KIEM Poll Question: Texing & Driving
The most recent poll question over at the KIEM TV web site asks whether you text while driving. Last I looked 20% chose Yes. I appreciate their honesty. Kind of a trick question, though, as it doesn't include talking on cellphones. There's no doubt in my mind more than 20% are talking on cellphones at some point in time while driving. I'll go so far as to say 30% or more.
Except for me, of course. My cellphone is nearly always turned off.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 7:06 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Driving while distracted by texting or talking on your cell phone is as bad as drunk/buzzed driving! There's no excuse for it and those caught doing it should have their licenses suspended until they can prove they are responsible enough to get behind the wheel and operate a vehicle.
The big news today is someone crying about getting ticked in Nevada for applying lip balm while driving. Apparently, any action that takes your eyes off the road is illegal in Nevada. You could get ticketed for changing the radio station or changing tracks on a CD.
One of the comments widely heard when they were talking of passing laws against cell phone use by driving was along those lines: distractions are distractions. Even talking to someone sitting next to you can be a big distraction.
I recall a couple years ago driving down F street by the Downtowner Motel. A couple ladies in a red sedan come to the stop sign up ahead of me on my left. There's a guy in a pick up truck coming my way up F street.
I can see the two gals laughing and joking with each other. They stop at the stop sign, don't even look because they're laughing with each other, and pull out in front of the truck. The truck jams on his brakes, missing them. The girls continue across the street laughing and joking, totally unaware of almost being hit.
I do think texting is worse than most distractions if only because of the concentration it takes. The way a lot of people handle talking on cell phones is bad, too. I've been almost hit twice- once in a parking lot- from people so involved in their cell phone conversation they weren't paying attention to anything else.
Just as an aside, I do think there's something not quite right about people who feel they need to be talking on a cell phone all the time. I won't go so far to call it a mental illness, but something close to it. I'll never understand people that can't get in a car or walk down the street without having a cell phone at their ear.
Totally agree with you about phone "addiction". I had company recently and the wife was checking her email every ten minutes even though she was on vacation. Gets boring.
I remember chatting with a fairly prominent lady- well, better known than most- a couple or three years ago. She's one that seems to always be talking on a cell phone, or checking it. The whole time I was talking to her she had her cell phone in her hand and she'd look down at it at least every 30 seconds to see if she had any messages.
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