Texting Twit

MotorradMike said:

No I'm not serious.

Rob Ford sticks his foot in his mouth almost every day, he's chased reporters off adjacent property, called 911 on Marg Delahunty, and publicly announced he'd never heard of one of Canada's most famous authors during a dust-up about closing public libraries.

The guy is a total ass who got voted into office by accidently splitting the vote between the 2 real candidates.

I suspect people are following him around the way they did to Britney Spears et al.

Hopefully, he'll punch a cop when he gets a ticket for texting while driving and we can move on. Nothing is too surprising.

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ok, this site needs a sarcasm smilies....

I have seen the video of the idiot in India texting while riding his motorcycle. What is disturbing, aside that he is proving he is barely treading water in the deep end of the gene pool, is the number of responses to the video claiming, "way to go dude!", "Awesome skills man!" and numerous other similar idiotic responses.

Sad, unnerving. Worse to know that other idiots are really dumb enough to combine a highly mental exercise of riding a motorcycle with cell phone use. I still do not understand/condone the use of bluetooth technology in cycle helmets to give the rider "hands free" capability when riding.

rickyD said:

Good for you for taking the time to report it. Your frustration is certainly understandable but yes I believe that is how law enforcement works everywhere and if you think about it I'm pretty certain that's the way you and the rest of us want it to work. Your call to the state police should be as a heads up to them. Try to recall as much as you can about the time, the place, and the vehicle. Hey, you never know.

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One wonders at what level LEO's take interest. I recall the 2 snipers of a few yrs back(the young guy & the older guy) & how an observant truck driver brought them to the law. I also remember having heard the reporter/CNN, Wolf Blitzer saying the report was "circumspect"(my words) as it was coming from a "truck driver" as if questionable in quality of information.
As to my call in mentioned it might be worth noting that the dispatcher that took my call was a guy I knew & we were both Army NG members of the same unit, so I had some credibility going on with this guy as I was in a position of authority in that unit . Obviously doesn't always matter "who" you are.

Not holding my breath, but. . .

I can tell you when this s%$& MIGHT end. As soon as Plaintiff attorneys start AUTOMATICALLY subpoenaing telephone records after an accident, and prove that the a-hole causing the wreck was talking at the moment of collision, and this is presented to a judge/jury . . . things MIGHT change. Of course, by the time this happens, everybody on the damn jury will be secretly texting as they sit in the jury box, thus presenting yet another problem. . .

Also, I'll say it again: THIS "GOTTA BE IN TOUCH WITH EVERYBODY, ALL THE TIME" IS AN ADDICTION, AND IT'S NOT LIMITED TO CAGERS. I'm aghast at how the new cars are being advertised with MORE and MORE stuff to look at on the larger and larger display screens on the dash. . .WTF???? How's about looking out the windshield for the little kid on his bicycle???

Something about all these-here electronics ain't natural.

Serenity now. Serenity now. Serenity now.

Rant off.

Walking Eagle

Walking Eagle said:

I can tell you when this s%$& MIGHT end. As soon as Plaintiff attorneys start AUTOMATICALLY subpoenaing telephone records after an accident, and prove that the a-hole causing the wreck was talking at the moment of collision, and this is presented to a judge/jury . . . things MIGHT change. Of course, by the time this happens, everybody on the damn jury will be secretly texting as they sit in the jury box, thus presenting yet another problem. . .

Also, I'll say it again: THIS "GOTTA BE IN TOUCH WITH EVERYBODY, ALL THE TIME" IS AN ADDICTION, AND IT'S NOT LIMITED TO CAGERS. I'm aghast at how the new cars are being advertised with MORE and MORE stuff to look at on the larger and larger display screens on the dash. . .WTF???? How's about looking out the windshield for the little kid on his bicycle???

Something about all these-here electronics ain't natural.

Serenity now. Serenity now. Serenity now.

Rant off.

Walking Eagle

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Funny you should mention all the gadgets now loaded into cars. They did the same thing to single-engine aircraft. From analog gauges they went digital, to multifunction displays with all the info on them, including moving maps, engine information, altitude, airspeed, etc. information...weather data, collision avoidance information, etc. One day I was flying north to a mountain town, and heard another aircraft on the radio...an aircraft/owner I knew, and who had all the latest gadgets. I asked him for detail on his position, because his transmission indicated he was in my vicinity. He said "I'm just west of you." I looked west...nothing. I looked east...there he was. He had his head so far in the cockpit that he had no situational awareness. Another time I heard him on the radio and asked where he was. He replied, "I don't know, let me look at the moving map." "I don't know...?" What the...?

Car drivers have about 1/100 of the skill set of a pilot, so they are likely even worse, if they have in-car distractions.

Insane...

Read the new car reviews now days. Nobody talks about "the vehicle" it's all about the add on, techno stuff that has zero contribution to the go & stop functions & many here are equally intrigued by the same sort of stuff on a bike. Which means this discussion is going to step on some toes no doubt.
The airhead crowd is probably the least likely to lean that direction, or at least some of them. Some things real modern interest me, esp., if they make my life more comfortable or help me to live longer! Texting is not anywhere in that realm for this "geezer". Call me or email if you need to talk. My/our "letters" from during our courtship are in a box-whats there for posterity for the here & now generation?

maybe all driver training programs should have a session on 'moving around the cones' while a) really talking to someone on the phone and b) really texting to someone on the phone (obviously in a very controlled environment). AND THEN... have another trainer throw out some dummies, or like objects, into their path. Obviously many young drivers have not figured out the connection, or lack of brain connection, between phone/texting and diminished capacity while driving. - Bob

kantuckid said:

Read the new car reviews now days. Nobody talks about "the vehicle" it's all about the add on, techno stuff

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I worry about some techno-gizmo's too. As a computer geek/nerd I love 'm, but I see lots of problems coming from them. I have a Volvo beside my BMW R850RT and the newer models featur stuff like dynamic cruise control and a lane departure warning system. It even has a blind spot sensor, which is kind of good for us on the bike. But the lane departure system and dynamic cruise control (where the car automatically adjusts the speed in order to keep a preset distance to the car in front) is asking for trouble. Drivers can now text as much as they want. The car will warn them if it seems to go wrong. It even has automatic emergency braking...

I see the advantages of these systems as an aid, but even without these systems, people do things like reading, texting, and what have you while driving. These systems invite people to do other things beside driving.

key word, from social psychology experiments, is "proximity". New four wheel vehicles (and maybe some tricked out two wheel vehicles) have evolved to greatly expand the proximity gap between action and consequences for action. This gap is the killing field I suppose. - Bob

flyrider said:

God help us...our race is doomed.

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Well she might be...doomed

I've already been a bit more than just inconvenienced for life by a cell phone yapping inbred. The GS Adventure ended up in motorcycle heaven.

These people don't realized that the person they affect may not be very forgiving and won't accept a simple "I'm sorry". I did the first time; I won't the next time.






Its time to have the LEOs automatically check the cell phone records of anyone involved in a traffic accident.

To top this BS off, there is actually a "national texting competition", where young "texters" face off to see who can send the most texts in a specified time! One of the top contestests said he trained by sending 500 texts a day.

I was moved to opine this country's headed into the toilet, but I think it's too late.

My GS



My work truck

Walking Eagle said:

I can tell you when this s%$& MIGHT end. As soon as Plaintiff attorneys start AUTOMATICALLY subpoenaing telephone records after an accident, and prove that the a-hole causing the wreck was talking at the moment of collision, and this is presented to a judge/jury . . . things MIGHT change. Of course, by the time this happens, everybody on the damn jury will be secretly texting as they sit in the jury box, thus presenting yet another problem. . .

Also, I'll say it again: THIS "GOTTA BE IN TOUCH WITH EVERYBODY, ALL THE TIME" IS AN ADDICTION, AND IT'S NOT LIMITED TO CAGERS. I'm aghast at how the new cars are being advertised with MORE and MORE stuff to look at on the larger and larger display screens on the dash. . .WTF???? How's about looking out the windshield for the little kid on his bicycle???

Something about all these-here electronics ain't natural.

Serenity now. Serenity now. Serenity now.

Rant off.

Walking Eagle

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I only wanted to quote the first two sentences, which I think are important. The fact that I couldn't probably tells you that I neither text(?) nor use my cell phone unless I am parked.

In most jurisdictions, if you are legally drunk and involved in a crash, there is about a 99% certainty that you will be found guilty of causing the crash unless the driver of the vehicle you struck is also legally drunk. I expect that it then gets legally complicated.

Since it is well recognized that using ANY form of a cell phone useage is equivalent to driving with a BAC of .08, your idea of subpoenaing cell phone records of drivers involved in collisions is excellent. Can they tell by the records if the person was texting rather than calling at a certain time? The penalties should be greater for texting because of the greater distraction.

Enforcement and greater penalties have certainly reduced the number of drunk drivers on the road. More complicated for cell phone users (at present - who knows what the cops will be access instantly in the future from their cruiser computer.) Charging cell phone users involved in any crash is a good first step.

Police vehicles

I was almost hit by a city police officer. He was doing something on his laptop. When will it end?

While our ranting is really only preaching to the choir, perhaps someone lurking may get a better idea of the dangers.
From our friends at Twisted Throttle....these t-shirts were prizes at an open house...here is the back..


and the front..

I saw a young bicyclist texting while riding. At least he was on the sidewalk and not the road.

This past few days in KY Lexington Herald Leader was one of those brief state news side page items of motorcyclist hit by PU truck which had turned in front of the bike thus killing the as stated, helmet wearing biker.
It stated that the driver (as stated was wearing a seat belt) had not been charged thus my question is: these are common occurrences but do they ever result in the cage getting any penalty beyond a simple fine? It seems it might be more significant to say if the driver was eating,texting,all of the above or whatever instead of the usual dribble but then it isn't in court yet huh? Lots of parents losing their kids to this texting ,sad!
I found the earlier comments ,r.e., pilot training as more rigorous,etc.interesting(even though common personal knowledge to me); when we get serious about saving lives on the road maybe , just maybe we will start to actually train drivers to drive & ride.
I'll add my usual statement on this topic, that my local regional university stopped providing driver education teacher training in 1975! This is a national issue folks & I keep hoping somebody will have the political courage to tackle the problem with something more than the recent spate of texting laws.
I'd have put a link if not lazy & techno incompetent! end of rant...

walterK75 said:

I saw a young bicyclist texting while riding. At least he was on the sidewalk and not the road.

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That happens all the time around here...I mean ALL the time. I also have had to dodge pedestrians who are texting.

I'm always curious...what in the world are they saying in their texts? "Hi...I'm walking now. Hi...now I've stopped. Hi...I see a cute dog. Byeeeeeee!!!!"

Finally...I still think that video of the driver's test that required the driver to be able to drive a course while texting and not hit anything was terrific. I know it wasn't reality, but it should be! That video needs to go viral, somehow....how do you do that?

flyrider said:

I'm always curious...what in the world are they saying in their texts?

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If it is anything like cell phone conversations, absolutely nothing of substance!

Back in the day of analog cell phone transmissions, my HAM radio would pick up those conversations. Trust me, they were very shallow conversations to the point of

Saw a young girl the other day. She was skate boarding on the road in the dark and texting.