What is it with all the distracted driver lately.

[RandyT]

Wow! This is quite an assumption. There were no crashes before cell phones?

It may just be an assumption, but something has definitely changed.

 

[Jstpssng]

It may just be an assumption, but something has definitely changed.

I would say that considerably less than 10% of drivers can change their clothes or read a book safely while driving down a busy highway.
I also am not convinced things are as different as you seem to think. We all are the best drivers in the world; while "the other guy" should be using public transportation. If anything has changed it's our lack of consideration for fellow motorists; yet that isn't limited to the highway. Speeding amd drunk drivers still seem to lead the pack as far as cause of accidents.

This was the first site which came up on a search...

Topic: Road accidents in the United States

Find the most up-to-date statistics and forecasts about road accidents in the U.S.

www.statista.com

 

[Oaktree]

I thing it should be mandated world wide that every new vehicle should have a front facing recording camera built in as part of the rear view mirror, and there should be a hands free way to transmit live video when it is decided that someone ahead of you is driving dangerously as it is happening to the closest police force. It should show plate number and GPS co-ordinates. The camera should have the capacity to store a weeks worth of driving, incase the police need to see and get a copy of the recording to charge the dangerous drivers.

It's bad enough that we're under constant surveillance wherever we go. Just what we need is even more of it.
Is there anyone among us who has never done anything sketchy behind the wheel, even unintentionally (ie-fiddling with digital dash crap and wandering a bit, etc.) or maybe being fed up being behind a poky driver and passed on a double-yellow?

 

[Oaktree]

I guess voice activated would be better, but how many of the distracted drivers would be able to set that up without serious help? I don't recall it being like this when I used to go tot the office every day years ago.

Voice control means the vehicle is always listening. To every conversation in the vehicle. And doesn't that technology require the vehicle to send your command back to the mothership where it's translated into a command the vehicle understands?
Nope. Not for me.
Same reason I refuse to have an Alexa-like gadget in my home.

 

[Oaktree]

I gave up long before they became widespread. I almost T-boned a pickup who pulled out of a parking lot in front of me... I managed to kick the rear out and slide in front of her, stopping with my face just inches from the plow frame on front.
As I worked down through the gears so that I could start it she sat there screaming at me to get the **** out of her way. I took the bike home, put a sign on it and sold it.

I gave up riding for the same reason. Just too many crazy, inattentive drivers.
I will admit there have been times I've almost not seen a biker when pulling out of an intersection myself.

 

[RB5]

Voice control means the vehicle is always listening. To every conversation in the vehicle. And doesn't that technology require the vehicle to send your command back to the mothership where it's translated into a command the vehicle understands?
Nope. Not for me.
Same reason I refuse to have an Alexa-like gadget in my home.

I completely agree with you. We already have way too much surveillance. I remember in the 90s when they started placing cameras on all the freeways. That to me was the beginning of the end of our way of life. I expect that I am on cameras everywhere I go now.

 

[Fixastuff]

Surveillance thought process:

Would you be ok with surveillance if it got the point where crime was essentially impossible without the perpetrator being caught?

Me, I’m not sure!

 

[Jstpssng]

I expect that I am on cameras everywhere I go now

You probably are. Many vehicles including my company truck have dash cams. ATM machines, store fronts...
It's really a double edged sword. Look at the recent uproar when a CEO was caught at a concert with his HR head. (Or whatever they are called now.)
Conversely, a couple of years ago 2 mentally challenged women got lost on their way to the mall and were the subject of a massive statewide search. The last time they were seen was at a store 20 miles from me, then nobody knew where they went. After a couple of days a salvage store reviewed their cameras and saw the car going past the storefront window. At that point everybody including me knew what turn they had missed and it was only a matter of hours before they were found.
If not for that camera the tale likely would have ended differently, they were stuck and out of gas.

 

[rontaki]

Smile! You're on Candid Camera

 

[Eagle1]

Surveillance thought process:

Would you be ok with surveillance if it got the point where crime was essentially impossible without the perpetrator being caught?

Me, I’m not sure!

Nope....

 

[RB5]

You probably are. Many vehicles including my company truck have dash cams. ATM machines, store fronts...
It's really a double edged sword. Look at the recent uproar when a CEO was caught at a concert with his HR head. (Or whatever they are called now.)
Conversely, a couple of years ago 2 mentally challenged women got lost on their way to the mall and were the subject of a massive statewide search. The last time they were seen was at a store 20 miles from me, then nobody knew where they went. After a couple of days a salvage store reviewed their cameras and saw the car going past the storefront window. At that point everybody including me knew what turn they had missed and it was only a matter of hours before they were found.
If not for that camera the tale likely would have ended differently, they were stuck and out of gas.

Almost anything can be used for good or bad. It depends on who is in charge, and that is the problem.

 

[kent5757]

I gave up riding for the same reason. Just too many crazy, inattentive drivers.
I will admit there have been times I've almost not seen a biker when pulling out of an intersection myself.

Gave up 40 years ago when, with my wife on the back, a deer attacked the headlight on our motorcycle in the middle of the afternoon. Four miles before this incident, we passed a point in the highway where she had hit a deer in her car previously. She asked what I would do if a deer jumped out in front of us. Of course I said, "don't worry about it". No helmets, no leathers, just shorts, tee shirt and sandals. Fortunately, I didn't see this deer, just tensed up when the wife screamed and somehow kept the bike upright. Venison was good! Learned that you cannot be too careful with just 2 wheels.

 

[Dftodd]

I completely agree with you. We already have way too much surveillance. I remember in the 90s when they started placing cameras on all the freeways. That to me was the beginning of the end of our way of life. I expect that I am on cameras everywhere I go now.

I'm that person boogying through Walmart listening to the tunes. If I find myself on one of those people of Walmart videos, I'll make sure and sue for royalties

 

[Dftodd]

You probably are. Many vehicles including my company truck have dash cams. ATM machines, store fronts...
It's really a double edged sword. Look at the recent uproar when a CEO was caught at a concert with his HR head. (Or whatever they are called now.)
Conversely, a couple of years ago 2 mentally challenged women got lost on their way to the mall and were the subject of a massive statewide search. The last time they were seen was at a store 20 miles from me, then nobody knew where they went. After a couple of days a salvage store reviewed their cameras and saw the car going past the storefront window. At that point everybody including me knew what turn they had missed and it was only a matter of hours before they were found.
If not for that camera the tale likely would have ended differently, they were stuck and out of gas.

Our newest two work trucks have crash cams. They record all the time. But are only accessed in a wreck. (I hope )

One watching inside the truck cab, one with a front view of the traffic ahead of you.

So if your in a wreck, they will know if you were driving distracted, picking your nose, making a sandwich, etc.....

And they will also know if someone cut you off, or if you flew up on someone.

 

[panamaguy]

One third of American adults had mental illness or substance use disorder in 2024: Report

New data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration shows that while some progress has been made in reducing mental illness and substance abuse, 86.6 million Americans aged 18 and older had either a mental illness or substance use disorder in 2024.

justthenews.com

This likely does not help either. A third of the population. Scary

 

[sunandsand]

Scaremongering . . . (OMG we're all gonna die, send money so we can continue our vital work!)

I looked at the report. Nicely done, looks great, but smoking a cigarette is classified under nicotine abuse. Five beers "in one session" - size of the beers and length of the session undefined - is considered alcoholism. Scared of spiders? Sign of mental illness.

So is a person who has a cigarette and drinks five beers on a hot summer afternoon and is scared of spiders counted once or three times?

There is no denying that there are people with these various issues but saying one third of the population is afflicted, addicted, drunk and crazy seems highly improbable. (Then again, after reading the news, it does seem more likely . . . )

Anyway, I need to find a better grade of tinfoil to make my next hat out of. Be warned - I'm going to DRIVE!!!!

Stay safe out there and best regards,
Mike/Florida (which is reputed to be the land of the loonies)

 

[RB5]

Scaremongering . . . (OMG we're all gonna die, send money so we can continue our vital work!)

I looked at the report. Nicely done, looks great, but smoking a cigarette is classified under nicotine abuse. Five beers "in one session" - size of the beers and length of the session undefined - is considered alcoholism. Scared of spiders? Sign of mental illness.

So is a person who has a cigarette and drinks five beers on a hot summer afternoon and is scared of spiders counted once or three times?

There is no denying that there are people with these various issues but saying one third of the population is afflicted, addicted, drunk and crazy seems highly improbable. (Then again, after reading the news, it does seem more likely . . . )

Anyway, I need to find a better grade of tinfoil to make my next hat out of. Be warned - I'm going to DRIVE!!!!

Stay safe out there and best regards,
Mike/Florida (which is reputed to be the land of the loonies)

Get the heavy duty or restaurant grade foil.

 

[Jstpssng]

Get the heavy duty or restaurant grade foil.

The problem is that foil today is aluminum, not tin.

 

[sandman2234]

Sheaat, try driving a 10 speed manual while eating a sub and talking on the 2 way radio.
It used to be pretty common.

Still doing that, along with checking the GPS and answering the phone (Wife calls, gotta answer that one). Plus putting up with a bunch more sensors and crash mitigation stuff on the trucks.
David from jax

 

[Runner]

We live on a 45mph street, where people drive 60. Rush hour going home traffic. Guy ran up on my wife while she was slowing to make a right turn into our driveway. Apparently was not paying attention, so he had to slam on the brakes, then realized he couldn't stop in time so he headed for the right shoulder. But there is a tree and our mailbox on the right shoulder so he turned further right to avoid the tree.

After my wife turned into the driveway, he was again, coming right at her, almost T-boned her in the driveway, so he cranked the wheel hard right again and made a big donut in our front yard, then pulled back out on the road and kept going.

Sheesh....