So today, we were heading to Williamsburg to drop my brother off at a sleepaway camp. We were waiting to make a left onto another road when all of the sudden, we heard squealing breaks then a loud thud followed by us getting knocked around a little. Someone had rear ended us, and it turned out he was texting while driving. Luckily, no one was hurt and there was minimal damage to both cars. Plus, his insurance company will be paying to repair our car as well as furnish us with a rental during the repair period. People are crazy.

So what accidents have you all had? Discuss your views on accidents, distracted driving, etc.

Passing a law won't help, but I voted for prohibition of cell phone usage while driving. People already suck at driving.

Yea I don't think cell phones should be used while driving unless it has manufacture built in hands-free. Than if hands-free becomes unacceptable or problems rise than the car manufactures need to eliminate that feature by law.

Other than hands-free option I do not think it should be allowed.

Also TEXT MESSAGING while driving should be EPIC/ MEGA/ULTRA/+10 COUNTER ENFORCED BY LAW!!

Sorry keyboard cowboys just way to many accidents and unconscious driving while thats going down

+1

I'm 16 and just got my license & I'm a hell of lot better driver than many adults with 20+ years behind the wheel. I see people everyday run stop signs & red lights, cut people off, etc. And many of them are either talking on their phones or texting while driving.

I've been driving for over 20 years, and have seen the average driver skill plummet considerably over that time (and let me tell you, it was no great shakes to begin with). The rise of cellular phones have been a direct contributor to poor driving and accidents.

In a perfect world i suppose I'd vote against all of it, but that would be very hypocritical of me (I'm on the phone about 90 minutes to 2hrs every day in the car). Handsfree only as far as I'm concerned, no text or email.

If anything I'm actually more cautious if I'm talking on my phone while driving, I don't believe any law will help anyway. I've actually ran stop signs before just because I wasn't thinking, but that was before I even had a phone. I've never ran a stop sign because my phone was distracting me. I've never had a wreck because my phone was distracting. A phone has never caused a negative impact on my driving.

If you wanna blame somebody, blame stupid people. Not cell phones.

Yours,
Shane~

We can blame them both...sounds like you may not be the world's greatest driver to begin with if you allow yourself to be distracted and stop thinking even sans phone. I'm skeptical the phone does not worsen that situation.

Lol those stop sign runs were complete accidents, and one time I was with my brother-in-law who's a cop and he sad "Aw, forget it, I run that stop sign all the time. I just turn on my lights."

Anyway, shouldn't this be a "Heated Topic" if it's about a law limiting rights?

Yours,
Shane~

This post has been edited by ShaneK: 28 Jun, 2009 - 06:41 PM

I think only hands free phones should be used, especially considering i was almost in a crash after my taxi driver decided to read his text message whilst i was in the car.

Some people are just too stupid to realise that anything can happen in the 5 seconds they are not looking at the road. If people want to use a mobile phone, they should pull up and use it rather than put other peoples well-being at risk, even if they don't seem to care about their own.

I don't mean to sound so p***** about it, but distracted drivers really irrate me because i use a motorbike.

edit: sorry, bad language in heat of the moment.

This post has been edited by Slice: 28 Jun, 2009 - 06:54 PM

sometimes i text, and i feel like an asshole about it.

too late now!

My view is if you need to talk to someone so bad, pull over and talk, don't try to multi-task, it doesn't work out well.

I can see how hands-free communication, like bluetooth or something, might be ok. But holding a phone while talking on it could be a bit more distracting, and anyone who thinks its ok to text while driving should be slapped and have their license taken.

My ex would text AND talk on the phone at the same time.

When I was a kid, I remember this woman in the car in front of us doing her hair/makeup in the rear view mirror while driving. She had an indicator running for almost a mile before noticing it was still on and turning it off.

People don't need phones to be bad drivers, but I do think it makes it worse.

Hands free should be ok though

Cars are sold all over the world, and are for use on private and public roads.
If someone wants to drive their car at 100mph on their private land, would you suggest that the car should be limited to $yourNationalSpeedLimit by the manufacturers, by law? This is not supposed to be a leading question, btw.

I am getting sick and tired of driving around having to worry about the person next to me hitting someone because they feel the NEED to text. If it is absolutely necessary to talk to someone, then it should be a quick call (they can't turn this into a law, this is just responsible driving). Those hands-free bluetooth ear pieces are not always the easiest to use and not everyone knows how to use them. Sure, once it is all set up and powered on it is, but before that it can cause more problems than just holding the phone to your head. I have a thirty minute drive to work, around the DC beltway, and there has never been a trip where I needed to honk at someone for swerving back and forth because of something cell phone related. Twenty years ago people were able to cope drives without a cell phone, why can't they today? What is SO important that they need to cause so much stress and problems for themselves and everyone else on the road?

I agree with you there. We can't and shouldn't force auto manufacturers to build hands-free communications devices in. I mean, what if someone prefers to use a bluetooth headset.

And another thing, I believe we should make texting or non-hands free talking while driving a primary offense, meaning you can get pulled for it.

Ok, this thread already exists in the heated topics section.

Jersey has a hands free law. It worked for about a month.

I don't think hands free is enough. Holding a conversation is way more distracting than people realize. Or, rather, the verbal processing is so engaging that it can block out pesky things like playing attention to multi ton objects moving at high velocity.

Whenever I see a cell phone car drone, I immediately think "drunk driver" since, attention wise, that's what they are. I treat them as drunk drivers and generally feel same level of contempt for them irresponsibly sharing the road with me while in a clearly incapacitated state.

I totally agree. I also feel that the fines should be more than a $50 dollar slap on the wrist. It is not going to stop anyone from doing it again. If it were like a $500 dollar fine, that would make people think twice about doing it.