Well, I just watched another Blab-N-Drive nearly run over a child

[theHandpuppet]

I made a quick trip to the store and when leaving, stopped my car at a CLEARLY MARKED CROSSWALK where a young boy (abt 10-12) had been waiting to cross. Everyone, in fact, stopped with the exception of one self-involved blabbermouth with a cell phone glued to her ear. She was so busy blabbing she blew right through the crosswalk and nearly hit this child. Some other folks who saw this were dumbstruck. I turned the car around to get her license plate but by that time Miss I-Can't-Stop-Talking was long gone.

Folks, when you're driving, GET OFF THE DAMN PHONE. And if you MUST make a call, for Chrissakes pull over!!!!!!

[Aerows]

1. ^^^This^^^

Cannot be repeated enough. If you need to talk to someone that badly, pull over and finish your call. No conversation is worth your life or the life of the person you run over.

[dixiegrrrrl]

60. Yet, this week I have watched 3 current tv shows where the actor(s) are driving & talking on a cell

All the shows took place in Cal., interestingly.

[Aerows]

71. Every single accident

I or a family member have been in during the last ten years were caused by someone talking on a damn cell phone. I was rearended by a tow truck. Luckily, I wasn't in my usual car, because I would have been killed. I was in my mother's tank of a car after I took it to get an oil change. Dad got rearended at a red light. Cause? Person on a cell phone.

Mom got sideswiped. Cell phone person, barely even realized she's sideswiped mom's car until my mom blared her horn repeatedly.

It's insane. They are as bad, if not worse than, drunk drivers. How do you miss a huge truck stopped at a stop light and plow into them? How do you miss a humongous Grand Marquis with the turn signal on slowing down to move into the U-turn lane in broad daylight? How can you sideswipe someone, not even realize it and have to have the horn tooted at you for you to realize you just had a wreck?

Absolutely ridiculous.

[dixiegrrrrl]

72. Many years ago I drove a Beetle, on long commutes

There were the usual dufus drivers around, but not nearly as bad as I have seen in the last decade.
Anyhow, I got an airhorn installed in the Beetle, because of experience with people backing into me and not hearing the horn.
It made a HUGE difference in people's attention spans when it went off.

[Aerows]

73. LOL!

That's awesome! Maybe we need to install louder horns on vehicles LOL!

[uhnope]

2. good example of how smart phones are contributing to increasing idiocy/derangement of our society

and how it's not just the individual's business whether they use smart phones--it's lowering the quality of life in the USA for all that have to put up with it. The danger of drivers/bicyclists/pedestrians texting, the cluelessness, the inability to plan, the loss of the power of conversation...

[L0oniX]

14. Smart phones for dumb people. Irony?

[SomethingFishy]

17. Bullshit.

It's not the PHONES. It's the PEOPLE.

A smart phone can be a very handy device.

However you give one to a moron and they are going to use it like a moron.

Cell phones are lowering the quality of life? You mean that small object that replaces, map, compass, flashlight, telephone, computer, phone book, library, TV, newspaper, video game machines, guitar tuners, not to mention the apps that make it possible to control much of my work tech from my phone? Yeah what a pain in the ass that thing is

[uhnope]

23. it lowers the quality of life of those of us around idiotic users

who are crashing their cars into us while texting and talking on them and walking down the street like zombies...and as a whole generation loses the ability to communicate in person or to plan ahead or to focus for more than a minute at a time.

As for the idiots using them, their quality of life is unaffected because they barely conscious anyway

[gcomeau]

57. What a fascinating fantasy world you live in...

Smart phones haven't changed crap about how much people interact with each other or how distracted they are, they're just a different excuse for someone already not interested in interacting with or paying attention to you to pay attention to something else.

If it wasn't the phone, it would be an alternative.

[uhnope]

58. lol. angry defense of smart phones

says a lot about you

[gcomeau]

59. Reading that as me being angry says a lot about you.

If I was angry you'd know it.

I'm bemused, at most.

[fishwax]

37. what evidence do we have that it was a smart phone?

[uhnope]

40. vs what?

any cellphone that texts and takes selfies qualifies for the idiocy

[fishwax]

41. vs a feature phone

Even the most basic phones text. And a camera doesn't constitute a smart phone. (The actions described in the OP didn't involve either of these things, though.)

[cstanleytech]

3. Ya they do it all the time in my area.

And there are times I want to break their freaking wrists for it.

[theHandpuppet]

5. I've caught school bus drivers doing it, too

You parents out there might want to think about that.

[MineralMan]

7. If I ever see a bus driver talking on a cell phone

while driving with children on the bus, I will personally see to it that that driver is fired. I'll start with a 911 call, and will take down all information. I guarantee that driver will be looking for other work.

[theHandpuppet]

15. I've caught two so far.

I was only able to get the info from one of them and I made the mistake of reporting them to the school admin rather than the police. You made a good point -- call the police first.

While we're at it, if I see another asshole pass a school bus that has its stop sign out and lights flashing, I swear I'm going to install a dash cam on my car and start turning these fuckers in.

[MineralMan]

20. In MN, passing a school bus with lights flashing is

a gross misdemeanor and can get you a year and a lost DL.

[tammywammy]

45. A school district around here is installing cameras to catch people filling around them.

Drivers that do that need their license revoked.

[BrotherIvan]

4. Couldn't agree more

I've almost been run over while walking numerous times with a person in a luxury (always) truck with a phone. It's *illegal* in my state, and still it happens all the time. Glad the kid wasn't hurt.

I just heard an ad for a new Mercedes with Facebook, Yelp and Google in the dash that you control from the steering wheel. Who on earth thought that was a good idea???? It will definitely lead to accidents.

[theHandpuppet]

6. Wow, I hadn't heard that.

Sheer insanity.

[Art_from_Ark]

18. Here's another bit of insanity

I've seen people in Japan watching dashboard TV while they were driving

[2naSalit]

25. They are a

group in this society who can't be bothered with paying attention. Long before cell phones existed in the general population I used to see guys in high$$ vehicles reading the newspaper while driving down the street at 40 - 50mph and women putting on makeup while traveling at similar speeds. It doesn't seem to matter what the distraction is, there are a number of people who should never be allowed to drive, period. It's a privilege, not a right.

[IVoteDFL]

54. Spot On

My dad was hit while riding his bike by a guy yelling at his kids in the backseat and broke his damn back. I also remember my grandma literally praying the rosary behind the wheel all the time and getting into several minor accidents before someone finally took her car away. I'm a pedestrian myself, I do my best to pay attention to my surroundings because if it isn't a phone it's a bag of McDonalds, or they are dancing to the radio.

[2naSalit]

69. What many fail to recognize

is that as soon as they step out of their vehicles they, too, are pedestrians.

[iscooterliberally]

24. I agree. I was hurt by a blab n drive, and they got away.

i spent a week in the hospital with multiple fractures. The person made a right on red while on the phone. All legal in my state. I was on a motorcycle. I tried to swerve to avoid hitting the car, but my front tire washed out. People stopped to help me but no one got the tag of the car. To this day I don't think the person on the phone even knows what they did. I wish there was a safety feature in cars that blocked cell phone signals when you put the car in gear. I was out of work for two months.

[truedelphi]

28. That is one horrible story. I hope you' re now fully

Recovered, and I hope you remain safer from now on.

I really like the idea of a safety feature to block phoning while the car is in motion.

[iscooterliberally]

31. I'm ok now. This happened 6 years ago to the day.

i had a few surgeries and they stuck me back together. I was commuting on a motorcycle to save money on gas, which was about $4 a gallon at the time. I tried public transportation, but it took far to long and was unreliable so I got the bike. In hindsight it was a bad choice. I rode 17000 miles in 15 months on that thing. I let my guard down. People don't drive well in this country. Cell phones make the problem far worse. It's like we have drunks on the road 24/7 now.

[truedelphi]

68. I take it you live in California - like I do.

Last edited Tue Oct 28, 2014, 07:57 PM - Edit history (1)

Terrible public transportation, and very expensive gasoline, even though the refineries exist inside the state, polluting our air and water. So you'd think someone like Feinstein woud fix that (But then she is probably in on the take.)

Glad to hear you are on the mend. I am extra cautious when out walking along a roadside near my home. Little two lane residetnial street, but have had one incident where a mini van driver swung past me doing 40 Mph and she clipped my purse. then at the bottom of the hill, after she clipped me, she rolled down her window and asked for directions. Apparently she couldn't figure out her GPS system. I told her, quite calmly, to call the police and report her hitting my purse and arm, and then to ask the cops for those directions.

Like you say, it is the equivalent of being drunk - 24/7. Yes eating while on the road also causes the same effect, but no one eats more than three meals a day. But cell phone and texters and GPS'ers are on the devices the second they get in their vehicles til they shut them off at their destination.

[iscooterliberally]

70. Actually I'm in South Florida.

I haven't been out to California for a long time, but I remember it being much the same as South Florida as far as traffic goes. Too many cars, not enough road and no more room to build anymore roads. Public transportation only works down here if you have to go a couple of miles. Anything much more than that and it takes all day. Stay safe out there!

[theHandpuppet]

32. You're right -- she probably doesn't even know what she did

I know that woman today who nearly hit the kid didn't even realize how close she came to killing a child. Even in the rear view mirror I saw she hadn't even slowed down and was still blabbing away.

I'm very sorry for the pain & suffering you were put through. One day that driver will pay the price.

[iscooterliberally]

38. Thank you! Driving does require our 100% attention.

so many things can go wrong. I wish it were more challenging to get a license testing wise. In my state you need to have pulse and 26 forms of identification. it's like they care more about who your are and could care less about whether you can actually drive. I wish our state would spend more on public transportation too. I lived in Boston for two years, and left my car parked. I rode the train everywhere. You can blab all you want on the train. I miss the T, but not the snow!

[JI7]

8. selfish assholes

i see it all the time.

[dorkzilla]

10. Yep! And when they're not running down pedestrians...

...they're holding up traffic texting after the light turns red or worse, swerving into the oncoming traffic. Selfish pricks. NOTHING IS THAT IMPORTANT.

[greatlaurel]

9. Good grief, I am sick of watching people on the phone, talking and texting.

Was almost hit head on by a nut texting while turning left onto the road where I was sitting at a stop sign. I had to gun the gas and head to the ditch to get away from the idiot. He gave me a dirty look when I laid on the horn. There is a good portion of the population that are not very intelligent.

Thanks for the reminder to not chat on the phone while driving.

[theHandpuppet]

21. Yeah, they act like they're the innocent party

I nearly t-boned another car at an intersection when another Blab-N-Drive blew right through a stop sign. When I laid on the horn she used her one free hand (the other one needed for the phone, of course, not the steering wheel) to flip me the bird and screamed obscenities at me out her window.

[lpbk2713]

11. It wouldn't surprise me if she had some rude comments for the kid.

For interrupting her conversation.

I've seen that sort of thing happen before. People have no idea how
close they come to killing someone with their thoughtlessness.

[L0oniX]

12. Terrorists are driving next to you everyday ...and they WILL kill you.

[heaven05]

13. self absorbed

narcissistic. Killer of innocents. Drove 18 wheelers for eight years of my life. A lot of people have no clue as to how foolish they are being while driving at 70 miles an hour.

[belzabubba333]

16. forget the l.p.# and just grab a rock

[HoosierCowboy]

19. Glad I'm not a cop

Instead of shooting defenseless dogs, well....

[FailureToCommunicate]

22. Maybe if she'd seen this PSA she might be less likely to use the phone:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/R0LCmStIw9E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[2naSalit]

26. I would like to see

this video as the opening graphic on all cellphones... or maybe they should be able to detect when the vehicle is in motion and instead of allowing you to call or answer, they would show this video... or maybe not function unless the vehicle is stopped (with the possible exception of allowing you to dil 911 by pressing a single key and no other calling options until the vehicle is stopped. If they have GPS capabilities to tell you where you are and how to get to point B, they should also be able to program these devices to have only emergency functions while a vehicle is in motion and, perhaps, a voice note letting a driver know if an incoming call is being made and that they can only answer if the vehicle is not in motion.

[Eleanors38]

47. At first I thought she was screaming because she...

... couldn't find her cell phone.

Pretty realistic, having stopped to help in a real multiple-death head-on some years back.

[truedelphi]

27. People who drive and blab continually praise themselves as to how

Well they are able to multi-task. (Until they actually kill someone or other.)

But until it happens, they just don't realize all the close calls they cause, on a daily if not hourly basis.

[theHandpuppet]

30. Oh yeah, I've heard more than one

Some seem to take pride on just how they can multi-task while driving.

[C Moon]

29. Just saw one myself (left my name and number) last hour.

The lady was pulling out of a parking lot on to a 3 lane road, and ran smack into the rear end of a car that was driving by—3 lanes away. Just a fender bender; I didn't see if she was on the phone, but I don't see how you can miss a car that passes by you, and then is right in front of you.
:/

[valerief]

33. Well, she IS the center of the universe. All the Me-Firsts are. nt

[customerserviceguy]

34. If it had been Text-N-Drive

she probably would have hit the kid.

Tell me, was this driver one who felt the incomprehensible need to either look in the direction of the phone, or one who was subconsciously compelled to use hand gestures while blabbing on a cell phone?

[theHandpuppet]

39. Actually, she wasn't paying any attention at all to the many pedestrians

I could see she was looking around for a parking space while blabbing. Didn't even slow down when she came to the large, CLEARLY MARKED CROSSWALK in front of the store. Obviously she was only interested in her surroundings as much as they pertained to her. Driving a big-ass SUV, too, so if she had hit someone they'd have been toast.

[mindwalker_i]

35. I think it's time to start arming phones

For freedom!

[azureblue]

36. And today

I was on the freeway entrance ramp, right behind some woman in an SUV who was yapping her head off. I was watching her carefully and drop way back, because I have this feeling she will do something really stupid -- she is oblivious to the speed of freeway traffic and pulls onto the freeway at about 40 MPH without looking, and almost broadsides a large pickup truck that was probably doing 65. Behind him is a semi, and to his right is a semi - the pickup, to avoid getting broadsided, stands on its brakes, the semi does the same and its trailer fishtails, barely missing the semi in the next lane over who also hits his brakes because the pickup veers left. I held back on the entrance ramp to stay out of the way of this debacle, and let it go past before I pull on. Woman has not one effin clue, doesn't even look around her - she drives for about a half mile at 45 before hanging up and, you guessed it, speeding up to about 75.

[3catwoman3]

42. Cell phone use while driving was recently made illegal...

...in Illinois, with potential jail time if there is evidence tha a crash occured while a phone was in use. Doesn't seem to be deterring many people.

[theHandpuppet]

43. In some states you can't be pulled over for using your cell phone...

... unless you are committing some other offense first, e.g., speeding, busted tail light, et al. I think that's B.S.

[pipi_k]

44. It takes a special

kind of egotistical, self-absorbed, "me first" asshole to be pissed off at the person they almost killed while likely talking nothing but bullshit on a cellphone behind the wheel of a large moving weapon.

There are very few things that make me want to seriously kick someone's ass, but this is one of them.

[ReRe]

46. It's why I carry binoculars in my car...

... you never know when those suckers will come in handy, like if the blabber had actually hit the youngster and ran. One thousand-put the car in park, two thousand- punch the flasher button and open the door, and three thousand-- memorizing the license plate number in the binoculars as the driver speeds away.

[Mister Nightowl]

48. Volkswagen - Eyes on the road

[theHandpuppet]

50. Wow -- that was incredible!

They ought to be showing this in every theatre in America.

[kairos12]

49. If you caught her she would have said you can have my smart phone when you

pry it....well you know the rest.

[tridim]

51. I was hit by someone talking on a phone...

This was the early days, before texting. I just walked across a sidewalk on the way to work, and a van driver at the stop sign didn't see me crossing and gunned it. I ended up on the hood and windshield. I wasn't hurt, but I had some choice words for the driver.

"Uh, sorry man, I didn't see you!"

Yea asshole, you didn't see me because you were talking on your phone instead of looking out for pedestrians. Grrrr...

[TorchTheWitch]

52. Amen and amen!

I've seen the same so many times and nearly have been run over myself either when I'm on foot or in my car. Wore thing is they don't even NOTICE they've nearly killed you!

There is nothing so important other than calling 911 because of some crazy person following you that you must use the phone for while driving. I can't even understand how people use a phone while driving. I had to call 911 once because of some freak following me home from work late at night and could barely find the right buttons.

I hate trying to read directions for the same reason while driving since I have so much trouble doing that while driving appropriately at the same time. I always try to memorize as much as I can of directions and do as much reading of them at red lights when I can though I have pulled over to read and more often driven the wrong way when I couldn't and had no where to stop like on the highway going through a cattle shoot or just after going through a toll booth. Better to go the wrong way and have to turn around than cause an accident.

[theHandpuppet]

53. You made a very good point

I suspect a lot of these self-absorbed blabbers think they're great drivers who would never cause an accident but truth be told I doubt they even notice how close they've come to causing one. It was pretty obvious the woman who nearly hit that child hadn't a clue she just blew through a crosswalk and nearly killed that boy.

[TorchTheWitch]

56. I'm convinced it's more an attitude of "I'm using the road now...

you can use another road, that's why the highway department made so many of them." I don't really think they believe they're good drivers I just think their attitude is that however they drive it's everyone else's responsibility to stay out of their way, and if they should moe anyone down it's their fault for not realizing that they were using the road at that time.

Phone, food, putting on make up, shaving their beard, playing with the radio... they just don't give a shit that anyone else has a right to use the road and certainly shouldn't when THEY are using it. Even trees, houses, lights, etc. have no business being where they are driving.

[Mister Ed]

62. The day I swore off:

A few years back, I was cruising along a country road when I received a cell-phone call from my brother. We talked for a minute or two.

Although looking straight ahead, I was somehow oblivious to the fact that I was heading for a four-way stopsign, at an intersection where a group of motorcyclists were stopping and crossing, one by one. At the last possible moment, my panicked passenger gestured frantically to get my attention, and I braked to a hard stop.

I feel certain that, without my passenger's intervention, I would have blasted through that four-way stop at 60 MPH, and probably taken out one of the motorcyclists. And what then? A biker maimed or killed? His family shattered? My own life ruined, and my family brought to ruin as well?

Then and there, I swore that I was done using that cell phone while driving. And I have kept that oath. I have no right in this world to subject anyone to the danger in which I placed those motorcyclists and my passenger that day, all for my own pleasure and convenience.

I see some replies on this thread declaring that cell phone use is no more distracting than my car radio, or talkative passengers. On that, I can only speak for myself, and I know that cell-phone use distracts and disengages me in a way that nothing else even approaches. I doubt I'm the only one.

[theHandpuppet]

65. Thank you, Mr. Ed!!

You have the comfort of knowing you'll never be sorry for that decision.

[Daemonaquila]

55. So tired of hearing how using a phone on the road is evil.

I've also seen people nearly run over pedestrians or bikers because they were blabbing to the person next to them, dealing with the kids in the back of the car, being distracted by the built-in movie screen hanging from their ceiling, eating and steering 1-handed, rummaging in a purse, and much more. Yet I don't hear people losing their crap over passengers, kids, animals, entertainment systems, or other distractions in the car. I'm really tired of this one type of distraction being the cause du jour. Bad drivers are bad drivers, and people simply need to be aware of the many distractions they can create for themselves, and act much more sensibly.

[KingCharlemagne]

61. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Both for this post and for stopping to respect

the pedestrian's right of way!

I refuse to answer calls that come in when I'm driving. They go into voicemail. Driving in Los Angeles is intense enough without the added distracitons of fumbling with buttons and whatnot. (My cellphone is a dinosaur now, but even if I had the latest i-gadget, i would never talk on phone while driving).

[obxhead]

63. It should count as a third offense DUI.

Possible 10 years in prison and instant loss of license for a minimum of 10 years.

[Alkene]

64. Hang up and drive, and make the world a little bit safer.

Hang up and walk, or at least don't come barreling straight towards me in your mesmerized condition, forcing one to step aside. I makes me feel rather put out.

Hang up and think, or at least occasionally look away from the screen and feign an expression of cognition so that the living may have a better sense of whether or not we've begun the zombie apocalypse.

Hang up and tune into the people and the world directly around you,
because you'll be sorry that you missed those fleeting moments that only happen once.

[WhiteAndNerdy]

66. I don't understand why people have to yack all the time now.

I grew up before cell phones, so I know it's possible to live one's life without constantly chattering. One of the reasons I've always loved driving long distances is that out on the road, I'm away from phones & no one can bother me.

And I really like my stick-shift because it's basically impossible to drive and hold a phone at the same time, at least for me, because I'm clumsy. People know if I'm out & about, I'm not going to answer my phone.

[KamaAina]

67. "Blab-N-Drive" FTW!