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Texting drivers vs. Drunk drivers

  • dokken
    I have witnessed 3 times in the last 5 days a texting driver has about hit me, a mail box and a parked car. I think it's more dangerous than drinking and driving.
  • TBone14
    More dangerous in that more people do it. I'm sure both are equally dangerous. The drunken texting driver is the worst of all.
  • Bio-Hazzzzard
    Texting should be equally penalized by law as dui. If someone can be penalized for compromising their ability to drive with alcohol, the penalty should be equally as severe if a person is compromising their ability to drive while texting...dwt.

    Much harder to prove though.
  • BR1986FB
    I've almost been hit a few times by texters myself. What is SO fucking important that it can't wait until they reach their destination? Most of the time it's young girls.
  • Al Bundy
    TBone14;783573 wrote:More dangerous in that more people do it. I'm sure both are equally dangerous. The drunken texting driver is the worst of all.

    Receiving drunken texts is also terrible :)
  • Iliketurtles
    Bio-Hazzzzard;783650 wrote:Texting should be equally penalized by law as dui. If someone can be penalized for compromising their ability to drive with alcohol, the penalty should be equally as severe if a person is compromising their ability to drive while texting...dwt.

    Much harder to prove though.
    What about talking on the phone, eating, changing the radio or a CD, talking to others in the car? They all compromise ones ability to drive where do you draw the line?

    I believe that drinking and driving is much worse than texting. But I will agree they are both dangerous and something does need to be done about texting and driving.
  • Hb31187
    What can you possibly do about texting and driving though?

    If you make it a law that you cant text and drive and you get pulled over for supposedly texting and driving all you would have to do is erase your texts while the officer walks up to the car and itd be almost impossible to prove.


    And ive seen just as many accidents almost casued because of changing radio stations, eating while driving, trying to do make up while driving, dropping something on the floor and reachign for it while driving ect ect. You cant eliminate all the risks


    Btw, those scrolling signs that say dont text and drive or somethign similar are about the dumbest thing they could possibly of done. "Dont take your eyes off the road to text, but feel free to take your eyes off the road to read this scrolling sign warning you not to text"
  • Iliketurtles
    Hb31187;783682 wrote:What can you possibly do about texting and driving though?

    If you make it a law that you cant text and drive and you get pulled over for supposedly texting and driving all you would have to do is erase your texts while the officer walks up to the car and itd be almost impossible to prove.


    And ive seen just as many accidents almost casued because of changing radio stations, eating while driving, trying to do make up while driving, dropping something on the floor and reachign for it while driving ect ect. You cant eliminate all the risks


    Btw, those scrolling signs that say dont text and drive or somethign similar are about the dumbest thing they could possibly of done. "Dont take your eyes off the road to text, but feel free to take your eyes off the road to read this scrolling sign warning you not to text"
    +1 Especially your last comment.
  • Bio-Hazzzzard
    Iliketurtles;783663 wrote:What about talking on the phone, eating, changing the radio or a CD, talking to others in the car? They all compromise ones ability to drive where do you draw the line?

    I believe that drinking and driving is much worse than texting. But I will agree they are both dangerous and something does need to be done about texting and driving.



    I agree with this, but if a state has a law against this it should have penalties like hefty monetary fines to start with.

    I consider myself a good driver with no accidents in the twenty years I've been driving, but texting while driving I'm all over the road.
  • Bio-Hazzzzard
    Hb31187;783682 wrote:What can you possibly do about texting and driving though?

    If you make it a law that you cant text and drive and you get pulled over for supposedly texting and driving all you would have to do is erase your texts while the officer walks up to the car and itd be almost impossible to prove.
    Law enforcement has already got this covered, it maybe erased from your phone but your cell provider has all the proof they need if you decide to take it to court.
  • Hb31187
    Bio-Hazzzzard;783706 wrote:Law enforcement has already got this covered, it maybe erased from your phone but your cell provider has all the proof they need if you decide to take it to court.

    Theyre gonna use that man power to check up on if you were sending texts while driving? Smh, great use of government money
  • Iliketurtles
    Bio-Hazzzzard;783695 wrote:I agree with this, but if a state has a law against this it should have penalties like hefty monetary fines to start with.

    I consider myself a good driver with no accidents in the twenty years I've been driving, but texting while driving I'm all over the road.
    Im not disagreeing that there shouldn't be heavy fines basically I just don't think its as bad as drinking and driving and thats really the only beef I had with your first post haha. I think the worst of all are people who drive while tired.
  • Bio-Hazzzzard
    Hb31187;783716 wrote:Theyre gonna use that man power to check up on if you were sending texts while driving? Smh, great use of government money

    It's been a long time since the gov utilized our money wisely.
  • Bio-Hazzzzard
    Iliketurtles;783717 wrote: I think the worst of all are people who drive while tired.
    Absolutely
  • Sykotyk
    You can't 'put down' being drunk. You can't 'look away' from being drunk. So, no, they're not the same. The problem with texters is that they look away,... wait for it.... too long.

    I drive a lot. I see a lot of people staring at their phones while driving. Most people, and I know I can, can type without looking at the phone. The problem is those that can't and think they should still look at their phone. I don't know about the rest of you, but if I were doing something in my car that suddenly made me swerve, veer, drift, etc, I stop doing it, immediately. I don't look around spooked (like some people I've seen), realize they didn't fuck up their car or anyone's elses, and then go right back to the activity that caused it in the first place.

    As to proving you sent a text....

    I don't text hardly at all (driving or not driving). But, I do have email, apps, etc, that are always online checking for updates, etc while the phone is on and not in use. Showing connectivity (since an ISP cannot log exactly what pages or addresses you're requesting) cannot be held against you as proof your purposefully were engaged in your phone. Ergo, there's no proof. Any proof can be laid at the feet of 'it was my phone automatically checking for new emails', not me. I was looking at something on the floor I dropped, etc.

    Education, accountability. That's how we'll solve texting while driving. We will not solve it by making it a perversion that requires even more secrecy.

    In fact, one thing I think that's making the accidents get worse _IS_ the anti-texting laws. Instead of people holding the phone up in front of their field of view and using their periphery to scan in front of them while averting their attention, they're holding their phones down by the thighs, steering wheel, armrest, etc that requires their entire attention diverted from the windshield and avoids the possibility of even glimpsing a potential problem.

    Sykotyk
  • I Wear Pants
    Hb31187;783682 wrote:What can you possibly do about texting and driving though?

    If you make it a law that you cant text and drive and you get pulled over for supposedly texting and driving all you would have to do is erase your texts while the officer walks up to the car and itd be almost impossible to prove.


    And ive seen just as many accidents almost casued because of changing radio stations, eating while driving, trying to do make up while driving, dropping something on the floor and reachign for it while driving ect ect. You cant eliminate all the risks


    Btw, those scrolling signs that say dont text and drive or somethign similar are about the dumbest thing they could possibly of done. "Dont take your eyes off the road to text, but feel free to take your eyes off the road to read this scrolling sign warning you not to text"
    All they'd have to do is look at your phone history if the officer really wanted to charge you.
  • Tobias Fünke
    I text all of the time when I'm stopped at a red light or in super slow traffic. I've never come close to hitting anyone whilst doing it. That said I have seen a ton of people text like idiots while driving, makes me shake my head.
  • Iliketurtles
    Tobias Fünke;783793 wrote:I text all of the time when I'm stopped at a red light or in super slow traffic. I've never come close to hitting anyone whilst doing it. That said I have seen a ton of people text like idiots while driving, makes me shake my head.

    Yeah texting at a red light is way different then someone texting while going 50-70 mph. That is pretty much the only time I text is if Im at a light/slow traffic.
  • majorspark
    Sykotyk;783739 wrote:You can't 'put down' being drunk. You can't 'look away' from being drunk. So, no, they're not the same.
    Sleepy drivers and drunken drivers would be the worst. Neither one can just be turned off.
  • Steel Valley Football
    A show I saw did a pretty good test and the result was texting is more dangerous. Not sure of the show.
  • Steel Valley Football
    majorspark;783826 wrote:Sleepy drivers and drunken drivers would be the worst. Neither one can just be turned off.

    At the point of driver error, it doesn't matter.
  • Iliketurtles
    Steel Valley Football;783828 wrote:A show I saw did a pretty good test and the result was texting is more dangerous. Not sure of the show.

    I know of the video you're talking about and I can't remember the name of it either. But the people they had get drunk on there just semmed way to over the top.