Texting

[dave1949]

Or when you go to pass a person you come up on while using cruise and they speed up and match you, and when you go faster to pass they keep speeding up like they want to race.

Seen my share of that too. :laughing: And if you pull back in behind them, you just know that five miles down the road you will be repeating the exercise and they will remain clueless.

Another is people who are passing as you approach something that requires moving to the left lane: a really slow vehicle, LEO on the roadside, etc. You slow down and they slow down, but always beside you and often in your blind spot. What the he11 are they thinking?

It's drivers like these that have taken all the enjoyment out of driving, inspire road rage, and cause accidents.

 

[3930dave]

Or when you go to pass a person you come up on while using cruise and they speed up and match you, and when you go faster to pass they keep speeding up like they want to race.

Chances are they weren't texting - if so, they probably would not have noticed you were there !

Rgds, D.

 

[aczlan]

Seen my share of that too. :laughing: And if you pull back in behind them, you just know that five miles down the road you will be repeating the exercise and they will remain clueless.
Another is people who are passing as you approach something that requires moving to the left lane: a really slow vehicle, LEO on the roadside, etc. You slow down and they slow down, but always beside you and often in your blind spot. What the he11 are they thinking?
It's drivers like these that have taken all the enjoyment out of driving, inspire road rage, and cause accidents.

Speaking of idiots on the road (as happened to me last week):
Slow driver in front of me going ~15mph under the speed limit on a well traveled 2 lane road in a no passing zone. I put on my turn signal and start to move over and pass as soon as I enter the passing zone (ie: front tires passed the first dash and I started moving over). When I was ~1/4 of the way out, the guy behind me (who was still in the no passing zone) came around me and passed me... He then turned off ~ 1 mile down the road having saved a whole 30 seconds and almost causing an accident...

Aaron Z

 

[3930dave]

I can get 2-3 days out of my phone (Touch Pro 2 with Windows Mobile 6.5) and still have 60% left if I have light calls (~1 hour/day).
But, that is running a custom firmware, no data or wifi usage to speak of, an extended battery pack, etc. I use my phone as a device to make calls and a PDA rolled into one device.

Aaron Z

This "basic" phone was rated for 23hours talk, out of the box.

LG GX300 - Full phone specifications

More discussion like this should probably go into another thread, but I'll attempt to loop back to the original post...

How and when many people interact with technology is pretty messed up - nobody should be texting while driving being where this discussion started.

Many people do the same with these new phones - turn everything OFF they can. We are heading in a direction here that doesn't make much sense to me, as little of it has much to do with real needs. As much as it would be interesting to have the much money, using loaded up smart phones with most everything turned OFF makes me think of buying a Veyron to drive on an island with a 20mph speed limit. Bling quotient is there, but practically speaking it is a pretty useless exercise.

I'm old enough to remember when cell phones were marketed firstly as a Safety device, esp. for single women ? Ironic, given the thread topic.

Rgds, D.

 

[Bob77064]

WARNING!!!! If you are driving in Tennessee and see a tractor trailer truck that's painted in THP colors.......

THP uses a new tool to catch distracted drivers

And some people don't see that vehicle.

 

[3930dave]

And some people don't see that vehicle.

Can't really be summed up better than that, can it ?

Rgds, D.

 

[aczlan]

How and when many people interact with technology is pretty messed up - nobody should be texting while driving being where this discussion started.

I agree.

Many people do the same with these new phones - turn everything OFF they can. We are heading in a direction here that doesn't make much sense to me, as little of it has much to do with real needs. As much as it would be interesting to have the much money, using loaded up smart phones with most everything turned OFF makes me think of buying a Veyron to drive on an island with a 20mph speed limit. Bling quotient is there, but practically speaking it is a pretty useless exercise.

In my case, I turned things off because I am within 100' of a computer for at least 80% of my day, so I don't normally want to be bothered with email, etc the other 20% of the time but I need to sync several calendars and be able to get online if needed (which isn't really feasible on a "feature phone").

In some cases, they get a "Smart Phone" because the "Feature Phones" that most carriers offer have horrible call quality (or that has been the case on most of the ones we looked at). There is a reason why my wife still has a "older" flip phone (Motorola W755)...

Aaron Z

 

[aczlan]

Can't really be summed up better than that, can it ?

Its all about pattern recognition, a semi with lightbars on the roof is not seen as a "threat" like a Crown Vic or a Tahoe with the same light bars would be...

Aaron Z

 

[mikehaugen]

The problem with building things idiot-proof is that the world keeps building better idiots.

Awesome quote! :laughing:

 

[PILOON]

Last summer i was at speed limit (50KPH) following a skateboarder going downhill on this secondary road I often travel.
I did not need to touch my brakes as he kept up the speed for about 3-4 miles.

HE WAS TEXTING AS HE COASTED ALONG AT 50 KPH! on his skateboard! Blew every stop as well!

Actually an awesome show, but scarey as all get up!

Then there are those cyclists with Walkmans plugged into their ears! in heavy city traffic!

 

[DT86]

Then there are those cyclists with Walkmans plugged into their ears! in heavy city traffic!

I have noticed an increasing number of idiots wearing ear buds in both ears while driving lately. I always wonder what the h*ll they are thinking... oh wait... they aren't thinking.

 

[Raw Dodge]

I turn off my gps transmitter by default,i only turn it on when using the navigation feature..my data connection as well it's off when I want to check email,I'll turn it on then back off.so my phone cannot detect speed without either of these disabled it needs at least one to do that.i do this for battery life,hardly anyone leaves there gps on that I know...so it's easy to get around anyway,and SMS texting still works when data is off,because you still have your cellular radio enabled.they can't disable that or your phone wouldn't work when moving,if they do that I'll get rid of the phone because it's useless at that point..

 

[Daver1963]

I have noticed an increasing number of idiots wearing ear buds in both ears while driving lately. I always wonder what the h*ll they are thinking... oh wait... they aren't thinking.

Back in the late 1980's there was a problem with U.S. military personnel (mostly Army) in West Germany going out to the haufbrau house, getting drunk, taking a shortcut back to base via railroad tracks, entertaining themselves by listening to a Walkman, and getting run over by VERY FAST trains. There for a while it seemed like you read at least one story a week in the Stars & Stripes about that happening.
AFN-TV (Armed Forces Network) did an experiment where they took SOBER troops out to the side of a railroad crossing, turned their back to the direction a train was coming from, put a Walkman on them, and told them to give a hand signal when they heard the train. Almost all of them, by the time they signaled they heard the train, it was just about even with them. If they had been on the track there would have been no chance of them getting out of the way. Again, that was with sober troops.
AFN aired that story constantly for a couple of months and slowly but surely death by train dwindled down to a few a year.

 

[Midniteoyl]

I turn off my gps transmitter by default,i only turn it on when using the navigation feature..my data connection as well it's off when I want to check email,I'll turn it on then back off.so my phone cannot detect speed without either of these disabled it needs at least one to do that.i do this for battery life,hardly anyone leaves there gps on that I know...so it's easy to get around anyway,and SMS texting still works when data is off,because you still have your cellular radio enabled.they can't disable that or your phone wouldn't work when moving,if they do that I'll get rid of the phone because it's useless at that point..

SOme phones will also turn off texting if its paired with the cars bluetooth..

 

[Midniteoyl]

I have noticed an increasing number of idiots wearing ear buds in both ears while driving lately. I always wonder what the h*ll they are thinking... oh wait... they aren't thinking.

I seem to remember this was a problem when Ipods first came out too.. people couldnt hear the emergency sirens and got into a lot of accidents crossing an intersection

 

[DT86]

I seem to remember this was a problem when Ipods first came out too.. people couldnt hear the emergency sirens and got into a lot of accidents crossing an intersection

Lol. It's funny you mention iPod's. Every dang one I've seen have had the standard Apple ear buds crammed in their ears. It doesn't make sense though... most new cars and new aftermarket radios have an input jack just for iPods and the like. In my truck the radio doesn't even work and I do own a iPod but would never drive with ear buds in both ears!! I just talk to my dogs, much more entertaining.

 

[Bill Hoffman]

How the heck can you drive safely if you can't hear what's going on around you?
Oh wait, you can't. My GPS in my car won't allow any interaction as far as
entering new data, direction request, etc., while the car is moving. So the
technology is there for disabeling cell/text. If you're caught bypassing the
block you lose your driving PRIVILEGES for a year. No excuse, no reason,
no nothing. The only number that will work would be 911.

Bill

 

[aczlan]

How the heck can you drive safely if you can't hear what's going on around you? Oh wait, you can't.

I agree.

My GPS in my car won't allow any interaction as far as entering new data, direction request, etc., while the car is moving. So the technology is there for disabeling cell/text. If you're caught bypassing the block you lose your driving PRIVILEGES for a year. No excuse, no reason, no nothing. The only number that will work would be 911.

That will not fly. What do you propose doing about those who are passengers in cars, buses, boats, trains, subways, etc? How will you let them text/call while preventing the driver from texting/calling?

You say "If you're caught bypassing the block you lose your driving PRIVILEGES for a year. No excuse, no reason, no nothing."
How do you propose enforcing this? My phone is not locked down by my carrier in any way, it is not allowed to connect unless I tell it to. Its not allowed to run any programs unless I ask them to run.

From my earlier post:

1. If its a software block, there will be a video on Youtube within a month showing how to remove it.
2. If its a network side (ie: on the towers) change, it would not work for just the driver without software on the phone (see #1 but it might be 3 months).
3. If its proximity based and retrofittable, someone will hack the jammer and make it a "no texting zone" device for themselves and/or to bother others.

Aaron Z

 

[oosik]

Aaron Z,
What is your answer to this texting situation??

 

[aczlan]

Aaron Z,
What is your answer to this texting situation??

Same as with drunk driving. Enforcement and education. Anything else will not stop the 15-30 crowd as they will get around it and will just be an annoyance to everyone else.

Aaron Z