Teen Sentenced To Prison For "Vehicular Homicide While Texting

[ncboston]

I'm certainly not defending what he did. But let me ask you...are there any dangers in making such a law? What could be next, a law that can put you in prison for fiddling with your radio while you drive, or looking over at your dispatch sheet while you're driving?

Texting while driving is dumb. But what is it really? It's simply a distraction. No different than any other distraction. What will be made illegal next?

Slippery slope...

I agree with AC. Anytime you're not paying attention while you're operating a vehicle, you've created an unsafe condition and the vehicle has just become a potential weapon.

[ncboston]

North Carolina passed a law banning texting while driving, but plenty of idiots still do it. As I drive the streets, I see cops typing on their vehicle mounted laptops. Why should they be allowed to perform this function? Wouldn't this also create a hazard?

[hearthman]

Back in the '80s when I was a paramedic, we were shown a case in the mid-west where a State trooper in a marked car responding code 3 with lights and siren was found at fault in a collision. He had his left hand on the steering wheel and right hand on the knob of his Federal Pa 200 siren changing the tone from 'wail' to 'yelp' in an effort to get everyone's attention. He did not leave his lane of travel or violate other rules of the road. Instead, a driver approaching from a side street blew a stop sign getting T-boned and seriously injured. The trooper was found at fault because he did not have both hands on the steering wheel, which the plaintiff's attorney successfullly argued would have allowed him to avert his client. We already have this sort of insanity on the books so adding rules to it won't save lives but only line pockets of attorneys.

I am more aware of the road and in control than 99.99% of the drivers around me even when I'm muti-tasking in my cab because I am trained, experienced and I care. The dopes next to me jabbering away or talking on their legal hands-free phones are semi-comatose. Whose more of a risk to the public? It all falls back on personal responsibility.

If you think cab distractions should be abolished then how can airplane pilots fly with all their instrumentation and visual input much less my truck?

[ncboston]

Hearth,
I saw similar incidents working as an emt in Boston. We could go back and forth endlessly about the government over regulating every facet of everything we do. I think the real issue is personal responsibility. Most people don't care about anybody else and are wrapped up in their own little worlds. I hate to see all the stupid laws that are enacted, but if it has the potential to get a few more morons off the streets and make the streets safer for me to drive with my four kids, then so be it.

[the dangling wrangler]

If you think cab distractions should be abolished then how can airplane pilots fly with all their instrumentation and visual input much less my truck?

Quick answer to that is, there's a lot less planes in the sky, than there are cars on the road. Lots less obstacles to contend with too.

[ncboston]

I was thinking the same thing about the airplanes.
I heard a news article on the radio this week about the development of vehicles that will have the ability to remain in the lanes, no driver required.

[the dangling wrangler]

I was thinking the same thing about the airplanes.
I heard a news article on the radio this week about the development of vehicles that will have the ability to remain in the lanes, no driver required.

I used to fly a bit. I can remember flying close to 100 miles, and only seeing one other bird in the sky, the whole trip. Not many places on the ground you can do that.

[Brian GC]

Hands free is not much safer than hand held cell phones, it only takes one hand to drive. But since hand held is now illegal we seem to think it is much more dangerous. Hands free just makes it impossible to tell if someone is on the phone. The law is really about out of sight, out of mind and let's a few bucks while we're at it.

[ncboston]

If you're talking on a phone, you're not giving your full attention to driving. Handsfree or not, it's still the same thing.

[Brian GC]

If you're talking on a phone, you're not giving your full attention to driving. Handsfree or not, it's still the same thing.

If you are talking to the person next to you, you are not giving your full attention to driving, but who is complaining about that? Next we should have one seater cars or partitions up around the driver with all voice activated controls so you never take your hands off the wheel.

We are a bunch of sheep and we take the bait ever time.

[ncboston]

Yeah. We are a bunch of sheep. Do we do things that distract us? Of course we do. But we need to minimize these distractions.

[corny]

Aeroplane pilots and professionals have some training in driving....their distractions are part of the job.

Teenage kids even in the pre cell phone days were wrecking cars because of their lack of training. Now with distractions such as cell phones they are even more dangerous on the road.

You see all those roadside memorials on the side of the road....... Id say the majority of those were caused by kids....driving distracted or drunk or recklessly.

[Brian GC]

Yeah. We are a bunch of sheep. Do we do things that distract us? Of course we do. But we need to minimize these distractions.

We are all pumped up about hand held cellphones but where is the evidence that hand held is more dangerous than hands free? If they say it's because it takes one hand to hold it then driving with one hand should be outlawed too. If it so obvious, where is the data.

It's my opinion that hands free is almost as dangerous as hand held but where is the natural reaction to require phone records from anyone involved in an accident. Hand held or hands free. We naturally let the hands free users off, but we shouldn't IMO.