The driving while on phones is a complete scourge. I see people of all ages scrolling social media and texting while driving. They are often going 20 miles under the speed limit, straddling two lanes, sitting at green lights, and making last-minute triple lane changes because they are distracted.
The ‘head down’ while driving is lethal as they read the phone on their laps!
I saw three cars sitting at a green light the other day. All 3 of them not realizing it was time to go. All on their phones. I guess I should be happy they weren't moving.
Yikes!
That's why I carry startling stones. They never see them coming. Honestly, I hardly ever have to use them anymore. Toronto drivers seemed to get the message. I also often stand in front of cars where the driver is texting and don't move until they put it behind them. People get a bit enraged!
Is it not an offence? You get done here in the UK.
And Australia. $1000
Coppers around here drive as lorry passengers. Can spot from the high place, can't be seen. Brilliant tactic imo.
We need fast easy and free public transit now
Do it where I live, get caught, and lose your license permanently on the first try. Do it in the US, cause an accident, and your insurance company will laugh at you.
also pedestrians crossing the street, head down in their phones... INSANE
Called phone zombies here in the UK, some with head phones on as well, can't see you and can't hear you, totally isolated from reality, the world today or what 😕
Not saying you're trying to victim blame, but this line comes up so often when pedestrians get hit. I walk and bike a busy NA city daily, and occasionally drive, and my situational awareness reading texts or listening to music while walking is far better than in a car, even when paying attention.
Cool. I'm merely saying you're making choices that negatively impact your safety. You do you.
Not excusing it, but pedestrians aren't responsible for nearly as much property damage, death, and injury as motorists.
100%, agreed... just saying the uptick in general societal addiction to screens—while in situations where one's personal safety should be the priority—is insane, dangerous, bonkers
Isn't there a case t/b made for civil forfeiture?
Couldn't agree more, David. It's frustrating and dangerous
It doesn't help that there is breaking news every hour.
My son is at the age where he will soon start to learn how to drive and my message is, "drive like the people around you are drunk, stoned, and fiddling with their phone."
Unpopular opinion: I want 100% of the vehicles on the road to be self driving. Watch as our economy takes off, accidents and auto deaths nosedive, stress levels plummet. No more stop signs or traffic lights! Alas, this dream is probably already dead.
50% less cars, far better public transport and cycling infrastructure would do more.
100%
I tell my family I absolutely REFUSE to use the cell while in the car for texting OR talking. I’ll reply later after reaching my destination. Besides, I don’t want my jamming to KORN and Rage Against the Machine interrupted. Heheh. 😈🤙
There is a shocking lack of accountability in so main worsening behaviours. This is partly due to radical left kumbaya nonsense (once left, now center, whole thing moved under me), but when combined with 19th century systems that are corrupt/inefficient by design, pen & paper still, we have a . . .
"the means have become the ends" problem; we meat grind rocks & get dust and broken gears, never touches the shitheals anymore. Finally, Hyper Waste Capitalism just wants things consummed, broken and replaced asap; lawlessness would seem to feed that too?
You are watching a naked Emporer; this is the system imploding in real-time. We need a next level neo-value and agency revolution; to a communal form of post-scientific PLURALISM! Greem meme, last 1st Tier change before a more radical tip? Status Quo ain't enough. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_...
It's 2025. Modern cars are safer, and easier to drive than at any point in history, and somehow humans are driving worse than at any point in my life. Nobody uses directionals anymore, nobody pays attention at stop lights, and I see more people driving through stop signs than ever before.
Not mention everyone thinks they drive 18 wheelers swinging left into my lane to turn right. You are in a mini cooper, come on now!
I drive a delivery truck and this drives me insane. I don't even need to swing left to turn and some pickup princess is like YEEEE-HAAAWWW
Making driving more difficult forces you to pay attention. So we should really bring back stick shifts. And get screens out of dashboards jfc
A good infotainment set up, coupled with actually physical buttons is the best config possible for safe driving. Once I bought a Mazda I realized this. Other manufactures offer good set ups too. Most, if not virtually all problems I see on the road are people with cell phones in their hands.
No, no, never blame the drivers. It's e-bikes and congestion pricing that are ruining the city.
When I was commuting in and out of Chicago on the Eisenhower Expressway, I'd see women putting on their makeup. REALLY made me angry.
I agree with you. It's extremely annoying and where I live on Long Island highly illegal with a huge fine. Always annoys the shit out of me. Like you said they're always doing some sloppy inattentive dangerous shit.
If you find yourself doing this a good practice is to get off the road, find a parking lot or something and check your messages/social media there while you are stopped, crack a couple beers then get back on the road without any distractions
Ca is making it illegal now just to be holding your now, so….
I think 5000 pounds of metal should always involve a human, however, all the things within the automated cars can help the fact that we are human.
Thanks for letting us know!
I blow my horn at them!
Wakes them up! 😉
Add in the distracted digital disco you have to do in some cars just to operate climate controls & you begin to understand why car makers are returning to the use of buttons & knobs in their cars.
isn't car accident related deaths up in the US right now? I think I read that somewhere
What a load of crap. If distracted driving was dangerous, would they allow car companies to put big ol' tv screens on the dash?
If you try that here and they catch you (digital or the old fashioned way) you'll be awarded with a €430 fine. 👍
The govt's answer to this is just to make all the roads one lane wide. Very lowest-common-denominator of them
Been illegal in Ontario for many years but still happens constantly. 😡
That shit might get you in FHP eyesights if they see it on the highway, which could be extra dangerous for non-white appearing folks since if they don’t have their nameplate on they’re acting officially as ICE enforcement.
Every last one of them should have their license suspended for a year, minimum.
In Ohio and Michigan it is illegal to do this
BOOM 💥💥💥 Knock it off!!
Less dangerous but something I've noticed more and more: People out for walks just staring directly at their phone screen while walking. Along the side of a road, on a path, down a sidewalk, everywhere. Like, how addicted do you have to be that you can't go for a walk without being on your phone?
Bad time to have a car-dependent infrastructure. Would much rather people can be distracted while on a subway or train.
...and the consequences are doled out by sympathetic motorists, so... nothing.
Best way to get away with murder.
They constantly blow through the 4 way stop near my house.
Of you do that here in Norway, you’re facing a $1000 fine😳
I have been advocating for automatic cell phone and seatbeat use detection systems in the US. One was tested by IIHS @iihs-hldi.bsky.social. They determined the system to be as good as, if not better, than a human observer. Unfortunately, few states use them www.vitronic.com/en-us/traffi...
NY made it illegal to even touch your phone while at a red light or stopped in traffic. That's kind of overkill imo.
In the UK you get a really fat fine for touching your cradled/mounted phone on the red light (potentially even parked with the engine switched off if the keys are in the ignition), but no consequences whatsoever for playing with your built-in tablet whilst driving.
That's quite the loop hole.
It's almost as bad as a drunk driver. That's a very bad situation.
Is that allowed in the USA? Honest question.
It's illegal in about half the states and other states forbid using cellphones while driving in certain areas, like near schools or in construction zones. But there are still some states that have zero restrictions on it.
pennsylvania hilariously had a ban on texting but all other phone use was allowed, so you couldn’t read or write texts but watching tiktok was totally fine (that finally changed earlier this month)
The law struggles to keep up with the technology lol
Wow! In Italy you can have your license suspended. We have a "points" system, when you drop to 0 you have to sustain the license exam again. You start at 20. Using the cell while driving is a -5 or -10, if you are recidive.
Stubbornness and ignorance means sometimes the law takes a while to catch up around here. "That's the way we've always done it." is the prevalent wisdom and it doesn't acknowledge that times change so strategies and policies need to change.
That's the way we've always done it and we are lucky we can tell 😁 When i was a kid the tv news promoted "a light beer before sitting at the wheel" because it meant "a more fluid driving". Oh, and we had these:
It’s super fucking annoying, isn’t it? I really hope I’m not a statistic because of one of those fucking assholes.
If I reported every Uber driver that used their phone will driving, id probably get banned from the app
Motorcyclists foresaw this a decade ago.
I ride a popular police bike and wear excessive hi-viz, so when I beep and wag my finger they usually stop. If they don't I tap my helmet camera and wag the finger again. They stop 😂
I have flashing LED fog lights, so cars fear I’m pulling them over, then relieved I’m not a cop.
Apps including text and chat should be disabled when the phone is moving >15mph. Doable?
As a public transit rider, hell no.
Very good point!
iPhone has had a feature where Do Not Disturb automatically activates when it senses you are driving.
Yes. Pisses me off when my passenger cannot enter the destination and start the navigation for me.
Yet our decades old mantra of speed kills endures. In media here and Police statements they always lead with whether speed was involved, then alcohol/drugs and never get to distracted driving.
This is why we need more development on self-driving vehicles.
No, more investment in mass transit
Let's compromise on self-driving buses?
Let’s put them on a track too. That way they don’t interfere with the precious automobile.
Exactly i do all my best posting from the bus
I'd say that easily 70% of the cars I pass on my commute to and from work everyday are doing something on their phones. I'm frankly surprised there aren't more accidents.
As an avid cyclist this terrifies me on a daily basis. 🤦🏻♂️
It’s not really driving, it’s commuting or operating a vehicle. Drivers are engaged in the act of driving.
In Pennsylvania now you can get pulled over for holding your phone at a red light. Has to be connected to your dash screen, cradled, or on the seat.
Same in NY
I learned motorcycle riding from motormen, and they told me a scary thing: you travel 1.5x the speed limit. So at 60 mph, you are going 90 ft per second. If the car slams the brake, is that enough time/distance. So scrolling your phone for a few seconds is more than a football field.
It's against the law here, but I still see people doing it almost daily.
Colorado addressed this in its legislature this year. It had gotten out of control No phone in a driver's hands. Citation and fines
Doesn't help that our mail trucks, especially for Sundays, do not come with an on-screen function for parcels, forcing carriers to constantly stare at their scanner to know where the heck they are going, especially if they're delivering in a city they aren't familiar with.
In Canada too. Crazy isn't it.
In my car to change the air recirculation I have to press climate on the big stupid touch screen, then on the left recirculation settings, then this brings up three different options I can click on, then I have to press climate again and navigate back to where I was. Brilliant stuff.
Haha, yeah, this is a deal breaker for me. I was shopping for the electric car and out of the several I liked - all bar one had this utterly stupid, cheap, dangerous do-it-all tablet. The one I wanted was OOS. I settled for the hybrid - somehow the ergonomy still applies to hybrids.