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Phone Addicts Are the New Drunk Drivers

blog.zendrive.com

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Re: Phone Addicts Are the New Drunk Drivers

#211

Post by AceyMan »

maccio92 wrote: post #117
bluedino wrote: post #112

DUI and driving while using your phone should have equal punishment. I’m not advocating drinking and driving, but phone use is “no harm, no foul” right now. On the other hand you can drive without crashing into anyone but if you’ve had two glasses of wine with dinner, you can get charged with a crime.

Cellphone use while driving is a primary offense in Ohio, meaning you can get pulled over solely got that and receive a citation

My old home state of Georgia is stepping back in time (and not in a good way) on a couple of legal positions recently, but I'm pleased & surprised they, like Ohio, have adopted "no phones while driving" about a year ago. From what I know from friends & family they're backing it up with enforcement and people are changing their habits.

Re: Phone Addicts Are the New Drunk Drivers

#212

Post by 908087 »

notacoward wrote: post #123
bluedino wrote: post #112

DUI and driving while using your phone should have equal punishment. I’m not advocating drinking and driving, but phone use is “no harm, no foul” right now. On the other hand you can drive without crashing into anyone but if you’ve had two glasses of wine with dinner, you can get charged with a crime.

> DUI and driving while using your phone should have equal punishment. Totally agree. Tickets, insurance penalties, loss of license, jail if necessary. Every phone-addicted driver is just a murder waiting to happen.

..and "engagement"-obsessed social media/ad platforms are the equivalent of a guy who hangs out in the parking lot handing out free jello shots to people as they get into their cars.

Re: Phone Addicts Are the New Drunk Drivers

#213

Post by geddy »

duncan-donuts wrote: post #193
wcarron wrote: post #164

As others have said, as a motorcyclist, my number one concern on the road is a person using their mobile device while driving. I am less worried about road rage (which is still a top concern for me) than distracted drivers. I see it literally hundreds of times a day. People are driving their cars at over 70mph while texting. They use instagram and facebook at stoplights. They text or call while driving too fast down…

What makes it statistically more dangerous? The volume of drivers doing it? The likelihood of an accident?

Statistically because drunk drivers are looking at the road and aren’t seeing everything correctly (or quickly enough), distracted drivers aren’t even looking at the road.

Even if you’re hammered enough to have 5% of your normal driving ability, not looking at the road at all is a straight 0% driving ability. It’s essentially driving with your eyes closed every time you look down.

Re: Phone Addicts Are the New Drunk Drivers

#214

Post by alexktz »

wcarron wrote: post #164

As others have said, as a motorcyclist, my number one concern on the road is a person using their mobile device while driving. I am less worried about road rage (which is still a top concern for me) than distracted drivers. I see it literally hundreds of times a day. People are driving their cars at over 70mph while texting. They use instagram and facebook at stoplights. They text or call while driving too fast down…

I emigrated from the UK to USA last September and the number of people I see on the freeway here with their phone in their hands is a constant source of amazement for me.

As a keen road cyclist in the UK I actually have bought an off-road bike because I simply don't trust US drivers.

In fact, the standard of driving here is frankly appalling. Tailgating and speeding is rampant. Lane surfing is rife. Couple that with just generally less safety street furniture at intersections and the laughably easy driving tests it's frightening really.

People say self driving cars are a danger, frequently the media report every Autopilot crash but what about the hundreds every day caused by some idiot texting? IMHO the sooner we take the distracted meatbag out of the driving equation, the better. I'm a car guy who just did a 2000 mile roadtrip to the Tail of the Dragon but this has to stop.

More enforcement and stricter penalties. Social stigma might be more powerful than this though.

Re: Phone Addicts Are the New Drunk Drivers

#215

Post by 908087 »

everly wrote: post #102
sxates wrote: post #75

Here's my test for phone addiction (for men): If you are pissing into a urinal and need to look at your phone during those 15 seconds, you have a problem. And I see this a lot . A scary game: when in stop and go traffic, have a look at the person behind you. Are their eyes on the road, or their lap? In my experience, 7 out of 10 are looking at their lap, with a quick glance up every 5 seconds or so. I spend plenty of…

I don't think your test is all that good. If I'm out with friends, I try to consciously avoid using my phone when we're together so that I'm present and so that they know I value their presence. Those 15 seconds at the urinal are often the best time to check notifications before getting back to phone-free socializing. Agree with your other points though.

If someone pulled a camera phone out anywhere near me at a urinal, they would probably get punched.

Re: Phone Addicts Are the New Drunk Drivers

#216

Post by mindslight »

the_pwner224 wrote: post #184
mindslight wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's trivial to mandate a phone be designed so that it can't be used in a moving car or for a certain amount of time since it has experienced significant acceleration No, no it is not. Because a phone is a computer. And a computer should be ultimately under its owners control, running software they choose. The reason why we have a "war on general purpose computing" is because there are many things that would seemin…

I was going to write a rebuttal to this, but mindslight is right. It is the government's job to restrict the usage of technologies that can be very dangerous. But in all the cases we have, the restriction is done via the law enforcers, not via the technology. It's mandated that you can't drive a car without a license. But the enforcement is done by the cops, not by the car. It's mandated that you can't own a gun unle…

There are actually plenty of examples of devices themselves having legally mandated restrictions that undermine their own possible uses. There are even purpose-built computing devices (eg a car's ECU) which I am leaving out of this argument.

The problem is that with software on a general purpose computer, the issue must be taken to its logical extreme. Presumably someone advocating for digital restrictions doesn't envision settling for merely having the default install exhibit a behavior that can be changed with two minutes of following online instructions. Simply creating a restriction is not enough - for it to be effective, it must be fortified.

And that's the trouble, for the only way for that to happen is the platform to be fully locked down, removing the user's ability to modify. Phones are already perilously close to this regime, but manufacturers seem to not be seriously addressing rooting for right now. We can look to other areas (eg wifi routers) to see manufacturers only getting the idea because of half-baked government policy, and its needless chilling effects on software freedom.

(of course I haven't said anything about texting and driving itself, so you should just assume I think it's a bad idea like any reasonable person. I'm just pointing out that arguing for outlawing Free phones to prevent it is of the same non-starter category as arguing for outlawing cars)

Re: Phone Addicts Are the New Drunk Drivers

#217

Post by prawn »

Dumblydorr wrote: post #114
everly wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think your test is all that good. If I'm out with friends, I try to consciously avoid using my phone when we're together so that I'm present and so that they know I value their presence. Those 15 seconds at the urinal are often the best time to check notifications before getting back to phone-free socializing. Agree with your other points though.

Why do notifications need to be checked?

Server might be down. Spam might've been posted to a site of mine. Might've missed an important call.

I don't whip out my phone at the urinal, but I'd check it on my way to or from the bathroom rather than while spending time with friends.

Re: Phone Addicts Are the New Drunk Drivers

#218

Post by colejohnson66 »

e40 wrote: post #157
bluedino wrote: post #112

DUI and driving while using your phone should have equal punishment. I’m not advocating drinking and driving, but phone use is “no harm, no foul” right now. On the other hand you can drive without crashing into anyone but if you’ve had two glasses of wine with dinner, you can get charged with a crime.

The problem is proving it. What a DUI perp says: I'm not drunk! Cops check blood alcohol level. What a phone user says: I wasn't on my phone! Cops can't/won't check anything, and even if they could, how could the accident time be exactly (for proof) correlated? My wife was rear ended by an SUV and has health effects to this day (it was over 10 years ago). There was no way to prove, or not, the other drive was on the…

If they’re texting, you can ask the phone company if their phone sent a text

Re: Phone Addicts Are the New Drunk Drivers

#219

Post by btrettel »

i_am_proteus wrote: post #192
wcarron wrote: post #164

As others have said, as a motorcyclist, my number one concern on the road is a person using their mobile device while driving. I am less worried about road rage (which is still a top concern for me) than distracted drivers. I see it literally hundreds of times a day. People are driving their cars at over 70mph while texting. They use instagram and facebook at stoplights. They text or call while driving too fast down…

Amen, brother. I used to be on a white R1200RS and I'd get mistaken for CHP in California. It was amusing to see them try to hide their phones when I'd honk at them. A lot less amusing when they'd wander into my lane, oblivious. Every single close call I've had in the last year of riding has been from a motorist operating a cell phone. I'm nearly of a mind to roll a helmet cam and start a Twitter account with footage…

I ride a bicycle with a helmet cam and I don't think the helmet cam has made me ride any less safe. It's quite rare that I'll look somewhere for the specific purpose of recording something. I'd fully recommend it to motorcyclists and bicyclists.

The helmet cam also has been quite useful for "post-mortems" of close calls. I can replay the video and think about what I should have done differently.

Re: Phone Addicts Are the New Drunk Drivers

#220

Post by colejohnson66 »

S_A_P wrote: post #120
bluedino wrote: post #112

DUI and driving while using your phone should have equal punishment. I’m not advocating drinking and driving, but phone use is “no harm, no foul” right now. On the other hand you can drive without crashing into anyone but if you’ve had two glasses of wine with dinner, you can get charged with a crime.

100% agreed. It’s a perfect analogy, they even drive in a similar manner. Slightly off from the flow of traffic, staying too close to the edge of a lane. Heck I even saw a Houston Police officer in his cruiser texting and driving today. As I get older and grouchier I get more and more infuriated by distracted driving. Most people would be infuriated if a passenger put their hand up in front of their face while drivin…

Fun fact in California: police officers are exempt from being barred from using their phone
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