23 replies to this topic

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[T]he Department of Transportation has today released figures showing that the number of deaths caused by distracted driving has fallen by six percent over the last year, to 5,500 cases, with around 450,000 injuries.

But, says transportation secretary Ray LaHood, "Because many police departments do not routinely document distraction factors in their crash reporting, I think it's safe to say these numbers are only the tip of the iceberg."

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that distraction is a factor in just about every accident. Texting and cell phones have been the hot-button issues lately, but there were plenty of distractions long before those things were invented. What about fiddling with the radio? Or checking yourself out in the rear view mirror? Or trying to find something that fell on the floor? Or spilling hot coffee in your lap? Or the idiot who cut you off? Or the screaming kid in the back seat? Or the attractive woman walking by? I've even heard of people reading the newspaper while driving.

Distraction causes accidents. Duh.

[Learz]

If you are caught on video doing something stupid while driving, and don't have an amazing excuse, you should have your license suspended for 1 year.

I bet we can cut that fatality at least in half then.

By something stupid, I mean texting, talking on a phone, reading, etc...

[Thrash]

If you are caught on video doing something stupid while driving, and don't have an amazing excuse, you should have your license suspended for 1 year.

I'm all for that.

Also, old people need to go repeat the test every year, once you hit 65 or so.

This is no joke; I once saw a person with a hotplate on their dashboard making something in a little frying pan.

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I once saw a person with a hotplate on their dashboard making something in a little frying pan.

Wow. Just wow.

I have seen reading, putting on make-up, shaving, and dressing. But never cooking.

I'm not sure 65 should be the cutoff (that's pretty young nowadays). Maybe 75. But there definitely needs to be retesting after a certain point.

I also don't think talking on the cell phone is that big a deal. Texting for sure, but not necessarily just talking. I won't talk on the phone in certain traffic conditions, but most of the time it's fine. I don't buy the premise that it's significantly different than talking to someone beside you in the car.

The texting problem is a big problem among teens, in particular. Having grown up in a multitasking, always-on world, they truly and sincerely do not understand why they cannot text and drive.

[Thrash]

I agree with you that talking alone is not that bad. But it's all the other things now that make it a big problem, it's not just texting. Since everyone has to have internet on their phone, it's looking up things on google, going on Facebook, etc.

I wonder how to start something like MADD, but have it be against all the crap people are doing on cell phones while driving.

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Hmm. Maybe People Against Idiot Drivers -- PAID.

[Dan2680]

Well on the matter of cell phones in the car... If you are going to talk you need to do it hands free. Driving is meant to be a two hand job, if you take a hand off of the wheel and use it to hold your cell phone you arent going to be able to turn very well at all.

Texting while driving should definitely not be done in my opinion. Period.

I think what makes a good driver is one who pays attention almost 100% of the time. When I drive even if im changing the radio station or picking something up, I do so but with keeping my eyes on the road. The way I see it, driving is a priviledge and nothing more. When you get behind the wheel of any vehicle, you are behind a ton of steel moving a pretty decent speeds. If you hit a person doing 50kmph you will probably kill them, or at the very least seriously injure them. At high way speeds of 80kmph or more... metal bends and folds pretty easily. I have seen cars that were so mangled up it was ridiculous.

I think before anyone should be allowed to drive, they should been shown videos of what REALLY happens when you get into an accident. No sugar coating either.

Also, when you get to be like... 70 or 75 I think you should have to go for a drivers test at the most every 5 years. Whether you like it or not, the older you get the slower your mind can act to things. I have seen some elderly driving cars so bad they are not only putting their lives in danger, which I care not for, if you wish to put your own life in danger thats fine with me, but they put the lives of everyone else around them in danger. The other day I was at a red light and this old lady was making a left hand turn, and she did it going like 5kmph. It looked like a huge ordeal to drive the car. All of your senses fade as time goes on, its not right to put the lives of others in danger. If you cant drive, dont. I dont care if you need to go to the grocery store, get someone else to drive you or take the bus or the taxi.

Hell, I think every person should retake a driving test every 10 or 15 years... I probably drive better than 50% of the people out there regardless of age. That way it would force people to follow the rules a bit more, I see plenty of people pull illegal lane changes or not signal properly or anything like that...

Bad drivers piss me off more than anything.

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I'm still very ambivalent about the cell phone thing. There are plenty of driving situations in which it's perfectly fine to drive one-handed. Cruising down a country road, light traffic, whatever. In those situations I see no problem using a regular, hand-held cell phone. I just can't escape the feeling that the whole no-cell-phones-while-driving movement is being fueled by people who just hate cell phones in general. You know the type -- the ones who get all pissy when someone is talking on one while waiting in line at the grocery store, for example.

However, I do agree about paying attention. I try to take my eyes off the road as little as possible. That's one of the reasons I don't have an iPhone or similar touchscreen device -- you have to be looking at the thing to use it. My cell phone has a tactile interface system known as "buttons" that I can use to speed dial my most frequently called numbers without taking my eyes off the road. I still won't make a call in bad traffic conditions, though.

This same issue -- being able to use the thing without looking -- is one of the reasons I'm disappointed in the new iPod Nano. They got rid of the click wheel and made it all touchscreen. The problem is that when I listen to the iPod in the car, I tend to keep it on "shuffle." If I don't want to hear the song that came up I can skip to the next one easily. But you can't do that easily with a touchscreen.

I think before anyone should be allowed to drive, they should been shown videos of what REALLY happens when you get into an accident. No sugar coating either.

When I took driver's ed we had to watch just such a movie. It was gruesome. I remember our parents had to sign a permission slip for us to see it. I don't know if they still do that.

I too get annoyed at bad drivers. I drive a lot, around 25,000 miles (40,000 km) a year. And what I have found is that the worst drivers are not the ones who are too reckless or too fast, but the ones who are too timid and too slow. To my thinking, as long as road permissions are good, then the maximum posted speed limit is also the minimum speed limit. In other words, if the sign says 35, then damn well drive 35. Not 27, not 30. 35. There is nothing more frustrating than being stuck behind someone just dawdling along.

[Dan2680]

I too get annoyed at bad drivers. I drive a lot, around 25,000 miles (40,000 km) a year. And what I have found is that the worst drivers are not the ones who are too reckless or too fast, but the ones who are too timid and too slow. To my thinking, as long as road permissions are good, then the maximum posted speed limit is also the minimum speed limit. In other words, if the sign says 35, then damn well drive 35. Not 27, not 30. 35. There is nothing more frustrating than being stuck behind someone just dawdling along.

I drive a fair bit, and when I do drive is mostly city driving so im always around people. I think this year I put on about... 25,000-30,000 km on my car.

I sorta disagree, though slow drivers are so annoying that they more than likely cause potential accidents... I have seen acts of recklessness get people into more accident prone situations than slow drivers do. I see people all the time shoot for that narrow window where they MIGHT be able to fit their car into... I think we all need to come to a nice medium.

Like you said we should all be going the speed limit, not 10kmph slower than it. People expect you to be going w/e the speed limit may be, and not slower or much faster. I also see people "cutting corners" on road laws all the time. Not turning into the proper lanes (aka, going to the farthest lane from them because they dont need to turn as hard), or signaling properly or hell even braking properly. There has been times people just slam the brakes and turn without signaling and I almost rear end them.

There are a few obvious situations where I will go slower than the speed limit. Mainly due to bad weather conditions like snow or heavy rain fall or very dense fog (though the latter most is a rarity). And if I am in an area with many kids playing around (aka, school areas or just a lot of kids in one spot). Or if im downtown and cars are lined up parked on both sides of the road I will be more cautious (stupid people just walk out infront of me all the time, especially the elderly. I really offended this elderly woman and her husband when they walked out infront of me. I have a very colourful vocabulary).

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I think the best thing that any driver can do is to get themselves to their destination as quickly and efficiently as possible within the bounds of safety. That means, for example, no stopping to let people pull out in front of you. You think you're being nice, but all you're doing is inconveniencing the people behind you, who do not expect to slow down and stop for no reason.

It also means that when someone is making a left-hand turn in front of you, you should be paying attention so that you can go around them if there is room, instead of stopping short behind them and waiting.

And it means that if you have put on your turn signal, slowed down, and pulled off to the side in anticipation of making a turn, and then realize that you've made a mistake, too bad. YOU ARE NOW COMMITTED TO THE TURN. The people behind you don't know that you can't read a street sign, nor do they expect you to suddenly lurch back into the line of traffic. Make the turn, then find a place to turn around and get back where you're going.

[Dan2680]

And it means that if you have put on your turn signal, slowed down, and pulled off to the side in anticipation of making a turn, and then realize that you've made a mistake, too bad. YOU ARE NOW COMMITTED TO THE TURN. The people behind you don't know that you can't read a street sign, nor do they expect you to suddenly lurch back into the line of traffic. Make the turn, then find a place to turn around and get back where you're going.

Oh lawdy I love that one. That happened to me the other day, he did it fucking twice...

And I love those people who forget to turn OFF their turn signal... they keep driving with the damn thing on for like 10 minutes... or those people who turn on their signal like 5 hours before they need to. You are expecting them to turn in like a few seconds so you slow down in anticipation of that... but they dont fucking stop they keep going past like several streets and then turn.

I have had times where I have gotten so mad at people... I almost lose control of myself. Like I was driving my girlfriend to work, and to get there you turn onto an out of the way side street... well I was going straight onto this street (I had the green light), and this big fucking transport truck cuts me off, and I braked just in time to avoid going under him... I almost got out of my car and pulled him the fuck out of his truck... I couldnt even talk I was so mad... the only thing that kept me from freaking out was I knew if I let myself get out of my car... I probably would of hurt him so bad it would of landed me in jail for a long time...

[m3g4tr0n]

Also, old people need to go repeat the test every year, once you hit 65 or so.

I totally agree. My grandmother was a fantastic driver up until the last few years of her life. Luckily she was never in an accident where she hurt someone else, but she did bump things with her car all the time.

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I still say 65 is too young. 75 would be more appropriate.

[Invicta]

Also, old people need to go repeat the test every year, once you hit 65 or so.

I totally agree. My grandmother was a fantastic driver up until the last few years of her life. Luckily she was never in an accident where she hurt someone else, but she did bump things with her car all the time.

I recently said I thought people over 65 should have to re-take the test every 6 months. I've nearly been killed by old-people drivers several times. Most recently by an acient looking woman driving a full sized Ford Explorer while talking on her cell phone. Yup, that's right. It's a terrifying thing.

I've been reading the potsthumously published book by Douglas Adams, "The Salmon of Doubt", which is mostly a collection of unpublished articles he's written over the years, and one of them was specifically about driving in various countries, and it was hillarious. I'll post it here when I have a minute.

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I don't disagree that elderly people should need to be retested. I'm just saying that 65 isn't elderly any more. Hell, Mick Jagger is 67!

[Invicta]

I don't know that that helps your point; Mick Jagger A) is retired, and looks like a dinosaur.

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He's not retired, the Stones just did a tour. And it's not how he looks, it's how fit he is. The guy is in better shape than a lot of 30-year-olds.

My point is simply that 65 is not "elderly" like it once was. Hell, a lot of people aren't even retired yet at 65.

[Invicta]

He is retired. The stones just announced that with the end of this tour they are done touring forever. Finit.

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Maybe you've seen something I have not, but the most recent quote I find on the matter by Mick seems to contradict that:

I'm sure the Rolling Stones will do more things and more records and more tours. We've got no plans to stop any of that really.

But anyway, even if they stopped touring that doesn't mean he's retired. Aside from recording and performing solo, he has tons of other business interests and projects.

[Invicta]

Now I'm confused, I'd heard on NPR that the stones were done after this tour, but that may be incorrect. It doesn't change that their ancient.

The law can't take into acount extreme examples, rather it has to deal with the mean. The average 65+ year old has poorer eyesight, hearing, and reflexes than they did when they were originally licensed, by a significant degree. Maybe retesting shouldn't be required every ear at that point, but certainly every couple. And by the time you're 75 I think every year reasonable, possibly more frequently. By 85 if they are driving at all they should be required to be given a FULL road test every 6 months or something. That's just crazy.

I love elderly people, and I hate that they aren't more respected in American society, I just don't like being seriously injured by elderly people driving.