Texting while driving killed 16,000 people between 2001 and 2007 in the U.S.

[Mefistofeles]

"Texting alone caused more than 16,000 deaths in car accidents from 2001 to 2007, the researchers estimated. But auto deaths involving cell phones and texting while driving rose 28 percent in just three years, from 4,572 in 2005 to 5,870 in 2008."

link

Stop texting (and talking, too) while driving. Continue at your own risk. I know several people who do it. Not just young people. Older ones, too.

[customerserviceguy]

1. We need to ban texting at the source

the telco companies. We got along just fine without it twenty years ago, and it serves no real purpose other than mindless entertainment.

It's like Vietnam, we're just waiting for the body count to get high enough before we pull the plug.

[Book Lover]

2. "...it serves no real purpose other than mindless entertainment...."

Just because you can't find a use for sending texts does not mean they are useless.

[customerserviceguy]

18. Tell me what you can do with a text that you simply cannot do

by talking on the very device you use to text with. Cheating on tests in school doesn't count.

[Ter]

25. Talking ties you down

If I have to communicate with someone I don't feel like talking to, I just text them "Just got home from safe Uncle!" Now, that Uncle chews my ear off and the phone call would last 15 minutes so texting is a far superior option.

Also, ever hear of mass texting? I sent out a mass text the other day to like 15 people saying "I am having people over, come by!" What a hassle it would have been to call all those 15 people personally. I saved a massive amount of time.

[customerserviceguy]

31. Well, being in a body cast

from an auto accident where you were texting would 'tie you down' even more.

Sounds like you're someone who wants to put a bit of what you perceive to be convenient over the needs of others to merely survive a trip to work, shopping, or school. Funny, I considered that a Republican family value.

[uncommon]

45. There is a difference between texting and texting-and-driving.

Pull your head out of your ass.

[customerserviceguy]

49. And there are too many addicted people

who don't seem to make that distinction. If they would not do it while driving, or at the movies, then it might be a boon to humanity. As it is, it's piling up its own body count.

We've seen what the MADD types can do with drinking, don't underestimate the power of a group that looks to ban texting in the same way that the teetotalers imposed their beliefs on the rest of us.

[Telly Savalas]

95. Did that poster once suggest that one needed to text while driving?

They were merely pointing out the usefulness of texting.

You're being an asshole.

[DailyGrind51]

62. Pull over then!

[Ter]

65. I don't have to

Because I don't text while driving.

[DailyGrind51]

70. Well, thank you for clarifying then!

[Book Lover]

38. Here are a few: 1- Keep silence in a library

2- Not interrupt a meeting with an audible ring

3- Avoid getting caught up in a lengthy conversation that I'd rather avoid

4- Communicate clearly while texting from a noisy environment

[customerserviceguy]

50. Ok, you have a point about the library

but there's an on/off button on a phone. I'm more than happy to use mine when in a situation where others would be disturbed, such as a play or at the movies. Also, you have that vibrate feature if you're really a doctor or somebody that important.

#2- Maybe you should be paying attention to the meeting. Or, don't attend it if it's not necessary for you to be there.

#3- Your phone has an 'ignore' setting for anyone you really don't want to get caught up in a conversation with.

#4- What noisy environments did you have in mind? A bar? How many other noisy environments are there where you can't simply step outside? And what's stopping you from sending an email from a smartphone?

[Codeine]

72. why are you making a distinction between emailing on a phone

and texting on a phone? What's wacky as hell.

[Book Lover]

74. Man, you've really got a bug up your ass about this

2- Take your sanctimonious attitude and place it upwards. Were you raised Catholic by any chance?

3- You don't have people in your life you must be social with or else suffer undesirable consequences? Must be nice to be you.

4- The one that happened to me yesterday was boarding a bus in an area where there was a lot of traffic. And what the fuck makes sending an email morally superior to sending a text? This is the one that proves to me you're simply being irrational about this whole thing.

[customerserviceguy]

78. I guess you consider those deaths and injuries to be acceptable

I don't. If we had moved away from the individual automobile and to forms of mass transit a hundred years ago, there would be a lot of lives saved. Now, it's too late, we have an entire economy that revolves around personal mobility in a two ton vehicle, and there's no going back from that.

Is texting that goddam important that it needs to be the next automobile?

[Book Lover]

84. Dude, have you not noticed that I'm talking about texting only,

not texting while driving? Sweet zombie Jesus, get it together.

[customerserviceguy]

86. Most who text

don't seem to make any distinctions about where and when they do it.

[musicblind]

10. Texting serves a great purpose

They get small messages across and certain vital questions answered that would not require an entire phone call, but need quick responses. Thus they save time and fall somewhere between a phone call and email.

As the promoter of a state level gay pageantry system... texting is a great way for promoters from other states to keep in touch and get things done/decided without always being tied to a telephone conversation or a time zone.

[madokie]

12. My wife and I text more than we call

not while we're driving mind you but text messages is my favorite way to communicate and I'm 62 years old.

[customerserviceguy]

21. And if texting had never been invented

would your marriage be either any better or any worse? If it were banned, would you find another way to communicate?

[uncommon]

46. This is irrelevant. It WAS invented. And frankly, written communication is where

technology is moving, so I would get over it.

[KittyWampus]

47. Black Box Voting Machines were invented too. Should we use them?

[uncommon]

48. You really want to compare texting to disenfranchisement? That's idiotic.

[KittyWampus]

56. I'll compare technologies that degrade society's capacity to function one way or other.

Texting has degraded our capacity to communicate effectively.

Read this thread-

some do texting so they don't have to talk briefly to someone they aren't fond of.
some use texting rather than getting therapy for social anxiety.


College professors say that young adults entering college can no longer write full paragraphs.

And they also can't handle mundane social issues with their peers.

Constantly stopping what you are doing to answer a cell phone to text actually disrupts your hormonal system and thought process.

Not texting while driving is a no brainer and yet many, many people literally can't help themselves.

Texting and the need to talk constantly on the cell phone is the technological equivalent to eating McDonalds junk food every day, all day long.

And just like many Americans can't grasp that junk food is not to be eaten on a regular basis, many Americans can't grasp that texting and cell phone use except for the rare occasion is bad for them.

[customerserviceguy]

51. All we're waiting for is the body count

We got into Vietnam, and we got into useless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, too, they were 'invented'. We just needed to see enough dead people before we pulled the plug on Vietnam, and we're waiting for the same thing with the last two wars, as well.

It isn't necessary, and it's killing people.

[customerserviceguy]

20. Someday, texting while driving

is going to kill more people than AIDS. Maybe that's the day you're waiting for, I hope we come to our senses way before that point.

Anything you can do with a text, you can do with an email. They're brief, and can be sent to a whole mailing list at once.

[Ter]

24. Driving PERIOD has already kill more people than AIDS and all the US soldiers in every US war

Wanna ban that too?

[customerserviceguy]

29. Nope

But I deal with drivers every business day, and I see the texters weaving all over the damned road, they're worse than the drunks.

Not too long ago, the idea of clamping down on drunk driving was seen as either impossible, or undoable, and we've changed laws regarding that. Drinking goes back a long ways further than some silly electronic device's use.

Driving serves a far more useful purpose in our society than texting ever will.

[Terra Alta]

60. I am against texting while driving.

But not texting in general. No one is going to get killed by two people texting from the comfort of their own living rooms. My best friend and I do it all the time.

[Radical Activist]

41. It's also very useful after a first date

or awkward one night stand.

[customerserviceguy]

52. So, just email

the "I really didn't think we'll work out, but thanks for the screw, anyway," communication.

[Ter]

66. Now you want to get their e-mail address too?

Texting is more convenient because to get an e-mail, you have to be near your computer, unless you have it on your phone. Everyone always has their phone next to them.

It's also vastly easier to sneak a nice silent text than to sneak a phone call at school or work.

[customerserviceguy]

79. Ah, lost productivity

Now there's another reason to ban it.

The reasons keep piling up, just like the body count from texting while driving. If the people who are so damned addicted to it could keep it in control, we wouldn't be having conversations like this one.

[snooper2]

22. Trust me, we would if we could :)

There's a reason we haven't given "custom ringtones" to business customers (even though our switches are perfectly capable of providing that feature) :)

And don't even get me started on twitter....

[Ter]

23. You sound like someone's grandpa

Seriously, just because we didn't have something 20 years ago doesn't mean we should live without it, even though we can. Would you like to ban the internet? 20 years ago it wasn't around (in current form at least). How about GPS? How about TV? Seriously, stop it. Banning is for dictators.

[customerserviceguy]

32. I don't want people surfing the Internet while driving, either

But I don't see too many trying to do that, yet. If it does happen, then we'll need to invent devices that will only work when you're using both hands on them.

As for GPS, you can safely drive and use one of them, it gives you the information you need to get into a lane in enough time to keep from having to make a dangerous sudden lane change. GPS eliminates a lot of 'lost' driving. It's fallacious to compare it to texting.

[Terra Alta]

34. Texting does have a purpose for me

I have social anxiety and I hate the sound of my voice. I would rather send a simple one line text rather than 30 minutes talking on the phone. I never text while driving though.

[customerserviceguy]

37. Can you email, as well?

Or, have you considered getting some sort of treatment for the anxiety? Hiding behind a machine will not fix your problem.

I do favor the use of electronic devices for people with disabilities, it's just that the constant 'need' some people have to text is going to make a lot more of us disabled or dead.

[Terra Alta]

58. I do e-mail.

But texting is just easier for me, and quicker.

Also, I am getting help for my anxiety, and on medication. I also work with the public every day, I do enough talking on my job, when I'm on my own time I'd rather just text.

[Radical Activist]

39. Ban telephones too.

We got along just fine without them 100 years ago.

[customerserviceguy]

53. Telephones, even cell phones

don't distract drivers anywhere near as much as texting.

[NYC Liberal]

44. We got alone "fine" without a million other things thousands of years ago

that we have today. Shall we go back and live in caves?

[customerserviceguy]

54. We may very well have to do without some modern conveniences

when we find out what the damage from them is.

With texting, it's clear that there is a mounting body count from these things, we need to nip it in the bud before it becomes impossible to do so.

[NYC Liberal]

61. Fixed your post for you:

"With texting while driving, it's clear that there is a mounting body count from these things, we need to nip it in the bud before it becomes impossible to do so."

[customerserviceguy]

77. So, what's your solution to this problem?

Education? Hasn't worked so far, the young idiots that do this sort of thing think they're invincible.

Technological breakthrough? Perhaps some device in a car that absolutely prevents the text feature from being used is an idea, but there's no device that cannot be hacked.

Unless someone comes up with something else, banning this practice before it seen as a 'necessity' is the only answer. I don't consider the casualties in the OP to be acceptable losses, the way that the military thinks of civilian casualties as 'collateral damage'.

[NYC Liberal]

80. "banning this practice before it seen as a 'necessity' is the only answer"

Texting while driving is already banned.

As for "the young idiots that do this sort of thing think they're invincible" - it was found that more adults than teenagers text while driving. So, this isn't a problem that can just be dumped on the youth.

[customerserviceguy]

87. Adult, indeed

They're just adolescents who happen to be over either age 18 or 21, whichever age your statistic is using as the cutoff.

It's banned in a handful of places, but enforced nearly nowhere. You should see all the damned texters on the Garden State Parkway that I encounter most every workday. They drive worse than I do after I've had a couple of beers with my buddies after work. I should be grateful that they're the swervers who will be pulled over instead of me, but someday, they're likely to hit me. And I don't drive some big-ass SUV.

[ladywnch]

55. 20 years ago, texting was just coming into existence. when I was selling both services

you couldn't GIVE AWAY text paging services ......everyone only wanted cell phones..... 'why would I text when I can get a live person on the phone?'......and now people will text back and forth for 15 minutes when a 30 second phone call would have taken care of the whole interaction.

[Ter]

67. One huge advantage for texting:

It gives you time to think of a reply. When talking to a girl, it gives ya some time to think. When talking phone, you have just seconds to reply, and may say something stupid.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

63. What an ironic text-based message to post on the internet.

[customerserviceguy]

90. I assure you, I was posting it from my den

Which was not in motion, relative to the ground below it, mind you.

[Codeine]

71. It's a perfectly valid form of communication.

It's inappropriate while driving, but so is nearly every other thing we do in life.

[customerserviceguy]

89. So, how do you get idiots to stop doing it?

Or are the casualty figures in the OP just 'acceptable losses' to you?

[Odin2005]

81. LOL, go live in a cave if you hate technology so much.

[customerserviceguy]

88. What I hate

is that self-indulgent assholes kill people because they find it so damned important to be able to LOL their BFF, no matter how stupid the circumstances.

[Odin2005]

91. I'm all for banning texting while driving.

You are saying texting should be banned, period. Fuck that

That is like saying alcohol should be banned so people won't drink and drive, I'm sure the Neo-Prohibitionists at MADD would love that idea...

[customerserviceguy]

97. And look how they've got their way

because people who can't drink responsibly screw it up for those who can. Texters should expect the very same thing to happen to them, and they won't have the weight of thousands of years of texting behind them when they go to moderate those who would take it away from them.

So, what's your solution to this problem? Passing laws that are unenforced and unenforceable, thus widely ignored?

[fishwax]

93. we got along fine without cell phones too -- why stop at banning texting? pull the plug on telcos

[Manifestor_of_Light]

3. Darwin awards.

I'm smart enough to NOT drive and talk at the same time. No call is worth risking your life, or someone else's life, over.

I cringe when I'm in Houston and there are Muffies with phones glued to their ears, barreling around a too tight left turn in a large SUV, not paying attention to where they are going.

[TheMadMonk]

5. If all they were was Darwins I'd cheer them on. It's their taking out me and mine...

...that I object to.

[JI7]

16. but some who end up being killed are not the ones who were texting

[gscraig]

4. it is getting banned, slowly but surely

Just like mandated seatbelts, texting while driving is becoming illegal state by state. Not that this will stop everyone, but a step in the direction of saving lives.

[PJPhreak]

6. How hard would it be,

To put a phone signal blocking device in a car,So yhat someone has to stop their car and step out of the automobile while using your phone...we did it for decades,it was called a "Payphone"

[Historic NY]

7. Its not hard at all, you can't play with a Sat. Radio in a GM car when driving..

you are limited to doing only a few things,,the rest requires you to be stopped.

[Ter]

27. Oh please, no more of this

They already did this to DVD units in the car, so it can't play a movie if the car is moving. Thankfully, there are ways around it. Even if I don't watch movies or text while driving, I don't mind at all there being a law against it. However I don't like the option not being there making it physically impossible to do.

[taterguy]

68. What happens if you're a passenger in the car?

[PJPhreak]

69. As far as I care,

Please don't me started on Front seat DVD players,Vid screen Internet Displays on the dash or Nav Units.

I drove for a living and i will be the First to say that Automobiles are not Rolling Living Rooms or a Mobile Office,they are first and foremost designed to be Driven!

Park yer Phonebooth and drive yer car!

If you wanna surf the net...GO HOME!

If one wants to watch "Independence Day" Please do it from your Lazyboy...Not yer Recaro!

In other words,A car is a 4000 Lb Deady Object moving upwards of 80 Mph...Treat it as Such!

[RB TexLa]

8. Driving in cars caused all deaths in car accidents from 2001 to 2007

Stop driving. Continue at your own risk. I know several people who do it. Not just young people. Older ones, too.

[musicblind]

11. Best post so far lol. n/t

[Mefistofeles]

30. The problem: If people don't drive they can't get to work

do you compare those repercussions with what would happen if people wait a while until they text?

[flamingdem]

9. k n r

[Edweird]

13. Considering that over a 6 year period roughly 22,500 Americans die during autoerotic activities

(in other words: masturbating) I'd say texting deaths are pretty close zero statistically speaking.

[RandomThoughts]

14. The death by autoerotic afixiation.

Is in a great episode of X-Files, one of the best episodes.


http://www.watch-thexfiles-online.com/Watch_The_X-Files_Online_Season_3_Episode_4_Clyde_Bruckmans_Final_Repose.html

I highly recommend this episode. It is hysterically funny :D

note that the meaning to death by masturbation comes from concepts of life being about family lines, or ancestor houses, and the concept of such a thing would make having children more difficult in some situations.




Side note, glad I posted a few post ago, I have not ever killed anyone.

Side note, I like the many days on the road in many bars playing pool, many good times :)

For some humor :)
Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b-by5e4saI



I should note I don't believe in that fate doctrine but it is a doctrine of no free will that creates despair. And is used to keep people from trying to do better in life.

[RandomThoughts]

15. side note

That is only a belief system of some groups, other groups believe nobody knows how the spirit works on those matters. And in Buddhism it is believed to not be blood lines at all.

Because blood lines add a despair, and a broken element to society, that the other concepts of God choosing spirit, or after life of every spirit, I think there is a reason that false doctrines of blood lines exist.

Although honoring ancestors I think is important, I don't think physically having children is what continues the existence of people in the after life, that would be moving the spiritual into the material, it seems to be thinking in mortal concepts in areas of spirit.


But it is a good episode. And there is concepts of cultural memory and how raising children can impart far more into the learning and spirit of a child then a physical act would add.

So again I think that concept of blood lines is moving things, as the guy in that film says, about making everything about sex. Although pleasure in life is a good thing, it is hard to rationalize that as meaning of spiritual existence.


Side Side note, the post was an obvious correlation to the previous poster.

It also debunks the 'twins' myth, the twins myth is a concept that one brother gets all the good stuff, the other all the bad stuff, it is one of those myths to give people breaking of empathy even in their own family.

The myth is interesting, but again has the purpose of breaking empathy, or thinking outside of spiritual terms.


And I love Lady Gaga, Think she is not only a talent singer, but also has a great heart.

Lady Gaga - Poker Face
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bESGLojNYSo

[Terra Alta]

59. Just don't tell Christine O'Donnell that stat. nt

[DailyGrind51]

17. If the call is THAT important, you can pull over to make it!

[snooper2]

19. I don't think we have that many Darwin awards to give out..

nt

[Scout]

26. if the only ones who died were the texters, i'd say no big deal, let them die....

but unfortunately the texters aren't the only victims.

i think i should be able to shoot anyone i see who is driving and texting, before they kill me or someone else....

[Xithras]

28. It's unfortunate, because there really is a simple technological solution to texting while driving.

Since 2005, every cellphone sold in the U.S. has a GPS unit to enable e911 service. This was mandated by federal law.

If you have a GPS signal, you can easily calculate the speed of the phone. The solution, then, is simple. If the phone is moving at more than 15MPH, disable speech and texting functions unless there is a bluetooth or other hands-free device connected. Voice will only work with a hands-free. Texts will be queued until the vehicle comes to a stop (unless the phone is equipped with text-to-speech software).

[fishwax]

94. that would needlessly restrict a lot of perfectly safe behavior as well

like texting while in the passenger seat or while using public transportation.

[Wednesdays]

33. There was a funny message on the sign in front of a local jewelry store

"Honk if you love Jesus. Text if you want to meet him."

[PBS Poll-435]

35. They need to recall those telephones NOW

And I am sure that the FCC is going to have a laundry list of questions as to why the Motorola Razor caused so many crashes without recording it in its EDR.

[PBS Poll-435]

36. And stop selling them until we can figure out the 'cause' of these incidences.

[Radical Activist]

40. How many die while messing with the car stereo?

Or while trying to eat breakfast and drive on the way to work?

Isn't texting getting attention because it's the latest thing and it gives older people another excuse to shake their heads at young people.

[Mefistofeles]

43. In fact, most young people are AGAINST texting and driving. Not only older people

97% of the population think texting while driving should be illegal, according to this late-2009 poll:
http://documents.nytimes.com/the-new-york-times-cbs-news-poll-on-distracted-driving#p=1

[KittyWampus]

57. Not the same thing. False equivalency.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

64. In what way is it different?

Besides it being something that you yourself do?

[flvegan]

42. People need to stop doing all that extraneous shit while driving.

FFS people, what is so hard about getting behind the wheel and driving? Yammering endlessly on a cell phone, texting, eating, hair/makeup/shaving, reading, fooling with the stereo/gps...just drive for chrissakes.

[Codeine]

73. I love to text. Seriously love the shit out of texting.

But I still manage to avoid it while driving. I wish people would stop eating behind the wheel as well. It's slovenly AND dangerous.

[Lorien]

75. !!!!

Horrible. I can't imagine why anyone would even consider trying to read or text while driving. That there needs to be laws against it....??!!!! Insane!

[Kat45]

76. Making things even scarier, truck drivers have been texting a lot.

Our local news did a report on it tonight, and when they went out on the road with their cameras, a number of trucks passed by with their drivers texting! It's scary enough for the driver of a car to have his or her eyes off the road, but someone driving such a huge, heavy vehicle...

[customerserviceguy]

92. Well, that should get the body count high enough

Why can't they just stay on their CB radios like they used to? It kept their eyes on the road.

[Roland99]

82. Texting is as deadly as terror attacks and wars in two countries.

[Zavulon]

83. I'd like to see life sentences for killing while texting.

I've lost two friends (same accident) to an asshole 19 year-old who just couldn't wait to text and couldn't bring himself to pull over. I see no reason why that asshole should ever experience freedom again.

[lib2DaBone]

85. Traffic deaths from texting up 10% per year for last three years....

I don't care if texters kill themselves... just don't take me along....

[hendo]

96. Texting while driving is illegal in Wisconsin

I'm pretty sure its also illegal in California, and when I moved out of Colorado a year ago there was talk of making it illegal there too. Can the rest of the states just not keep up or something?