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Texting and driving legislation: Nanny state law?

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  • #16
    Originally posted by Joel View Post
    Last I heard was a study indicating that the laws against texting while driving, if anything, increased texting-based accidents. The suggested cause is that the law doesn't stop people from doing it; it just results in people holding their phones lower, out of view, instead of up in their line of vision. This would result in the eyes having to move farther from the road.

    I've read that safety laws are often counterproductive. E.g., safety regulations on businesses tend to result in lower safety levels, as businesses end up lowering safety standards to the government-approved minimums. Drivers give smaller safety margins to bicyclists wearing safety gear, because it makes the bicyclist appear more professional/competent. In economics in college I learned that seat belt laws did not improve safety for drivers because drivers changed behavior to compensate for feeling safer; which caused an increase pedestrian injuries and deaths.
    That's what worries me about these new driver assistive technologies like automatic braking, or cars that alert drivers and/or take automatic corrective action when the car drifts out of its lane. I have a feeling that it will make drivers more careless because they'll assume the car will compensate for them.
    Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
    But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
    Than a fool in the eyes of God


    From "Fools Gold" by Petra

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    • #17
      Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
      That's called farding while driving.

      What gets me is passing some woman and seeing her applying eye makeup. One little bump and she can jab her eye.
      Yes when I used to drive truck I saw a lot of women applying make up while steering with their knees. One of the best was a guy eating from a plate of pasta on this lap. I couldn't tell if he was farting though...
      Atheism is the cult of death, the death of hope. The universe is doomed, you are doomed, the only thing that remains is to await your execution...

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbnueb2OI4o&t=3s

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      • #18
        One of my coworkers told me a story about a guy he used to work with who had a 3-hour drive to work everyday. He'd pick up a coffee and a copy of the Wall Street Journal near his house, and he'd have the whole thing read by the time he got to work. He apparently did this for decades and never got in an accident.
        Some may call me foolish, and some may call me odd
        But I'd rather be a fool in the eyes of man
        Than a fool in the eyes of God


        From "Fools Gold" by Petra

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        • #19
          Originally posted by seer View Post
          Yes when I used to drive truck I saw a lot of women applying make up while steering with their knees. One of the best was a guy eating from a plate of pasta on this lap. I couldn't tell if he was farting though...
          Farding not far...

          Years ago a local radio host used to get a lot of mileage out of talking about wimmenfolk farding in cars and getting outraged responses. He did the same thing complaining about all the blatant thespians in TV shows.

          I'm always still in trouble again

          "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
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          • #20
            Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
            Farding not far...

            Years ago a local radio host used to get a lot of mileage out of talking about wimmenfolk farding in cars and getting outraged responses. He did the same thing complaining about all the blatant thespians in TV shows.
            In Germany they expect you to fart in cars.

            gute-fahrt-02-2013-testbericht-einspritzmotor-23i.jpg

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            • #21
              Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
              Farding not far...

              Years ago a local radio host used to get a lot of mileage out of talking about wimmenfolk farding in cars and getting outraged responses. He did the same thing complaining about all the blatant thespians in TV shows.
              See that is what I mean - farting lesbians! They will ruin the world!
              Atheism is the cult of death, the death of hope. The universe is doomed, you are doomed, the only thing that remains is to await your execution...

              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbnueb2OI4o&t=3s

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              • #22
                I want it to be a law, and its not a nanny state any more than driving while impaired. In fact texting causes more impairment than drugs or alcohol unless you're essentially passed out.
                A happy family is but an earlier heaven.
                George Bernard Shaw

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                • #23
                  There's always the hands free voice option as well. like the phone reading your texts or a blue tooth or a hands free speaking option.......
                  A happy family is but an earlier heaven.
                  George Bernard Shaw

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                  • #24
                    Originally posted by Catholicity View Post
                    There's always the hands free voice option as well. like the phone reading your texts or a blue tooth or a hands free speaking option.......
                    Siri, hold the wheel while I type in muh text.

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                    • #25
                      Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
                      Texting and driving is banned in 46 states. Texas is one of the four holdouts; though the bill has been proposed many times, it's been killed because it's viewed as nanny state legislation.

                      Last week, a young man was texting and driving and plowed into a church bus on a Texas highway, killing 13 senior citizens. This got plenty of media attention and from what I read, this incident may flip enough votes to where the legislation can now pass.

                      I honestly don't see how this is nanny state legislation. I could see that case being made for seat belt laws being nanny state legislation since it's your own fault if you don't buckle up and get killed, but texting and driving makes you a danger to other drivers on the road as well.
                      I don't understand how it's any more nanny state than any other driving regulation. Seems to me that's it somewhat all or nothing on this one.
                      I'm not here anymore.

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                      • #26
                        Originally posted by Leonhard View Post
                        The question is, how long will human beings be allowed to drive cars on public roads when cars with autopilot become the norm?
                        considering that will take atleast 10-20 years to trickle down to the second hand car market and first it needs to get working in the top of the range car market and trickle down to the cheap new car market ...... I think it's still a long time coming.



                        ETA: I do think it's coming, I just think it's a long time off before it gets to the point where a govt could do that without meaning that the majority drivers get banned from the roads because their cars simply don't have the tech yet.
                        Last edited by Raphael; 04-05-2017, 06:01 PM.
                        Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
                        1 Corinthians 16:13

                        "...he [Doherty] is no historian and he is not even conversant with the historical discussions of the very matters he wants to pontificate on."
                        -Ben Witherington III

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                        • #27
                          Originally posted by mossrose View Post
                          And another issue is pedestrians texting. There has been an increase in pedestrian accidents caused by the walker not paying attention and stepping out in front of vehicles, and 2 or 3 people killed walking along train tracks with earbuds and phones in hand.

                          It's a real problem.
                          We've had a number of cases (more than we should) of pedestrians being hit by trains because they crossed the lines with their headphones too loud.


                          Which may be why our neighbours across the ditch started the "Dumb Ways to Die" train safety campaign.
                          Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
                          1 Corinthians 16:13

                          "...he [Doherty] is no historian and he is not even conversant with the historical discussions of the very matters he wants to pontificate on."
                          -Ben Witherington III

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                          • #28
                            Originally posted by Raphael View Post
                            We've had a number of cases (more than we should) of pedestrians being hit by trains because they crossed the lines with their headphones too loud.

                            Which may be why our neighbours across the ditch started the "Dumb Ways to Die" train safety campaign.
                            My all time favorite in that category: Photographer hit and killed by the train he was photographing.
                            "I hate him passionately", he's "a demonic force" - Tucker Carlson, in private, on Donald Trump
                            "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism" - George Orwell
                            "[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evils. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy" - Albert Einstein

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                            • #29
                              Originally posted by Raphael View Post
                              considering that will take atleast 10-20 years to trickle down to the second hand car market and first it needs to get working in the top of the range car market and trickle down to the cheap new car market ...... I think it's still a long time coming.



                              ETA: I do think it's coming, I just think it's a long time off before it gets to the point where a govt could do that without meaning that the majority drivers get banned from the roads because their cars simply don't have the tech yet.
                              Yeah, it'd have to wait until full market penetration had occurred. Then I guess the rules could slowly and gradually be tightened. Say you have to use auto-pilot on the freeways. Then later the laws would be tightened so that cars would have speed ranges of 60mph, which is where most crashes occur would be handled by cars. Who knows speed ranges below 30mph might never require auto-pilot.

                              Consider the Tesla's, which on their early-stage beta version of their autopilot has crashed killing one man, but it has so far been statistically safer than other cars by a factor of three or four. I think they put it at one hundred million driven miles per accident (sample size of one though). Compare this to one death per thirty million driven miles with regular cars.

                              Driving isn't complex. The traffic laws are a relatively simple state machine to implement. The big problem comes from stuff like recognizing a yellow slow down sign when driving up against a sundown. There's still a lot of edge cases to their visual recognition software which has to be fixed before it can become the norm.

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                              • #30
                                Originally posted by Raphael View Post
                                considering that will take atleast 10-20 years to trickle down to the second hand car market and first it needs to get working in the top of the range car market and trickle down to the cheap new car market ...... I think it's still a long time coming.



                                ETA: I do think it's coming, I just think it's a long time off before it gets to the point where a govt could do that without meaning that the majority drivers get banned from the roads because their cars simply don't have the tech yet.
                                Might not be that far off...

                                http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/sh...-driving-Taxis

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