Puhlease! Not this old diatribe again! Cell phones aren't evil. Teenagers make loads of bad choices. We could discuss promiscuous sex instead.

Excuse me, Rob333, but while teenage sex may be a social issue that needs to be addressed, it won't kill ME. Phone usage and texting while driving MIGHT, so I support awareness and restrictions not only for teens, but for adults as well.

I'm old enough to think texting while driving is ridiculous.
I was talking to my SIL on the phone one day last year as she was coming home from California (to northern Oregon), her 19 yr old daughter who did not get her license until 18 (by way of explaining her level of experience at the wheel) was driving. Words were exchanged between the two of them, niece was trying to read and answer a text and drive. My suggestion was, 'tell her from me if that were my car there would be no text to answer because her phone would have been out the window by now.'

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find more adults doing the same stupiddamned thing. I drive by a high school daily during dropoff time.

It's the adults, by far, on the cell phones and texting while driving.

Teens, on the whole, are much better than the general public give them credit for. Yes, they can be stupid, and make stupid mistakes - but in the last school year we've had a dozen or more accidents around our school zone, and it's a pretty big school. Only one involved a HS student.

One only hears about the tragic accident - we had only one involving a teen texting in the last 2 years - and there are close to a thousand attending school here.

How many adults in accidents? More, many, many more, but they aren't reported with the dramatic "DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR TEENS ARE DOING??!!!!!!" Nope, those are just reported as ordinary car accidents. And while texting may be a factor in any adult collision, it isn't the huge call-out the way it is in a teen-related collision.

Yes, teens should be educated about texting and driving, just the same way they are about drinking and driving.

But really, lets stop demonizing teens. I'm at least as fearful of their parents!

Past experience has shown (me, at least) that often texts received while driving can be somewhat important -- the person you're meeting somewhere texts to change the meeting place or time, or to say they're running late, etc. So, there ARE times when it's important to at least get the message timely.

So, I'm glad that my car will read text messages out loud when they're received. I can even reply without having to touch my phone. This has been very handy on more than one occasion.

My car will also read e-mail messages out loud, but I haven't found a need to have it do that...

Huge road sign across our busy corridor states: Texting is illegal. Save a life! Don't text! It's the law!

If when driving you think you've received a message or an email that will affect the future of the civilized world, pull to the side of the road, park, and then read it. I suspect no one here ever has received a message that's so profoundly important so as to justify risking their own life or those of others.

I think holding a phone while driving is of an equal danger, I wish police would more seriously enforce the hands-free rule and I wish the fines for that citation were high enough to discourage the behavior. I see too many drivers holding a phone, making gestures with their other hand (and perhaps driving with their knees?) and either 1) holding up traffic or 2) making radical turns or lane changes. And, sorry to say, the offenders I see are disproportionately "soccer moms" driving solo in land yachts. Sadly some need to learn the hard way.

It is not legal to use a cell phone in a car near my high school, the distance thankfully extends to my home.
I think this is a good warning from OJ.
I can't think of a more tragic unnecessary death for either myself or one of my children, or anyone, than to die in an auto accident pursuant to another person's inattention while driving and texting.
There is NO reason important enough to a rational mind to text while driving.

We just came home from a quick trip north for a funeral and we saw a vehicle ahead of us weaving. My husband said I bet that driver is texting. It was an adult not a teen. So it is not always teens. Most adults are usually the texters. There are enough places to pull off the road to text. Stay safe on the road.
Mary

My daughter works for an insurance company. They just got a claim in . a 21 year old was driving down his street. His phone fell on the floor. He was leaning over trying to retrieve it and hit his 31 year old neighbor.

Broke both her legs, and one of her legs was hanging on by some skin. Paramedic said it will be a miracle if the leg can be saved.

The boy is on suicide watch. He wasn't txting, he wasn't speeding, but he was distracted, and look at the damage. So sad.

But honestly, you can be distracted by digging in your purse or briefcase, or McDonald's bag, or fooling with the radio, etc.

It's so sickening that so many posts are about how evil cell phones are was my point, fun2bhere.

Everyone I know uses their phone responsibly. Including their children. Teens. My son is 14, and so, I know A LOT of teens. Including many who drive. I just came back from vacation. Do you know how many people I saw using anything electronic? Exactly three. Out of hundreds. Over five days. Everyone I saw was talking face-to-face, interacting, playing, having fun. I assume the three I saw were just checking to make sure all was in order at their home and probably put it down immediately once they'd checked. And I thought, how cool is it you can check in from halfway around the world?

Cell phones haven't taken over the world. People have always done stupid things and will do stupid things. People used to drive around with kids walking around cars without car seats. Glad we got wise to that stupidity. People will always do stupid things. With or without legislation. People will be responsible with or without the dumb diatribes on how evil cellphones are.

Using a cell phone in a school zone is illegal in Texas.

I always pull off the road if I get a text, but many people drive & text, & it sets my teeth on edge.

About teens:

They're more self-absorbed than they will be later in life.

They'll grasp the problem better if you say, "If you'd been driving, & I'd been another car or a light pole or a bridge, *you* would be dead."

& since they often haven't got a good grasp on the permanency of death, you can add:
"& your face would have gone through the windshield & been so mangled that your parents would have to have a closed-casket service".

rob..understand it's not the phone but the owner, and fought dh over MY phone only a flip phone and refused to get more than that..it is personal choice, but omg at a family gathering, I was the only adult not wired...

just the other day a car ahead was weaving and sure enough mom was texting with a baby in the back seat...

dh doesn't text in the car and for the past 2 years doesn't have to answer his phone either since I purchased one of those hands free things....(he's on call and required to carry co phone)
and yes, it's still timely to remind and reinforce texting and driving....

Isn't it sad that so many "need" that all mightly cell phone? What did everyone do before these things were invented...Oh, then we had to use that thing that was either on the wall or on the stand or heaven forbid, use a pay phone....
I have a phone, a flip up, and it's very seldom used...We deliver Meals on Wheels and it is a way of getting help if a person doesn't answer the door or could possibly be in trouble....
I agree entirely with OJ but it doesn't stop with the kids, almost every adult has that phone in their ear....
We sure do have some very important people that can't possibly miss a call, NOT!

On January 18, 2013, I was the victim of a driver distracted by her cell phone. And I don't think victim is the wrong word. There was trouble on the road ahead of me and several cars ahead of me people started slamming on their brakes. I hit mine, but knew I would not be able to avoid hitting the car in front of me, so I pulled toward the shoulder while braking. I would have been just fine if the woman (in her late twenties) had not been looking down at her radio - at least that's what she told HP. She slammed into the left rear of my car and pushed me over a 300-foot embankment. My car flipped and I went down the thankfully grassy slope, pretty much on my head and neck - and backward. The back windshield shattered and my car became a giant shovel, peppering me with dirt and gravel. At the bottom, the car flipped back onto its wheels. I am lucky to be alive and to have received so few injuries. She had no insurance and no license, so everything fell to my insurance company. Here's where "victim" comes in. Sure, my insurance company paid my medical bills, but because my car was 9 years old, I got less than half what it would cost to replace it. And I still have problems with my neck. But I am alive. I can only hope she learned some kind of lesson here.

It isn't just cell phones and it isn't just kids. So many things can distract you from the road ahead - a pet, a cranky child, you get the picture. Nowadays cars are designed to cradle you in comfort and I'm not so sure that is a good thing. For me, there is no such thing as a leisurely drive anymore. I'm not a fraidy cat (I was for months after the accident), but I'm very, very cautious.

Here is a link that might be useful:

When I drive, I just pretend everyone is on their cell phones or driving like an idiot, and as I result I drive very defensively. It's helped me escape a number of close calls.

Obviously it won't prevent everything but I also know it's naive to rely on everyone else to follow the rules and pay attention.

I don't see many people actually driving and texting (though I do see some), but at every red light I look around and 95% of the time at least one person, and usually multiple, has pulled out a phone and is going through it while they wait. It's better than while the car is moving but still illegal and dangerous.

A few weeks ago I saw a guy on a motorcycle do it, and a cop happened to be turning right in the next lane over, and he stopped and got on his loudspeaker and told him to put the phone away (everyone nearby heard), and watched to make sure he did it. I liked that, though it would have been better if he got a ticket! Unfortunately a lot of people won't have it sink in until they get a steep fine or injure/kill someone.

Adults doing such, with more years of experience and, hopefully, more common sense, sometimes hard-won, are way stupider.

And I figure that the hands-free talking is of minimal less danger than using a hand-held ... as most of us can drive with one hand: it's the mind being substantially otherwise engaged that's the main problem, in my eyes ... and there's research to back it.

Driving in modern frequently congested conditions requires one's full attention.

Country hicks, where often there's not car within eyeshot, may claim to be slightly less restricted.

ole joyful

I know that I am "old" by most of your standards but I just don't understand what can be so damned important in anyone's life that you would risk your life or anyone else's using a cell phone while driving...if you had some huge life or death job it would be different...

my husband tries to get away with crap like that when we are in the RV and I will be danged if I let him..He is always messing with some kind of connector, plugin or wire or something and my response is ..."stop texting" his response..."I'm not texting"...Well you might as well be....if he wants to do it while I am not in the vehicle, I can't do anything about it, but not on my watch.....we are retired...if we get a call...any call ..it can wait until we are stopped some where even if it is an hour down the road...and believe it or not, I suspect there is not anyone here at this board that couldn't wait to take a call or text until the stop at their next destination...this cell phone craze is just out of control...

As far as the teacher is concerned...to me it was a teaching experience and she got her point across...

I don't think it's an importance thing - it's a wanting to know immediately thing. I know that not that long ago, teens used to sit by the phone waiting for a boy/girl to call even though they could have left a message and called them back later. I am pretty sure those teens would have been mobile if the technology were available! I think it's the same sort of thing - an eagerness to talk to and interact with peers.

The majority of my correspondence with people is via text or other chatting vehicles. So when I get a text it's a big deal to me. However, I ignore all cell phone activity while driving, and think everyone else should too even though I can understand the temptation.

"I figure that the hands-free talking is of minimal less danger than using a hand-held ... as most of us can drive with one hand: it's the mind being substantially otherwise engaged that's the main problem, in my eyes ... and there's research to back it."

In other words, no one should ever have another occupant in the vehicle unless the additional occupant(s) is/are gagged, because any conversation is distracting and dangerous.

We have distracted driving laws here, for all the good they do. I constantly see people on their phones while driving, or texting at the lights. Or they like their crotch because they're looking at it and smiling when I turn my head and see them..... My favourite thing to see is those who hold their phones near their head while they're driving. Yes, they're using the speaker phone. BUT IT'S NOT HANDS FREE FOOLS! It's ear free. They think it's ok!!!! I have never, nor will I ever use my phone while driving. I have a blue tooth. And rarely use it either. There is nothing that is so important that I would risk another persons life, to answer my phone while driving. And I mean nothing!

How did we all get through life before cell phones? Our parents survived this long. You want to know where your kids were when we were little? Look for the stack of bicycles on their friends front lawns. Open the front door and YELL their name. We didn't have attachment issues and we lived.

My husband drives a tow truck. I can't tell you how many accidents he's had to clean up because of a cell phone user.

Rob, take your post and substitute alcohol for "cell phone". It wasn't too long ago that people got pissed because MADD was making a big issue over drinking and driving. It took a concerted effort and a long time to get that message across, and still people act irresponsibly.

Your sons may be perfect, but drive around L.A. sometime and see less than perfect kids and soccer moms behaving badly. Like trying to merge onto a freeway going 45 mph with one hand clapped to their ear.

Neither cell phones nor alcohol is "evil" per se, but if they or anything else interferes with a driver's focus then it's a problem for all of us. And personally I have no issue with anyone, at anytime, reminding us of it.

I don't think the cell phones take it personally.

Apply the same reasoning to cell phone use as many (and in my opinion) apply to guns. ie.. "Guns don't kill people, people kill people".

rob333, I sincerely hope that you don't get your head yanked out of the sand by a personal tragedy due to the misuse of cell phones.

Being distracted while driving is dangerous. This applies to all distractions though. I've seen so many besides using a cell: men and women grooming (brushing hair, putting on makeup, shaving with an electric razor), eating, smoking, people comforting a crying child or being distracted by something their child is showing them, looking at a passenger instead of the road. The list could go on.

Being distracted while driving is dangerous. This applies to all distractions though. I've seen so many besides using a cell: men and women grooming (brushing hair, putting on makeup, shaving with an electric razor), eating, smoking, people comforting a crying child or being distracted by something their child is showing them, looking at a passenger instead of the road. The list could go on.

Wow, Donna, what a harrowing story you told! What a thing to have to go through. So glad you lived to tell the tale. I do wonder if that girl got the lesson through her apparently thick head.

I'm sorry you had to bear the brunt and expense of her lesson in life. It is pretty dangerous out there on the road these days.

tally/gazinia/anyone else that wants to direct your anger at me (I'm not wrong, you just don't agree with me), I don't have my head in the sand. EVERYTHING that is distracted driving is dangerous, and I do none of it. I don't need a post to "remind" me. I despise anyone is injured or dies from distracted driving. It's ALL wrong.

I was almost t-boned on Saturday. Person pulling out of a drive-through did it. So eating is wrong, so is talking to passengers, so is putting on makeup... I hate them all, but I don't go around posting vile posts about how evil it all is. These posts are so old it's nauseating. It's the USER that is the problem. I'll assume the driver that absolutely would've hit me had there been in a car in the other lane would've just hit me while turning around to talk to his passenger instead of the drive-through next time. They don't care about anything but themselves.

It was mind boggling when he looked over and saw me, and it was obvious, he had no idea I was in the lane. No clue. Clueless people are the problem. Pick another diatribe and I might agree with you.

This post was edited by rob333 on Mon, Jul 14, 14 at 8:14

Rob, why would you think I'm directing "anger" at you? Re-read the posts. You are the one with anger.

Right off the bat you start with "Puhlease! Not this old diatribe again"

Others are simply disagreeing or sharing their opinions. Why are you so hostile about it?

If a post has no value to you skip over it, no need to try to censor it.
I think such reminders have value, both for those who have considered the subject in the past and for the many new on GW.
It's a good point that all distractions while driving can be fatal. Texting is a relatively new distraction and in my opinion worthy of mention.

I'm not angry, just highly weary of all the misdirected diatribes over cell phones.

Than SOB! Pretty simple.

It's not even about cell phones Rob...it's about distracted driving...I made that clear in my post...my husband is not texting or taking calls necessarily...but sometimes trying to "repair things on the dashborad or one of his connectors..

It's about doing things other than what you are supposed to be directing your attention to doing...driving..

My one concern with the Texas 4000 on their bike ride is about idiots on their cell phones hitting some of the kids...

Recent message in our area was that the area police say that there are now more fatalities from distracted driving than from drunk.

Not sure whether injuries were mentioned.

ole joyful

Using a hand-held device for any reason, calls or text is illegal here. Doesn't stop them tho.

Provincial police were on a campaign to stop it recently ... and major increase in fines, recently: to something like 400 bucks a pop, I think.

However ... if you kill someone, and they trace your phone as being busy at that time - it could be murder second, or manslaughter.

ole joyful

There's a news article in today's papers here about a Sydney (Australia) model who had a fight with her boyfriend, then answered a call from him as she was driving afterwards. Through his phone he heard the car crash that killed her seconds later as she ran into a tree, distracted by answering the phone.

Clearly, non-texting people are supposed to watch out for texting people so that they do not bump into each other.

In other words, no one should ever have another occupant in the vehicle unless the additional occupant(s) is/are gagged, because any conversation is distracting and dangerous.

Actually, any conversation *is* distracting and dangerous.

That's why I make people in my car shut up sometimes.

And it's why I stop chatting with a driver when the traffic gets a little bit busy.

But I think there's something about texting that is extra frightening. Texting has a pressure to answer that's really, really high.
And it takes you FAR away from the road in ways that chatting doesn't. Your attention and your field of vision change so far.

As for texts actually being important--honestly, what will change if you don't get the text that the other person is running late?
And why should you expect that the meeting place would change so late that the news doesn't get to you until you are actually on your way?

I love the apps where your phone won't make any noise, and will instead send a "Talley Sue is driving, she'll get back to you" message. I think all cell phones should be required to have that as an operating-system option (much like Airplane Mode), and it should be easy to use. Maybe it should be a button on the welcome screen.

And I'm not focused on teens, actually.

"It's not even about cell phones Rob"

Um, yea, right. snark!!!!