Texting and Driving, Do you do it? Why?

[Patchelicious]

I think you should bin your missus.

My wife has a bad habit of texting while in traffic on the odd occasion. We fight about it often.

 

But I have drawn a line in the sand. Told her that if I ever find out that she was texting while driving with our child in the car, I will divorce her.

[SwissVan]

Do not get me started on kids that are not strapped into proper kids seats!

 

That is the epitome of STUPID PARENTING.

 

You do not have a valid argument to not have your kid strapped into their seat, NO YOU DON'T, don't even TRY!

 

Cost of the loss of a child or the disablement of a child > than any other argument.

 

RANT OFF.

This is so true

Every time we are in SA we see adults driving with kids standing on the seats front and back sometimes hands on the front windscreen and no seat belt or child seat.

 

Isn’t it law in SA to have a child seat on the back seat?

 

Here people will give you very dirty looks if you drive kids around without a child seat and the cops will FINE you.

[Stretch]

My brother in law works for unitrans. He reckons you see rear truck videos of people killing themselves texting and driving into the back of the truck DAILY!

[Skubarra]

This is so true

Every time we are in SA we see adults driving with kids standing on the seats front and back sometimes hands on the front windscreen and no seat belt or child seat.

 

Isn’t it law in SA to have a child seat on the back seat?

 

Here people will give you very dirty looks if you drive kids around without a child seat and the cops will FINE you.

 

Think it is part of a bigger issue in SA where breaking road laws in SA is not really socially unacceptable and getting caught doing so is just a bit of bad luck. How many hubbers proudly ignore their traffic fines because it is just a "money making scheme from authorities"?

 

I mean Patch is not even embarrassed to admit his wife regularly breaks trafic laws 

 

Until we get to a point in our lawless society that there is actually some shame & embarrassment involved in breaking road laws we will not even start to solve this.  

[ChrisF]

...

 

I have to admit I have used my phone before while driving. However I now set up Bluetooth and music on my phone as well as GPS before driving. Can also answer my phone by tapping my FM transmitter, without taking my eyes off the road.

 

just pair the phone to your car radio.

 

most often my phone is in the back of the car, and I have preset numbers on the home screen of the car radio so dialing out is easier than changing the radio station.

 

 

But then again, I do an average of 1000+km per month for work .... so I do take a lot of calls while driving.  That said - I avoid in depth discussions while in traffic !!  Even with the handsfree kit, your attention is NOT 100% on the road when dealing with design issues over the phone ...

[Patchelicious]

Think it is part of a bigger issue in SA where breaking road laws in SA is not really socially unacceptable and getting caught doing so is just a bit of bad luck. How many hubbers proudly ignore their traffic fines because it is just a "money making scheme from authorities"?

 

I mean Patch is not even embarrassed to admit his wife regularly breaks trafic laws

 

Until we get to a point in our lawless society that there is actually some shame & embarrassment involved in breaking road laws we will not even start to solve this.

Not embarrassed? Did you not read my last paragraph??

[V12man]

Why is it that so many fellow cyclist and motorist text and drive.

 

Because they have an I D 10 T problem...

[BigDL]

IPhone X has that capability but the user must activate it

All iPhones have the ability to switch off texts when you are driving. The sender receives a message letting them know that you will get the message when you stop.

[JCA12]

just pair the phone to your car radio.

 

most often my phone is in the back of the car, and I have preset numbers on the home screen of the car radio so dialing out is easier than changing the radio station.

 

 

But then again, I do an average of 1000+km per month for work .... so I do take a lot of calls while driving. That said - I avoid in depth discussions while in traffic !! Even with the handsfree kit, your attention is NOT 100% on the road when dealing with design issues over the phone ...

My radio doesn't have Bluetooth built in. 30 year old car. Have a Bluetooth FM transmitter so can't preset numbers.

But I do agree that I can't have an in depth conversation while driving.

Also drive 1500km per month to work and back, excluding weekends.

[ChrisF]

My radio doesn't have Bluetooth built in. 30 year old car. Have a Bluetooth FM transmitter so can't preset numbers.

But I do agree that I can't have an in depth conversation while driving.

Also drive 1500km per month to work and back, excluding weekends.

 

Aaahh....

 

In my previous car i opted for an aftermarket radio with BT, rather than a Parrot type system.

 

Think the current costs are about R 1 500.

 

Does the same job as the FM unit, except now it is automatic.     I have way too many short trips in the day ...

 

 

But hey, the punch line remains the same - there ARE options to take calls without having the phone in your hand 

 

 

PS - my neighbour use his Garmin as his BT handsfree .... had an interesting issue .... got a new phone, and the darned thing had to be reset for each trip, just would not auto link to the Garmin .....  Except I have the same phone and KNOW it will auto link.  After some searching we figured out the Garmin unit has ONE primary contact that auto links, other devices must be reset each time.  Once we removed his old phone, and linked the new phone as the primary device everything works perfect.  So yes, sometimes the technology can be a bit frustrating, but well worth figuring it out.

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

To all those who believe texting while stopped is fine, good luck buddies. You are a hi-jacking/smash-and-grab waiting to happen!!! They look for, and target, the distracted.

 

Me personally,  I leave a gap to the car in front and then mostly monitor my mirrors/blind spots so I can move if needed!!!! Its a dangerous world out there and times are tight so lots of chancer's/criminals around.

[Quagga]

To the 7 voters that say they text and drive and have not killed anyone YET.

 

Are you the loudest when a car passes you within the 1.2M? Or is that just ok?

 

And do you also skip red lights when cycling ?

[bertusras]

To all those who believe texting while stopped is fine, good luck buddies. You are a hi-jacking/smash-and-grab waiting to happen!!! They look for, and target, the distracted.

 

Me personally,  I leave a gap to the car in front and then mostly monitor my mirrors/blind spots so I can move if needed!!!! Its a dangerous world out there and times are tight so lots of chancer's/criminals around.

 

Yup. The Girl stopped at a robot one night, and just changed a song on her phone, and in that instant her passenger window got smashed and her phone got grabbed.

[Shebeen]

Smartphone are highly addictive and it is easy to be drawn into using it while driving.

 

I confess that yesterday afternoon on the way home I started up DSTV Now to follow the TDF Team Time Trial as it was in the heat of the moment. Followed it like I would follow a radio show, but did look accross where it is mounted on the bracket a couple of times when something exciting happened.

 

Fact is, it is something we need to be consciously aware of and we need to actively manage our interaction with our phones.

 

Best is to set your destination on Waze or whatever GPS app, mount it on the bracket and don't touch it again. Only answer calls if you have Bluetooth active and keep the discussion short.

 

Lastly, alcohol and driving needs a mention and one serious intervention. "Don't drink and drive" has lost its effectiveness. People say "ah, I'm not drunk, I am not a danger on the road"

 

We need to get in the habit that if you are planning to have even one drink, you need to have a plan in place for who is going to drive you home, don't leave it to chance and then that one beer becomes 3. And just like that two families are torn apart when you kill someone.

It is MUUUCH better than it used to be. I know this because I had a cousin from australia over last month. he's been here about every 6/7 years since '95. 

 

Drink driving used to be a sport. It is 'almost' socially unacceptable these days.

young drivers who party are now using uber to get around.

 

 

but yes, more can be done, still

[Sven137]

Why is it that so many fellow cyclist and motorist text and drive.

 

As cyclists we are always saying that the one cyclist skipping stop streets and Red lights give a bad name and image. So we want them to adhere to the road rules. 

 

Yet so many people text and drive and many of them are cyclists. 

 

Edit: So are these the same cyclist who fight for adhering to road rules but they don't when they are in their car?

 

 

Maybe this poll can get me understand the general feeling out there towards this rule.

 

It has been shown that texting is more dangerous than drunk driving.

Then there is also the fact that you irritate the person behind you when the light goes green and you sit and stare at your phone or try and finish your text before you pull away to just make it and leave the person behind at another red light. 

 

EDIT just to clarify wrt to GPS usage, using it like this is an excuse most people use. "I am not on my phone, just using GPS"

 

This is illegal, as per the picture.

gps.jpg

 

 

This is not (well a grey area ATM)

 

gps2.jpg

 

For whom ?  It's illegal to have a phone or any other device in your hand while driving...

[Quagga]

Proof how looking at your phone can cause an accident 

From another thread

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl08ZMdDL_G/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=ueyz5oi9h7pk