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Hot Rods It's getting dangerous out there!

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by HOTRODPRIMER, Oct 17, 2018.

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  1. Not long ago I pulled up to a stop light that just turned red and I stopped. I looked over to my right and there was a woman who pulled up to her green light on the side street. She sat there talking on the phone through her green light. When mine turned green and hers turned red, she took off through the intersection, making everyone stop for her. I guess cell phone usage makes you color blind also.
     
  2. It happens a lot more than you would think. HRP
     
  3. krylon32
    Joined: Jan 29, 2006
    Posts: 9,397

    krylon32
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Nebraska
    1. Central Nebraska H.A.M.B.

    Yesterday I was taking the 5 window to the upholstery guy in Lincoln for a little top work and just missed by inches getting T-Boned by a civilian. I had the right of way on a thru street but she just blew thru the intersection like I wasn't there. Also she had a phone in her hand, I was that close. I get a little complacent living in a town of 2000. One thing around here is I've noticed how many of the locals just do rolling stops?
     
  4. :rolleyes: Right. I'm sure that will go over well with every passenger, as well as anyone who relies on a phone for business.
    It's the user at fault, not the phone.

    I'm self employed and am practically tethered to my phone. When I'm in the truck, bluetooth connects my phone to my speaker system. I can dial, answer calls, talk, hang up, etc. all without taking my hands off the steering wheel or eyes off the road.

    Most new cars have a seat belt alarm that dings if the car is in motion without seat belts on. People find a way around that one too. User problems.
     
  5. Dan in Pasadena
    Joined: Sep 11, 2009
    Posts: 867

    Dan in Pasadena
    Member

    I have no issue with people using pot if they want but did we REALLY need yet another intoxicant people can be on when they’re driving? Yeah, I know, “They’re ALREADY driving and using it”

    I too am tempted to look at my cell phone so I literally toss it over my shoulder onto the back seat when I drive. The only way to make SURE I’m not the cause of a tragedy because of a stupid phone.
     
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  6. Mike
    Joined: Mar 5, 2001
    Posts: 3,540

    Mike
    Member

    Unfortunately, the result would probably be that the cell phone users would divert even more of their attention to the phone, trying to figure out why it's not working.
     
    Gavin Tittle likes this.
  7. 03GMCSonoma
    Joined: Jan 15, 2011
    Posts: 314

    03GMCSonoma
    Member

    Agree.
     
  8. 270283
    Joined: Jun 11, 2006
    Posts: 423

    270283

    A few years ago we were up the road in Dutch country and passed a young Amish boy driving the family buggy while talking on a cell phone. About twenty years ago I was on Rt. 30 through the Main Line which, even at that time, was busy and full of lights, and saw a guy doing a crossword puzzle in the paper perched on his steering wheel. Those incidents always stuck out to me, but in today's lunacy they seem quaint by comparison.
     
    Bechtel 56 likes this.
  9. To those of you who use the phone in your car...just pull over and use it. I used to run a courier route for a company and was also tethered to the phone. I would pull over when I had to use it. Nothing on the phone is more important than your safety.
     
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  10. I live in a very rural area with lots of 2 lane winding, hilly roads. We have lots of wrecks around here. The typical story in the newspaper says something like " she was driving south on hwy 49 and for unknown reasons allowed her car to drift off the roadway and down an embankment". I think the reasons are not really unknown.
     
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  11. tfeverfred
    Joined: Nov 11, 2006
    Posts: 15,791

    tfeverfred
    Member Emeritus

    And the car manufacturers are enabling them. Cars that let you know you're straying out of your lane, beeping when a vehicle or object is approaching you from the rear or self braking because an object is in front of you. What ever happened to LOOKING around and paying attention.... assholes.:mad:
     
  12. Engine man
    Joined: Jan 30, 2011
    Posts: 3,480

    Engine man
    Member
    from Wisconsin

    The Catholic High School had a message board that listed athletic events. They wanted to change to an electronic one so they didn't have to go out to change the message. They had to spend 6 months fighting to get it approved, could only change the message once a day and no scrolling or flashing messages. About two years later, the city put up a video board near the entrance to a park with scrolling and flashing messages.

    I was surprised to find out that the new GPS navigation unit I just bought has a music player, movie player, E-book reader, Flash player, calculator, photo viewer and video games. Why put these features in a GPS?
     
  13. It's an epidemic and only going to get worse before it hopefully gets better........they're like ZOMBIES.

    [​IMG]
     
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  14. Truck64
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 5,325

    Truck64
    Member
    from Ioway

    Learned helplessness, I think it's probably being cultivated, then, once a critical mass of idiots reaches the saturation point everyone will be begging for "driverless" cars, and quickly made illegal to operate such dangerous piece of machinery manually. "It's for the Children".
     
  15. I was at a church christening for my niece years ago, 1988. They do a whole bunch of them I guess once a month. One mother once we were outside, gets into the car riding shotgun, no seat belt with her just-christened daughter in her lap.

    Another time, just down the block, there's an old Nova swerving and I get to the stop sign, obviously there is a drunk behind the wheel with a kid on his lap that looked about 4. Pre-cell phone days, I stopped in at the fire department (always a cop there..) and told the cop what I saw and what direction he was going. No idea what the outcome was.
     
  16. kbgreen
    Joined: Jan 12, 2014
    Posts: 341

    kbgreen
    Member
    1. Georgia Hambers

    We've made laws for years to the point that even crime is against the law. Laws seem to only affect a person after the crime is committed. Even with that, I still agree that stiffer penalties should be tied to distracted driving.

    Insurance companies (ours in particular) have raised rates citing an increase in their costs (accidents) due to distracted driving. The problem there is that the cost of the accident is spread throughout the population of insureds. The rate increases do not deter any one offender when the entirety of the population pays the price. Pass distracted driving laws like DUI laws and I would think we should see a decrease, though never an elimination of the problem.
     
    mountainman2 likes this.
  17. mountainman2
    Joined: Sep 16, 2013
    Posts: 336

    mountainman2
    Member

    I agree with this. We have laws against murder but people, knowing they face the ultimate penalty, still murder others every day.
     
  18. Mike
    Joined: Mar 5, 2001
    Posts: 3,540

    Mike
    Member

    I'm going to play a bit of devil's advocate here. I've always disliked the blanket "there outta be a law" mentality response to a problem. Our government already has far too many ways in which it can restrict our actions, take our money and property, and outright take our freedom. I don't think we should give our government more opportunity to restrict / take our freedom or take our property unless it is absolutely necessary.

    Nearly every state has had laws on the books for years to address distracted driving. Distracted driving had been a fairly minor issue up until the widespread use of cell phones. Before cell phones, nearly all distractions were momentary, diverting attention from the road for only a few seconds, rarely resulting in any kind of accident. Cell phone use, talking, texting, looking at the internet, etc., is a prolonged distraction, diverting attention for prolonged periods, sometime even for the entire duration of the drive. Cell phone use is now a common cause of accidents.

    Every time any of us gets behind the wheel, we will almost certainly encounter some sort of distraction. It's unavoidable. Anything that diverts a driver's attention from the road can be considered a distraction. Here is a short list of very common distractions:
    Tuning / adjusting radio.
    Adjusting heater / AC controls.
    Conversation with another person in the vehicle.
    Yelling / fighting children.
    Looking for a street address or a business.
    Eating / drinking (non alcoholic).
    All of the above divert attention from the road and are distractions, and there are many, many more that we all deal with every day.

    The real problem is the use of cell phones. I support the singling out of cell phones and I support stiff penalties for cell phone use while driving (though DUI equivalent may be too far). I think we should let our existing laws apply to other distractions.

    I would not like to see drivers being given DUI equivalent penalties because they were looking for an address or adjusting their AC fan speed.

    It's like the old saying, "be careful what you wish for, you just might get it".
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2018
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  19. kbgreen
    Joined: Jan 12, 2014
    Posts: 341

    kbgreen
    Member
    1. Georgia Hambers

    As a defense against rear enders, I keep a long neck hitch on my car at all times. The pleasure of that defense can into play one day when daddy's distracted driving little girl hit me at about 10 mph at a stop light. I waved in my mirror indicating all was OK and continued my drive. Her front bumper had a good sized hole in it that would require a bit of explaining to daddy. Not really though as I could hear her complain that she must have been hit after she parked at the mall and wasn't in the car!
     
  20. Truck64
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 5,325

    Truck64
    Member
    from Ioway

    What specifically was wrong with using existing law against any type of distracted driving? Why a special carveout for cell phones? Unsafe is unsafe, it should not require more laws, new laws.
     
  21. Like has been said before, this won't change until the laws get enforced more often. Stop at a light and look around, 8 out of 10 drivers are on the phone. It may help with higher fines but nobody thinks they will get pulled over so they get on the phone. For the life of me, I don't understand that I can see the guy on the phone beside me but the cop can't? Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming the cops, my son-in-law is Baltimore city police and I know he has a hard job, one of the hardest ones I could think of. I would just like to see more enforcement of the cell phone laws that we have here in Maryland. Someone posted that their state had a distracted driving law, that sounds like the way to go, I don't want to be run into by someone eating lunch anymore than someone yabbin' on the phone. We need to start a lobbing group, HRACPA Hot Rodders Against Cell Phone Abuse.
     
  22. GuyW
    Joined: Feb 23, 2007
    Posts: 649

    GuyW
    Member

    Pot use makes 'em stupid and lazy, and they take that to the driver's seat...

    When my son was going to ride, I had already beat it into his head that "they're all out to kill you". Don't assume the morons see you or will stop. I put my bike by the lane line at traffic signals and keep it in gear, and watch my rear mirror for the rear-enders. A similar paranoid mindset is necessary when operating any vehicle today.
     
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  23. Mike
    Joined: Mar 5, 2001
    Posts: 3,540

    Mike
    Member

    As I stated in my post, the use of a cell phone while driving is a prolonged distraction, often times for the entire duration of the drive. Cell phone use while driving is now a common cause of accidents.

    Most other distractions are momentary and last a very short time. Most other distractions rarely result in an accident.

    One causes many accidents, the other causes very few accidents. That is my distinction between the two.

    If you try and tell me that taking a bite of a cheeseburger or tuning the stereo carries the same amount of danger as spending 20 minutes of a drive texting a friend, I'm not gonna buy it
     
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  24. Truck64
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 5,325

    Truck64
    Member
    from Ioway

    Most cell phone use doesn't usually doesn't result in an collision either. (They aren't accidents as a point of order)

    It's a distinction without a difference. Whether or not an activity actually results in a collision doesn't matter. Distracted driving is dangerous in of itself, and is punished before anything bad ever happens. Speeding is considered a punishable offense regardless. So is drinking and driving for that matter. If I slam a few beers, and drive home safely, who did I hurt?
     
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  25. dirty old man
    Joined: Feb 2, 2008
    Posts: 8,910

    dirty old man
    Member Emeritus

    GA has had a no texting while driving law for several years and a hands free law went into effect this past July 1. But there are still lots of people doing both, I see it almost every day.
    I also have a small business that depends on my answering my cell when called, so I have a synched system in m,y OT DD and a bluetooth in my p'up, which will work in my '40 coupe also, clips on the sun visor. If I'm in the roadster, I just try to remember to check for missed calls when I stop somewhere, then return the calls before I drive any further. Couldn't hear enough to talk in it anyhow, LOL!
    Cell phones are a big problem,yes, but in and around the ATL metro area, just plain crazy drivers, some stoned, some drunk, and some who must think they're bulletproof are a bigger problem.
    They run red lights and stop signs, and drive like maniacs, tailgating, darting in and out of lanes, and drive 25-30 mph over the speed limit. I've never been accused of being a slowpoke myself, but these folks take the cake! Other day I was driving thru ATL on the downtown I75/I85 connector X-way in a 55mph zone, myself doing 70-75 in heavy traffic, all at that speed, and a guy in a new Dodge Challenger passed me in the HOV lane doing at least 100mph!
    I don't like to drive on the ATL metro X-ways in my "A" roadster because I know
    I'll come out on the "short end of the stick" in the event of being involved in an accident. And in my '40 coupe I might be a little safer as far as injuries, but body parts and good bodymen willing to metal finish an older car are rare. They would rather get the insurance jobs on the late model stuff.
     
  26. F&J
    Joined: Apr 5, 2007
    Posts: 13,222

    F&J
    Member

    ...I went through Atlanta in 1971, on the way to Fla...No lie, I will never forget this...right in the city streets, not the interstate, a Maverick sitting on it's roof.

    ,
     
  27. Mike
    Joined: Mar 5, 2001
    Posts: 3,540

    Mike
    Member

    I noticed that you edited out the part of my post that actually states my distinction. I reckon it detracted from your point, so you chucked it.

    Cell phone use distractions are now one of the most common cause accidents. Other forms of distraction rarely cause accidents. One type causes many, many accidents, the other types cause few accidents, that is most definitely a distinction and a difference.

    I reckon you and I will have to disagree on this.
     
  28. F&J
    Joined: Apr 5, 2007
    Posts: 13,222

    F&J
    Member

    I know you are 100% correct as far as my OWN local area.

    Even hands free talking seems to sometimes get the driver in some sort of trance?...meaning "not honestly paying attention to driving". I have thought about that odd thing before, meaning when we have a passenger and talk all the time, we seem to still pay attention to the driving?

    .
     
  29. 49ratfink
    Joined: Feb 8, 2004
    Posts: 18,829

    49ratfink
    Member
    from California

    I will never understand peoples fascination with these freeekin phones. I have one. I leave it in the truck in case I break down.
     
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  30. Truck64
    Joined: Oct 18, 2015
    Posts: 5,325

    Truck64
    Member
    from Ioway



    All the things you cite fall under the category of distracted driving. I'm sure you agree. We're not in disagreement.
     
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