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<p>Because it is part of managing their grief. It gives them a sense of purpose and a way to honor their loved one’s life by (hopefully) bringing about something positive.</p>
<p>dang, the irony.</p>
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<p>Not necessarily. Utah has a couple of stretches of highway where the speed limit is 80 mph.</p>
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I’m not sure it’s clear that the texts were all to the same person, or that she had already been on the road for the whole 4 hours. Is that in a different article?</p>
<p>I don’t think we can post links, but I did find a list that has maximum speed limits listed by state, in Idaho, maximum speed limit is 75 for cars, 65 for trucks, on rural stretches, where supposedly she was. Even in urban areas, 75 is the maximum, so she likely wasn’t “speeding”, was just a bit over the speed limit.</p>
<p>Texting has taken the place of talking for many. Had she been talking to her friend(s) rather than texting, there still would have been a certain amount of distraction but perhaps not to the level of causing her to crash into the truck. Bluetooth devices are cheap.</p>
<p>How will making it illegal help anyone?</p>
<p>“You can’t legislate good decision making.”</p>
<p>Sure you can. It doesn’t work on all the people all the time, but you can influence a lot of people’s decisions. People use seat belts a lot more now even compared to 15 years ago, never mind 40 years ago. Changed laws have made a big difference. Even bringing seat belt compliance from 40% to 60% saves lives, money, and heartache. It’s not all about the person whose life is saved. Everyone in society pays when young people die for stupid reasons.</p>
<p>It’s a pain in the butt to get pulled over and then have to pay for a ticket. That disincentive affects some people who would otherwise be careless. Campaigns to change laws also raise awareness of the problem, and that can have a positive effect even when the law doesn’t pass.</p>
<p>Some people will not text while driving because they don’t want to pay a $500 ticket. </p>
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<p>I once saw someone playing a FLUTE while driving. :eek:</p>
<p>The worst accident due to texting was a collision between a Metroliner train and a freight train near Chatsworth, California. Many, many innocents were killed because the engineer of the Metroliner was texting while operating the train.</p>
<p>Long ago, when our family would see someone operating a vehicle in an unsafe manner, my mother would say:“it’s people like that who get people like us killed.” Can’t imagine what she would have to say about the cell phones.</p>
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<p>It’s part of making a dangerous behavior socially unacceptable. Think back 20-30 years to the start of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. There were laws in place against DWI, but people still thought it wasn’t a problem to have a couple of drinks and then drive home. People didn’t think about having a designated driver or taking the keys away from a drunk friend, there weren’t free taxi rides on New Year’s Eve for the intoxicated, bars weren’t legally liable for their overly inebriated customers.</p>
<p>Making laws does help. I know several people who have gotten tickets for talking on the cell phone while driving. Believe me, they are much less likely to use the cell phone while driving now. No, not 100% compliance perhaps, but a big improvement. The fine is substantial.</p>
<p>The problem with our law is that you cannot be stopped for only talking/texting, but the charge can be added if you are stopped for doing something else.</p>
<p>It is not just kids doing this at all. I see many adults (even men) checking Blackberry etc while driving. AND responding! The problem is that we have gotten into an instant communication mode and it is almost inconceivable to not respond immediately. I admit to barely being able to stand my commute to work and not being able to check my electonic devices. I think the law almost needs to be that the device has to be out of the driver’s reach and/or turned off. That will never happen, but this is going to be a tough one to control. Many people are really good at looking at the devices in a way that a cop would not detect.</p>
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<p>Considering that it takes 2 hands to play the flute, was this idiot using their knees to steer?</p>
<p>< it is almost inconceivable to not respond immediately></p>
<p>Why? Nobody is likely to be in any danger or anything important that cannot wait 20 minutes. They WILL get over it.</p>
<p>I read somewhere about a study that showed that texting while driving affects reaction times more negatively than driving while legally drunk. We should treat people who text while driving at least the same way that we treat people who drink while driving.</p>
<p>All my friends get mad (and I mean really mad, to the point that they apparently talk to each other about it) at the fact that if I see them texting and driving in the car with them, I ask them to put it away. You’d swear I just just insulted their mother by the rude stares I get back, and trust me I’m not rude about asking (until the 3rd or so time it happens in the same car ride. Then I’m furious). Um, sorry, but if you’re gonna drive dangerously, please do the rest of the world a favor and do it on a deserted road with no one else in the car. No need to cause my or someone else’s death…</p>
<p>Too many people have just lost their minds. It’s just another gizmo. It does not run your life. You control IT. Do you think somebody is going to tell you you just won the LOTTO and have 2 minutes to respond?</p>