Texting & Road deaths - any link?

[User]

 

[tyred]

It does appear to me that texting while driving is now almost the norm around, especially with young teenage girls.*

*based on my own observations of traffic behaviour and I do not have any stats to back it up.

Sent from my BBC Microcomputer.

 

[Nearly there]

I was riding about 50 feet behind a white van at about 20mph which suddenly stopped so I had to go around It,as I went past I looked in the window he was texting gggrrr

 

[Norm]

It does appear to me that texting while driving is now almost the norm around, especially with young teenage girls.*

I feel honour bound to point out not only that I don't text'n'drive but I haven't associated with young teen aged girls for a long time. Not since the magistrate advised me strongly against it.

 

[Dave Davenport]

I was a passenger in a car last weekend on a two lane road. The car in front kept wandering out of the inside lane, as we drew level it was a young'ish girl texting, my mate gave a good blast on the horn as we passed, she didn't bat an eyelid, totally engrossed.

 

[LarryDuff]

Could the rise in pedestrian deaths and injuries also be due to more and more people wearing headphones and not being able to hear oncoming cars. Also texting while walking and completely oblivious to everything else going on around them.

 

[Dave Davenport]

Could the rise in pedestrian deaths and injuries also be due to more and more people wearing headphones and not being able to hear oncoming cars. Also texting while walking and completely oblivious to everything else going on around them.

Could well be a factor.

 

[bof]

Traffic cops routinely check for texting and mobile-phoning activity when they investigate fatalities.

 

[numbnuts]

he was texting gggrrr

Looks like he can't spell either

 

[Kizibu]

I saw a young woman speaking into her mobile phone recently as she negotiated a right turn in her BMW (Queens Rd into North Rd, Brighton). Her version of hands-free was to crook the phone in her neck as her left hand was steering. Her right hand was holding the cream doughnut she was eating. I thought it was a very clever but not very smart.

 

[LCpl Boiled Egg]

Traffic cops routinely check for texting and mobile-phoning activity when they investigate fatalities.

Nice that they take an interest after the event... shame they do nothing to stop texting and driving BEFORE someone is killed.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I haven't seen any stats on this but from personal experience I'd say that some of the least road aware driving I've experienced has been from people fiddling with hand held devices and forgetting that they're supposed to be driving.

 

[Melonfish]

Nice that they take an interest after the event... shame they do nothing to stop texting and driving BEFORE someone is killed.

and how would you stop it? we have a limited number of police officers and we don't have cctv and mobile phone monitoring in every car.

i reckon you shouldn't just have a key for your car, you should have to slot your phone into the dash. which also activated the in car comms kit.
combined with those new wireless keys it should be safe enough. can't remove phone without it cutting the engine.
sadly that'd be expensive and would make your car cost several thousand more most like.

buy a bicycle!

regarding ped deaths, i think we should make them all wear helmets.....

 

[Arch]

Could the rise in pedestrian deaths and injuries also be due to more and more people wearing headphones and not being able to hear oncoming cars. Also texting while walking and completely oblivious to everything else going on around them.

On the other hand, yesterday while driving the electric truck through town, a man walked straight out in front of us and dawdled across, and he wasn't holding a phone or anything, just utterly unaware. Either of us (bright yellow vehicle) or the bus behind us.

There's a left turn we make on the way back to base, from a main road into a side road, and watching people walking along the pavement you can generally guess which ones are going to look before they step across the side road. We're always going dead slow anyway in case. Also yesterday, there was a woman standing in the middle of this side road, with a pram, calling back to a small child who was yet to cross.

 

[benb]

On the other hand, yesterday while driving the electric truck through town, a man walked straight out in front of us and dawdled across, and he wasn't holding a phone or anything, just utterly unaware. Either of us (bright yellow vehicle) or the bus behind us.

There's a left turn we make on the way back to base, from a main road into a side road, and watching people walking along the pavement you can generally guess which ones are going to look before they step across the side road. We're always going dead slow anyway in case. Also yesterday, there was a woman standing in the middle of this side road, with a pram, calling back to a small child who was yet to cross.

Of course I'm sure you're aware that vehicles turning into a side road should give way to pedestrians already crossing.