Coming Soon: When a Cop Points His Radar Gun at You, It Could Detect More Than..

[Que]

I hate those things! I had an episode once after rounding a corner on the highway and a PO was there with his radar. It took me a whe to stop shaking.

 

[jkaetz]

You telling me people are literally that addicted that they can't shut off their phone for a simple car ride?

Someone should get them to a psychologist, because they need serious help.

Car rides are a boring time suck most of the time. Why would you not use your mobile device for entertainment/work/education/etc... as a passenger? Drivers should have the self discipline to ignore the devices until they are stopped but the average driver doesn't even know how to merge with traffic on the interstate properly.






This state of affairs has also been brought on by society's "now" mentality. Everything has to happen now. How many times have you heard the phrase "Time is money."? Our society has attempted to fill every waking moment with action and interaction. There is no down time anymore until you go to sleep. People even take their devices on vacations to keep in communication with their normal routine.

The only real solution to distracted drivers is to remove all the distractions. No infotainment systems in cars, just a map and you can put in a destination when your stopped. No radio, music can be cranked up so loud that you don't hear sirens or other warnings around you. Turn the car into a Faraday cage and block all radio signals to prevent phone usage.

Now how many people do you think would buy such a car? Distracted driving has always been an issue, how many police reports stated that a collision occurred because someone was fiddling with the radio or adjusting the air conditioning in their car? Texting is only the current hot button topic. Only when drivers accept that driving is a full time active task will the situation improve and no amount of legislation or enforcement will make people focus. They will only focus on how to not get caught. Speed limits have never prevented speeding so why would texting laws prevent texting?

 

[forgop]

Or using our radios while driving. We should just turn them off while in the car so they do not distract us. I talk on my radio ALL THE TIME while driving...OH NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

Just pointing out the law only applies to the average Joe with a cell phone, not the police I've seen playing with their laptop along side of me while they're moving.

 

[Denny347]

Just pointing out the law only applies to the average Joe with a cell phone, not the police I've seen playing with their laptop along side of me while they're moving.

It's a dumb law but I am required press the PTT on my radio mic and have a conversation whilst driving. You mad at me because I do that as well? They did not ask our opinion when creating this law. In fact there was a recent news story that stated this was rarely enforced by us. So you still mad at us since we decide not to enforce a law we don't care for?

 

[forgop]

It's a dumb law but I am required press the PTT on my radio mic and have a conversation whilst driving. You mad at me because I do that as well? They did not ask our opinion when creating this law. In fact there was a recent news story that stated this was rarely enforced by us. So you still mad at us since we decide not to enforce a law we don't care for?

Not blaming you whatsoever. Just tired of laws being passed that do not apply to those who write and are supposed to enforce said dumb laws and the double standard to which they are applied.

 

[snafu21]

Upon getting into my car, my phone connects with the cars Blutooth and blocks all texts. It's not a feature that is stock, I set it that way by choice because texting and driving is idiotic and kills way too many people. When someone texts me while I'm in the vehicle they will get an "Auto-Reply" as it reads in the pic below. I can speak over the sound system hands free if it's important.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

I'm not so certain I'm on board with the "no texting while driving" meme. When I was an OH-58 pilot (back when the Army had single-pilot aircraft) I used to talk/listen on THREE radios, tune radios and nav gear, read a map, and look for bad guys all at once. Public Safety folks in Marion County used to have multiple radios, pagers and telephones with which they had to cope while enroute to various types of emergencies. The vast majority of accidents that I saw or heard of were due to a) accidents during vehicle pursuits, b) accidents due to excessive speed for road conditions (usually FD) or c) accidents caused by third parties who did not obey traffic law or yield the right-of-way to emergency vehicles.

Having said that, I realize that not everyone can multi-task safely enough to operate a motor vehicle while operating a communications device (some can't "single-task" well enough to operate a motor vehicle), but just because some or most of you can't safely multi-task doesn't mean that many of the rest of us can't. Instead of attempting to prohibit particular actions, why not just hold people responsible for the harm they actually DO?

 

[snafu21]

I'm not so certain I'm on board with the "no texting while driving" meme. When I was an OH-58 pilot (back when the Army had single-pilot aircraft)

My first MOS was 67V (OH-58 Crewchief) 4 6th Calv Ft Hood TX

 

[Blackhawk2001]

My first MOS was 67V (OH-58 Crewchief) 4 6th Calv Ft Hood TX

Was it during the period when CEs were also acting as observer/gunners or was it before or after that? (D 4/7 Cav 2ID ROK - C 3/5 Cav (ID Ft. Lewis)

 

[indyblue]

Guys there is this thing called blue tooth and text to speech.

I don't even have to touch my phone to send a text message in my car.

This law was irrelevant before it was even passed.

That's great that you do it that way. I use voice commands on my iphone to make calls; "call home" or "call wife at work" is all I have to do.

However, watch 20 & 30 somethings drive by and every one of them is thumbing away on their phone ignoring all of those great "hands-off features"! The law is not irrelevant - I never see anyone using the hands-free features.

 

[snafu21]

Was it during the period when CEs were also acting as observer/gunners or was it before or after that? (D 4/7 Cav 2ID ROK - C 3/5 Cav (ID Ft. Lewis)

Our unit didn't have CE's as observers. That was right at the tail end of the 58's in active duty units though back in 94/95 before we gave them all away to Highway patrol or state police. I was a CC/Door gunner on the MH-47 while in 2nd Bat 160th SOAR at Ft Campbell though.....

 

[Tombs]

I'm not so certain I'm on board with the "no texting while driving" meme. When I was an OH-58 pilot (back when the Army had single-pilot aircraft) I used to talk/listen on THREE radios, tune radios and nav gear, read a map, and look for bad guys all at once. Public Safety folks in Marion County used to have multiple radios, pagers and telephones with which they had to cope while enroute to various types of emergencies. The vast majority of accidents that I saw or heard of were due to a) accidents during vehicle pursuits, b) accidents due to excessive speed for road conditions (usually FD) or c) accidents caused by third parties who did not obey traffic law or yield the right-of-way to emergency vehicles.

Having said that, I realize that not everyone can multi-task safely enough to operate a motor vehicle while operating a communications device (some can't "single-task" well enough to operate a motor vehicle), but just because some or most of you can't safely multi-task doesn't mean that many of the rest of us can't. Instead of attempting to prohibit particular actions, why not just hold people responsible for the harm they actually DO?

When I was driving dump trucks, I was required by company policy to operate and respond on 2 different radios and my phone. Doing that while driving an 8 speed and keeping on top of your 3rd axle is certainly a lot of work.

But it still is nothing compared to texting because none of it required taking my focus away from the road. And my radio also interfaced with my phone and allowed me to operate the phone straight through the CB.

 

[edporch]

I like this device.

Texting and driving is more dangerous than drinking and driving.
AT LEAST a drunk driver is LOOKING at the road!

 

[zippy23]

My favorite line in the article is the "Virginia Distracted Driving Summit" There is a summit for everything, where a bunch of politicians and high authority figures all get together, wine and dine, talk about how much they care for everyone else, and they need a way to invade our privacy in order to protect the children! How will they be able to distinguish one car in a small group or large group of cars? That wont happen. They will just pull more people over and hand out more revenue enhancers.