Is this going to end?

[William]

Because it just seems to be getting worse.

I've been in a training camp the last three days and now that's it's done I decided to get out on the bike this morning to help get loosened up and get the blood flowing. I'm coming up a small climb and I see a guy in an Audi crest the hill and come toward me on his way down the hill. Beautiful day, and I can clearly see that from the point that he came over the crest until he passed me about half way down the hill he never once looked up from his lap. F'ing around on his phone and he had absolutely no clue he passed someone on a bike. Someone walking or riding in his direction would have been lucky if they didn't get hit. Shook my head all the way back home!





William

[Lewis Moon]

Originally Posted by William

Because it just seems to be getting worse.

I've been in a training camp the last three days and know that's it's done I decided to get out on the bike this morning to help get loosed up and get the blood flowing. I'm coming up a small climb and I see a guy in an Audi crest the hill and come toward me on his way down the hill. Beautiful day, and I can clearly see that from the point that he came over the crest until he passed me about half way don the hill he never once looked up from his lap. F'ing around on his phone and he had absolutely no clue he passed someone on a bike. Someone walk or riding in his direction would have been lucky if they didn't get hit. Shook my head all the way back home!
William

The only way it will end is if there are significant penalties for being caught, if you cause an accident the penalties are huge and if you kill someone, it's negligent homicide and you do time.

[AngryScientist]

it's going to get worse before it ends.

new tesla.

there's no way you're going to lower the air conditioning and change radio stations without significant time with eyes not on the road.

"but officer, that cyclist came out of nowhere; i was just trying to get my seat warmer on..."

[chiasticon]

and people still bust my balls about spending time on the local MUT...

[bikinchris]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

it's going to get worse before it ends.

new tesla.

there's no way you're going to lower the air conditioning and change radio stations without significant time with eyes not on the road.

"but officer, that cyclist came out of nowhere; i was just trying to get my seat warmer on..."

Even my lowly Ford Transit can do all of that with voice commands.

[Marc40a]

My prediction is that the distracted driving trend will end when cars automate.

But, as AngryScientist said, it's going to get worse before it gets better.

And don't get me wrong, it's going to be ugly, real ugly.... people are going to go kicking and screaming.

Eventually, exorbitant insurance costs will migrate the remaining holdouts flying the "freedom to drive themselves" flag.

[mistermo]

Solutions:
1-self driving cars
2-stiffer penalties
3-technology that disables texting while driving (underway)

[djg21]

Originally Posted by Lewis Moon

The only way it will end is if there are significant penalties for being caught, if you cause an accident the penalties are huge and if you kill someone, it's negligent homicide and you do time.

Criminals commit crimes because they think they never will be caught. It doesn’t matter how strident the penalties are. The same goes with respect to texting when driving, etc.

The only way distracted driving can be addressed is through technology, and then a Senator’s family member will have to be killed before any pressure to innovate is brought to bear on auto manufacturers.

It’s going to eventually come down to autonomous cars. Until then, there is no reason why cars cannot be made to disable phones automatically, and there is no reason why auto/driver interfaces need to be so complicated, and distracting.

[Dead Man]

Does anyone have any stats to corroborate there's a growing problem? Or is it just a perception thing? I'm not seeing it, but I'm just one guy in one little corner of the world.

[David Kirk]

I'm sorry to say that I believe nothing at all will be done about this and instead the focus will be on self driving cars. There's no money to be made by stopping people from being distracted but there is HUGE money to be made in changing the entire vehicle fleet to self driving.

In the mean time the roads are more dangerous than they need to be for all users.

dave

[Tickdoc]

Absolutley getting worse and going to keep getting worse. My wife's car does the lane keeping thing (volvo) and while it can be just the nudge you need when distracted, it also encourages more distraction. Also, it doesn't work at all on crappy roads (most of our roads, btw).

Not looking good for the bicyclist I'm afraid.

[Onno]

I agree with Dave. We already have ample evidence that distracted driving is as bad as drunk driving, but enforcement and punishment are very rare. I think this is because: a) it's somewhat hard to catch and prove; and b) there's a perception that because everyone is doing it, it can't really be wrong; and c) the police themselves do it.

[Climb01742]

Cellphone companies and car companies_could_solve the issue through technology. They simply don't want to, or don't see the upside unless every carrier and car company did. I also wonder if a company tried to address it would that somehow open the door to legal responsibility, for example being sued by the family of someone killed by a texting driver, where the family could claim the company was aware of the dangers yet did nothing to stop it.

It's a huge abdication of responsibility on the parts of carriers and car companies, and I wonder how they live with themselves. But in reality, only self-driving cars will address the issue because too many people believe their right to text supersedes the right of others to live.

[Ken Robb]

In our 2014 Mazda 3 it is impossible to input anything into the nav system while the car is moving. That can be frustrating when there is a passenger who could do it safely but I think it's probably a good feature from a safety standpoint.

I would guess that distracted drivers looking at a screen are at least as dangerous as a driver with .08 level of alcohol in his blood but the penalties are vastly different.

[zap]

Originally Posted by Dead Man

Does anyone have any stats to corroborate there's a growing problem? Or is it just a perception thing? I'm not seeing it, but I'm just one guy in one little corner of the world.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/b...ic-safety.html