Friday, September 4, 2009
Utah is the first state to sort of get it.
Living in Utah I'm pleased to see that they recently passed a new bill here to do with texting whilst driving: It views the act is inherently reckless and punishes it as harshly as drunk driving. It's a far stronger law than most of those already existing in other states; California's, for example, punishes offenders with a tiny fine, usually around $20.
The problem is that they still treat it as a secondary offence - ie. you can't actually be stopped by the police if they see you texting. That's a problem. Until it's a primary offence, and one that is enforced properly, it's not going to stop anybody. In fact on the evening news, they even said "so it's OK to check your email and surf the web, but make sure you don't text".
WTF?
How about "put the goddamn phone down and engage your brain in the act of driving".
The police and politicians are quick to spout the usual lie about "speeding kills" (which it doesn't - fact - you can read about that in the facts and fiction about speeding) but they won't do anything about people who use cellphones whilst driving.
Whereas only 4% of accidents can be directly attributed to speeding, your chances of being involved in an accident whilst texting go up 2300% (source). Why aren't the police taking this seriously? For that matter, why do they not care about people who read the newspaper, do their makeup, use the laptop or any of the other multitude of distractions that people engage themselves with in front of me every day on my morning commute? Is it because America is the country that has actually encouraged laptop use whilst driving with products like the Laptop Copilot (below)? I know the manufacturers will claim it shouldn't be used whilst driving but I've seen people doing exactly this. (I'd like to see the airbag go off and see what happens).
This can't be a revenue thing - the police would make far more stopping people for texting than they'll ever do by stopping people for doing 31mph in a 30 zone. This whole thing is such a mystery to me. It's so obviously a problem yet nobody is willing to do anything about it. Why demonise speeding when texting causes far more accidents?
The problem is that they still treat it as a secondary offence - ie. you can't actually be stopped by the police if they see you texting. That's a problem. Until it's a primary offence, and one that is enforced properly, it's not going to stop anybody. In fact on the evening news, they even said "so it's OK to check your email and surf the web, but make sure you don't text".
WTF?
How about "put the goddamn phone down and engage your brain in the act of driving".
The police and politicians are quick to spout the usual lie about "speeding kills" (which it doesn't - fact - you can read about that in the facts and fiction about speeding) but they won't do anything about people who use cellphones whilst driving.
Whereas only 4% of accidents can be directly attributed to speeding, your chances of being involved in an accident whilst texting go up 2300% (source). Why aren't the police taking this seriously? For that matter, why do they not care about people who read the newspaper, do their makeup, use the laptop or any of the other multitude of distractions that people engage themselves with in front of me every day on my morning commute? Is it because America is the country that has actually encouraged laptop use whilst driving with products like the Laptop Copilot (below)? I know the manufacturers will claim it shouldn't be used whilst driving but I've seen people doing exactly this. (I'd like to see the airbag go off and see what happens).
This can't be a revenue thing - the police would make far more stopping people for texting than they'll ever do by stopping people for doing 31mph in a 30 zone. This whole thing is such a mystery to me. It's so obviously a problem yet nobody is willing to do anything about it. Why demonise speeding when texting causes far more accidents?
// posted by Chris @ 07:58 0 Comments Links to this post 
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Those who see, those who don't, and those who don't care.
Some friends and I went for a long motorcycle ride last weekend - up in the mountains in the cool air. It was fantastic but it reminded me that when you're on a motorbike, there are essentially three categories of car driver. Those who see you, those who don't, and those who see you but just don't care.
On narrow mountain roads, for the most part, the lanes are separated with a double yellow line. Passing opportunities are few and far between - you can ride for miles before coming across a broken yellow.
When you come up behind a car driver, those who see you are normally very accommodating. Realising you are infinitely faster than they are on a mountain road, they'll pull to the side and slow down, and/or pull in at a lay-by, and/or wave you past. This is nice - you know you've been seen and a friendly wave as you pass them helps seal the deal.
The drivers who don't see you are the same ones who cause all the motorbike accidents. They'll happily run you down as much as look at you, mostly because they're busy corralling the kids, arguing with the co-driver or more likely, texting on their phones. These are simply lost causes - you have no choice other than to sit well back to give them room to drive like total dicks, and then pass them when the markings allow. More often than not, taking them by surprise.
The last category are those drivers who've clearly seen you, and are deliberately doing everything possible to prevent you from passing. Normally this involves driving incredibly slowly when the lines in the middle of the road are double yellow, then speeding up and drifting to the left when you get to a passing area.
Motorcyclists all love driver type 1. We deal with driver type 2 because we have to. Driver type 3? Well, the less said about them, the better. You know who you are and you know where you can go.
From a motorcyclist to all the type 1 drivers who have seen me and acknowledged me: thank you. Especially the guy towing the boat up Mount Nebo loop a few weeks back who pulled the entire rig over on to the soft shoulder and waved me through. I appreciate it.
On narrow mountain roads, for the most part, the lanes are separated with a double yellow line. Passing opportunities are few and far between - you can ride for miles before coming across a broken yellow.
When you come up behind a car driver, those who see you are normally very accommodating. Realising you are infinitely faster than they are on a mountain road, they'll pull to the side and slow down, and/or pull in at a lay-by, and/or wave you past. This is nice - you know you've been seen and a friendly wave as you pass them helps seal the deal.
The drivers who don't see you are the same ones who cause all the motorbike accidents. They'll happily run you down as much as look at you, mostly because they're busy corralling the kids, arguing with the co-driver or more likely, texting on their phones. These are simply lost causes - you have no choice other than to sit well back to give them room to drive like total dicks, and then pass them when the markings allow. More often than not, taking them by surprise.
The last category are those drivers who've clearly seen you, and are deliberately doing everything possible to prevent you from passing. Normally this involves driving incredibly slowly when the lines in the middle of the road are double yellow, then speeding up and drifting to the left when you get to a passing area.
Motorcyclists all love driver type 1. We deal with driver type 2 because we have to. Driver type 3? Well, the less said about them, the better. You know who you are and you know where you can go.
From a motorcyclist to all the type 1 drivers who have seen me and acknowledged me: thank you. Especially the guy towing the boat up Mount Nebo loop a few weeks back who pulled the entire rig over on to the soft shoulder and waved me through. I appreciate it.
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