texting and driving

[bytor2112]

Texting while driving has become quite a danger. I purposely selected a car with a manual transmission for my son so he wouldn't be tempted to text while driving. Yesterday a young woman, 18 years of age ran a red light while texting and driving and was hit from both directions. Her parents signed the forms to have her taken off life support this morning. I feel very heart broken for the parents

Why is texting so addictive? My kids are constantly texting and seem like they would rather text that talk.

[Bini]

Well I'm not a teenager but I admit to doing a lot of texting in my day to day. I prefer texting rather than chatting with friends and aquaintances because it doesn't have to be realtime. I can text for a moment and then put the text-convo on hold while I return my attention to other things. It's very convenient in that way, and you can't do that with a phone call. In addition, it's just a more casual way of communicating.

Anyway, how sad. I've started a photo album on my phone of people texting while on the freeway. Wow, just wow. Oh and note, I was a passenger NOT the driver :]

[Hala401]

I really try to avoid it, and will generally just pull off the road if I need to do it. Both my car radio and my cell phone are blue tooth. I can even talk on the phone on my bike because my cell phone hooks to a little "router ??" that hangs around my neck and that hooks to my hearing aids. Yes, this is the business! :)

[Vort]

Texting while driving has become quite a danger. I purposely selected a car with a manual transmission for my son so he wouldn't be tempted to text while driving. Yesterday a young woman, 18 years of age ran a red light while texting and driving and was hit from both directions. Her parents signed the forms to have her taken off life support this morning. I feel very heart broken for the parents

Why is texting so addictive? My kids are constantly texting and seem like they would rather text that talk.

I totally do not get it. I would say it's a generational thing, but the other HPGL members who are only a few years younger than me text all the time. I rarely text. I find it annoying and highly inefficient.

[bytor2112]

I totally do not get it. I would say it's a generational thing, but the other HPGL members who are only a few years younger than me text all the time. I rarely text. I find it annoying and highly inefficient.

Me too.

[pam]

I don't mind texting but not while driving. There are been so many young people killed or have killed someone while driving and texting. I don't even talk on the phone while driving (bluetooth or not). My mind just doesn't work that way. I can't concentrate on driving while doing it. It's strange how I can drive and talk just fine when someone is in the car, but the minute it's in my ear my whole concentration level vanishes.

[Mahone]

As for people preferring to text than talk vocally, I can completely understand this. I don't find it inefficient at all. I also prefer e-mail to talking vocally, so become fairly irritated when someone phones me back in response to an e-mail I sent to them.

The reason I prefer these methods of communication is so I can refer back to them when I need to. With data storage being as cheap as it is, there is no reason to delete anything nowadays, especially text. So I can refer back to something that was sent to me 3 years ago if necessary - not something you can do with a vocal conversation.

Sometimes it's easy to miss important snippets of information during vocal conversations, and sometimes you subconsciously change the exact wording the person used in your mind. With text messages and e-mails, the ability to refer back to them solves this problem. I find this especially useful at work.

[james12]

I think texting for kids has become a status symbol in perhaps a sad, and slightly distorted, reflection of our western culture. While it is easier to leave a text message than to call, I sometimes question the motivation, especially for kids. Are they truly so busy that they must text almost constantly? Of course not. If per-chance a few are, I say they need to slow down. However, for the grand majority of kids and most adults it is about validation. It comforts our ego to know that we have so many people who are focused on us. What's more, to further inflate our sense of self we have no time to talk to the person. Yes, how wonderfully busy we all are!

In some ways it seems to me that what used to be a face to face conversation has degenerated from a phone call until now it is simply a text. To highlight the point let me tell you of my wife who was the compassionate service leader a few months ago. She received a text stating something to the effect, "_______ in hospital meals needed for kids". My wife did not know the person, why she was in the hospital, nor how many people to plan for. Isn't this important enough for at least a phone call?

Benjamin Hoff in "The Tao of Pooh" nailed it on the head in a section about the bisy backson. In his book Pooh is just the opposite of the bisy backson. Here the author is having a conversation with Pooh:

“Say, Pooh, why aren’t you busy?” I said.

“Because it’s a nice day,” said Pooh."

“Yes, bu—”

“Why ruin it?” he said.

“But you could be doing something Important,” I said.

“I am,” said Pooh.

“Oh? Doing what?”

“Listening,” he said.

“Listening to what?”

“To the birds. And that squirrel over there.”

“What are they saying?” I asked.

“That it’s a nice day,” said Pooh.

“But you know that already,” I said.

“Yes, but it’s always good to hear that somebody else thinks so, too,” he replied.

“Well, you could be spending your time getting Educated by listening to the Radio, instead,” I said.

“That thing?

“Certainly. How else will you know what’s going on in the world?” I said.

“By going outside,” said Pooh.

[applepansy]

I do not understand the need to text while driving. I don't text while talking, walking, driving.

I like texting. Its useful in staying in touch with my children. I'm not always sure where they are and the short beep of a text coming from Mom is less intrusive in their lives than a phone call. They call back when they can.

My ward uses text a lot to stay in contact for RS and Primary activities. I appreciate getting text reminders.

I feel very bad for the parents of the girl. I lost a son in a car accident when he was 21. Texting wasn't involved, they were changing drivers and a Coachman Motorhome ran over the car the kids were in. I know how painful this is for her family. My heart is breaking for them.

[classylady]

Now that I've got an iPhone I've learned to text. I never could get the hang of it on my old cell phone.

I've seen my kids text their friends while sitting next to each other on the couch. What's up with that? Maybe it was just the novelty of having a cell phone? I haven't seen them do that lately, so it might just have been the novelty.

[mirkwood]

Texting + driving = very bad things will happen. If you practice this habit, you are playing with fire and it will eventually burn you.

[pam]

Texting + driving = very bad things will happen. If you practice this habit, you are playing with fire and it will eventually burn you.

Mirkwood in your years of service as a police officer, how many accidents have you responded to where texting was the cause? I would imagine quite a few.

[Guest]

I got rear-ended last week by a woman who I think was either texting or reading papers she had with her. I got a concussion and whiplash and my beloved car (which is paid for and we've had for 10 years) is possibly totaled. She was either badly hurt or feigned such, so we didn't even exchange information (but the police officer who responded got it out of her car for me). She and her insurance company seem to have fallen off the face of the earth, as neither me nor my insurance agent can get in touch with them. The PO told me she was going to be cited for inattentive driving, but that's all he told me.

Another rear-end accident happened here last week that was much worse, and a 5-year-old boy ended up dying. I'll be interested to hear how it happened. The van that got hit was at a rare stoplight on a highway, and the SUV that hit them was going full-speed. I won't be a bit surprised if they find the woman was texting.

[Hala401]

We all talk while we are driving and think it is OK, but I have had a couple times when even that had to stop. If I am driving downtown, I have to stay out of conversations because I can and have run red lights, so I know I must somehow be less than those women who brag about multi tasking.

I also had an incident recently where a man that was riding in my car with me on the way to a Fireside, and he brought up a subject that was very painful for me. Suddenly, I did not even know where I was, experiencing complete disorientation. I actually had to pull over into a parking spot, tell the man that we could not talk about that, breathe deeply a few times and then figure out where I was. I was quite shaken, as was he. It really pointed out to me that when I am behind the wheel, it needs all my attention.

[mirkwood]

Mirkwood in your years of service as a police officer, how many accidents have you responded to where texting was the cause? I would imagine quite a few.

I don't know the actual number. Several including some just from people talking on their cell phones.

[Misshalfway]

This thread is great reminder!

I recently went back to work and now I find that I take phone meetings in the car on my way in or my way home. I've also noticed myself checking email at stop lights. I've even sent a text or two. Slipping into distracted driving is SO easy!

I have decided to make changes. I'm not taking phone meetings even if my colleagues demand it and I'm going to try really hard not to use my phone if I'm driving. It would literally slay me if I were to cause an accident for such a stupid reason.

[applepansy]

This thread is great reminder!

I recently went back to work and now I find that I take phone meetings in the car on my way in or my way home. I've also noticed myself checking email at stop lights. I've even sent a text or two. Slipping into distracted driving is SO easy!

I have decided to make changes. I'm not taking phone meetings even if my colleagues demand it and I'm going to try really hard not to use my phone if I'm driving. It would literally slay me if I were to cause an accident for such a stupid reason.

Miss1/2, my husband refuses to takes calls while driving. It literally drives his boss crazy. His boss says he's wasting valuable time. He doesn't push it too hard because several years ago a distracted teen ran off the road, over corrected and ended up sideways on the wrong side of the road in front of my husband and his heavy work truck. The boy did not survive. He was distracted with the radio. Nothing is so important it can't wait while we pay attention to our driving.

Accidents happen even when we're paying attention. No need to compound the problem.

Your colleagues will learn to live with it and maybe even think harder about what their doing if you set the example. :)

[Sicily510]

Oh technology is such a temptation to distract whether texting, talking on the phone, and ipads for GPS various things. My mother got hit by a SUV when she was driving in her Pontiac Caravan and the person driving the SUV was on her cell phone talking. I admit that I've texted while driving, but the more I'm in tune to choose the right the more I am reminded to pull over if I need to GPS/text/talk. I try to remind those I'm with the same thing too, it's not worth it pretty soon it's going to be tickets for "DUDT's" Driving Under the Distraction of Technology. On the news a couple of months back a technology business was talking about selling ipad holders for vehicles, but the county and state are making it illegal to have a monitor whether an ipad or gps be mantled on top of the decks in vehicles. Vehicles I've seen almost look like the Star trek enterprise command decks....lol, I don't think that's necessary.

[Misshalfway]

Miss1/2, my husband refuses to takes calls while driving. It literally drives his boss crazy. His boss says he's wasting valuable time. He doesn't push it too hard because several years ago a distracted teen ran off the road, over corrected and ended up sideways on the wrong side of the road in front of my husband and his heavy work truck. The boy did not survive. He was distracted with the radio. Nothing is so important it can't wait while we pay attention to our driving.

Accidents happen even when we're paying attention. No need to compound the problem.

Your colleagues will learn to live with it and maybe even think harder about what their doing if you set the example. :)

I think it was the last email I feverishly checked that woke me up. It was some stupid spam email. I thought to myself how awful if that was the reason I crashed into someone!

My kid is going to be driving in less than two years. He started texting a week ago when he got himself a phone. I can't pry the dang thing from his hands! I like the idea of making the kids drive a standard. If he needs two hands to drive, maybe it will keep him from doing something stupid.

I'm going to threaten him too.

[Martain]

I had to learn the lesson the hard way but I'm glad I learned the lesson.

In the first place I've never had a problem with texting while driving but that was because I basically... almost never text. Then one time I'm using my phone while driving to look up the address for someone in the ward and I only take my eyes off the road for a second or two.

This is all while I'm driving down my local street yet one to two seconds was all it took for me to hit a parked car. While the damage didn't look like much, unfortunately it was enough to total both cars.

So yeah, I'm simply glad that the Lord chose to let me learn THAT lesson in a place and time where I was going slow and no other lives were in danger. He timed it really well too! Since I had just gotten my tax return for the year when it happened it meant I didn't go through any financial hardship either as the refund was enough to cover the deductible and I hadn't earmarked the return for anything else.

I needed to learn that lesson and I'm grateful that God allowed it to be so affordable =).

[Scovy]

The same reason why people text and walk leading to accidents where they walk into water fountains, uncovered man holes and walking off piers.

Texting While Walking Accidents: Video | Video - ABC News

[Guest]

Bytor, I have bad news for you. Manual shift doesn't stop kids from texting. Trust me on this one. In the Philippines, manual transmission is the norm. My dad, who retired at age 49 because they replaced his secretary with a computer and he refused to learn to type his own memos, got a cellphone (a long while ago when cellphones were still the ones where you type the letters on your text message by using the number key) and learned to text on it. He drove with the manual transmission, and texts with the other hand, in my island in the Philippines where there are no freeways, stop lights are just there as a guideline not a must-follow and people drive like maniacs. Everybody texts and drives over there on their manual transmission. It's easier in the US because once you're in the highway, you don't have to shift too much.

But really, before text messaging there was the CD player. Shifting songs while driving causing accidents. And before that, there was Taco Bell. Munching on the taco with one hand, the drink on the other, the streering wheel managed by the thighs. My husband can do this pretty good. And yes, even with manual transmission! And before that was the casette tape with the super-sized subwoofers shaking the entire car with the kid headbanging to Heavy Metal while driving not paying attention to anything and can't hear anything beyond the boom-boom-boom of his base so you can't even honk at him to get his attention when he's straddling the yellow line. And before that there were the soccer moms in their minivans facing the back of the van while driving forward, referreeing 5 fighting kids.

Today, I was driving through downtown Houston that I'm not familiar with (I'm Floridian), trying to read the super small street names and one-way signs and trying not to sideswipe parked cars on the side of the road and paying attention to traffic lights and trying not to gawk at the super tall buildings... while periodically checking the GPS map on the phone because my idiot GPS in the car keeps on routing me to a road that is blocked because of construction when I almost got hit by some old guy who was busy talking on his cellphone running through the red light!

So yeah, it's not the texting and driving that is the problem. It's kids and adults alike who DOESN'T KNOW WHEN THEIR DRIVING IS IMPAIRED!

I don't find anything wrong with texting and driving if you're my dad. The guy is 70 years old and never been in a traffic accident in his life! And he has never had a traffic ticket either. Because when he texts, he doesn't forget that he is driving. He knows when it is safe to text and when it is not - and the guy can text on his numeric keypad without taking his eyes off the road. Now, of course, he doesn't drive anymore. He had cancer and he's not the same man that he was before he got sick. He will not drive anymore because he doesn't trust himself on the road.

Now, my nephew turned 16 and finally got his driver's license. His dad, my brother, is just like our dad - never had a traffic accident, never had a ticket in his life. So he has this Civic that was 15 years old, runs and looks new still. Manual transmission. So when my nephew got his license, he inherited the Civic. A month later, my nephew totalled the Civic when he got on a panic and hit the gas instead of the brakes. No cellphones, no taco bells, no fighting kids, no subwoofers. So, they blamed it on the manual transmission and my nephew bought himself an automatic...

LEARN YOUR LIMITS. If you can't handle a text message while you're driving. Don't do it! This applies to the CD player, the Nav System, a Taco, or referreeing fighting kids in the backseat...

P.S. I think text messaging is awesome. And yes, my kids, husband, and I send text messages while we're in the same room or sitting around the table in the restaurant. It's just another way to communicate IN ADDITION to our normal conversations - not in replacement. We love picking out emoji's! It's fun!

And yes, when you're in a hurry it's awesome to just send a quick text and go. Worry about the rest of the information later. Like that RS woman who tried to convey some info that somebody talked about earlier. It's better than not having the time at all to phone somebody.

Edited June 25, 2012 by anatess

[pam]

LEARN YOUR LIMITS. If you can't handle a text message while you're driving. Don't do it!

I'll take it one step further. Don't do it at all while driving. Whether you think you can handle it or not.

[Vort]

LEARN YOUR LIMITS. If you can't handle a text message while you're driving. Don't do it!

The above is an incorrect statement. Remove the word "if" and it becomes a correct statement.

[Guest]

The above is an incorrect statement. Remove the word "if" and it becomes a correct statement.

Not necessarily. I just told you about my dad.

Now, I wonder why there's no law against Taco Bell and driving...