Texting On Cellphone While Driving

This is a commercial from ENGLAND, was shown on Detroit news tonight. England crashes with texting has sky rocketed so the government launched this video.

Drives the point home. I think this is needed due to the fact that most of us drive around on a regular basis and nothing happens. We get lulled into a false sense of security, that and automatic cars. Ever try texting while driving a stick?

Wow. Should be included with every cellphone sold. (As if!)

Good Vid. Too bad most kids won't get the message because they don't give a *EDIT* what old people tell them (people over 30!).

I've said it before, cell phones will cause the next wave of destruction on our highways, but I some how suspect we'll still see that all too common sound bite "Speed was a factor" slipped in to the reports.

Not sure if I saw this here or elsewhere, but:

but I some how suspect we'll still see that all too common sound bite "Speed was a factor" slipped in to the reports.

Speed is always a factor cause if you ain't movin' you can't hit anything.

hwybear wrote:England crashes with texting has sky rocketed so the government launched this video.

We need more videos like this in Canada... except I'm afraid some people would probably be saying it's too graphic, how could you put this on television, think of the children!

One suggestion that I heard a while ago is that instead of showing crashed cars to demonstrate the dangers of driving drunk, texting, etc., they should show what happens to people in those crashes, which is what this video does.

Reflections wrote:Ever try texting while driving a stick?

Manual's more fun to drive anyway.

Bookm wrote:"Speed was a factor" slipped in to the reports

And then people assume "factor" means "CAUSE."

Proper1 wrote:Wow. Should be included with every cellphone sold. (As if!)

No kidding. Now they're giving all these free Bluetooth options because of the impending fines for driving and using a cellphone. A person using a bluetooth may have their eyes on the road, but is their mind on the road?? Also - the Globe and Mail ran an interesting article on how poorly "multitaskers" do in office settings, making mistakes, oversights, etc. Computers are engineered to multitask. People are not very good at it, despite the rather odd value some people seem to be placing on the ability to multitask these days... (What ever happened to "one thing at a time"?)

Radar Identified wrote:A person using a bluetooth may have their eyes on the road, but is their mind on the road??

The scientific evidence to that one is clear, repeatable, and unequivocal: No. Google something like "hands-free vs hand-held" and you'll get references to study after study (National Safety Council, Journal of Safety Research, Dalhousie University, University of Utah, etc., etc.) that all conclude that hands-free and hand-held are both dangerous, and at least equally so. If anything, yakkers on a hand-held phone may be slightly less dangerous, possibly because holding the device to their ear reminds them of what they are doing.

Solemnly banning the one form of adventure, but continuing to allow the other, would be just mindless legislative boobery.

As for texting while driving, every study I've come across shows it to be more dangerous than driving while drunk, of course, but most reasonable people would know that anyway. Will it be made illegal in Ontario, or will the lobbyists for the industry manage to keep it available? Who (given Queen's Park's current less-than-stellar record on OHTA updating) can say?

Texting while driving is included in that recent "cell phone" bill that got passed.

I'm thinking it already qualifies as careless driving, or does it not meet the requirements for a conviction?

Squishy wrote:

I'm thinking it already qualifies as careless driving, or does it not meet the requirements for a conviction?

think too many JP's did not like the $325 and 6 points for careless and would not convict. So government put in this new piece of legislation, but that is only a guess.