbation and engaging in sexual activity -- "either under or over clothing" -- with a consensual passenger.

Others examples include moving things around in the car, fiddling with the car radio, programming a navigation device, shaving with an electric razor or waving one's left hand out of the car window while holding a conversation with passengers. And what if you're an amputee driving a car with only one hand, without a prosthesis, while having a conversation at the same time? And then there's that common driver's pastime of "dictating something onto a recording device -- say a decision about a fine, a charge or a verdict."

At which stage one might suspect the judge was just being facetious after a long day in court. But it turns out that he does have a point to make.

According to current German road rules, a driver can use a mobile telephone while driving -- as long as he or she doesn't have to hold the phone or adjust the phone's headset while in control of the vehicle. "You have to question whether using a mobile telephone in the car should be punished any further, when 95 percent of the most dangerous types of behavior (while driving) are not subject to any fines," Bartz told the local newspaper, the Gummersbach-based Oberbergische Volkszeitung.

Bartz also points out that it is hard for police to tell exactly what a driver has been doing with their hands, especially in an era when there are so many new digital devices they could be using while driving. "The police have no legal basis for taking action against a driver who is, for example, letting their left hand dangle out of the open car window while they use their right hand to work on a laptop that's sitting on the passenger's seat and steer the car with their thighs," Bartz said. "In my opinion, the current legislation is outdated."

Bartz has forwarded the -- in his opinion -- offending piece of legislation to Germany's highest court, the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe. A spokesperson for the Constitutional Court told the Oberbergische Volkszeitung that a decision on the issue wouldn't be made until September at the earliest.

Bartz emphasized that he has never been caught using his mobile phone in the car and that he also avoids other risky activities while driving. As he told the mass circulation daily Bild: "Sex at the steering wheel is strictly off-limits for me."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...644044,00.html

And so it goes...

Richard's $.02

[ZonieDiver]

Talk about distracting! Having children under the age of 5 in the vehicle should be banned. Heck, children... period! For that matter, a nagging spouse. Or a mother-in-law. Or... well, lots of things. Just don't make it illegal for me to eat a green chile burron while driving, please!

[Mike]

Stupid texting bimbo swerved around me in traffic yestiddy.

I will hereby volunteer for any authorised summary execution squad being formed to take out these assholes.

[longrange1947]

Had one decide to share my lane while I was on my bike. Now my bike is big but had it been my truck, well the out come would have been different. Instead of riding into the center turn lane I may have opted for her to buy me a new truck. Mine is over 10 years and a bit over 100,000 miles.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by longrange1947

Had one decide to share my lane while I was on my bike. Now my bike is big but had it been my truck, well the out come would have been different. Instead of riding into the center turn lane I may have opted for her to buy me a new truck. Mine is over 10 years and a bit over 100,000 miles.

You need a set of air horns.

Very spiffy for waking up stupid/inattentive cage drivers.

TR

[Sdiver]

This is a "No Sh*t, there I was" story.

Got called out to a single car MVA on I-70 around C-470. Car ran into the retaining wall coming East bound. Got on scene, on the West bound lanes, put our truck as far over onto the shoulder as possible, and then the FD put their Rescue truck behind us, taking up the whole lane.

We evaluated the driver, who was ambulatory U/A, and found him to be okay. He stated he "nodded" off, coming back down the hill. He checked out okay that he didn't want transport, minimal damage to his vehicle, so we worked on his refusal paperwork.

As we finished up, we were standing in the median just BSing, and just then, we looked up and saw a car "racing" up in the lane that the Rescue truck was in. About 100 feet away, we then notice the "anti-lock" brakes kicking in, but the car was going to fast to stop. Well.....that car just Ran into the back of the rescue truck. We were about 20 feet away and watched the whole thing unfold.

After the car ran into the back of the truck, we raced over to check on the driver. I opened the drivers door, and there inside was a teenage girl driver. She was wearing her seat belt and we had air bag deployment. I ask her, "Were you talking on your cell phone and miss the BIG Fire truck in front of you?" "No.", she said. "How about texting? Were you doing that?" "No.", she said through tears. "Then what is that in your hand?", I ask.

She had her cell phone in her hand and on the screen was an unfinished message she was typing. I took the phone from her and handed it to the CSP Trooper standing next to me.

We transported her to the hospital with a dislocated left shoulder, and she ended up with a nice BIG bill from the FD, for the damage she caused to the Rescue truck. She couldn't dispute it, because there were plenty of WITNESS.


I have absolutely NO problem having ANYONE who drives, teen or adult, see this PSA. I know I'll be passing it along.

Originally Posted by longrange1947

Had one decide to share my lane while I was on my bike.

Yup....have had that happen too. They sure get a BIG surprise when I BANG my fist on their window, as they're crossing into my lane.

[Dozer523]

Originally Posted by ZonieDiver

Talk about distracting! Having children under the age of 5 in the vehicle should be banned. Heck, children... period! For that matter, a nagging spouse. Or a mother-in-law. Or... well, lots of things. Just don't make it illegal for me to eat a green chile burron while driving, please!

Right! Just you, me, Richard and two others. Case of beer; cooler of cold cuts, glove box full of cash (can't trace us with the debit card); all the Hunter S Thompson novels on CD, 1:50,000,000 map of baja. ROAD TRIP!

[Richard]

There was this one time I stopped behind a pickup that was stopped for a train to go by. With nothing else to do but wait, I noticed that there used to be a guy at the wheel and his girl in the passenger’s seat. When I looked up again, the girl was gone, the guy’s head was pressed back against the glass. When the crossing arms lifted, the pickup did not move and he maintained that position. I just drove around him and smiled, not wanting to ruin the moment for him.

Richard's $.02

[Irishsquid]

Heh...I learned my lesson about that sort of thing...her phone rang, the vibration scared her, and she bit...not hard enough to do any damage, but enough to make me wonder what would happen if I hit a bump...

Needless to say, no more of that unless I'm stopped and her phone is off.

[Mike]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

You need a set of air horns.

Very spiffy for waking up stupid/inattentive cage drivers.

TR

Or a quad fifty on the sidecar to thin the genepool.

I been on two wheels 43 years and the last 5 have gotten to be scary.
Factors have multipled.

[Richard]

I don't text - this has always been more of a problem for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4js45...eature=related

And so it goes...

Richard's $.02

Add GPSs/PNDs to the list of driving distractions.