Smartphones Are Killing Americans, But Nobody’s Counting

RS4- said:
Honestly, here in Toronto, we have decent public transit. Make driving while on the phone more serious. Get caught doing stupid shit while driving, too bad, lose your license. Take the bus.
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I was sitting in traffic on Dupont and there was a lady in an SUV in the opposite lane who was looking at her phone and had earbuds in, with her car in motion. People are fucking terrible.

Also I just realized my recent accident where I was at the front of a three car pileup could have totally been the result of people being on their phones, shit.
 
I think designing better car integration with smartphones is probably a good (makeshift) solution to this problem ...

Apple car play and Android Auto have still long way to go to not make using them frustrating...

But honestly I Love the fact that Apple Car play totally blocks off texting from your phone while you're driving and Siri reads out your text out loud and forces you to reply by voice recognition...

Trouble is, this method is very flawed, very screwy, where any one of many factors can make the experience anywhere from frustrating, to borken.

1) some people have shitty, cheap mobile carriers in Canada that get poor reception, this totally effects Siri's listening quality/behavior in a negative way, since it needs to be online and connected.


2) Some cars are louder than others or if you have your window down, convertible etc. hard for your phone to hear you talk to it.

3) (No experience with Android Auto) but Carplay is super limited, no app for Whatsapp for it (as far as I know) or any other third party texting , messaging apps are not supported, but a solid design overhaul on these systems, would I think go a long way to curb people's addiction with their phones, while keeping their eyes and (most of their minds) on the road!
 
In Texas I'd say at least half of people are on there phone while driving. I see a ton of accidents every day now. It's definitely getting worse. Tickets with small fines don't mean shit.
 
I went jogging today and a girl came terribly close to hitting me. Phone square in her face and she never even realized how close she was to hitting me.
 
A few weeks ago I had an Android Auto/Apple CarPlay compatible head unit installed in my car along with having the guy install the microphone on top of my rear view mirror.

This thing is really, really convenient. Gone are the days where I need to fumble around with GPS and only try to rely on sound from my phone to tell where I'm going, and gone are the times where I place my phone on speaker and put it in my lap while I drive.

It wasn't even that hard to get it installed in my older car, was like half an hour at a Best Buy. More people should give it a go.

Downloading a ton of music to your phone is the only way to go, though, especially if you're not on an unlimited plan and have eh reception.
 
mlclmtckr said:
I was sitting in traffic on Dupont and there was a lady in an SUV in the opposite lane who was looking at her phone and had earbuds in, with her car in motion. People are fucking terrible.

Also I just realized my recent accident where I was at the front of a three car pileup could have totally been the result of people being on their phones, shit.
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Dupont? That might be the same woman I saw. lol.
 
Got smashed in the rear at a stop light by a lady on her phone, July the 4th. My pregnant fiancee, one year old daughter and 7 year old stepson were in the car. She never owned up to being on her phone.
 
SoRuffShoNuff said:
If the tech is so basic how about you share with us how it would work. Im curious to know how your phone would be able to know which seat you are currently sitting in, in a car.
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You're not actually that curious if you aren't googling it.

I'm dumbfounded by any of you who believe tech is that easily defeated by practicality. Apple Watches can detect heart attacks, but you think we can't figure out when you're driving.
 
Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
You're not actually that curious if you aren't googling it.

I'm dumbfounded by any of you who believe tech is that easily defeated by practicality. Apple Watches can detect heart attacks, but you think we can't figure out when you're driving.
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What does detecting a heart attack have to do with differentiating between a driver and passenger?

Google didn't turn up an answer. And if the solution is "basic" seems like there would have been plenty of articles.
 
buttery fistful said:
Some states still don't have distracted driving laws which is just unbelievable
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I don't think it would really help. I know my state has some, but just the other day I saw a girl looking down at her phone whole driving. My roommate will do the same thing while changing a song.
 
I live downtown and I’m not surprised. I see “almost an accident”-situations probably once every 4-5 days. Majority of them are from the driver texting or a person crossing the street while texting.
 
Discopizza said:
Aren't people looking at other drivers to see if they have a phone out distracted too? They certainly aren't looking at the road ahead of them.
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Wow. People who notice other people are texting while driving are just as bad as texters! #Bothsides.

This is almost as ridiculous as that Gaffer who was defending texting and driving and saying people opposed must be losers with no lives.
 
kaname-san said:
Am I the only who can't stand headlines like this? It's not the phone that's killing people, it's the assholes who don't keep their eyes on the road.
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Guns-Dont-Kill-People.jpg


Right.
 
Aeana said:
I agree, but how do you prove device use? You can measure alcohol level in someone, but not whether they were looking at their phone.
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Cop wears a head cam and turns on video the moment they witness a person holding a phone. Then pull over person, play back video, issue a ticket, and upload video to courthouse/precinct and gives driver digital copy of video on small cheap 4gb SD card.

I know, I know, too easy; amongst other privacy issues I guess.
 
Maybe this is a dumb idea, but why don't phone manufacturers require something more than a "I'm not the driver" acknowledgement before you can use your phone when driving? Maybe as a passenger you need to take a picture of the driver behind the wheel before it will unlock? I know it's not up to the phone manufacturers but there HAS to be a way for them to solve this.
 
Aeana said:
I agree, but how do you prove device use? You can measure alcohol level in someone, but not whether they were looking at their phone.
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well according to the cop having a hand near your head is grounds enough for a ticket........thankfully I can point to my touch screen in the car and ask him why the fuck would i even hold my phone when i can text if I really wanted to from my screen
 
Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
It does not. Is the connection that money is involved? That doesn't make it a salient observation unless this is passive-aggressive advocacy for the abolition of fines on the grounds of institutional racism, which I could then understand.
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I can't help you if you can't follow this:
1. We should up the fines higher for the behavior we are discussing in this thread
2. Higher fines are regressive and hurt the poor disproportionately
3. You: I can make no connection between these two posts!!!!

Like, you can certainly disagree or want to debate the next step, which is "ok, then what". But you're choosing to or failing to understand how one post follows the other, which is really really bizarre.
 
elrechazado said:
I can't help you if you can't follow this:
1. We should up the fines higher for the behavior we are discussing in this thread
2. Higher fines are regressive and hurt the poor disproportionately
3. You: I can make no connection between these two posts!!!!

Like, you can certainly disagree or want to debate the next step, which is "ok, then what". But you're choosing to or failing to understand how one post follows the other, which is really really bizarre.
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Thanks for explaining it like a real jerk even though I said I understand and we agree! We can't read your mind; leaps to conclusions can seem out of nowhere without further context, which you've just provided. The people expressing confusion at your one sentence post aren't wrong for not understanding your full point, dude.
 
I can see distracted driving being a big motivator for people to switch over to driverless cars when the time comes. It may be a generational thing, but I can easily imagine millennials feeling that the ability to scroll through their phone, stick a selfie-stick outside the car, dance, sing, and make as much commentary as they want, 100% legally, beats out the sheer joy of being in charge of how your car accelerates, brakes and steers.

If insurance companies get behind this and give people lower rates for buying a driverless car, this will also encourage more migration.
 
baeb0066e732.jpg


The number of people I see driving around watching movies or doing other shit on these during rush hour sitting in traffic is mindblow/infuriating/all of the above. Makes me never want drive my car again.

Talking/texting while driving is bad enough.
 
Almost killed two days ago by an SUV with driver on the phone who ran a red light. Was in left lane to make a left turn and light turns green. Car ahead of me already turned left and thankfully it was a harsh incline before entering the intersection and I knew about it because I moved into the intersection very slowly rather than accelerating normally or I would have been hit. I was able to see that this car to my left wasn’t stopping for the red light and that the person was on phone, so I stopped, slammed the horn, and they swerved into their left lane to avoid hitting me. Tried following them to get plates to report to cops but they sped off at an unsafe speed, ran the next light after driving on the curb to get away, and so I decided it wasn’t worth risking other people’s lives to keep following them if it made them drive wrecklessly to escape like that. LA area as expected.
 
Baraka Obama said:
Jack Scofield said:
I live in LA. Almost every time I pull up to a stop light or stop sign, the person next to me has their phone in his or her hand. It's infuriating.
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I mean if they're completely stopped that's fine
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And here we go with the defense force.

Earthbound64 said:
No surprise. Even on GAF you get people who are like "Oh, it's alright as long as you do it at a red light / while you're stopped / when no one's around / when traffic is moving at a steady pace / when people aren't in the road / when I feel like it." People always seem to think it can't happen to them, and that they're perfect.
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knkng said:
Because poor people should be exempt from safe driving laws? WTF?
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No, but public policy should not disproportionately destroy the lives of the poor. Rich guy can afford a 1000 fine, poor guy ends up in license suspension cycle and in and out of jail. I believe it's Norway that scales fines to income.
 
Liu Kang Baking A Pie said:
Thanks for explaining it like a real jerk even though I said I understand and we agree! We can't read your mind; leaps to conclusions can seem out of nowhere without further context, which you've just provided. The people expressing confusion at your one sentence post aren't wrong for not understanding your full point, dude.
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You didn't disagree with my point. You said you saw zero connection between my post and the quote. Glad we are on the same page now.
 
Baraka Obama said:
What? I'm not defending using your phone while driving jeez. Love how you cut my post too
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Did you read my post?

Earthbound64 said:
Baraka Obama said:
Jack Scofield said:
I live in LA. Almost every time I pull up to a stop light or stop sign, the person next to me has their phone in his or her hand. It's infuriating.
Click to expand...

I mean if they're completely stopped that's fine
Click to expand...

And here we go with the defense force.

Earthbound64 said:
No surprise. Even on GAF you get people who are like "Oh, it's alright as long as you do it at a red light / while you're stopped / when no one's around / when traffic is moving at a steady pace / when people aren't in the road / when I feel like it." People always seem to think it can't happen to them, and that they're perfect.
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Bolded the key parts for you.
 
theepicoftyler said:
baeb0066e732.jpg


The number of people I see driving around watching movies or doing other shit on these during rush hour sitting in traffic is mindblow/infuriating/all of the above. Makes me never want drive my car again.

Talking/texting while driving is bad enough.
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best part is.......where that phone is mounted is obstruction of view while driving.....its supposed to be all the way to the left of the windshield or mounted near the dash
 
There should be a NFC in the steering wheel that disables all functions save for 911 and GPS while the car in motion. People are stupid and we must accept that flaw and plan for it.
 
The spike only being in the last two years doesn't strike me as compelling evidence to smartphone usage being the culprit if you consider how ubiquitous smart phones have been.
 
My car (2015 Honda Fit) has a touch screen for controlling various parts of the car. I honestly find that just as distracting as a phone. I've had the car for over 2 years, and I still struggle to change the radio station on it without feeling like I need to completely de-focus from the road. I wouldn't be surprised if those get banned at some point too.
 
Baraka Obama said:
You literally didn't have that when I originally responded to it
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Yes, I edited it in ~1 minute after to clarify what I was referring to.
I apologize you didn't read the rest of the thread before making your post?


But, now that you've seen my post mentioning a defense force for this...

Baraka Obama said:
I was just saying that I don't see the issue with a driver looking at their when they're completely stopped.
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And here we go with the defense force.
 
Earthbound64 said:
Yes, I edited it in ~1 minute after to clarify what I was referring to.
I apologize you didn't read the rest of the thread before making your post?


But, now that you've seen my post mentioning a defense force for this...



And here we go with the defense force.
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I’m not defending using your phone while driving so why are you saying I’m defending it?
 
I'd be more inclined to believe that fatalities are up because more people are buying SUVs and trucks again than they were over the previous several years. I mean looking at the chart there's a direct correlation to be drawn between national economic status, the price of gas, etc., than there is with cellphone usage. The article itself days federal data doesn't support this either, albeit with the caveat that the federal data may be flawed.
 
I saved someones neck a while ago, was waiting to cross a busy road and a girl just walks straight past me and into the road, big van heading toward her at about 40mph.
Her head was tilted downwards staring at her phone.

I had to step into the road, grab her and pull her back.

...
Then outta nowhere comes this angry looking woman from behind and she's like "get your fucking hands off my kid".
 
Soka said:
I remember reading as far back as 2006 of someone dying due to a distracted driver. A 19 year old, who had already gotten three moving violations (running red lights, speeding), was texting while driving. She was so distracted that she drove out of her lane and hit a bicyclist on the other side of the road (driver's side of her car). Killed the bicyclist even though he had a helmet.

The driver got six months probation, a $1,000 fine, and had to attend a driver's safety course. For killing someone. After already having three driving incidents since having her license for fewer than three years. And her license wasn't even suspended.
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Nuts, should be involuntary manslaughter.
 
Dude Abides said:
Wow. People who notice other people are texting while driving are just as bad as texters! #Bothsides.

This is almost as ridiculous as that Gaffer who was defending texting and driving and saying people opposed must be losers with no lives.
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Where did I defend people messing with their phones while driving?

Oops, you were referring to someone else. Sorry!

I didn't say they were just as bad. The phone people are obviously terrible.
 
Smartphone makers have blood on their hands imo for not being at least a bit more proactive in baking features and reminders into their devices encouraging their users to not text and drive. They’ve taken steps recently, yes, but it’s too late. Smartphones are basically a way of life.
 
My IPhone does this cool thing where I can’t use the phone and I don’t get calls either but that kind of stuff shouldn’t be an option. Most phones can track that you’re driving so it isn’t unrealistic to have features that make sure you’re not on you’re phone while driving.
 
The Werner Herzog documentary on texting and driving should be required viewing. It's heartbreaking and scared me out of never, ever using my phone while driving. There's a story in there about an Amish family that I can't even think about without tearing up.
 
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