MSN: Clay and Shauna Sauer, still grieving over their 18-year-old daughter’s Jan. 12 death, have become lobbyists in their home state to urge the state legislature to pass a ban on texting while driving. Idaho is one of 13 states in the U.S. that has no such law in place.
/sigh
Let’s be honest: Sauer was making a late-night, four-hour drive from the Utah State University campus in Logan to visit her folks in Caldwell, Idaho. […] writing in her final missive, “I can’t discuss this now. Driving and facebooking is not safe!” […] Moments later, Sauer, going more than 80 mph, slammed into a tanker truck that was slowly creeping up a hill at 15 mph. […] checking her cell phone records, they learned Sauer was posting about every 90 seconds during her drive. “I think she was probably (texting) to stay awake, she was probably tired.”
If I’m not mistaken, 80 mph is above the legal speed limit in every state. Even if she’s in a zone that was 70, I think the federal government caps the legal limit at 75 mph on any road… How is a new texting law going to help anyone in this situation? Would she not have died, if she knew she was breaking two laws? Sadly, I’m not seeing it.
I’m sorry for their loss and I’m hoping that pushing for this new law is helping them with their grief while they try to help other people that are dangerously texting while driving, but again, let’s be honest: if it wasn’t texting, it could have been an iPod. Or a radio. Or a phone call. Or a GPS. Or she fell asleep at the wheel. Sucks, but I’m not seeing how a new law is going to change what people do in a car.
/sigh
Disagree. Look at this.
http://www.google.com/search?q=people+on+phone&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=Jnt&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=XKFwT5q4BYejgweA1dVr&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CDsQ_AUoAQ&biw=1023&bih=639
It’s just a google of images of “people on phone”. Notice where almost all of these people are looking? At NOTHING. It’s normal.
Conversation was developed for people in the same place and time. Well before the invention of the phone (any kind of phone). But on those phones you lack a shared context of place. It’s normal to ignore where you are during a conversation on the phone. To try to share the context of where the other speaker is. To not be distracted by things in your location the other cannot see. None of these folks are posing for anti cell phone propaganda.
And before you bring up police radio’s and such, yes it’s more dangerous for them too. But it’s necessary. Seat belts and helmets protect the user and are probably not justified as law. But giving your undivided attention to the road protects others, and IS a proper area for law.
You don’t “see it” because you like your cell phone (they really are wonderful aren’t they) and you don’t “want” to see it.
Sure. Obviously a collection of staged pictures would negate everything I said.
You’re entitled to your opinion to disagree; you’re just wrong.