DWT should be as socially unacceptable as DUI

[Chuck]

DWT is three times more dangerous than DUI, and should logically be treated as severely, if not more so, both under the law and in terms of social censure.

Charles W Moore - THECHRONICLEHERALD - Jul. 12, 2009

One possible resolution: mod cars so both hands on the wheel most of the time is required to avoid the vehicle shutting down --Ed.

Driving while intoxicated has become such a social taboo that most people recognize the acronym DUI (driving under the influence) used by police and prosecutors, and rightly so. But according to a growing body of research and empirical observation, DWT is a potentially worse hazard than DUI, and should be just as socially unacceptable as driving drunk.

DWT? That would be "driving while texting" (sub-category: driving while tweeting) — the most pernicious of a variety of distempers afflicting our culture as a consequence of pandemic cellphone addiction.

According to a U.K. Transport Research Laboratory study, commissioned by the Royal Automobile Club Foundation, motorists sending text messages while driving are "significantly more impaired" than ones who drive drunk. The study showed texters’ reaction times deteriorated by 35 per cent, and a whopping 91 per cent decrease in steering ability, while similar studies of drunk driving indicate reaction time diminishment of about 12 per cent... [Read More]

[Right Lane Cruiser]

Oh how I agree on the dangerous nature of that practice!! The photo above scares the daylights out of me.

I don't like the two handed requirement idea, though. There have been too many driving circumstances that have required me to shift often enough in my manual transmission vehicles that I went long stretches with only one hand on the wheel.

[Chuck]

I think standard transmissions would have to be exempt for the two hand rule - automatics have proliferate the cellphone problem.

It's the same old problem: irresponsible people that prompt laws to compel them to act adult-like, then they scream Nanny State.

It's their own fault!

[Blackbelt]

Sorry, but the only thing dumber than texting is texting while driving. As far as i am concerned, texting while driving should be an automatic 6 month suspension of your license.

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by Blackbelt

Sorry, but the only thing dumber than texting is texting while driving. As far as i am concerned, texting while driving should be an automatic 6 month suspension of your license.

That's a rather close-minded opinion on texting, and a rather knee jerk reaction to it being done while driving.

Texting is the primary form of communication at my company when a face-to-face is not possible or convenient, or when a documented conversation is preferable to a memorized one. It is also how I interact with our network monitoring systems. I prefer it by far to a phone call and like it almost as much as instant messaging. My daughters live half a continent away and, being teenagers, sometimes the only contact I get from them at all is via texting.

Texting while driving can be done responsibly. I tend to hold my phone within my field of vision and type just one or two characters before beginning my 5-point scan again. When done in this fashion it is no more distracting than changing the radio station or reaching for any other button in the car that requires hand-eye coordination.

As has been mentioned there are many things that can cause serious levels of distraction: spirited conversations, makeup application, shaving, eating, rocking out, etc. Unless you plan on criminalizing every single distraction or unsafe thing that can occur in a vehicle then there's nothing at all that should be done about texting.

[lightfoot]

Originally Posted by BailOut

Texting while driving can be done responsibly.

Maybe so, but the relevant question is whether the majority of people will do it responsibly. Drinking alcohol while driving can also be done responsibly, but the majority do not do so and therefore it is outlawed in the US.

I have been assistant coaching a group of teenaged athletes and have dinner with them every night at restaurants. Every night, one or two of them is busy on her cell phone, totally focussed on that and completely oblivious to the conversations around them. If texting is that absorbing, how can they possibly partition off enough of their attention to focus on driving safely?

[Blackbelt]

Originally Posted by BailOut

That's a rather close-minded opinion on texting, and a rather knee jerk reaction to it being done while driving.

Texting is the primary form of communication at my company when a face-to-face is not possible or convenient, or when a documented conversation is preferable to a memorized one. It is also how I interact with our network monitoring systems. I prefer it by far to a phone call and like it almost as much as instant messaging. My daughters live half a continent away and, being teenagers, sometimes the only contact I get from them at all is via texting.

Texting while driving can be done responsibly. I tend to hold my phone within my field of vision and type just one or two characters before beginning my 5-point scan again. When done in this fashion it is no more distracting than changing the radio station or reaching for any other button in the car that requires hand-eye coordination.

As has been mentioned there are many things that can cause serious levels of distraction: spirited conversations, makeup application, shaving, eating, rocking out, etc. Unless you plan on criminalizing every single distraction or unsafe thing that can occur in a vehicle then there's nothing at all that should be done about texting.

Yep, i am close minded because in my OPINIONtexting is stupid. It's a telephone. Telephones facilitate spoken communication. If you need to tell someone something, then CALL THEM.
As to texting while driving, you can try to convince yourself that you are no more impaired than changing a radio station, but the rest of us know that just isn't reality. Driving is a full time activity. Even talking on a cell phone with a hands free is impaired driving.
Oh, and i also think that eating, shaving, and applying makeup while driving should be in the same bill as texting.

[gershon]

Driving while distracted is already against the law, but it would be up to the victim to prove that talking on the cell phone or especially texting was a distraction sufficient to cause the crash. By having a law, the victims wouldn't have to provide proof.

However, there is something interesting....the fatality rate has declined in proportion to the number of cell phones being used.

[juglo-j]

One possible resolution: mod cars so both hands on the wheel most of the time is required to avoid the vehicle shutting down --Ed.

I don't think this is a good idea. I NEVER drive with both hands on the wheel. I usually recline the passenger seat forward and rest my right arm on it while I drive. Plus I drive a car with a manual transmission AND I can text my wife without glancing at my phone once! If you cannot accomplish this feat, get a damned bluetooth and TALK to the person!

[lightfoot]

One possible resolution: mod cars so both hands on the wheel most of the time is required to avoid the vehicle shutting down --Ed.

Sorry, but I can't help thinking that this would be a convenient way to FAS without having to add a switch.