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Pedestrain hit and runs, including cyclists.
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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

3/1/13 9:04 PM

Pedestrain hit and runs, including cyclists.

I found myself wondering, especially the last 6+ months, why so many news reports of pedestrian/cycle related accidents here.

Had me thinking PDX is bad this way, both fatalities and hit and run fatalities here abound on the news.

But I am wondering if this is just really a manifestation of more and more smart phones. And more and more folks diddling with devices resulting in
these stats rising like mad.

What was that bump, oh must have been nothing... keeps driving...


Last edited by Sparky on 3/3/13 11:31 AM; edited 1 time in total

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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2625
Location: Canberra, Australia

3/1/13 11:56 PM

About 25% additional accidents due to distraction from phones etc is one estimate: http://ghsa.org/html/publications/sfdist.html

I almost got skittled a few years back while riding to work. I was in the bike lane, and I could see in my rear vision mirror that a car coming up behind me was weaving in and out of the bike lane, so I got off the road into a driveway until it was past. As the car drove by, I could see that the woman in it had a bowl of cereal between the front seats, and each time she turned to get another spoonful to eat, she would veer into the bike lane.

I caught her up at the next set of lights, and suggested to her that she should delay the rest of her breakfast until she finished her commute. She seemed genuinely shocked that I thought she had been driving dangerously.

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KerryIrons
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 3234
Location: Midland, MI

3/2/13 7:44 PM

Shocking


quote:
She seemed genuinely shocked that I thought she had been driving dangerously.


Isn't that an almost universal response? Even from the person who reaches into the back seat to retrieve a cassette tape and kills three cyclists in CA a few years ago. After all we know from repeated surveys that 80% of drivers rate themselves as above average. And despite the "phoning while driving is about the same as driving drunk" you see people with the phone on their ear ALL the time.

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daddy-o
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 3307
Location: Springfield

3/2/13 8:14 PM

I for one have come to terms with being a spectacularly bad driver and I wish to take this opportunity to thank all of the other excellent drivers I have encountered over the last several hundred thousand miles for my spotless driving and accident record.

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Marc N.
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 457
Location: Israel

3/3/13 5:12 AM

Illegal here

In Israel anyway, it is illegal to talk, text or hold a cell phone while driving. It is one of the most expensive ($200) violations, and also carries serious points.

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ErikS
Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 8337
Location: Slowing boiling over in the steamy south, Global Warming is real

3/3/13 5:32 AM

What about Bluetooth phones?

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daddy-o
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 3307
Location: Springfield

3/3/13 7:48 AM

Around here not using a hands-free device is migrating from a secondary to a primary offense, depending on the state jurisdiction. Marc, it's probably obvious, but they can't pull you over for a secondary but it's an added charge, and they can pull you over for a primary.

Talkers are bad enough, it's the texting that freaks me out. Delays at traffic lights, weaving way over lanes. The phone companies are waging a campaign against it, but still, until the penalty starts to hit friends and acquaintances it won't make much of a difference. I'm talking court time, jail time, financial penalties, not the ultimate penalty - which is what it's all about.

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Marc N.
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 457
Location: Israel

3/3/13 9:48 AM

Opps !

Sorry, I wasn`t 100% clear. We are permitted to talk as long as the driver is not holding the phone. I have a seperate unit attached to my dash while other use a holder that also serves as a charger. You just better not get caught holding a cell phone in your hand while driving. They don`t care if it is to talk, text or just to read a message.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

3/3/13 9:59 AM

They need to disable the phone while it is moving more than 13 MPH or similar. There has to be some solution such as this...

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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2625
Location: Canberra, Australia

3/3/13 3:28 PM


quote:
They need to disable the phone while it is moving more than 13 MPH or similar. There has to be some solution such as this...

Have the phone explode in the drivers ear if they use it while moving...

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Paul Datars
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 1229
Location: Manotick, Ontario, Canada

3/5/13 1:59 PM

A few more kids need to die so we can get MADD to refocus on a new far more potentially dangerous issue. Now I use the term "kids" loosely because even though I'm 54 years old I'm sure my mother would be very upset if some cell phone user ran me over and killed me.

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Chris Klaren
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 82
Location: Iowa

3/5/13 5:56 PM

It won't happen for a while, too many MADDs have the phone glued to their ear also. On a related note, our useless state legislature several years ago refused to do anything about cell phone usage while driving, stating that many of them had to use cell phones while traveling to and from the state capital. The only way this will get addressed is if a lot of pissed constituents pressure their legislators.

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Rickk
Joined: 01 Jun 2004
Posts: 528
Location: Montreal

3/6/13 5:04 PM

Turn to India?

I had read somewhere about an Indian entrepreneur?engineer who had developed a low cost prototype of exactly what Sparky alludes too (to install in car)as add-on).
So far... afaik big auto makers and/or telecom companies weren't biting.

re. They need to disable the phone while it is moving more than 13 MPH or similar. There has to be some solution such as this...

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Andy M-S
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3377
Location: Hamden (greater New Haven) CT

3/7/13 9:44 AM

Phone companies.

There's a whole big deal going on with the cell phone providers talking about how not to text and drive, etc. I could see them possibly putting in a bit of software to disable texting when the phone is moving over a certain speed.

HOWEVER...

I can also see this being hacked out at the earliest opportunity. And more to the point, I can see an issue for passengers who want to text...

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

3/8/13 12:41 PM

The solution is simple

And the solution is NOT to block the phone, but to provide hands-free devices for the driver, and MANDATE its use with stiff penalties (in comparison to the cost of the hands-free device)

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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2625
Location: Canberra, Australia

3/8/13 2:40 PM

Using hands free still results in degraded coordination and control while driving. Google it and you'll find several research papers on the subject.

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

3/8/13 3:02 PM

So is eating and talking to the passengers.

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lrzipris
Joined: 04 Mar 2004
Posts: 532
Location: Doylestown, PA

3/8/13 4:26 PM

If there is a problem with cell phones and driving--and as Nick indicates, studies siggest there is--you legislate what you can. It is possible to ban phone use, but neither practical nor realistic to prohibit eating or talking.

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

3/8/13 7:58 PM

Why is it not realistic to ban eating?

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daddy-o
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 3307
Location: Springfield

3/9/13 8:24 AM

How about applying mascara?

... like the lady tailgating me at 50 mph yesterday?

and yes, I did light up my brake lights, she cursed me, some lips I can read.

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PLee
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 3712
Location: Brooklyn, NY

3/9/13 9:08 AM

Instead of brake lights, safer to hit your emergency flashers for one flash.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

3/9/13 9:29 AM

I watched a jerk do a brake check in the left lane on the interstate last week. Drivers here are a little too deliberate, tailgating just make them go slower. But a brake check @ 70 MPH is more stupid than tailgating at that speed. I made it a point to not be near the idiot for next hour we were both going south...

I luckily don't drive enough to be among the blunt skulls on the roads much...

I confess I used to eat oatmeal with a spoon and steer with my knee on the way to the office. But I was like the only idiot on the road for the most part @ 5:30 am on those days. ;)

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daddy-o
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 3307
Location: Springfield

3/9/13 10:08 AM

I was careful, but I'll take your advice, thanks.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

3/9/13 10:46 AM

On the way up here yesterday [I am in Spokane] I had a jerk climb up my ass as I was passing a semi.
I was going 9 MPH over [79MPH] the speed limit of 70. I was using his road and in his way. I lost his headlights in my mirror he got so close. The old bully 'get out of my way' shit. I just gestured as I completed my pass as if he was not there. With the 'really?' arm/hand up into the air, 'for what?'! Then moved over in front of the truck maybe sooner than I would have normally so he did not try the scoot/cut in around maneuver.

Once in 350 miles is not too bad. Not like when I was in LA county last year and that is an every minute occurrence....

But simply put, having car 10-15 apart fore/aft @ 80 MPH is stupid, plain and simple. Why walk at the edge of the cliff when the path in 3' in away from the edge?

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daddy-o
Joined: 12 Apr 2004
Posts: 3307
Location: Springfield

3/9/13 1:03 PM

She was tailgating me, no headlights in the mirror that is, putting on mascara in the eyeshade mirror, and there are traffic lights on this parkway. She didn't like it but she backed off. A half mile later we had to abruptly stop for a light, so I think I did the right thing. The hazards blink is a better method for sure.

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