Dade County now have step by step instructions on how to avoid death by asphyxiation by informing their constituents that regular flexing their diaphragm muscle in the thorax will encourage air into their lungs and out again.
But unfortunately Dade county constituents are lost on terms such as; asphyxiation, diaphragm, thorax and air. Therefore Dade county will now consider scrapping the ban on text messaging whilst driving. #textingwhiledriving
Texting is the contemporary communication method which the modern and hip bus driver uses to interact with his juvenile passengers. If he can’t text, how will he ask that hot thirteen year old dressed like a hooker out for a date, or tell that pimply kid in row two to sit down and shut the hell up. #textingwhiledriving
I'm a fairly die-hard libertarian, and as such, I don't think that there should be a law against texting while driving.
Sufficient laws already exist. If a person causes a crash, I don't care if it was because they were texting, drunk, getting a "trouser-friendly kiss", or taking a nap. Regardless of why the driver was unable to control the vehicle, the fact is that the driver was unable to control the vehicle.
Eating a bowl of soup while driving is easily as distracting as texting, but do we need a law specifically banning eating soup while driving? If you are texting, eating soup, or reaching into the backseat to smack your unruly kids, and you crash, you were distracted and not doing what you should have been. I don't care why you crashed, you shall be punished for the effect; not the cause.
I would like to say that a bus driver should be "banned" from texting, because it places others at risk, but placing others at undue risk should be the infraction, and not a specific cause of the risk. The bus driver is there to drive, and should be doing just that.
BTW, I'm not condoning texting while driving, nor driving drunk. I'm only condemning the superfluous legislation. #textingwhiledriving
@smalleyxb122:
The ban of texting is preventative.
We need laws in place that ban distracted driving. Texting, cell phones... READING A FUCKING NOVEL WHILE DRIVING (saw this one while on my motorcycle, wanted to murder the lady).
Seriously. Yes, there are laws for if/when you crash... if you rode a motorcycle, you'd want preventative laws in place too, because if/when you crash, you may kill someone. Lets not let it get that far... k? #textingwhiledriving
@smalleyxb122: I understand what you're saying, but there is more. When a texting driver kills my kid the driver clearly is to blame, and should be held accountable. But whatever the punishment he receives, my kid is still dead. I'd like to prevent that.
@smalleyxb122: In principle I agree with you, but in practice, on my 150 mile a day commute, it's so painfully obvious that lengthy cell yakking and texting are detectable from a distance when driving--you can tell exactly who is doing which. And, frankly, people will not understand that this is at least as bad for your driving as being drunk. And being drunk and/or texting is far different than getting in a wreck because you were taking a sip of coffee. The levels of concentration/effort and time involved are different.
And if people are too stupid to realize their texting and lengthy phone chats--you know the kind, when you pass them they are all settled down in the seat, oblivious--then by all means, have a law with staggeringly stiff penalties, especially for texting, that generally requires much more eye attention, certainly to read them.
Certain types of inattention--like drunk driving--do deserve their own laws. This doesn't mean you have separate laws for every type of distraction/impairment--only for egregious ones. #textingwhiledriving
@Novaload: You say that the cell user or texter is noticeable from a distance, and from what I've seen, I concur, but do we really need to outlaw that behavior when they could easily just get a ticket for weaving, speeding, going too slowly, etc. What you see on the road that tells you from a distance that the driver is probably on a cell phone is, in itself a citeable offense. If they can't keep it between the lines, I don't really care why. Just get them off of the road.
"I was on the phone" or "I was texting" should be neither an extenuating, nor a mitigating circumstance in the event of a crash. Subsequent punishment should be no different than if the driver intentionally steered into that parked car/pedestrian/telephone pole. #textingwhiledriving
@Unregular: At the risk of being taken as a troll, yes.
As I just wrote to Novaload regarding texting, I don't care why the driver can't stay between the lines. Only that they can't stay between the lines.
"I was drunk" is not an excuse to minimize your actions, nor should it be used exacerbate the consequence.
Everything done behind the wheel whether drunk or sober is intentional; If you drive your car into the broad side of your neighbor's barn, you're liable for the damages, whether drunk, sober, napping, or just an octogenarian who can't tell the brake from the gas. #textingwhiledriving
There are a near-infinite number of ways to be 'distracted' while driving, laws can't be written for all of them.
This isn't to say lawmakers aren't going to try...and they'll be backed up by mass media doing all they can to scare people/keep ratings up.
When cars first appeared, and the tech existed, radios were not allowed because they were distracting. They still are, in many ways...some of the multi-hundred watt boom cars distract me to the point of looking for weaponry...even if it's just a rock.
However, technology obviously surpassed the human ability to multi-task some time ago. At least for a huge percentage of the populous.
It really, really hacks me off to see someone obviously oblivious to the real world around them while they have a piece of electronics in their hand(s).
I think some of this stems from what you've done in life. I used to drive both an airport shuttle and tour bus. Using a two-way is important, yet never, ever, overrides the real world. If you don't answer, they'll live for three seconds.
@smalleyxb122: I tend to agree with you, but I would like to see the cause of the infraction play into the severity of sentencing. #textingwhiledriving
@Ethyleneglycoholic’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade: That's fair. The ideal would have a cold set standard of punishment based solely on the effect, but even I would lobby for sympathetic leniency to the "oops" versus the drunk.
There shouldn't be a harsher penalty for the drunk; there should instead be a more lenient penalty for the driver who made an honest mistake.
I know that sounds contradictory, but if the drunk's penalty is equivalent to intentional causation, that is the maximum. That is the standard. You can only go down from there. And only if the circumstances can garner sympathy from a judge and/or jury. #textingwhiledriving
@smalleyxb122: This is true but my point is in part that the people who are doing this will say, but it's not against the law! Or it will become an issue only after the accident. It's one thing if a cop sees me bobble around a little; quite another if he seems me texting--much easier for him to pull me over and have something to stick. #textingwhiledriving
@Novaload: Or, you know they could just enforce the laws that we already have. Distraction = distraction. If they would start enforcing laws, that would in effect be a preventative measure. #textingwhiledriving
@baldy_pm: True, and I'm not arguing against that. But I NEVER see cops on a major interstate and city that is part of my commute except radar for speeders and tend to accidents. I'm sure certain pinheads won't give up texting while driving no matter what, but the UK has had some really good deterrent ads. Hell, I think texting should be banned almost everywhere or severely limited. We had a student worker who texted constantly--stuff a few envelopes, pause to text. Who is it at the other end of this inane messages? Can't people just think inside their heads without tweeting and texting it to other idiots?
"OMG, just did 3 more envelopes! H8 this job!"
So that's the tragic part: WTF pathetic lives do these compulsive texters have? #textingwhiledriving
Sadly, most people everywhere are too stupid to realize that not-driving while driving is A BAD IDEA. If the average person was halfway smart, there would be no need for automatic transmissions or bans on distracted driving.
School buses need to go back to manual crashboxes. That'll weed out the poor drivers. #textingwhiledriving
@Buickboy92: I grew up in a town of less than 3000 people. We had 70's model buses with manuals and gasoline engines. I'm pretty sure they still run a few of them around there as backups. #textingwhiledriving
@FordTuffMcgruff: The town I grew up in had ~30000 people in the mid and late 80s, when I was in elementary school, and was still running old gasoline/manual International Loadstars, too.
I agree. I'm just a child really, but I think my skillz are better then my elders. Specifically my mom. Who, last Friday, drove off with the Tempo's rear passenger door open. I, have never done that. #snl
When the GPS in the RX300 mis-routes, due to the data being almost a decade old, I pat Princess, the car's name, gently on the dash and tell her it's okay, we all get old.... #snl
@that ain't the way to have fun, son: Senility is a serious problem for old cars these days. I think mine is incontinent it keeps leaking in the driveway. #snl
Romeo take me shomewhere we can be alone
I'll be waiting all there'sh left to do ish run
You'll be zhe prinshe and I'll be zhe princshesshhhhhhhhh
It'sh a love shtory baby just shay yeshhhhhhh"
@danio3834: The United States decided we can't trust Canadians with the full internet in the same way George can't trust Lennie with a small animal. #snl
@danio3834: And although the UK is the only country in the world besides the USA that has full access to F-15 technology and parts, and not actually using a single one of them, we can't have Hulu. #snl
11/17/09
But unfortunately Dade county constituents are lost on terms such as; asphyxiation, diaphragm, thorax and air. Therefore Dade county will now consider scrapping the ban on text messaging whilst driving. #textingwhiledriving
11/17/09
11/17/09
Dude...you're harshin' my textin' buzz. #textingwhiledriving
11/17/09
Sufficient laws already exist. If a person causes a crash, I don't care if it was because they were texting, drunk, getting a "trouser-friendly kiss", or taking a nap. Regardless of why the driver was unable to control the vehicle, the fact is that the driver was unable to control the vehicle.
Eating a bowl of soup while driving is easily as distracting as texting, but do we need a law specifically banning eating soup while driving? If you are texting, eating soup, or reaching into the backseat to smack your unruly kids, and you crash, you were distracted and not doing what you should have been. I don't care why you crashed, you shall be punished for the effect; not the cause.
I would like to say that a bus driver should be "banned" from texting, because it places others at risk, but placing others at undue risk should be the infraction, and not a specific cause of the risk. The bus driver is there to drive, and should be doing just that.
BTW, I'm not condoning texting while driving, nor driving drunk. I'm only condemning the superfluous legislation. #textingwhiledriving
11/17/09
The ban of texting is preventative.
We need laws in place that ban distracted driving. Texting, cell phones... READING A FUCKING NOVEL WHILE DRIVING (saw this one while on my motorcycle, wanted to murder the lady).
Seriously. Yes, there are laws for if/when you crash... if you rode a motorcycle, you'd want preventative laws in place too, because if/when you crash, you may kill someone. Lets not let it get that far... k? #textingwhiledriving
11/17/09
@ Adam Spano
hitting the 'share' button once is enough. #textingwhiledriving
11/17/09
And if people are too stupid to realize their texting and lengthy phone chats--you know the kind, when you pass them they are all settled down in the seat, oblivious--then by all means, have a law with staggeringly stiff penalties, especially for texting, that generally requires much more eye attention, certainly to read them.
Certain types of inattention--like drunk driving--do deserve their own laws. This doesn't mean you have separate laws for every type of distraction/impairment--only for egregious ones. #textingwhiledriving
11/17/09
11/17/09
"I was on the phone" or "I was texting" should be neither an extenuating, nor a mitigating circumstance in the event of a crash. Subsequent punishment should be no different than if the driver intentionally steered into that parked car/pedestrian/telephone pole. #textingwhiledriving
11/17/09
As I just wrote to Novaload regarding texting, I don't care why the driver can't stay between the lines. Only that they can't stay between the lines.
"I was drunk" is not an excuse to minimize your actions, nor should it be used exacerbate the consequence.
Everything done behind the wheel whether drunk or sober is intentional; If you drive your car into the broad side of your neighbor's barn, you're liable for the damages, whether drunk, sober, napping, or just an octogenarian who can't tell the brake from the gas. #textingwhiledriving
11/17/09
There are a near-infinite number of ways to be 'distracted' while driving, laws can't be written for all of them.
This isn't to say lawmakers aren't going to try...and they'll be backed up by mass media doing all they can to scare people/keep ratings up.
When cars first appeared, and the tech existed, radios were not allowed because they were distracting. They still are, in many ways...some of the multi-hundred watt boom cars distract me to the point of looking for weaponry...even if it's just a rock.
However, technology obviously surpassed the human ability to multi-task some time ago. At least for a huge percentage of the populous.
It really, really hacks me off to see someone obviously oblivious to the real world around them while they have a piece of electronics in their hand(s).
I think some of this stems from what you've done in life. I used to drive both an airport shuttle and tour bus. Using a two-way is important, yet never, ever, overrides the real world. If you don't answer, they'll live for three seconds.
Those using telephones don't seem to understand this. #textingwhiledriving
11/17/09
11/17/09
There shouldn't be a harsher penalty for the drunk; there should instead be a more lenient penalty for the driver who made an honest mistake.
I know that sounds contradictory, but if the drunk's penalty is equivalent to intentional causation, that is the maximum. That is the standard. You can only go down from there. And only if the circumstances can garner sympathy from a judge and/or jury. #textingwhiledriving
11/17/09
11/17/09
11/17/09
"OMG, just did 3 more envelopes! H8 this job!"
So that's the tragic part: WTF pathetic lives do these compulsive texters have? #textingwhiledriving
11/17/09
Sadly, most people everywhere are too stupid to realize that not-driving while driving is A BAD IDEA. If the average person was halfway smart, there would be no need for automatic transmissions or bans on distracted driving.
School buses need to go back to manual crashboxes. That'll weed out the poor drivers. #textingwhiledriving
11/17/09
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11/17/09
[en.wikipedia.org] #textingwhiledriving
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@Amalgamated Stainless Headers, est.1978: #textingwhiledriving
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Romeo take me shomewhere we can be alone
I'll be waiting all there'sh left to do ish run
You'll be zhe prinshe and I'll be zhe princshesshhhhhhhhh
It'sh a love shtory baby just shay yeshhhhhhh"
Probably not going to win her a VMA . #snl
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