Don't text and drive

Pretty intense PSA against texting and driving

Wow.

man **** that
i feel all down now

Yikes!

damn i was kinda sad before this, i almost cried after!

I saw that earlier. **** nuts

ya i wasnt in the best of moods and now im just sad. wow.

Was that an episode of the young and the Restless?

That old lady must've forgotten to take her meds. Pretty good enactment overall, though.

thank god someone finally made a real PSA... seriously they should show this to every teen in every school in the world... would make n e one think twice.

welcome to the reality of car accidents.

Only takes a second of not paying attention to change your life and someone elses forever....It is illegal to drive and text in Washington State; but its a secondary offense so you cannot be stopped specifically for that, same with talking on a cell phone without a hands free device.

Had a motorcyclist get hit the other day head on by a car...driver was talking on a cell phone not paying attention and crossed centerline.

every 16yo needs to see this. they did a damn good job making this

Here's a little rant on hands free laws. You are just as distracted talking through a bluetooth headset as you are holding the phone. It's the conversation that distracts, not holding the phone to your ear. I don't know many people who drive with both hands on the wheel anyway.

Knox wrote:

Here's a little rant on hands free laws. You are just as distracted talking through a bluetooth headset as you are holding the phone. It's the conversation that distracts, not holding the phone to your ear. I don't know many people who drive with both hands on the wheel anyway.

I disagree, man. It's the devices that screw people up. I've never almost gotten into a crash because I was having a conversation with the passenger next to me. (Then again I'm not a moron, either.)

Hands-free device is way better than holding a phone to your ear, and infinitely more better than trying to text without being so suave you can do it without looking (I used to do that when I had a T9 phone, not anymore).

Somewhat related, there was a girl in Philly a couple days ago that swerved and hit two women, killing one of them, cause she was reaching for her iPod. Sad...

I saw an experiment where they observed people driving talking with a cell phone in hand, talking with hands-free device, and then talking to a passenger.

The people talking on the phone or the hands-free drove worse than those talking to passengers. I don't really understand why that is, but somehow the distraction levels are different.

EDIT: here it is: http://perspect.siuc.edu/06_sp/car_talk.html

Quote:

"Whatever the topic of conversation is, you're processing it very actively. The cell-phone industry has basically said, 'Look, you talk to passengers all the time, and we can't ban that, so why should we ban phones?' [But] we found the accident rates were more than twice as high when you're on a hands-free phone versus talking to a passenger for the exact same conversation." Why would that be? "When you lack all of the non-verbal cues of a close-contact conversation, the conversation is that much more demanding," Rose explains. "Some research suggests that 90 percent or more of a conversation is actually non-verbal. It uses a huge amount of your attention to try to deal with the fact that you're missing all those cues."

Meh, I'm against stuff like this. There are a million things that could potentially distract a driver enough to cause an accident. Radios have been in vehicles pretty much since the very first one came off the assembly line, and account for a HUGE portion of those crashes caused by inattentiveness. However, you still don't see specific laws that allow for a "changing your radio station while driving" ticket. A careless driving ticket is a careless driving ticket. That's the bottom line. There's no reason to go making a specific one just for texting...

Bobby Lee wrote:

Meh, I'm against stuff like this. There are a million things that could potentially distract a driver enough to cause an accident. Radios have been in vehicles pretty much since the very first one came off the assembly line, and account for a HUGE portion of those crashes caused by inattentiveness. However, you still don't see specific laws that allow for a "changing your radio station while driving" ticket. A careless driving ticket is a careless driving ticket. That's the bottom line. There's no reason to go making a specific one just for texting...

Took the words out of my mouth.

QFT.

I feel that changing a radio station only takes a couple seconds while texting or having a conversation will last much longer and distract for a longer period of time. It really depends on the person though.

**** like this only happens overseas clearly, listen to their accents.

I agree Knox, if I have to check an email or text while going down the road, it's always split second glances at the phone, then go back to the road, check my surroundings, etc.

I try not to do it, but when I do...I'm extremely cautious.


Some people/kids lose sight of the road for a few seconds or more at a time, that's when accidents happen.

Moss wrote:

**** like this only happens overseas clearly, listen to their accents.

TRogers wrote:

I agree Knox, if I have to check an email or text while going down the road, it's always split second glances at the phone, then go back to the road, check my surroundings, etc. I try not to do it, but when I do...I'm extremely cautious. Some people/kids lose sight of the road for a few seconds or more at a time, that's when accidents happen.

If you know your phone/ what word order your T9 has (for words like if/he/id), you don't even need to look at the phone if you're sending a text. A quick glance to make sure it's OK and off it goes. If a text needs to be well thought out/ has big words that T9 doesn't know.. then ya just wait for a redlight to do that.

That's how I do it, and I haven't gotten into any even remotely close calls yet. *knock on wood*

I was riding with my best friend about 5 years ago he was driving his s10...

He was texting and talking to me... I was in the passenger seat. I looked down at my phone to see the time and look back up and we were beginning to fish tail from hitting the median grass as it just rained that day... the truck spun violently and actually rolled one full roll on the hood of the truck before landing on the tires and spinning multiple more times before stopping.

I seriously thought I was dead.

Scared the sh*t out of me. Always have thought twice about it since then and even tell friends...

These type videos should be shown more.

sad ;./

Bobby Lee wrote:

Meh, I'm against stuff like this. There are a million things that could potentially distract a driver enough to cause an accident. Radios have been in vehicles pretty much since the very first one came off the assembly line, and account for a HUGE portion of those crashes caused by inattentiveness. However, you still don't see specific laws that allow for a "changing your radio station while driving" ticket. A careless driving ticket is a careless driving ticket. That's the bottom line. There's no reason to go making a specific one just for texting...

I partially diagree. Texting requires one take their eyes off the road for at the very least a full 2 seconds to read the message then type it. This mean your eyes also need to re-focus to a closer object, then back on the road again. Assuming for a moment that you're just a bad-ass texter who has memorized all the key patterns for all the words you'll ever use, this still means you'll have at least 5 seconds of driving blind.

This also applied to the following:
- Dialing while driving
- Makeup while driving
- Noobs changing the radio station while driving

HOWEVER. some activities can be easily done while you continue to look at the road.
- Eating while driving (drinking but only from a straw in a drink that's not in your lap)
- Talking on the phone (it CAN be done, but for some reason, people just suck at it....not sure why)
- Operating a radio you're very familier with. (memorized the position of the important buttons/dails

The biggest 2 problems are
a) people believe they are capable of doing anything while driving....for just a second.
b) it would be almost as impossible to enforce legelsation against texters (or any other distractions) as it would be to catch all the druk drivers there are on the roads.

IMO the best thing you can do is just be aware of your surroundings on the road. and always leave enough room to manuver your car even at a stoplight.

Smith System.


My Dad went through it and taught me the ropes at the same time (plus he used to be a semi instructor). Main thing to remember is Leave yourself an out!


http://www.smith-system.com/

I always assume the person driving near me is going to do something dangerous so I plan ahead on what to do if the situation occurs.

You just graduated.

Woohoo!

To go along the lines with this story....

I saw a billboard on the way to work the other day and it said "Inclement weather doesn't cause accidents..... Distractions do!"

...I thought to myself. wait. Isn't that billboard a distraction?!?!

Knox wrote:

I always assume the person driving near me is going to do something dangerous so I plan ahead on what to do if the situation occurs.

That's the mentality I have when I'm on my bike. I assume the cagers around me have absolutely no clue that I'm on the road. That makes me drive that much safer...

02BlueStang wrote:

welcome to the reality of car accidents. Only takes a second of not paying attention to change your life and someone elses forever....It is illegal to drive and text in Washington State; but its a secondary offense so you cannot be stopped specifically for that, same with talking on a cell phone without a hands free device. Had a motorcyclist get hit the other day head on by a car...driver was talking on a cell phone not paying attention and crossed centerline.

Someone got killed on a motorcycle here the other day here too. The Girl was texting and pushed him into the center divider.

**** crazy, tis' why I don't text when im driving. Plus im too busy avoiding potholes.

Knox wrote:

I always assume the person driving near me is going to do something dangerous so I plan ahead on what to do if the situation occurs.

I follow a similar code:

"I always assume the person driving anywhere remotely near me is in the process of doing something stupid so I plan on what to do when they get closer."

sadly i dont plan ahead.

Because if they hit me, then i'll let the legal system do its work and reap the benefits.

If they somehow manage to realize OH ****, i give em the old fashioned finger.

^^^ And if they're an uninsured, illegal immigrant that just drives away?

well obviously, i dont take well to stupid drivers.

im not gonna sit there and be like....well damn. I'll make sure someone pays. Thankfully i live in a city where we dont have alot of those.

BRING THAT PSA TO THE United States!

And if you're splitting hairs about the relative degree of distraction that various activities introduce into the driving environment I pray that denial system never catches up with you.

There are MANY potential distractions. The key is to eliminate or minimize as many as is within your power. +1 to those who commented on leaving an out, and constantly playing the "What If" scenarios.

Soap opera? Elderly lady just had her son and daughter-in-law slaughtered, and grandchild may die, or worse, too? That elicits a joke?

Your Mom, Your Aunt, Your Sister, that's who those girls are. Maybe someday they'll be your Wife, your Daughter or both. For the survivors, the impact of that moment will resonate in them EVERY DAY for the rest of their lives. Maybe you'll get to be the father who receives the phone call and has to tell his wife!

this video is highlighted on aol's home page. crazy how fast it gets around

I almost hit a mailbox the other day TWD. I'll admit it. I've also changed pants while driving too without a hitch. Its not something I make a practice out of though.

Also, Bobby, a lot of cars nowdays have radio controls on the steering wheel so one doesn't have to look away from the road to operate the radio (assuming one knows the location of the buttons they want)

I have seen like 10 status updates for linking this video.