At a red light today. Guy in front of me was texting. I had to beep at him when the light turned green (after waiting at least 5 - 7 secs) because he wasn't paying attention. Then he hit the curb about a mile down the road after that light (while still on his phone). But ya, texting and driving is totally possible and doesn't distract you from driving the car at all.

 

Conversely, I have hit something zero times despite texting. Evidence inconclusive.

 

fixed for accuracy.

 

It kind of sounds like he either, didn't hold the phone in front of his face to use his periphery (probably due to being scared of abusive cops giving him a ticket while at a light) or, he wasn't looking up every 2-5 seconds. If he was, then he would have been able to see the light turn yellow and know it is going to change soon. Had he know HOW to text and drive properly, he probably would have avoided hitting a curb too....



Yes, texting and driving is totally possible and if done right and smartly, doesn't distract you from drigint he car any more than looking at your speedometer or at your radio to change the station or at your GPS.

 

Most Americans don't do sh*t right or smartly, such as driving a car. We can't expect them to use their phones right and smartly.

 

I agree, that is why most Americans shouldn't be driving....



Anyone can pretend to be a good and focused driver for a test, and then become horribly unaware and distraced and dangerous after that on the road. The driving test should be much more diffuclt, see if they can determine when a safer time would be, if they can mitage risks and prioritize. Then you will have educated people using their phones in a safe way, or no one using it at all. But that is better than some using it in unsafe ways and all being punished for it.





And other than in heavy traffic (for sequencial purposes) we shouldn't have traffic lights or stop signs, traffic circles are more efficient and safer. But since we can't rely on people ot be patient and unselfish, we have to force them to stop and make laws requiring them to stop to let other go through as opposed to using their brains and not turning into a pysco behind the wheel.



Unfortunately, getting a pilots licence isn't that difficult either, but thankfully it is slightly more expensive and that keeps most of the knuckle heads out, but some still get by. But it is way too easy to get and keep a drivers licence in this country.

 

I don't accept that you are managing all the risks when you text and drive, whatnot. Even when stopped, you need to use your spare attention to be profiling other drivers, checking for bikes, and checking for emergency vehicles. when you are driving along your spare brain capacity needs to be used to read the road ahead and build a traffic radar around yourself.



If you are driving properly you never give yourself time to text. And like I said, texts are especially not an urgent way of communicating. Most trips are less than half an hour, it can wait folks.

 

Sorry, this part would have made sense, but he had to look up from replying to the forum on his drive home....

 

Whatnot, I'm not saying texting and driving can't be done, or shouldn't be done. I'm guilty of it once in a while (WAY less now that I'm older), but you have to admit that it distracts you from driving, which requires 100% of your attention, 100% of the time.

 

lol, I can explain a typo pretty easily that I made while on my pc. driving=drigint G and V are very close to each other, and the t belongs with "he" to make "the".



But ha ha, I get it, well played sir.









I will admit that it distracts one from driving.....the same I will admit it changing the radio station, checking your speedometer, looking at your GPS, looking at your AFR gauge, bluetooth calling on your phone distracts you just as much.



But driving doesn't require 100% of your focus 100% of the time. If you have ever looked at your speedometer or AFR gauge ect. while driving, then you aren't 100% focused outside, but simple other tasks can be done at the right time for a small amount of time.



This video, requires 100% focus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmeKWDJT-_Q



I am not saying you can do two things at once, it is impossible, you can't just text away and magically drive perfectly and see things withoug seeing them. I am saying, you can learn to change levels of focus, based on priority of your currunt situation, for mementary occurances, just as you teach a new driver not to stare at their speedometer. You teach them to maitain eyes on the road, look at your rearview mirror, see how many cars are back there, what speeds are they traveling, will they come to pass you soon or be next to you? Is there anyone next to you now, what is your speed, back, outside, bvack to rearview, has anything changed, is anyone accelerating, will there be anyone next to you? Use your periphery, your periphery can have different relative movements stick out to you and grab your attention. Is your car overheating, check your gauges, back outside, is your exit or turn coming up? What lane do you need to be in.



And when we get used to doing that over and over again, it is called experience, we get better, and require less brain power to do those tasks, it becomes automatic, part of a scan. Eventually, we don't need to check our speed as often, we learn how to stay the same speed, listen to rpm changes ect.



And when traffic is really light, those times where you would have been looking in your mirror, you see there was no cars back there, there was no exits, it is impossible for anyone to be next to you, you see people in front of you. Instead of checking on your speed, which you no longer need to do as often, you don't need to look into your mirror, you can change the radio station, or type a location into your GPS, or type a text to your friend in the same very quick manor that you would when you looked into your mirror briefly, still always using your periphery to its fullest advantage.



You can't see or predict a kid jumping out in front of a car, so you need all the reaction time you can have, along with the proper low speeds (sometimes that is below the speed limit if there are a bunch of kids you can see visually) to give you the best chance to stop in time. This again is an example of when texting or looking at your speedometer is really quite uneceassary and has too much unmitigated risk vs. the reward, so you don't need to do.



My point being....I think it would be much more beneficial to teach us to adapt to and be aware of our surroundings, than to put up signs and legistalations to attempt to make us safe. That, and texting ONE of the many distractions that we face as we drive, some times we can afford distractions, and many times, we can't. If we quit focusing on this 'evil texting' and teach people that it is just A distraction, not the mother of all distractions and anything else is fine, we would be better off.











An example of when I text....If I am going to pick someone up, I like to send a text 5-10m out and let them know, I am 5-10m out so they are ready when I get there. Sure I could pull over and send that text. Just as every driving who wanted to change the radio station could pull over, change the station, then get back on the road. But it is unecessary trouble for such a simple task. There are sometimes, where the rain is heavy, traffic is bad, a lot of accidents, where I like to turn the radio off so I can focus more, and slow down to give myself more time. I don't care what my speed is (I know it is below the speed limit and safe for consditions), I don't need to check it, I don't need to text or touch the radio, I need to put extra focus on how the people are driving next to me, if I feel they are safe or distracted, maybe I need to move away from them, I feel they are going to cause an accident, that takes more focus to do that. Yet some think, well, I have bluethooth, and I am driving the speed limit, I turned up my radio because I want to hear my jam and the rain is loud, I am safe though, because I am not texting. That is what I feel this massive propoganda campain says.