Intexticated
I hadn’t seen this useful word before, but given the similar orders of impairment, it may well be time to introduce it into the lexicon.
The horrifying, poignant case — one of those stark reminders of the ethical and moral implications of how our own distracted driving behavior can affect others — discussed in this Snopes.com posting is real — more details here. Note the repeated use in the TV clip of the word “accident.”
As far as I know texting hasn’t been authoritatively implicated yet — something that is very hard to prove — but given the driver’s behavior some form of impairment seems likely.
Note, for example, this piece about teens trying to text and drive. Those who do it the most are most confident it will not affect their driving.
Collin takes his eyes off the road several times and for long periods of time, sometimes up to 3 seconds. Collins dad watches the video tape replay and is surprised at how long his son’s eyes are off the road. Collin’s dad: “There’s a long span there.”
(Thanks Tom Everson)
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009 at 2:52 pm and is filed under Traffic Laws, Traffic safety. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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March 18th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
Since people don’t buy new cars soon enough to make an in-car implementation feasible, perhaps cell phone manufacturers should equip all new phones with a device that renders the device inoperable (except for 911) when inside a motor vehicle whose motor is running. No idea whether that would be possible - and it wouldn’t solve the problem of what might technically be called “being an utter idiot” - which is, of course, the real problem here.
March 19th, 2009 at 5:14 am
Inattentive, distracted drivers are all around us and it shouldn’t take a catastrophe to get our attention. Every one of these stories could be avoided if drivers would concentrate on their primary responsibility… sharing the road with care and consideration. Unfortunately personal matters, not the public good, too often dominate drivers’ attention on public roads.
One of the worst cases I’ve heard about was when a truck driver ran over 10 cars while playing with his cell phone on a sunny afternoon on a large freeway in July 2008 (see your 1-13-09 link). The damage: 3 people killed, 15 injures, 10 cars demolished, truck probably OK. Witnesses says he was also speeding in traffic. No word on a prosecution yet. How many seconds does it take not to see the vehicles in front of you and then to run over 10?
I agree, auto manufacturers should be required to install equipment that makes the use of cell phone-texting, etc. devices inoperable while the motor is running.
March 23rd, 2009 at 2:37 pm
The real killer here, and it’s common across all types of distraction, is the cars themselves. Two ton objects moving at many miles per hour are extremely dangerous and kill thousands every year, 39,800 in 2008 to be exact. I don’t like this “save us from ourselves” mentality of making phones inoperable in cars. The root cause is our culture and our lackadaisical attitude when in control of a two ton object. If we don’t have the discipline to behave properly behind the wheel and resist distractions then WE SHOULDN’T BE DRIVING in the first place!
April 1st, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Tom, Are cell phones good and cars evil? For God sake, we lived without cell phones before there were cell phones. For that matter, our forefathers lived without cars, too, but we have not. An easy solution is DON”T USE YOUR PHONE IF YOU ARE DRIVING. You will be a much safer driver. I prohibit my kids from using their phones while driving. They MUST pull over, preferably into a parking lot in town or an approach in the country, to use their phone, calling in or out. Texting is blocked. Cars are not killers. Bad drivers are killers. Two tons objects don’t kill people, people driving them kill people. If cars kill people, pens cause illiteracy. Take the credit, or blame, for the way you drive. If you keep up like this, you may hurt your cars’ feelings.