NO CELL PHONES WHILE DRIVING, PLEASE!

[MUYFUE]

Last night we got hit by a driver who ran a red light, smashed the crap out of us. His excuse...Talking on the cel phone! AHHH!!!

Luckily we didn't get hurt badly, but my car is crunched. Could have been a lot worse. We noticed him in time to hit the brakes.

Dude was talking to his friend about something he picked up at the store. That conversation could have waited ten minutes. Anyway, I'm not posting this for sympathy. I'm just sending a real life reminder that it can happen. Dude told me that we was on the phone, not paying attention, blah, blah, blah. Please remember that it's up to each of us to help keep each other safe out there.

 

[mayfly]

Good to hear that no one was hurt.

Cellphone use in cars just recently became illegal in these parts.  I for one am glad that this is the case.

It's hard enough dodging the out of control Toyotas!

 

[jimh]

Driving whilst on the phone has been illegal here (UK) for quite some time, although it is not very well adhered to or enforced.  The number of people I see driving whilst on the phone is nuts. 

I'm glad you are OK, but I hope you are going to sue the guy, especially seeing as he admitted he was not paying attention.

 

[hannaugh]

Geez that sucks.  Glad you're alright.  People are idiots. 

 

[m4rk0]

Driving whilst on the phone has been illegal here (UK) for quite some time, although it is not very well adhered to or enforced.  The number of people I see driving whilst on the phone is nuts.  

I'm glad you are OK, but I hope you are going to sue the guy, especially seeing as he admitted he was not paying attention.

I remember the graphic commercials on both British and Irish tv, about 8, 9 years ago... very shocking.
I have to admit that talking on the phone is a bit easier here, since we do not need to shift gears, but it is shocking to see that almost 80% of people are talking on the phone during rush hours.. and most of them are not paying attention to traffic at all and drive like idiots! oh, and apparently, when you are driving and talking, you don't have to use your blinkers!!  :tard: so, yes, I would be in favor for a ban,

Glad you're ok Muyfue!

 

[dNA]

I'm glad you are OK, but I hope you are going to sue the guy, especially seeing as he admitted he was not paying attention.

Please don't jump to the decision of suing him right off the bat. The purpose of suing someone is to see that you are properly compensated for damages they caused. People carry insurance for a reason and if you can get compensated appropriately (especially if nobody was injured) then suing is overkill and just adds to people's general idea that they are entitled to sue someone for a lot of money anytime something bad happens to them.

 

[erogenousjones17]

I get so peeved when I see someone on the phone while driving. What's even worse is when people text at the wheel. Gah! At least that kind of buffoonery has been illegal here in Québec for a while. Glad everyone's ok, but it sucks about your wheels.

The moral of the story: GET OFF THE DAMN PHONE!!!

I should point out that I hate cellphones (yet reluctantly own one). I don't believe that I need to be available at all times; I enjoy being incommunicado every now and then. I wish people would stop and ask themselves "Is this really important?" before picking up their cell phone in the checkout line, the restaurant (especially when they're there with someone else...), the movie theatre or in the fricken' car!

/rant

 

[CrackedPepper]

 

[AutoBat]

most offenders that i notice are white women, driving suvs, by themselves.

 

[Mor Paul]

I'm glad you are OK, but I hope you are going to sue the guy, especially seeing as he admitted he was not paying attention.

Please don't jump to the decision of suing him right off the bat. The purpose of suing someone is to see that you are properly compensated for damages they caused. People carry insurance for a reason and if you can get compensated appropriately (especially if nobody was injured) then suing is overkill and just adds to people's general idea that they are entitled to sue someone for a lot of money anytime something bad happens to them.

Thanks for that, man. People get way too sue-happy. Once someone sued for a pickle from a cheeseburger burning her chin... :dontknow:

 

[jimh]

I'm glad you are OK, but I hope you are going to sue the guy, especially seeing as he admitted he was not paying attention.

Please don't jump to the decision of suing him right off the bat. The purpose of suing someone is to see that you are properly compensated for damages they caused. People carry insurance for a reason and if you can get compensated appropriately (especially if nobody was injured) then suing is overkill and just adds to people's general idea that they are entitled to sue someone for a lot of money anytime something bad happens to them.

Thanks for that, man. People get way too sue-happy. Once someone sued for a pickle from a cheeseburger burning her chin... :dontknow:

I agree..... Up to a point.
Insurance should protect against accidents.  When the guy essentially admitted to driving without due care and attention, then that is a whole other story. Could been a whole lot worse. What if a mum had been crossing the road with a baby in a pram, and the dude ran her and the baby over because he wasn't paying attention? Don't know how the insurance would sort that mess out??

I dont want to get into a heated debate.  I'm just glad Muyfue is OK.

 

[whyachi]

I get so peeved when I see someone on the phone while driving. What's even worse is when people text at the wheel. Gah! At least that kind of buffoonery has been illegal here in Québec for a while. Glad everyone's ok, but it sucks about your wheels.

/rant

In Kansas we don't have helmet laws, and I've seen a couple riding on a motorcycle, no helmets and the driver was texting. If I would have been at a red light by them I would have asked if they were organ donors.

 

[-CB-]

I'm glad you are OK, but I hope you are going to sue the guy, especially seeing as he admitted he was not paying attention.

The purpose of suing someone is to see that you are properly compensated for damages they caused.

Ever heard of punitive or retaliatory suits?  Go for the whompin on his wallet sez I.

#1.  Cell phones and driving dont mix.  Studies have show there is a real problem - called "inattentive blindness" that occurs when you do things like talk on the cell and drive - whether or not its hands free, I might add.

#2.  Texting and driving is sheer lunacy.  Studies have shown that drivers who text are more likely to cause or be in accidents when compared to drivers three times over the legal limit of alcohol.

I've been rear ended by a gal who was yakkin it up with her BF.  She never got off the phone, cursed me out while talking on the phone with her BF, was still on the phone when the cops showed up, and refused to remove the phone from her piehole to the point that she was still on the phone, with her bf when he showed up a good 20 minutes after she ploughed into me.  Her and the bf, not 25 feet apart, talking to each other on the phone.  The cop confided in me later that he was about "this close" to bitch-slapping her to knock the phone out of her hands.  And yes, she got more than a few citations.

Our local Motorcycle Rights and Safety Organization - ABATE of Florida is dead set against cell phone and texting, or the use of any PED (portable electronic device) while driving.  Motorcycles, in particular have it harder than most, being more difficult to spot, and more prone to the consequences of "inattentive blindness".  We have several bills in the Florida legislature at this very moment, moving through committees toward becoming law.  We anticipate a "no texting" law, a "stiffer penalties" law, perhaps a "hands free" law, and a "failure to yield" law - all of which apply not only to benefit motorcyclists, but also the driving public at large.  All have a line or two abuot cell use, texting, PED use etc.

The other day I rode next to a gal on the interstate who was READING a book at 75mph.  

I'm fully of the mind, that if someone nails me while talking on the cell phone or texting, the extent of their injuries from the accident will be vastly multiplied because of it.  I'll see to it.

 

[-CB-]

I get so peeved when I see someone on the phone while driving. What's even worse is when people text at the wheel. Gah! At least that kind of buffoonery has been illegal here in Québec for a while. Glad everyone's ok, but it sucks about your wheels.

/rant

In Kansas we don't have helmet laws, and I've seen a couple riding on a motorcycle, no helmets and the driver was texting. If I would have been at a red light by them I would have asked if they were organ donors.

How in the heck can you text and MC at the same time?  Like... one hand on the throttle, one on the cell phone?  Perfect example of Darwin's ideas, modernized to survival of the smartest.  There's no cure for dumb.

And .... btw... I aplogize for not saying sooner - very sorry you were in a wreck.  Glad nobody was very seriously hurt.

 

[whyachi]

I get so peeved when I see someone on the phone while driving. What's even worse is when people text at the wheel. Gah! At least that kind of buffoonery has been illegal here in Québec for a while. Glad everyone's ok, but it sucks about your wheels.

/rant

In Kansas we don't have helmet laws, and I've seen a couple riding on a motorcycle, no helmets and the driver was texting. If I would have been at a red light by them I would have asked if they were organ donors.

How in the heck can you text and MC at the same time?  Like... one hand on the throttle, one on the cell phone?  Perfect example of Darwin's ideas, modernized to survival of the smartest.  There's no cure for dumb.

Yeah. They were doing about 45 and she had a hand on the throttle and one on the cell phone.

 

[Mor Paul]

I agree..... Up to a point...

I dont want to get into a heated debate.  I'm just glad Muyfue is OK.

I wasn't on the "just don't sue" side, more of the "don't sue without thinking about it" side  :icon_thumright:

 

[Patrick]

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxZxjgKcsPE[/youtube]

real or fake, you get the point

 

[dNA]

I agree..... Up to a point...

I dont want to get into a heated debate.  I'm just glad Muyfue is OK.

I wasn't on the "just don't sue" side, more of the "don't sue without thinking about it" side  :icon_thumright:

same. and I do agree that some boom-boom causing an accident because he's talking on the cell or texting or doing ANYTHING neglegent should pay accordingly, just that I don't think encouraging people to pursue vigilantism through suing someone is appropriate or helping anything.
I think the courts are meant for enforcing the law. If you are already compensated for your damages, you have no legal basis upon which to demand they give you more money. I understand you want to teach them a lesson, but encouraging people to SUE is feeding a fire because so many people are advantageous opportunists and just want an easy way to get a shitload of money. If what he did was illegal, do what you can to assure he is punished to the full extent of the law.  I don't think you have any place demanding them to give you more money.
Course you could always sue and give that money to charity. Then i'd be fine with it.

I'm glad you weren't hurt too. I had my car totalled when i was rear-ended by a drunk driver. Guy had his 8 year old daughter in the car, going 80 down a 40mph road. But the dude got his, and I got more money for the car than I paid for it and i was just happy I walked away unscratched. It's definitely a crazy feeling. The other day I saw someone driving like 80 while on the phone and I just imagined what  Iwould do if they hurt somebody i cared about.

 

[mullyman]

I'm with =CB= on this one. If someone was to hit me while talking on the phone they can pretty much rest assured that if the accident didn't cause them any injury that MULLY surely would. We have laws here in Japan about talking and texting while driving. We're allowed hands free though. I think that's the only part of =CB='s post that I don't really agree with. If hands free isn't allowed then they'll also have to make a law saying that you can't talk to anyone sitting in the car with you. Same thing in my opinion. But other than that, yeah, I hate it when I see people talking on their phone or texting while driving. On more than one occasion I've rolled down my window at a stop light and said something to the person messing with their phone. Especially if they had been swerving in front of me before we stopped.
MULLY

 

[hannaugh]

The only time I've ever talked on my cell while driving is if someone is calling me, and I'm not on the freeway, and I think it's an important person calling, I pick up and say "I can't talk, I'm driving, I'll call you back," and then I hang up.  I don't have a hands free device because I don't want to talk on the phone at all when I'm driving, and I tell people that if they call me while I'm in the car, I probably won't pick it up.  Sometimes I check my texts if I'm stopped at a red light, but never when the car is moving, that's just ridiculous.  No call or text is that important that you can't wait until you're stopped.