I-Like-To-Bike

"As the air bag deployed"?
My BS detector pegged over the super visionary powers you claim to possess.

Feldman

Phone use of all kinds and DUI are all the same thing--attempted murder. Unless you live under a ****ing rock you know that it is more likely that you will kill someone while driving under those conditions. There's no damn difference between those acts and, say, walking into a supermarket during their busy evening hours with a firearm and squeezing off random rounds. When you kill someone you would just say "I wasn't trying to kill anyone, I was just acting on my 2nd Amendment rights." No difference between that and phoning/texting/DUI at all, unless you are an absolute idiot.

howsteepisit

Glad the lawmakers don't agree with Feldman. Over-criminalization of every lapse of judgment is not a wise not fair policy.

Nycycle

They say it is here in Utah.

Leisesturm

A stiff jail sentence for a convicted distracted driver is hardly 'over-criminalization of every lapse of judgement'. Seriously... you won't think that if someone you know or love is harmed by a distracted driver.

genec

fify

Being distracted is one thing... choosing to tend to a potential distraction is quite another... choosing to watch a video, choosing to text or talk, choosing to drink and drive, are all quite a bit different from "a bee flying into the window."

The fact that someone chooses to ignore their duties as a driver, and tend to some other task, is what is key here.

AlexCyclistRoch

What got under YOUR bonnet? She was clearly holding her phone with 2 hands at the 11 an 1 positions, texting away with her thumbs as she put on the brakes and slammed into the other car. I had gotten away from her just a mile before, and saw her coming up fast in my side view mirror. Trust me, with 1 million + miles driving (mostly in large trucks) and never having had a major accident, you better believe, I pay attention to EVERYTHING.

When I checked on the other driver, her airbag had clearly deployed, and the cloud of white propellant dust was wafting around in her interior. The other car didn't deploy, as is common when rear-ended.

howsteepisit

Try reading the comment I replied to, that stated that distracted driving is attempted murder. That is over-criminalization.

Feldman

WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Burning a grilled-cheese sandwich is a "lapse of judgement." Texting, phoning, and DUI are deliberate intentional acts that show disregard for the lives of others on the road. "Lapse of judgment" my schlong!

howsteepisit

Disregard is not the same as attempted murder. That is in my opinion over-criminalization. As I said, I am glad lawmakers do not agree with you.

ItsJustMe

Texting while driving is not really that much different than driving drunk. Both are a lapse in judgement. Both need to be taken seriously.

genec

He likes to refute everything... even that texting causes distractions that can lead to collisions with cyclists. He typically wants statistical proof for any bold statement made... whether that data has been or could be collected at all.

For instance, it turns out that perhaps as many as 84 percent of crashes that occur are never reported. That alone would skew collision data. FARS reports only deaths, not collisions... the latter can maim as well as kill.

Honestly, between the fact that well over half the collisions are never reported, and that to tie a cell phone to a collision requires a court order... it should be no surprise that the only reliable data we have on cell phone related crashes are the scores and scores of tests and simulated crashes done at various universities and other institutions... Beyond those experiments, the data is just not reliably collected.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...53f_story.html

Chris0516

Define 'every lapse of judgment' in your book.

howsteepisit

Calling texting while driving attempted murder for starters.

Chris0516

What about using a cell phone handheld device, or not? What about drinking a cup of coffee? What about adjusting the dials/buttons on the car radio/playing with the tape deck? All of those actions are criminalized to an extent.

howsteepisit

And the poster I quoted in this discussion called distracted driving and DUI attempted murder, and that is overcriminalization.