People who use cell phones to talk are a scourge on the roads. But while there is evidence that talking on the cell phone, whether holding it in one’s hand or using hands-free devices, creates cognitive distractions sufficient to increase the risk of accidents and thus both should be banned, at least people have their eyes on the road and their feet on the pedals.
Those who text or read while driving are an obvious menace and I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone would even think of doing such a thing, though of course one sees it happening all the time. But this latest episode, captured by an appalled couple who observed it, really takes the cake. It shows a woman using her foot to steer while texting with both hands, and even doing this on a highway.
The people in the other car tried to get her to stop but failed.
The Delongs followed the woman’s car for quite a while, and her distracted driving continued.
“For a good 20 minutes we were in her vicinity whether it was beside her or behind her,” Sarah said.
Sarah and Shawn did try to get her to stop her dangerous activity.
“At one point we beeped at her and I yelled ‘get off your phone!’ And she looked and smirked at me and went right back to doing whatever it was on her phone,” Sarah said.
People just don’t realize what a lethal weapon a car is, capable of taking someone’s life in the blink of an eye, and how carefully it should be operated.
It’ll be expensive, but there should be two sets of roads. One for people who want to drive drunk, while texting, eating, reading, or watching a movie, or without a license, and one for people who understand they have to share the road with others.
I’d like to say we should ban the people on the first roads from having children in their vehicles, but the law unfortunately doesn’t stop careless and drunk drivers not giving a damn about the kids they already put into danger.
Using a cell phone while driving is illegal here. People still do it though.
Driving while eating is also problematic. I was a passenger in a car with a driver who dumped some high temperature coffee in their lap, and started swerving all over the road.
I’ve even seen people shouting and gesticulating at eachother, going all over the road.
Overconfidence is a common human trait. Some drivers learn sense the hard way, some die.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people on the road are spending their attention on things other than actually driving.
Roll on the driverless cars so we no longer have to deal with this idiocy.
kyoseki@#5:
It never ceases to amaze me how many people on the road are spending their attention on things other than actually driving.
… and then they worry about GMO food, or a little bitty bug on their veggies.
Lofty (#4) --
Unfortunately, it’s usually others who die. If reckless drivers only injured or killed themselves and not bystanders, it wouldn’t be such a problem.
Cars are deadly weapons. I have always thought a person must pass a class in Newtonian physics before given a permit to drive.
This is why I think that all drivers should have to spend 5 years riding motorcycles before they’re allowed to drive cars.
The sooner there are self-driving cars the better. And the sooner the data on how much safer they are is in the better. Then we can reach the point -- which is unarguably, inevitably going to come -- where it is made illegal to operate a car on a public road. And then these kind of idiots will have to find some other way to kill themselves and others.