Hot Rods It's getting dangerous out there!

Washington has a Distracted Driving law, so basically if you are swerving in your lane while eating a hotdog, stopped at a green light while applying your makeup, impeding traffic because your lap dog is humping your leg, or any cell phone use that involves your hands you are subject to fine. It is a broad law and open to usage and definition but it has been in affect for a year or so. People here still drive for shit.

 

Drivers are just plain stupid. Had a small malfunction in a DD recently and was stopped in a local street driving lane with my emergency flashers going, and the morons piled up behind me, waiting....

I've changed my driving habits since moving to San Bernardino - never seen so many red-light runners, and I mean entering up to 2 seconds after the red and they're running 45 mph.... That and the pot are making me worried about riding my mc and OT bug - I need a freakin' tank....

 

I'm up here in the Socialist People's Republik of Washington and we have had laws against cell phone use while driving for a couple of years now. From what I've seen nobody pays it a bit of attention; I don't think I've sat at a stoplight and NOT seen somebody yakking away on their damn phone even once since they passed the law. Just last week I watched a little BMW sedan plow right into the tail of a car that was fourth or fifth in line at a light, the gal came out of her car screaming with her phone still at her ear.
I stay out of town and on the back roads as much as I can these days

 

Cell phones are a problem but a lot of it is inconsiderate drivers. They will see you coming and still pull right out in front of you. A lot of times while talking on their phones. I followed a lady the other day for 12 miles and she drove in the emergency lane for at least 10 of them, even running off in the grass a few times. Inconsiderate and flat out stupid.

 

We were in the Deuce.

Amen Brother!

Extremely lucky not to be involved and the way the idiot hit the police car I would think he was probably texting.

The people in charge are great at making laws but until they make it hurt a small fine isn't going to stop them, loose their license for 6 months or take their phone on the spot. HRP

 

Had a guy run a red to turn left in front of me a week and a half ago. Almost 11k damage to my daily driver. Same spot this Monday another guy did the same thing in front of my CTS-V but I was further back so he got through. I saw the phone up to his ear. I’m getting gun shy....

 

I stopped riding a motorcycle 15 years ago. People today don't see you in a truck, forget about a bike. On the highway heading down to Tennessee a couple of years back we saw a guy eating cereal (in a bowl) with milk while driving and a woman eating hero with both hands, steering with her elbows. I think I need to mount a sub-machine gun on my hood.

 

Cell phones are a problem, texting and watching videos while driving is even worst. I drive a full size pickup and see
cars doing both every week. Last week I saw a car stop for a red light, it waited for the cars coming out of the side street to go then just drove thru the red light. I caught up with her at the next light, it was an 80 year old lady on her phone. Connecticut has gotten so bad even Malloy is leaving the state to get a new job.

PS Happy Birthday to Benda

 

It is the same every where you go. This summer our road was being paved and down to one lane with plenty of warning signs and a flagger at each end. The first in line waiting for the flagger was a 36 year old guy on a motorcycle. A 17 year old girl on her cellphone came up and never even touched the brakes, hit the guy on the bike which threw him in to the lady flagging and threw her into another car. The man on the bike died, the lady lived but will never be able to live a normal life. The 17 year old girl that was talking on the phone with her head in her ass got 90 days probation because she was a minor. I have not heard about the law suits that will without a doubt be coming but how much money would it take to replace a husband and father of three little kids and the pain caused to those families?

 

It's a real eye opener to see how little human life is valued these days. The laws used to have some teeth. Now the perps get a few hours of probation and they arrest the victims.

 

Dam, headed that way tomorrow. I better pay attention. Snowman

 

Maybe it does? My 32 is hoodless, genuine 1950s translucent solid wires, no resistor plugs....and most texters seem to back the hell off when they get close behind me.

I refuse to let them dictate my life. I drive mine as a daily as that is all I have right now. If I get hit hard in a 32...well, it won't be good for me, but I just love to drive it.

Oh,... fuck me...one car kept climbing on my butt, then would back WAY off, then repeat, and repeat. I finally gave this person a really well planned brake test. (twice) First time a simple brake test, then let off the brake when the person saw I had slowed up hard... Then a few miles later, same driver same shit. So I do the same brake test, they checked up just in time....lol...then I give a second, much harder one a few milliseconds later. This person sure was not expecting that!! That nose dropped like it was on bags!! That car stayed WAY the hell back from then on...

Then I take the next side road, come to a dead stop...waiting to see if "they have a little problem with me"..Nope, passed right on by. Dark windows...either it was a Female or... a Beta Male.

hey, I don't have a TV, but a recent radio commercial selling new cars, listing features, said "Biggest dash display screen in it's class". Ok then, cell in one hand and eyes on a TV screen, AND on the cell too !! (but no ashtrays, as apparently "smoking can hurt you") WTF

..

.

 

My wife's car won't let her text when in motion. Of course that means the phone has to be synced to the car.

 

Stocks in the town square and your age are not related I hope.

 

I would say you are living charmed Life HRP

 

I 5 in Oregon always has something going on wether wrecks (usually), car/truck fire or the State Police chasing some body. Oh yeah a few going down the wrong way on the freeway.

 

There seems to be no self control when it comes to cell phones. People think they are smart enough to get away with using their cells or they don't think the laws really apply to them. I am glad to see that some cities are using cameras for cell phone enforcement. It is not just the cell phone these days but all the screen driven technology on the dash is a distraction. I have trained myself to use the manual touch controls in my wife's Edge as it is too easy to get distracted paging between controls etc. The dash technology requires the eyes to come off the road for far too long. With the older vehicles a person could simply adjust the heat controls or the radio without having to look at the controls or at most a quick glance. A blind man can operate my old Chev truck. The other distraction is the GPS as it seems no one wants to learn where they are going. GPS on phones, handheld GPS or dash display takes the mind off the road as well. I can park my cell phone for a day or two w/o a second thought. The cell & home phone have voice mail so leave a message. Everyone gets concerned that I am not responding to my cell immediately but I am really happy in my unconnected world. I tell friends and family that I will not return a call if no one left a message because if the call did not deserve a message then it does not require a call back. I had decades of using a phone to conduct my work and later in my life tethered by the company to a cell phone. I had construction crews working around the clock and had to be available so I am not in love with the cell phone. I think my blood pressure goes up 10 points just packing a cell because of the stress it brought to my life. ( I guess that makes me an old guy )

 

I know that one should slow down when approaching any emergency vehicle on the roadside but they really should tone down the rearward facing lights. Anyone that has enough snap to slow down doesn't need to be blinded by flashing strobes and rotating red and yellow and blue lights like it's some sort of disco club on wheels. It literally blinds me at night. It's no wonder police get rear ended a lot. I'm not saying they shouldn't have visual warnings but damn they make you blind. Even going 5 mph you can be blinded and it's dangerous to be driving while blind.

 

Your entire post is worth reading a FEW times. Lots of thought went into it, and I liked it. Ok, I never have had a cell, hopefully never will. Within the last couple of months, both of my newly new, ATT landline cordless phones went bad as far as them not ringing.. I actually hear the one if it's in the main base unit, but neither will ring if I bring them outside or into the shop. Like you,....I then noticed I was ''not giving a toot, if I missed a call". I think now of how many times I'd get out from under a car, or whatever, only to most times, get telemarketers.

I also have had to put a simple message on my landline recorder, saying "this IS a land line, I do not have caller ID, so leave a message". These days people "think" everyone has a cell with caller ID, or every landline has ID. Geez, I get tired of changing peoples diapers.

.

 

Then there's the young girl driving a Tesla that ran into the back of a firetruck stopped at a traffic light in Salt Lake a few months ago. She was sure the Tesla drove itself. Last I heard she was suing Tesla.

 

Yet: 747 pilots can somehow operate in 3 dimensions while taking off and landing a giant plane and talking to the control tower simultaneously.

Truckers can drive an 80,000 lb rig while talking on the CB and looking at GPS/map.

Those two professionals understand the amount of attention that needs to stay on the road,they don't lose all focus of where they are/what they are doing.


Distracted driving : whether the offender is:
--eating a cheesesteak
-relighting a bowl of medical M
--sleep deprived
--104F fever with the flu

can't save the world: so my advice is
WEAR your safety equipment -and properly (no loose seat belts or feet on the pass side airbag)
drive with your lights on - NO, loud pipes don't save lives at all, but lights can...
Stay off the roads if possible in bad weather and/or between 11PM-3AM.
Drive solid American Iron.

 

Cell phone use, same punishment as OUI....I like this idea!!.....I stopped riding my motorcycle a couple years ago because I didn’t want to get taken out by some nit-wit on a cell phone....Mark

 

There was an article broadcast on NPR a few days ago describing the increase in collisions involving the "smart" cars with lane centering, self braking, etc in those vehicles. The drivers involved apparently felt no need to drive defensively while on the road since their car will now protect them when they no longer pay attention due to all the distractions in their cars.

 

In the airline industry, we used the sterile cockpit below 10,000.
The "pilot flying" ( Capt or First Officer) handles the controls, but does not talk. The pilot not flying, is responsible for setting all the radio and navigation equipment, all radio calls and all clearances. In my airline, we also had a no talk rule in the cockpit below 10,000 ft, that is, during the take off/climb or the approach/landing phase. It was strictly business, which it had to be when going into a busy airport like Chicago, LA, Dallas, or overseas airports like Frankfurt. This is a busy environment and there was no time to recover from a mistake.
Bob

 

Only real way to solve the cell phone use while driving is for the cop to confiscate the phone as evidence and the driver can't get it back until after a court appearance. Second violation and the phone is ordered destroyed. Nowadays everyone has their entire life on their phone. Living without it until the court date would certainly get their attention and the possibility of having their mega buck phone destroyed even more so.

 

Over the summer saw a kid texting while riding a bike, almost got killed by oncoming traffic when he crossed the intersection.

 

saw the cereal and bowl thing once myself. couldn't belive it did a triple take to make sure that was what I saw. saw a guy shaving with an electric shaver looking in the mirror recently. makes me want to take the bus!

 

I retired three years ago from the Missouri Department of Transportation, and much of my 16 years involved presenting to high school students the dangers of distracted driving, particularly cell phones. The technology should exist to disable the telephone when the user's car is in gear. Period. The freeways and country roads are packed with folks on their phones or texting while driving. I hope you can quickly make repairs on the deuce. It is at least as dangerous out there as you have characterized it. Add more people to the planet every day.

 

Due to my job I log over 30,000 miles a year traveling the Twin Cities metro area, I see it all day every day. The worst offenders used to be young girls but now it seems like everyone is on the phone or texting. You can spot them a mile away because they can’t maintain the speed limit or stay in their lane. The worst is they come at you from behind and no amount of defensive driving can prevent being rear ended. I have been rear ended 3 times in the past 5 years including once in McDonalds drive thru. There’s been so many close calls that I’ve lost track. I don’t know what the answer is, but something has to change...

 

Not sure I would drive anything I cherish, on the roads around here.