OT: From one Second to Next - film about Texting while Driving

[slidey]

Goes beyond the obvious, and builds a human context to real tragedies.

Here (http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/08/09/werner_herzog_texting_while_driving_documentary_fr om_one_second_to_the_next.html)

[rallizes]

Werner Herzog...great artist.

[Louis]

I wonder if this will have a significant impact on even just 5% of the people who watch it?

Personally, I doubt it - the convenience of cell phones and texts is more important to them than the lives of others.

[SlackMan]

My sense is that after viewing the video, many people would still text because their overconfidence in their own abilities would convince them that "it won't happen to them." I think the same thing often happens for drivers who drive drunk and those who drive too fast on icy or wet roads. Unfortunately, this overconfidence winds up causing deaths and much pain and suffering by others. If only everyone could just be a bit more humble...not only in driving, but in other areas of their lives too.

[Louis]

Is it legal to text while driving, and if so, why hasn't it been outlawed in all 50 states?

It used to be legal to ride in a car without a seat-belt, but a few years of enforcement, and now nearly everyone does it. I'm sure the same could be done for texting, if folks cared enough to do something about it. I guess not enough X-Men have be paralyzed below the diaphragm and not enough Amish have wiped off the road.

[slidey]

Here's a nice list (http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html) of laws and their extent of applicability in various parts of the US.

Is it legal to text while driving, and if so, why hasn't it been outlawed in all 50 states?

But yes, I agree with you and SlackMan, texting is such an innocuous action while not driving it is easy to convince oneself that a slight lapse of a few seconds is not all that risky. Just a couple of hours back, I saw a lady driving a SUV and yapping away on her cellphone - really blows my fuse! :mad:

[Louis]

Here's a nice list (http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html) of laws and their extent of applicability in various parts of the US.

Thanks for the link.

Why am I not surprised that MO has practically no restrictions on this stuff?

[Jaq]

I wonder if this will have a significant impact on even just 5% of the people who watch it?

Personally, I doubt it - the convenience of cell phones and texts is more important to them than the lives of others.

I doubt it, too. Thing is, I'd wager about 95% of people who text & drive pull it off; maybe a little less. I mean, everywhere I look these days while driving, I see people looking down at their laps. If I'm behind someone, I can look into their rearview and see their eyes going up and down.

The other day I caught a winner: got passed with literally only centimeters to spare by a big black SUV. Pulled up to the light and looked inside: fat girl, texting, music blasting, and a dog in her lap. The worst part: she's going to breed.

[soulspinner]

My sense is that after viewing the video, many people would still text because their overconfidence in their own abilities would convince them that "it won't happen to them." I think the same thing often happens for drivers who drive drunk and those who drive too fast on icy or wet roads. Unfortunately, this overconfidence winds up causing deaths and much pain and suffering by others. If only everyone could just be a bit more humble...not only in driving, but in other areas of their lives too.

The difficulty seems in seeing it from an enforcement standpoint. In a 12 passenger van on the way back from the Jersey shore the number of young people (seems a lot of young women) texting at 75 mph amazed me.

[phcollard]

A couple month ago a young woman was killed in the Montreal metro. She was texting and instead of stepping into the metro she stepped into the gap between two cars and fell on the rails. She was dragged along for two stops before someone finally noticed her but of course it was too late.

http://globalnews.ca/video/516277/montreal-subway-death-blamed-on-texting