Cell Phones

[landfillman]

I saw this thread this morning after I got a call last night. My wife and I were outside of Birmingham AL last night near the town or Calera. My phone rang and I took the off ramp to Calera. It was a friend of mine that knows I dow excavation work. His daughter was in a car accident with a phone. His daughter was the passenger of a car driven by her friend that was texting. and ran off the road. She may not make it. My friends daughter is broken up but will live.

My older brother for a few years took up a managment job over a accident reconstruction warehouse. THis was when texting first appeared. It was a fact that 95 % of all the cars and trucks in there were caused b cell phones either calls or texts.

About 2 years ago a friend was in a fenderbender with a firetruck. My friend is kinda mild mannered and the jerkwad in the truck Had part way passed him and did a lane change with out a signal. My friend called me and told me the fire truck driver was giving him a ripping. He driver had his phone off supposedly. My brother told me to tell him to have the phone records supoenade for both drivers and the cars computer checked. THe cars crash computer gave the speed of the car and actions i nthe few seconds from the crash and a TIme stamp. THe FF lied about his phone being off. It wasnt off but he had been texting.

My dad scares the **** out of me driving. W ehave to both answer calls to send out trucks be when dad drives He will often pull off for a work call or call back. But when his wife calls he turns retarded. Most of the time she calls on friday when we go out to eat in the next town and he well slowly trun off talking to her. Ive started driving now.

A few years ago we hired a friend of mine to drive a rolloff at work. Great driver and maintainer of the truck. But he stayed o n the phone 8 chours a day. I set up a camera in theback of the service truck and aimed it to the cab. We took a 45 mile trip and he never took his phone off his ear. After that we let him go.



The county I live in is tee totally dry. THeres a few inb town with petitions to get alchol voted in. MADD set up a booth here and and was protesting. On of the Mothers while here had a pretty bad wreck. THe man she hit has had her phone recods pulled now. He saw her comming towards him with a hand on the wheel holding a phone before she hit. . He was pulling over at the time.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

It seems a bit ironic that just last week I was at the local TxDOT (Highway Department) office for a meeting and picked up a couple of bumper stickers with this slogan on them.... I guess it's time to put them on the back windows of our two daily drivers.

Here's a scan of the actual Bumper Sticker.

If anyone wants one (or more), you can find them through Nationwide Insurance who is sponsoring this Public Awareness Program.

 

[stumps]

I understand both sides of the discussion here, but I am a little confused. Here in Michigan, we tend to have a large deer population (as probably many other areas do) and deer/car accidents are common. The current philosophy is "never try to avoid a deer in the path of your auto as you can end up out of control". So....how is a deer in your path in the end different than another vehicle in your path as far as the "avoidance maneuver" causing you to crash.

A deer weighs a grand total of 150 lbs, and the difference between its speed, and your speed is pretty much your speed. An oncoming car weighs typically 2000 lbs, and the speed difference is your speed plus his speed. A crash into an oncoming car is going to be a big deal. Both drivers are frequently killed in such crashes. Avoiding the crash by moving onto the shoulder is almost always a better deal for both you and the other driver.

I am a firm believer in honoring your responsibilities. But, my first responsibility is to my own family as the other driver's is to his/hers. I'm confused as to why it is expected that I should place my responsibilities aside to "gamble" with a maneuver who's outcome is unknown at the time so that another individual more than likely should not have to presumably be as responsible.

If you look back to my first post, I said the last clear chance laws say *safely* avoid an accident. Your job is to drive safely, and that usually means avoiding any accident you can. Rigid philosophies that encourage standing your ground and running the b*tard over if he is in your lane are criminal.

In the course of my 40 years of driving, I have safely avoided dozens of accidents by steering out of the way. If I followed Wreckerman's advice I would have killed, and probably would have been killed, many, many years ago.

-Chuck

 

[stumps]

Trying to get this back on topic, a number of years ago, I was driving into town on the local lanes of one of our super highways. The traffic wasn't all that heavy, but it had gotten into one of those hurry-up-and-stop modes where traffic would speed up to 45 or so, and then come to a hard stop and wait a few seconds, and then race up to speed again...

That sets the scene.

I was driving along, and saw that the guy driving the pickup truck behind me was engrossed in a cell phone conversation... and the cars were coming to a hard stop ahead... [I always keep a lot of room in front of me in that sort of traffic] ...So, I figured that being as distracted as he was, he was going to smash me when I stopped as I must... so I pulled into the right lane... and he smashed the car that was in front of me.

Cell phones and driving are a bad mix... and it doesn't matter whether they are in your hand, or in your ear... it is the conversation, and the diversion of attention, that makes them dangerous.

I really like the bumper sticker in USAFSS-ColdWarrior's post. Unfortunately, I don't believe in displaying bumper stickers. It has been shown that drivers that display bumper stickers tend to be a whole lot more aggressive than drivers that don't... the customizations, and the stickers seem to give the drivers a sense of entitlement.... Or maybe it is that drivers that are more aggressive tend to customize their cars, and display bumper stickers...

-Chuck

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

STUMPS:
I'm not really big on plastering stickers on MY cars either.

Thanks to what you just said, I might just save these two stickers to slap on some CellPhoneUser's WINDSHIELD ! ! !

(Oops - I guess that would be vandalism, wouldn't it?... Oh, well.))

 

[stumps]

STUMPS:
I'm not really big on plastering stickers on MY cars either.

Thanks to what you just said, I might just save these two stickers to slap on some CellPhoneUser's WINDSHIELD ! ! !

(Oops - I guess that would be vandalism, wouldn't it?... Oh, well.))

Gosh, don't you just hate it when that happens?

 

[swbradley1]

I'm sure that a lot of us have had close calls. I doubt that there is a single one of us who can say we have never driven distracted, be that smoking, drinking, eating, texting, cell phone, reading a book, looking at the GPS, shaving, putting on makeup (Gimpy or Papabear) or yelling at the kids in the back seat. It is all distracted driving.

To get back on track and try to remember what started the thread, the tragic loss of two teenage girls. Everything else pales.

 

[paradeduty]

I guess I just must be in a foul mood or something today - I am just getting a little bit tired of one more law that makes it my responsibility to negate the actions of some other idiot. I have to deal with enough of these rules on a daily basis designed to protect us from ourselves. I am a little tired of having it mandated that I MUST be my brothers keeper - no matter how irresponsible he is being. I guess I will be the guy who gets sued by the family of the idiot because I made the choice to not challenge the other preexisting road hazzards over the one that their idiot created. You know, as cushy cushy as we want to make life out to be for everyone, life can be a bear. The decisions that we make, no matter how seemingly insignificant, can leave us to deal with very difficult and possibly life changing consequences. Some of which, due to the decision we made, we do not come back from. We can sit here and be all PC about everything, but sometimes the "Darwin Theory" needs to be left to run its course. I could spend the rest of my life running around and "protecting people from themselves", but I choose to invest my time otherwise. Take from this what you will and think of me what you will - bottom line for me is that I will help out those truly in need due to circumstances beyond their control, those that create their situation due to their own incompetance may need to just learn from their mistake(s) the hard way. Which as we all know, are the best lessons anyways. Sorry, Dave.

 

[stumps]

I guess I just must be in a foul mood or something today - I am just getting a little bit tired of one more law that makes it my responsibility to negate the actions of some other idiot. I have to deal with enough of these rules on a daily basis designed to protect us from ourselves. I am a little tired of having it mandated that I MUST be my brothers keeper - no matter how irresponsible he is being.

Laws like last clear chance have been on the books probably since before you were born. I know that we were told about it when I took drivers ed in the early '70s. They are there to prevent miscreants from preying on other drivers in search of an insurance settlement.

It's just common sense that if you can, you should avoid collisions, even those that otherwise wouldn't be deemed your fault.

As much as the devilish part of your soul may like the idea, you just cannot go hunting and killing bad drivers that happen into your lane and stay on the moral high ground. Even if they are morons talking on cell phones, and putting all of the rest of us at risk.

-Chuck

 

[73m819]

ALL I know is when it comes to me in the ditch or the other guy, you better beleive the other guy will be there BEFORE I do

 

[paradeduty]

Agreed, Ron.

I am no vigilante on the road - I pay too much for my work trucks and insurance and GVW plates and and and....to be wrecking it over an idiot. Hypothetical situation: Idiot makes a boner move on the road. I as an all righteous person, swerve to avoid the yahoo and in so doing, the said yahoo wakes up and goes on his merry way without a scratch. In the meantime, as a result of my valiant attempt to avoid the imminent, the rear end of my truck clips a guardrail or slides on some gravel or something on the shoulder that I am so eagerly supposed to dive to. As a result, my truck sustains damage or possibly inflicts it upon another vehicle in an attempt to recover from said slide. The previously mentioned yahoo is long gone (probably quickly for knowing what he has set in motion) so what do you think the police and insurance co. are going to say? I guess in all of the commotion I am also supposed to be writing down the yahoo's license plate and hoping that he will fess up when interviewed by the police. Ya that will happen - maybe he will call the wrecker for me on his cell phone!

 

[stumps]

Bad things happen to good people all the time... better get used to it.

-Chuck

 

[wreckerman893]

I thought it was pretty clean in my first post:

1. I was traveling around 45 MPH on a two lane road in a deuce.

2. The road was familiar to me (travel it it Restone all the time).

3. The Designated Idiot was alone in the car (as far as I could tell).

4. I could see the device in his hands on top of the steering wheel and he was half way into my lane in a curve.

5. Running off the road on my side would have caused me to roll over......no doubt about it.

6. He was obviously distracted to the point that he was violating at least two laws, texting while driving and crossing a double yellow line.

7. He had no reguard for my safety, his safey or the safety of others.

8. I watched him coming at me with all the situational awareness I needed........I had decided that I was not going the be the one leaving the scene in a body bag........it would have been the same as if he had pulled a gun on me and I was going to return fire to defend myself.

9. I am not legally or morally required to kill myself because of the actions of an idiot that knows better but chooses to do the wrong thing at the wrong time. I will bet a 100 dollar bill that the text he was sending was some simple minded crap that popped into his head and he just had to send it to anouther simple minded idiot. I'll also bet that 99% of all texts are simple minded crap that can wait until it is safe to send them.

10. The taking of a human life is a tramatic event no matter the circumstance......but had he hit me head on I stood a good chance of still ending up in the ditch just as dead as he would have been. I chose the option that to me, at the time, seemed to be the proper course of action.

11. The reason so many people do so much stupid stuff is because we as a people allow it......if texting and driving are a major cause of accidents the the phone companies need to discontinue the practice........yes it would make many suffer for the actions of a few but if it saves lives isn't it worth it (that seems to be the popular theme among the gun control crowd so I guess we can apply it here).

If this makes me a hardcase so be it.

 

[paradeduty]

HARDCASES UNITED AGAINST IDIOCY!

Don't think that would really come across right as a bumpersticker, though.

 

[stumps]

I thought it was pretty clean in my first post:

This one line in your original post:

The only time I will attempt to miss an idiot is if there are kids in the car.......at the end of the day I am going home and the Darwin Award winner is going into the body bag.

and this line in KsM715's post:

Wreckerman. Ive taught my wife and will teach my kids, never swerve to avoid someone elses stupid mistake. Only if its a child in the road. Ive seen more rollovers because someone swerved to miss a dog or deer or squirel. (obviously, she knows if its a big huge truck in her lane get the **** out of the way, but you get my point) If your smashed up in the ditch there better be some evidence of why your there. I.E. some other jackass in the other ditch or that damed neighbors dog that keeps running out in the road.

should trigger a response of outrage in any reasonable person!

Outside of appearing to be statements of intent to commit manslaughter, they are indications of a serious lack of common sense.

Avoiding an accident is almost always the best, safest, course of action. Standing firm and steaming into a head-on collision with another vehicle will most likely get you killed, especially if you are in a deuce. Lanes on most roads suited for speeds over 35MPH are wide enough to hold a deuce and still have 1/2 to 1/4 of a lane left over. That gives you some room to avoid a head-on collision without rolling pel-mel down an embankment.

People look up to you wreckerman, you have a responsibility to set a better example.

-Chuck

 

[zout]

I would get banned for sure if I typed what I really wanted to say but

WM thinks he is a hardcase - I tought he was being politically correct and subdued. . You are a better man than I.

Not saying or telling exactly as it should be stated is surely one of the problems. - because we will hurt someones feelings I guess.
(notice both hands on the wheel)

 

[wreckerman893]

People look up to you wreckerman, you have a responsibility to set a better example

So....is the consenses here that we are obligated to kill ourselves in order to preserve the life of a moron?

I quit driving a commercial vehicle in 2002 because my nerves could no longer stand the strain of dealing with drooling mongoloids who drive like they are the only person on the road.

In a split second decsion I might take the ditch.....if I have time to evaluate the situation and it is me or the moron.......moron loses every time.

This person (the idiot texter) was threating my life.....he might as well have been pointing a deadly weapon at me....in my mind hiting him would have been an act of self-defense.

Do you think if I had put the deuce in the ditch and perhaps killed myself he would have even stopped.......I seriously doubt it.....he would have continued on his merry way......prob texting the other idiot about how he just saw an old guy in an army truck run off the road.

With rare exceptions (where conditions allow me to do it safely) I do not brake for animals (even possums) if it will put me or other vehicles at risk.....do I hate to hear that dull thump when I hit a critter......yes. But I am not going to wreck a $15,000 truck for a 5 dollar dog.

People that know Tiggers story know he did the right thing.......I would have done the same thing....there were innocents involved........they just happened to be in the company of an idiot.

In my mind my life is more important to me and mine than the life of someone commiting a wantonly stupid act.

I don't want "He died to save the stupid" carved on my headstone.

Sorry to dissapoint anyone..

 

[73m819]

I have put more then one person in the ditch over the years when some IDIOT decided to share my spot in the road ( my side), eather merging, straying over center, or the other 100+ reasons, and will do it again. I'm all for PREVENTING accidents, but if comes down to me being in one due to no fault of my own,(no place to go) or the other vehicle into the "ditch", it will be the ditch with a VERY FEW exceptions.

 

[zout]

Twenty-eight percent of traffic accidents occur when people talk on cellphones or send text messages while driving, according to a study released Tuesday by the National Safety Council.

I could use 1/4 less stupid people not driving on the road.

It is automatic termination with our Company if you carry your cell in the Commercial Vehicle while on duty.
23% of our total accidents this year were cell phone/text related with automobiles. Our drivers found Per the DOT Regulations to be not at fault.

Loose their license - impound their car and sell it and whichever County they were caught in - give the funds from the sale back to them - give the owner nothing. Don't want to obey the law - then you loose.

Its a priviledge - not a Right to drive. No sob story no bleeding heart to cry on here.

 

[tigger]

Thous of you who know me know what happened to me before the GA rally last year that involved a school bus with kids in it. Had it not been a bus i pry would not have went in the ditch. Had that Marine not been there i might not be here today.. Would i have done any thing different?? I would hope not. I avoid other on the road several times a day. Do i get mad, Yes i do! I know WM. and i respect him. Put in his situation i pry would have done the same thing!