Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Texter vs. garbage truck
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April 15, 2014 at 5:49 pm #611040
JustSarahParticipant7:30 AM Tuesday, 4/15. I was in the left northbound lane of 35th, having just turned from eastbound Juneau. A woman in a white Toyota Highlander had just turned onto 35th from westbound Juneau and was in front of me. Traffic was very light. Up ahead was a Waste Management truck stopped in the right lane, lights flashing. Woman in front of me was drifting toward the left and was clearly on a crash course to rear-end the truck at ~40 mph. Lucky for her she looked up in time to swerve back to the left. I was nervous about her erratic driving so I pulled around into the right lane and was beside her at a light soon after, and was not at all surprised to see her holding her phone against her steering wheel and apparently texting.
I am not usually one to shame people here, but this was so close to being a horrible (likely fatal) and totally preventable accident… all for what? A text or email? I would have hoped that scared some sense into her, but more likely she just sent another text: “OMG! Where’d that garbage truck come from?”
April 15, 2014 at 6:45 pm #806970
JanSParticipantsadly, it happens too often. When I am in the car driving, my phone is in my purse, and it doesn’t get used. Had a friend that I was picking up yesterday ask me to call him when I was almost there so he could in essence put shoes on etc. I said well, I will have to pull over to do that, since I don’t talk on my phone while driving. He just said “OK, nevermind”.
I was almost clipped at the top of the high rise bridge last week by a guy drifting into my lane next to me who was on his phone. He swerved, never put the phone down. Self-importance, I guess.
April 15, 2014 at 9:00 pm #806971
wakefloodParticipantI wonder why all the mobile phone companies don’t implement and HIGHLY PUBLICIZE a “driving mode” that autosends a response that the receiver is driving and will respond when stopped. These apps already exist.
If the user has GPS engaged, it can be made default setting if traveling above jogging speed. Or it can be a one button app.
This isn’t hard and could be promoted everyday and everyplace you see their advertising.
Hmmm…care to hazard (pardon the pun) a guess as to WHY they don’t??
April 15, 2014 at 9:17 pm #806972
sacatoshParticipantSUPER easy solution: if you have an iphone, hold down the home button for 2 seconds and say “send a message to <insert person’s name>” and Siri will ask you what you want to say. You can text verbally, very easily, and she will read it back to you and ask if you want to send. Say yes, and you’re done. No hands off the wheel other than to press the home button once. Done, and done. You can send emails, make calls, send texts, and have Siri read you your texts or emails all verbally if something is REALLY that important. Granted, “hey, whatcha up to?” isn’t important to me. But “I’ll be there in 3 minutes” is easy enough to dictate in 5 seconds while at a light.
April 15, 2014 at 9:38 pm #806973
JanSParticipantwhy even do that? No conversation, message, etc., is as important as paying attention to your driving. I don’t have an iPhone, although my phone is kinda smart. G-d created voicemail for a reason, IMHO…the other person can leave a message if it’s important. I work at home and conduct my business there, not in the car. I don’t have access to calendars, schedules, in my car.
I would have been glad to pull over and call my friend to say that I was almost there. But me saying in person that I was going to pick them up at 1:30 should have been enough. Just be ready – lol…
April 15, 2014 at 9:47 pm #806974
skeeterParticipantI’ve been doing a lot more biking around West Seattle (with my 3YO on the back) and I must say stories like this scare the living cr@p out of me.
I would be fine with mandatory 24 hours jail time for any driver texting while driving. Plus a $1000 fine. Plus loss of license for 6 months.
April 15, 2014 at 10:37 pm #806975
sacatoshParticipantI won’t debate with you what I think is an emergency vs. what you think is an emergency. As I said before, most things AREN’T that important. For the occasional truly urgent issue (insert your own definition of emergency here) you can send a verbal text at a light. It’s a workaround, not a habit. Sometimes it truly is urgent, and for those times there is a speaker function for a reason.
April 15, 2014 at 11:00 pm #806976
oceanParticipant“I would be fine with mandatory 24 hours jail time for any driver texting while driving. Plus a $1000 fine. Plus loss of license for 6 months.”
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How about losing their PHONE, even for a week??? Plenty of people drive without a license, and are willing to chance not having one, but not many people are willing to chance giving up their phone, even for a few hours. Perhaps that would have a bigger, er, impact on them?
April 15, 2014 at 11:17 pm #806977
KBearParticipantYes! Automatic phone confiscation!
April 15, 2014 at 11:54 pm #806978
skeeterParticipantYou can take the phone but they’d buy a new one within a couple hours…
April 16, 2014 at 12:53 am #806979
JanSParticipantin an emergency situation, I would be (hopefully) pulling over. As I said before, not everyone has an iPhone and a personal relationship with Siri. Yes, there are circumstances when you have no choice. The people we are encountering just think they’re special, and the rules don’t apply. There’s a difference.
April 16, 2014 at 1:15 am #806980
oceanParticipantskeeter-
Yup, many would just go get another phone, but their number, contacts, and other info would still be in the confiscated phone! (evil laugh here)
April 16, 2014 at 1:43 am #806981
Heaven SentMemberWhen I drive, the phone is in my pocket. Turned ***OFF***. Imagine that.
April 16, 2014 at 2:58 am #806982
trickycooljParticipantI got stuck behind a texting cyclist on the Burke Gillman on Sunday. We were going at a good 15mph clip near UW and the dude just grinds to a crawl to check and text someone back. No one apparently cares anymore.
April 16, 2014 at 4:01 pm #806983
sacatoshParticipantI thought I was clear enough, but maybe not. I AM NOT DEFENDING TEXTING WHILE DRIVING. I feel that driving and texting is a menace, and agree that licenses and phones should be confiscated. I’m ONLY pointing out that in an emergency situation there is an option to make a call to 911 or ask for directions in a less dangerous way, in hopes of educating someone who thinks the “have” to text.
April 16, 2014 at 6:51 pm #806984
JanSParticipantSacatosh…I understand what you’re saying. I feel that if you have to find directions, even from Siri, you can pull over to do that. GPS directions are not always correct, and paying attention to Siri sometimes involves more than just listening, I would think. I don’t have an iPhone, but my screen has a function of one button “emergency call” to 911 without unlocking the screen. But you still have to take your eyes off the road to do that.
I suppose it’s all a matter of choice as to how one does all of that. Obviously, from my experiences, there are a lot of people out there who don’t care if all of their attention is on their driving.
April 16, 2014 at 8:32 pm #806985
Seattle TrashMemberSkeeter. I hear ya, would that be nice? However, drunk driving is barely punished, I doubt we’d see anything reasonable for texting (which I hear can be just as risky!)
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As a society, it doesn’t seem to me we take reckless driving seriously at all. See recent story on the woman who intentionally ran down 2 teens in West Seattle, for example. An auto can be just a deadly weapon as any other. Driving is an absolutely privilege, and should be taken seriously.
April 16, 2014 at 9:09 pm #806986
sacatoshParticipantYeah, Jan, with an iphone there is one button only. So you simply feel for it, hold the button down and say “call 911” and it does the rest. It’s absolutely doable without ever taking your eyes off the road. I had to do it when someone was road-raging and chasing me and I couldn’t pull over safely. It’s one advantage of a smartphone. But that’s really a separate conversation. I, too, am tired of people not paying attention. I was cut off a couple of weeks ago by a Seattle City Light truck whose driver simply did not look while turning onto 35th from a driveway. No excuse, just didn’t look. He would have hit me had I not laid on the horn and brakes, and swerved. Thank god nobody was in the other lane. My spouse had a similar incident this weekend with two older ladies not paying any attention who turned left – nearly t-boning my spouse – across 35th without looking at all. Both looked horrified as my spouse slammed on the brakes and ended up sideways to avoid hitting them. It’s rampant, and it’s not just phones causing the issue. But phones are definitely a part of the problem.
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