Driving and Texting

[Hoosier_Daddy]

You are 100% wrong. I am 100% right. There’s really no middle ground. If you don’t have the sense to pull over to text, you shouldn’t be behind the wheel.

Tomorrow Night I’m going to conduct an experiment. I’ll let you know how it goes. Don’t worry no lawbreaking will be involved

 

[Gordon_Sims]

Tomorrow Night I’m going to conduct an experiment. I’ll let you know how it goes. Don’t worry no lawbreaking will be involved

Just to be clear, you’re saying that driving with your eyes closed and your hands off the wheel is a learned skill that’s only been given a bad name by people who are unskilled or negligent in other ways.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Just to be clear, you’re saying that driving with your eyes closed and your hands off the wheel is a learned skill that’s only been given a bad name by people who are unskilled or negligent in other ways.

Not quite.

 

[Gordon_Sims]

Not quite.

I’m not sure where I got that idea.
Hoosier Daddy:

Texting is the new boogieman…
If you have the skills to do it. I say fine…
But the law should not be against texting but against negligence.

 

[rotlex]

Is this actually a serious question on morality on a Catholic forum? Really? Texting and driving is stupid, dangerous, and a million other things. It has nothing to do with morality.

It’s hard to believe you would have no other option to get to an event other than one single person who texts while drives. So much so that you are already worried about it? If this idiot really is your only way of going somewhere, simply tell them if you consider me a friend at all, don’t text, or use your phone, or eat, or talk to me while were getting there. It’s that simple.

 

[jmcrae]

I think I’ll be ok… I hope the hypothetical person was just stepping out of the confessional. But I can guarantee it won’t be because I am texting but rather the 5 kids watching frozen for the umpteenth time that creates the distraction. Get that. There is litterally a daycare and a movie theater in my car…

Ear buds for the kids. And seat belts/car seats to hold them still. And keep your eyes on the road, and your hands at two and ten. You can’t control two tons of machinery with only half of your attention, or less.

 

[mikekle]

You can’t control two tons of machinery with only half of your attention, or less.

It all depends…I had a long drive today, 3 hours one way, 3 hours back, most of it was expressway, I was not texting, but I do admit, my mind was wandering all over the place, didnt take too much mental effort to get there safely and back.

I would not call it luck either, because I have these long road trips frequently and on long expressway drives, it gets very boring, find myself daydreaming, thinking about all kinds of things, yet every time, I have no problems. only time when real focus is needed is during heavy traffic, stop and go driving, etc. keeping a car in the lane, maintaining speed and avoiding other cars/obstacles on a fairly open expressway does not take that much focus imo.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Ok. So tonight I went skiing as I do often. Little icy but not bad. I’m a good skier. Even at my age I’ve been known to pop some inverts at the terrain park. Tonight I instagramed and texted while skiing. So just to clarify. I strapped 2 sticks on my feet, went to the top of an icy mountain. ( with some nice tunes in my earbuds). Descended 2000 vertical feet in under 3 minutes while texting and a good bit of that was backwards while getting video of my buddy… So humans, strange as it may seem CAN multitask. Not only that but skiing is more dangerous than driving on a day to day basis. If people skied the miles they drove there would not be many empty hospital beds. But through all of this I was safe. I endangered no one including myself. The law (as all laws). Should not be against texting but against inattentive driving. There is s huge difference between driving I 80 through Chicago at rush hour and I 80 through Nebraska. You certainly can text or pretty much do anything. Texting is a lot like new gun legislation. There is really already a law covering driving recklessly and inattentively. But since texting is new and and kinda annoying it is blamed for a lot that is really part of a larger problem. Innate tube or distracted driving. I know many long haul truckers. These guys watch movies down red bulls text, even play video games in cab while driving. They are the ones who may indeed kill someone. Not me and if by some horrible chance I do end up in a wreck that claims a life. It will not be because I wasn’t paying attention. It won’t be because I was texting, because I wouldn’t text when I needed to be looking out for others.

We used to live far from home we would travel 2 days 1800 miles. 17 hours one day 11 the next. About four times a year with four kids. Always at least one infant. 1 dog 1 wife about four times a year in a minivan. And if you think all of it was 10 and 2 checking mirrors and concentration and silent children. You must never have driven before. Did I text? Yup. Certainly not in high traffic white knuckle situations. Do I feel the need to go to confession because I endangered my families life? No more than if I go skiing with my kids tomorrow…

 

[Gordon_Sims]

Ok. So tonight I went skiing as I do often. Little icy but not bad. I’m a good skier. Even at my age I’ve been known to pop some inverts at the terrain park. Tonight I instagramed and texted while skiing. So just to clarify. I strapped 2 sticks on my feet, went to the top of an icy mountain. ( with some nice tunes in my earbuds). Descended 2000 vertical feet in under 3 minutes while texting and a good bit of that was backwards while getting video of my buddy… So humans, strange as it may seem CAN multitask. Not only that but skiing is more dangerous than driving on a day to day basis. If people skied the miles they drove there would not be many empty hospital beds. But through all of this I was safe. I endangered no one including myself. The law (as all laws). Should not be against texting but against inattentive driving. There is s huge difference between driving I 80 through Chicago at rush hour and I 80 through Nebraska. You certainly can text or pretty much do anything. Texting is a lot like new gun legislation. There is really already a law covering driving recklessly and inattentively. But since texting is new and and kinda annoying it is blamed for a lot that is really part of a larger problem. Innate tube or distracted driving. I know many long haul truckers. These guys watch movies down red bulls text, even play video games in cab while driving. They are the ones who may indeed kill someone. Not me and if by some horrible chance I do end up in a wreck that claims a life. It will not be because I wasn’t paying attention. It won’t be because I was texting, because I wouldn’t text when I needed to be looking out for others.

We used to live far from home we would travel 2 days 1800 miles. 17 hours one day 11 the next. About four times a year with four kids. Always at least one infant. 1 dog 1 wife about four times a year in a minivan. And if you think all of it was 10 and 2 checking mirrors and concentration and silent children. You must never have driven before. Did I text? Yup. Certainly not in high traffic white knuckle situations. Do I feel the need to go to confession because I endangered my families life? No more than if I go skiing with my kids tomorrow…

Acting stupid and not getting hurt doesn’t make it intelligent behavior or that it should be legal. By your brand of “logic,” I’m living proof that drunk driving laws are wrong and unneeded. I once blacked out for over an hour behind the wheel. I’m sure my BAC was at least three times the legal limit that night. Since I made it home safely I clearly wasn’t endangering anyone and that hour was obviously a time when I didn’t need to be looking out for others. All those stories about drunk drivers allegedly killing people are all just propaganda. Stinkin’ fascists should quit discriminating against drunk driving aficionados. My friends and I even used to play drinking games while driving. I can’t tell you how many beers I chugged or shots I did while driving. Since I didn’t kill anyone, that needs to be legal! Should I have ever felt the need to go to Confession for those countless (and I truly mean countless) times that I drove drunk? Clearly not! I obviously had the skills to drive drunk. If I can do it, anyone can do it. Call your congressman and get the ball rolling. Undo the horrible work of all those despicable anti-drinking commies!

 

[jmcrae]

Ok. So tonight I went skiing as I do often. Little icy but not bad. I’m a good skier. Even at my age I’ve been known to pop some inverts at the terrain park. Tonight I instagramed and texted while skiing. So just to clarify. I strapped 2 sticks on my feet, went to the top of an icy mountain. ( with some nice tunes in my earbuds). Descended 2000 vertical feet in under 3 minutes while texting and a good bit of that was backwards while getting video of my buddy… So humans, strange as it may seem CAN multitask. Not only that but skiing is more dangerous than driving on a day to day basis. If people skied the miles they drove there would not be many empty hospital beds. But through all of this I was safe. I endangered no one including myself. The law (as all laws). Should not be against texting but against inattentive driving. There is s huge difference between driving I 80 through Chicago at rush hour and I 80 through Nebraska. You certainly can text or pretty much do anything. Texting is a lot like new gun legislation. There is really already a law covering driving recklessly and inattentively. But since texting is new and and kinda annoying it is blamed for a lot that is really part of a larger problem. Innate tube or distracted driving. I know many long haul truckers. These guys watch movies down red bulls text, even play video games in cab while driving. They are the ones who may indeed kill someone. Not me and if by some horrible chance I do end up in a wreck that claims a life. It will not be because I wasn’t paying attention. It won’t be because I was texting, because I wouldn’t text when I needed to be looking out for others.

We used to live far from home we would travel 2 days 1800 miles. 17 hours one day 11 the next. About four times a year with four kids. Always at least one infant. 1 dog 1 wife about four times a year in a minivan. And if you think all of it was 10 and 2 checking mirrors and concentration and silent children. You must never have driven before. Did I text? Yup. Certainly not in high traffic white knuckle situations. Do I feel the need to go to confession because I endangered my families life? No more than if I go skiing with my kids tomorrow…

You’re going to be one of those old guys with a good driving record who somehow mysteriously gets killed by a moose on the highway at dusk. “How could that happen? He was always a good driver!”

Don’t confuse luck with talent.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Acting stupid and not getting hurt doesn’t make it intelligent behavior or that it should be legal. By your brand of “logic,” I’m living proof that drunk driving laws are wrong and unneeded. I once blacked out for over an hour behind the wheel. I’m sure my BAC was at least three times the legal limit that night. Since I made it home safely I clearly wasn’t endangering anyone and that hour was obviously a time when I didn’t need to be looking out for others. All those stories about drunk drivers allegedly killing people are all just propaganda. Stinkin’ fascists should quit discriminating against drunk driving aficionados. My friends and I even used to play drinking games while driving. I can’t tell you how many beers I chugged or shots I did while driving. Since I didn’t kill anyone, that needs to be legal! Should I have ever felt the need to go to Confession for those countless (and I truly mean countless) times that I drove drunk? Clearly not! I obviously had the skills to drive drunk. If I can do it, anyone can do it. Call your congressman and get the ball rolling. Undo the horrible work of all those despicable anti-drinking commies!

Your drunk driving analogy is silly. But let’s go with it for a second. The state of course thinks drunk driving is wrong. And as Catholics we also say it is immoral. It’s even immoral to get drunk period much less drive a car. But the state puts a limit. .08 on a blood alchohol
Level. Equal two about 1 or 2 drinks per hour for the average adult. .07. You go on your merry way. .08, enjoy jail. And morally we also make a distinction. Have a glass of wine at dinner? Or two? Feel fine? You can legally and morally drive home. So all I’m saying is that we accept that .04 or so BAC is morally ok but not texting ever? If we insist on such reactionary laws then the driving age should be raised to 25 (like the rental car companies know) and lowered to about 50.

Look at this thread. Reactionary emotional responses ignoring logic. “You will kill somebody!!” You will kill yourself!!! You will kill a moose!

Perhaps I’ll just die in a car wreck that a woman was at fault then we can enact laws to Stop women drivers.

Question, does the texting bother you more than eating a cheeseburger?

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

You’re going to be one of those old guys with a good driving record who somehow mysteriously gets killed by a moose on the highway at dusk. “How could that happen? He was always a good driver!”

Don’t confuse luck with talent.

What if I’m paying attention with hands at ten and two and that stupid moose still jumps out. And I’m impaled. Then it’s luck right? Bad luck?

Look there are wrecks on the road every day. Very few of the fatal. Little fender benders where someone could have been paying more attention. This happened before texting. But the state wants you to think they are looking out for you and care. If that were true there would be seat belts on school busses.

 

[jmcrae]

What if I’m paying attention with hands at ten and two and that stupid moose still jumps out. And I’m impaled. Then it’s luck right? Bad luck?

You’ll see it coming before it jumps out into the road, because you’ll be 100% aware of your surroundings.

Just like how I have never hit any wild animals that were jumping into the road in front of me, because I had stopped the car when I saw them coming. And pedestrians. And people who blew through stop signs while texting and driving, and never even knew I was there.

Look there are wrecks on the road every day. Very few of the fatal. Little fender benders where someone could have been paying more attention. This happened before texting. But the state wants you to think they are looking out for you and care. If that were true there would be seat belts on school busses.

People have always been inattentive. But texting is worse than most kinds of inattention, because texting requires your whole concentration, too.

 

[Gordon_Sims]

Your drunk driving analogy is silly. But let’s go with it for a second. The state of course thinks drunk driving is wrong. And as Catholics we also say it is immoral. It’s even immoral to get drunk period much less drive a car. But the state puts a limit. .08 on a blood alchohol
Level. Equal two about 1 or 2 drinks per hour for the average adult. .07. You go on your merry way. .08, enjoy jail. And morally we also make a distinction. Have a glass of wine at dinner? Or two? Feel fine? You can legally and morally drive home. So all I’m saying is that we accept that .04 or so BAC is morally ok but not texting ever? If we insist on such reactionary laws then the driving age should be raised to 25 (like the rental car companies know) and lowered to about 50.

Look at this thread. Reactionary emotional responses ignoring logic. “You will kill somebody!!” You will kill yourself!!! You will kill a moose!

Perhaps I’ll just die in a car wreck that a woman was at fault then we can enact laws to Stop women drivers.

Question, does the texting bother you more than eating a cheeseburger?

The main flaw with my drunk driving analogy is that it’s still possible to pay attention to the road when you’re impaired; it’s not at all possible to pay attention to the road when you’re texting. So even if I’m impaired to the point that I’m only at 50% of my normal faculties, that’s still a million times better than 0%. There is never a situation where you can be watching the road when your head is pointed at your lap and you’re typing away. Never. No matter how amazing your purported skills may be. If you want further proof I’ll gladly play the same game with you that I played with my son and his friend, only this time I’d use a bigger stick because, honestly, you should know better.

As for drunk driving, I’m all for zero tolerance on that as well. If you’re not smart or responsible enough to be behind the wheel, you shouldn’t be behind the wheel.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

The main flaw with my drunk driving analogy is that it’s still possible to pay attention to the road when you’re impaired; it’s not at all possible to pay attention to the road when you’re texting. So even if I’m impaired to the point that I’m only at 50% of my normal faculties, that’s still a million times better than 0%. There is never a situation where you can be watching the road when your head is pointed at your lap and you’re typing away. Never. No matter how amazing your purported skills may be. If you want further proof I’ll gladly play the same game with you that I played with my son and his friend, only this time I’d use a bigger stick because, honestly, you should know better.

As for drunk driving, I’m all for zero tolerance on that as well. If you’re not smart or responsible enough to be behind the wheel, you shouldn’t be behind the wheel.

I can ski and text I can drive down an empty freeway and text… Glancing back and forth… No different than talking to my wife or glancing at the gps in an unfamiliar big city…

Did you just threaten to hit me with a stick???!!!

Nice argument. Lol.

So, beat to bits with a stick and killed by a moose. I’d go for that obituary. I’m headed up the mountain now to do something ire dangerous than driving to the store. I’ll be on an icy road at night so, no texting… Chances are higher that my ACL down not recover from a backscratcher gone bad…

Someone once told me. There are old bikers and bold bikers but no old bold bikers…
Good thing I don’t ride…

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

You’ll see it coming before it jumps out into the road, because you’ll be 100% aware of your surroundings.

Just like how I have never hit any wild animals that were jumping into the road in front of me, because I had stopped the car when I saw them coming. And pedestrians. And people who blew through stop signs while texting and driving, and never even knew I was there.

People have always been inattentive. But texting is worse than most kinds of inattention, because texting requires your whole concentration, too.

A few years ago. Two to be exact. There was a car in front of me. A geo metro. Nice older lady driving it. Deer came out of nowhere I saw it, she saw it. Bang! Dead deer totaled metro. Now from this I can draw two conclusions. Her reflexes were not fast enough. Thereby bolstering my idea that older people say about 55 or so should not drive lest they kill someone and two, it should be illegal to drive metros, smart cars, beetles and prius.

 

[Gordon_Sims]

I can ski and text I can drive down an empty freeway and text… Glancing back and forth… No different than talking to my wife or glancing at the gps in an unfamiliar big city…

Actually, it’s a big difference. Glancing to the side for a second or two is far different than staring at your lap and typing. I’m not sure how you’re missing the difference.

Did you just threaten to hit me with a stick???!!!

No, I offered to hit you with a big stick. When I was a kid my grandpa would give us the same offer in order to help us get a loose gear back into place. It was remarkably effective at times.

 

[Hoosier_Daddy]

Actually, it’s a big difference. Glancing to the side for a second or two is far different than staring at your lap and typing. I’m not sure how you’re missing the difference.

No, I offered to hit you with a big stick. When I was a kid my grandpa would give us the same offer in order to help us get a loose gear back into place. It was remarkably effective at times.

Oh ok, as long as I can spray you with a can of mace whenever you take a drink.

But generally stick hitting doesn’t help. My son is a Star Wars fan. I’ve been woken up to a light saber to the head several times. Occasionally while I am driving…

 

[Gordon_Sims]

Oh ok, as long as I can spray you with a can of mace whenever you take a drink.

Considering I’ve been dry for years now, I’d consider that a deal.