What To Do About Driver Distractions
from the making-the-road-safer dept
Salon has a long look at the issue of driver distractions. As we get more and more gadgets, people are paying less and less attention to the road, causing quite a bit of damage. No one is exactly sure what to do about it, but some are trying to pass laws to deal with the problem – while others feel that existing “reckless driving” laws cover the issue. While in principal I agree that reckless driving laws should cover the issue, I’ve seen so many terrible things done by drivers with cell phones attached to their ears, that I think something needs to be done to at least alert cell phone using drivers of the dangers that they’re creating.
Comments on “What To Do About Driver Distractions”
That's not the half of it
I have seen some terrible accidents caused by people who use cell phones while driving, but what really irks me is people doing even more is people who do more than just call while driving. Using Palm Pilots and laptops (like the first guy in the article) while driving is downright stupid. So is the little TV screen mentioned near the end. Especially since it’s down where the radio is – to see it, you take your eyes off the road. Cell phones, while distracting, still allow you to divide your attention between them and the road (even though all of it should be on the road). With these other devices, you have to completely divert your attention to them. It’s crazy that people would even use these devices while driving. How much trouble would I get in if I were reading a book while driving on the highway? It’s roughly the same idea. What really scares me, though, is the thought of instant messaging on cell phones. A lot of people, especially teenagers (in my experience), are quite obsessive about answering messages immediately. One can just see disaster brewing on the horizon with that.