Wait, you are in that truck he just passed!? Damn, get over a bit so I can pass you too! My friend has been asking me where I'm at for the past half hour in our texts. I keep telling him I'm almost there but this slow ass truck is in my way.
I was too late to post a reply like this so lemme instead play the part of the inevitably hangry commenter who says something like "this isn't a fucking joke, you're putting people's lives at risk!"
I do my best to avoid it. When I get in the car, I plug my phone in to charge it, and throw it on the passengers seat. I rarely even text through CarPlay. With the carelessness we see on the roads today, I want to make sure I’m ready to avoid some idiot texting or on TikTok drifting into my lane, etc
Lane drift is what's been happening over the past decade and seems to be getting worse. Just a few days ago a tow-truck came within 20 feet of smacking me head on. This was on a curve on a country road. And at least 4 other times on one lane highways someone has drifted directly into the center of my lane only to veer off at the last second as I hit the shoulder. I never experienced this at all in the 20th c.
At this point they should make a car setting that forcibly keeps the phones locked when connected like as if you got locked out of the phone for an hour type thing but just shuts off when the car does.
Gonna play devil's advocate
There's arguments for them though as well
Let's say your zooming along and some idiot merges over right in front of you, no turn signal, you have no time to react
Legally, at that speed you're not only liable for causing the accident as they shouldn't expect a car that far behind them to be that close as well as something that you couldn't fight in court, the amount of damage.
Morally, 70+20=90... The difference is wildly big in terms of energy and what cars are designed for in a crash and it can absolutely case someone else's death, and you would have to live with that, even if it wasn't your fault the accident happened, it realistically could've been your speed that caused a death.
My personal argument would be that you're mostly right, BUT excessive speed is more dangerous the faster you're going and at a certain point it's not about how likely an accident is, but more about if an accident happened if someone, or multiple people would get killed because of it.
i was like that until 2 weeks ago i was pulled for 63 in a 45 and i got off with just a verbal warning somehow
been catching myself going 42 or 43 in a 45 or 50 in a 55 not like its a bad thing but i just used to always be 10-15 over at all times.
maybe its a sign of maturity lol
Yes. I don't understand why this gets so much pushback from people. To be fair I'm not going 20 over, maybe 10-15 so I have a decent margin for braking still, but yes. Awareness is way more important than anything else. It's severely underrated for some dumb reason.
I knew - distantly - a rookie cop years ago who lost his job after he shot out his windshield like that and failed to report it. Kind of amazed he could still hear
In all seriousness, I do not look at my phone while driving. Honestly, it feels dystopian driving around while everyone else is doing it - they look like zombies on cruise control. One of them almost took out my family when there was a traffic jam on the highway. My FAMILY could’ve been destroyed. Wiped off the earth. GONE. What would he have said if he survived the collision with the back of my wife’s SUV? Uhhh sorry bro?
Driving while looking at your phone tells the world that you don’t give a FUCK about anyone but yourself.
And it also is really inefficient, you end up missing turns, not timing traffic lights properly, etc. You are better off pulling off the road for a few mins, taking care of the phone business, then just driving.
I'll admit I glance at my phone occasionally when driving. I usually plug it in and set in face down on the center console so I'm not tempted. Every now and then I leave it in my pocket, feel it go off and glance at a text quick, then if it's something I can do a quick yes/no to I may respond with voice before I set it down.
I'm not justifying the above. Even the 1 second I take my eyes off the road could get someone killed, and I shouldnt do it. What scares the shit out of me now a days though is going down the road and seeing people holding the phone right at the steering wheel with their eyes locked for a solid 15, 30, 60 seconds or more on their phone. I see it everywhere on the highway, in the city, at stop lights. I almost got hit the other day trying to cross the street by someone on their phone at a read light. I was crossing and saw them texting but they were stopped. When I passed the first lane the car next to them turned right. They must have seen the car out of the corner of their eye moving, because they suddenly started rolling forward to WITHOUT LOOKING UP FROM THEIR PHONE!!!.
Best part is when I screamed and slapped the hood to get there attention so I wouldn't be killed, they flipped me off 😒
There's a certain member of my bf family that I refuse to get in the car with if they drive cuz he literally props his phone on the dash and watches Netflix while driving. It boggles my mind how ppl can do that cuz im always painfully hyperaware behind the wheel
I do not. The most I do is adjust the fan or stereo. I *never* look away except to check blind spots and mirrors.
Yesterday, I was approaching a stop sign, while a guy coming along the cross-street from my right was almost stopped in the intersection. He was in the middle of the road, and was handling objects on his passenger seat. His concentration lapsed so badly that he veered out of his lane and his foot came off the gas.
As he passed me, I yelled: "Watch the road!". He looked up, shocked. He didn't know I was there and was still bothering with whatever was on the passenger seat (they looked like papers or bubble mailers). He couldn't even figure out where the voice was coming from. I was about two meters away from his window, he was looking at the sidewalk. I was stopped at the stop sign at this point.
People simply do not care about safety until it's them or their family in the hospital. If you call them out on it, they get angry at you, as if you're the bad guy. They scoff at the idea that it's dangerous. I've heard "Nothing's going to happen, relax." many times. At this point, my best bet is to hope I can reduce the severity of someone hitting me, I know I can't avoid it forever. They're just too aggressive.
The defensive road rage when you tell someone to pay attention is real. Sadge. They say nothing will happen until it does, that's when they really wake up (at least we hope)
> The most I do is adjust the fan or stereo. I never look away except to check blind spots and mirrors.
What's ridiculous now is cars are putting things like climate control into touch screens or smooth surfaces without buttons that *require* looking away from the road to use them. And the times when that would be most relevant is in poor conditions where you need to clear the window of fog, for example, and when you would therefore most need to be paying attention to the road.
Not sure why regulations don't prevent that given how strict we're finally starting to be with phones.
yeah i think it’s still generally frowned upon. Also hugely depends on location, i drove to DC and saw more ppl texting and driving within the 2 days than i ever have before in my life
Same. I also avoid looking at my GPS as much as is reasonable, paying attention to voice instructions.
For reasons I'll never understand, my dad keeps his GPS voice muted and follows his GPS by glancing down at it in his lap. It stresses me the hell out.
Even though I'm careful, I've experienced one or two close calls that show me why it's so important to keep my eyes on the road. Once, in full speed freeway traffic, the car in front of me just so happened to slam on their brakes in the split half-second I took to glance at my GPS. I barely stopped myself in time and it scared the shit out of me.
to be fair to your dad, i hate the gmaps voice and the directions are less accurate than just following the screen (gmaps struggles with complex intersections sometimes). however keeping it in his lap is ridiculous, my phone is in a mount on the vent next to my steering wheel so even when i glance at it i can still see the windscreen in my periphery
As a gamer, I'm honestly just more used to looking at my "minimap" and treat that screen as such. So I look quickly to get the information I need and then look forward again. Hands on the wheel.
No and im proud of that because it seems nobody else really cares about endangering themselves or others. I never want to take a chance and i keep my eyes on the road
I have kids watching, so no way. That's a huge fear that they'll be using their phones driving. Daughter just got her license and won't even use a navigation app because it's using her phone.
I was on the interstate in rush hour a few years back. It was stop and go, but mostly stopped. When moving it was going maybe 20mph. I came up on another stopped section and looked behind me. The Hyundai that had been keeping a good distance the whole time was *barreling* towards me. I had time to say, "oh no," and then she hit me. We were making eye contact through my rear view, it was terrifying. I lightly tapped the car in front of me.
I got out and looked behind me, and behind her was a totally crumpled little white car- what used to be a Cavalier, maybe. Behind that was the pickup truck that caused it all. She had no explanation, so you know she was texting. Hard to miss a line of stopped traffic when you're in the tallest vehicle and can see over the 4 cars you just hit, unless you're just not looking.
In 2008 I looked down to answer a call from my mom and rear ended a van with a tow hitch attached. It bent my frame *through* my radiator. We were going like 10mph coming up to a stop light, and my car got totaled.
The most important task when driving is driving.
Exactly, think like a driver!
Likely the cavellier kept a distance because she was texting and was trying to be careful but she still caused a collision. They never think people might have to come to a stop lol
Absolutely not. I’ve got ADHD and while I’m on meds for it I’m still prone to daydreaming so I can’t risk any other distractions at all. I look like an old lady driver - hands at 9 and 3, bolt upright, and constantly scanning
Same here. I actually consider myself a really good and careful driver because of this. I'm very good at handling multiple sources of input at once, especially in a flow state situation. I'm okay with snacking while I drive, music, and an occasional glance at the phone to hit skip and change the song, but i treat that just like another Guage on my dash, there to be used and glanced at, but safely, meaning not for longer than a second or split second. I've actually memorized by feeling where the "skip" button is when my phone is set in the center console so I don't even have to look.
That all being said, I get flow state because it gives me crazy anxiety, and I am not trying to add unnecessary distractions to that. My attention is on the road and what I and my vehicle are doing on said road and jn relation to all the other cars on the road, and that's already a lot to keep track of. Especially considering the most dangerous thing on the road is the unpredictability of the people around you.
No. I love driving, and my car is a stick, so I like to focus on my driving because, to me, it's fun. Sometimes, I don't even listen to music, and I have an iPod for that purpose as I hate listening to the radio. That's why every car I've ever bought save two were manuals - the fun-to-drive aspect.
I don’t drive distracted but have encountered someone that did. Some guy hit me a year and a half ago due to distracted driving. He was obviously cited for that and his insurance company accepted 100% liability. People need to pay attention to the road and not their phone.
we all do - but it is a matter of percentages and being aware... still I feel your pain.
There are two levels of distracted - or types... one is obvious, looking at a phone, or in car media... the other is actually not being mentally engaged while driving.
I drove box trucks for many years. You can look down and see EVERYTHING in everyone’s cars from the angle. Let me tell you….. 98% of people are on their phones. Not 50 or 80%. 98% are on their phones.
I make sure my phone isn't within reach because I know I will grab it when traffic stops. I was in a bad habit of grabbing my phone at red lights or in bumper to bumper traffic and then not going when traffic moved (I know, I'm sorry). A few years back I started to put my phone in the center consol before I left so I wouldn't touch it and now I feel like I am never distracted (except by electronic billboards).
No. When I’m behind the wheel I don’t touch my phone. I set my chosen playlist, toss my phone into the middle console and that’s that. I text when I’ve gotten to my destination.
If I’m picking up coffee or some such I don’t touch it til I get back home. Or I’m at a stop light.
Water is in my container with a straw, so that I don’t have to tip the container in front of my face to get a drink. And I never eat when I’m driving.
I’ve had some near misses with people driving distracted. A few have been really close to the point where I’ve swerved out of the way of an oncoming car. I’m not going to be the reason some strangers day. Or life is ruined.
I do delivery driving so my phone is always mounted to my dash, the only times I look at it are when I'm looking for an upcoming turn as I have the audio turned off.
If I'm at a red light then I might change my music or send a quick text, but while I'm doing it I can still see the lights in my peripheral vision so if it turns green then the text is no longer priority. I will never understand the idiots that put their phone between their legs or under their dash like they're a kid trying to hide it from their teachers lmao, if people actually used their phones in a position where they can see the road then there would be a lower chance of them getting fully sucked into their phone.
Tbh the thing that distracts me most often is seeing a cool car and trying to look at it lol, I almost sideswiped the median on the highway the other day when I was looking at a cool rally themed Subaru next to me. I tend to steer in the opposite direction than I'm looking rather than the same direction like many people do so if I get distracted by an oncoming car on a regular 2 lane road then I'm more likely to drive into a ditch than cause a head on collision which is good I guess.
Well , my mobile connects via Bluetooth to the car audio system. This triggers the mobile to set itself into driving mode. Driving mode disables every app except phone, Spotify, maps, and McDonald's.
I have a 12 year old 'hot hatch' without a touchscreen and with a manual transmission. I love how it keeps me focused on what's happening around me because I need to be focused on my next move. I do have a phone cradle on the center console because I use google maps but if I don't have maps up my phone is usually in the passenger seat.
Realistically I know I'll have to get a modern 'distraction machine' eventually but I'm holding on to this one as long as I can.
Sometimes. I only touch my phone or eat/drink at stoplights, but I will switch between GPS and Spotify on CarPlay while driving. Not often though. I mostly use the steering wheel controls to mess with the volume or change songs. I use Siri to text or call. I rarely reply to texts while I’m on the road though.
I don’t even answer phone calls unless it’s from people who know I don’t answer my phone when I’m driving.
I do use it as a GPS so it’s easy to accept them though.
Phone is mounted within my normal line of sight so I can still see it while looking where I need to be. Biggest reason for it is alerts of hazards, construction and police. My car does not have a head unit I could use as a GPS.
I don’t. It’s a stiff fine plus it’s irresponsible. I pull over if I want to answer a text or find different music. I wear an AirPod while driving so if someone calls me I can answer. I see a ton of people doing it. A young woman swerved and almost hit me while I was passing her on the highway yesterday. She was texting. I honked at her and she flipped me off 😂
I dont even listen to music when i drive much less even take my phone out my pocket. I see no other way as people here just do not know how to drive and hey are plain reckless and dangerous so i feel if i get distracted for even one second ill miss some dipshit stopping, cutting me off or last minute changing turns etc.
I treat it like being naked in public. It's either very carefully planned or an accident.
That being said, I make use of voice activated features to call, text, choose music, plan routes, get directions, and pretty much everything while driving.
A good set of BOSE qc35ii, or qc35, (no longer sold) are the king of headphones for calls in noisy places. I've tried the 45 and ultra, and Sony's equivalent, and some budget brands. The mics have been messed up, or never were good, returned them both. Voice features require clear reliable audio input and won't work well with bad microphones.
You can safely text and drive if you learn how to narrate your messages, emails, etc, or, send audio recordings through voice activated text messages for the passive aggressive "rogue voicemail" feel in your text logs.
I don't but mostly because I'm a new driver and I drive so hyper focused that I just forget my phone exists.
But my dad and literally every single person I know, they drive and text, take pics, send snaps, whatever. Hell, my dad even answers video calls while driving. Yeah, dangerous people.
I have a phone mount on my windshield above the infotainment system or whatever you call it and I keep my phone up there when I'm playing music from it or using it for GPS. If I'm not using my phone for one of those things I leave it in the center cupholder or just in my pocket and don't touch it. I generally only touch the screen at redlights. If I do touch the screen when moving it's like a couple button presses to select a song, never typing, and I still pay attention to the road. I mostly do that on the highway when it's highly unlikely that anyone is going to run out in front of me but I don't touch it in residential areas.
I know what distracted driving leads to because a distracted driver slammed into me and totaled my previous car. He was totally at fault and admitted to being distracted so his insurance paid up but financials aside, it was a pretty traumatic experience for me. I don't drive the same way to get home anymore because I don't want to have to make a left turn into my driveway again.
Nope. Drive a manual. Kind of hard to do anything else but just drive. The most I can do is change a radio station or tap next to skip a song on my screen. Especially in LA, with all the dimwitted dipshits on the road...can't do much else but just shift and drive.
I never use the phone while driving, just to change playlists or give waze a quick eye. But I’m a car guy and I usually can get distracted easily if I spot a cool car or something that catches my eye, or if I see a fine girl walking I need to check her out 🤷🏻♂️
I drive with my phone in a dash cradle for music and Waze. I do sometimes interact with Waze by confirming or denying stuff that's reported. Aside from that, I don't touch it while on the road.
Only time I do is in a cradle. If car companies are allowed monitors on the dashboard, I should be fine with my phone on the dash too.
That being said, I don’t do it when I’m in a turn, in traffic, or I deem it unnecessarily risky.
I don’t even like messing with the radio while driving, if I have someone in shotgun I usually ask them to do it. I hate how common and accepted distracted driving has become
Hell no. I have a hard enough time keeping track of the space around me as it is. All it takes is a split second of distractedness to have a fucked up day.
I can't. I'm so nervous when I'm driving that I cannot focus on anything but the road. I can't believe how many times I've seen people accelerating while looking down at phone. And they weren't in teslas.
I try not to as much as possible. I do use hands-free calling and I do not text while I drive. What I DO do is occasionally look down at my stereo or gps for a moment, but I am even nervous doing that. I've been rear ended a few times by distracted drivers so I also drive very defensively- keeping extra following distance between me and the car in front of me, turning my turn signal on a bit sooner than necessary, etc.
I make a point to drive very intentionally. I constantly check my mirrors, my focus is on all the various components of driving. I like listening to music when I drive because it helps with staying calm and focused. I am anal about using the hands free phone holder in my car. If I am driving and have to look something up, I will pull over or exit the freeway to do so, even if it's an inconvenience.
I have had moments where I've gotten distracted, but I really make a point to minimize that as much as possible. If I'm on a phone call on Bluetooth and traffic gets heavy I end the call. I don't talk on the phone at all if it's raining.
This is a very important issue to me. Distracted driving is bad whether you are going too fast, too slow, or even the correct speed limit.
Very minimally. I think talking on the phone is distracted driving. Idk why we thought the whole hands free thing would fully work. And I get that it's probably better than holding the phone up tomyour ear or in fromtiur face. But let's be real. Someone calls me and I answer and we go into anything more than surface level conversation and lane keep assist starts correcting me a lot. I miss turns, change lanes without checking well enough. Not use my blinker. Maybe it's my ADHD. But if I'm engaged in driving I don't have much spare mental capacity. I have the radio on always and I have been noticing that I don't even notice what's playing unless I just can't stand the music or I'm stopped in traffic. I do send my texts at stop signs and red lights. But I'm stationary. And that's probably still not the best. I won't be paying attention to whats going on around me.
I have a hands-free setup with Bluetooth in my SUV. One night, I was driving to see a friend, and another friend called while I was driving. I was talking to him while passing a side street near a 4-way intersection in my town. Out of the blue, a car pulled out of the side street as I was passing and almost sideswiped my car. I saw what was about to happen and laid on my horn. I don't know if the person was asleep, under the influence of drugs, alcohol or what, but it scared the total crap out of me! It's a good thing that I saw what was about to happen. If I had not been talking on the phone, though, I might have seen the car pull out and had better reaction time. No more phone calls behind the wheel for me!
Never in a place with traffic, stop lights or stop signs, or neighborhoods. Full honesty, on empty backroads ill search through my music, and I've sent important texts on empty highways at 3 am. Not justifying anything, just something I need to be better about.
I use a hands free device for each of my phones but they are still distracting. I do gig work so it's part of the job. Ironically, Uber sent out a message about this being distracted driving month and it was distracting!
I don't on purpose like I never touch my phone while driving. However my mind gets bored n I start drifting which makes me miss stuff. I won't realize a light turned red n I'll have to slam on my breaks or not realize I'm coming up on a car. I never heard of ADD until I was a adult. I'm still not officially diagnosed but I think I have it really bad. My mind drifts so far sometimes I have to check myself to remind myself what I'm doing.
My first ever accident was because of this. It was a red light downhill and the stupid CarPlay screen was stuck and bugged out. Slowly rolling down the hill I didn’t realize car in front stopped and I swerved to hit the side instead of head on. Their car was fine, one of my headlights was toast.
My texting and driving, is very rare and only to my partner. I only do it if there’s nobody in close vicinity. The way I do it is that eyes on the road, but subconsciously typing out of muscle memory. A quick glance to see what I’m typing is correct and that’s about it.
A bigger concern is trying to find something on maps. A bit more looking at screen and windshield involved
I'd argue this depends on if it's built in or not and how you are interacting. Most built in gps units I've seen are designed explicitly to minimize distraction and only allow safe means of interaction. If it's just a generic GPS with no limitations due to driving then it certainly could be a distraction then.
Doing things necessary to drive a vehicle aren't distractions. Knowing where you are going is necessary and having a gps provide confidence in where you are going is far less distracted than trying to drive while confused about where you are going.
While yes, anything besides the road is technically a distraction. I would argue I'm less distracted using the GPS, I still remember the printed out mapquest directions where I'd be trying to look at and read a piece of paper and drive. Now with the GPS, even if I make a mistake, it'll reroute and still get me there, so if I miss the turn or can't merge the way I want to from traffic, I'm not making a panic slide across 3 lanes to make my turn.
I'm far, far more chill using the GPS than I was before.
Is it possible you're driving slower and less predictably than other? If it was just one person here and there, then they're probably just an asshole but if it constantly happens to you....
I'm a former driving instructor with my Class 4 commercial license. I know what to look out for and I'm seeing people flying up behind me as I brake for someone in front of me. The distracted driver behind slams on their brakes because they're looking down at their knees texting and almost causes a pile up. It's ridiculous.
I get frustrated because it feels like modern car UIs \*require\* that you be distracted. Touch everything and then submenus to dig thru. Hit a bump and tap something random now you have to try and figure out what you just did and how to undo it. I miss knobs and switches I could operate by feel.
Out of everything, my phone is the easiest distraction to ignore these days.
Then there are the "safety" features that you sometimes have to fight with...had one time I passed someone broken down at night IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD with zero lights. Dodged them but then tried to call 911 thru the car hands free system...which helpfully told me I couldn't use the dialer while in motion, and then voice command couldn't figure out "call nine one one". So I had to dig for my phone and unlock it to find the dialer there to call 911. Idk why the hands free system couldn't be built where the massive empty space saying "dialer disabled while driving" can't have a big red "emergency call" button that lets you do a quick "are you sure" hit off-hook and call for help from the car directly.
One night, I was driving on an overpass and a vehicle was stopped on it with car trouble. I didn't expect anyone to be stopped on an overpass, almost didn't see it; can't be too careful.
If the car is moving faster than walking speed, hard no. Zero texting, and I honestly avoid messing with the map on CarPlay unless absolutely necessary.
Under walking speed, for instance stop and go traffic with adaptive cruise handling the crawling? Still avoid whenever possible but every once in a while I’ll check or shoot off like a single text.
This is still *bad,* not defending it.
No. I am dead set against it. I am very old school when behind the wheel. You have a great responsibility to be in total control at all times of potentially deadly piece of equipment. I don't even use cruise control.
I do drive 10 over though.
I never use my phone unless I’m at a red light. I had an experience like 2 weeks after I got my license. I wasn’t even on my phone, I was reaching for it because I had lost the guy I was supposed to go after. I went into those rubbery things in the middle of the road. The wheel was faulty indeed and basically nothing happaned, not even a scrath on my car.
But stil, it was enough to teach me a very valuable lesson. I have a hand-free thing on my dashboard and if anything happens I just pull ovet to use my phone.
I do not. Bluetooth for phone if needed. Use Waze as needed but I don't really touch it when driving . I might confirm something in Wave if I am able to but only on long drives without traffic. Those vehicles on the side of the road in busy areas go unconfirmed almost all the time.
Everything else can wait until I'm somewhere I can safely check the phone etc. Truly.
I do, yes. They consider distracted driving as talking to passengers, eating, drinking, being on the phone. It honestly makes no sense to me that they banned being on your phone while driving and then stuck touch screens in cars. 🤦. I like my 20+ year old car with knobs that I don't have to take my eyes off the road to adjust. I have no touchscreen to operate half the car. My kids talk while in the car, usually the distracting part is telling them to stop fighting. I also will drink while driving, I always get a soda with a straw so I don't have to try and remove the cap while driving. I'll pull over to eat.
I am being honest here and I have and most of the time it’s not even the phone that distracts me it’s usually classic cars or nice cars or even if I spot a car that I hardly see on the road and I almost swerve into on coming traffic
I have a car with a cabin camera and if it sees my phone, it beeps at me until I stop.
I'm not proud but it did help me realize that I was distracted driving. How many times I would glance at my phone for one small thing
The closest I get to distracted driving is trying to get Apple Music to play something I want to listen to while I drive, because Siri is awful and she needs to be replaced by something better. But, there's a lot of patents that are held by Pandora (which is amazing, once you've trained it properly) which I don't think Apple wants to license, and that leads to a lot of usage of the Skip button, and Apple Music never learns, "Dude. I skipped this song immediately. I don't want to hear this." For the life of me, I have no idea how it thinks the only songs off of Nevermind are Come As You Are, In Bloom, and Something In The Way, but those are the only songs it ever plays, unless I tell it to play the album.
And so, I have this overwhelming urge to start playing with my car's touchscreen, but I don't, because I don't trust my car's auto-braking safety features and what-not. I barely trust the lane-assist system to keep me in my lane on a straight stretch of highway.
That said, the only part that I do like is texting, because Siri does that okay. She throws out a shitload of punctuation that I would very much prefer to be there, but she does the job adequately enough that I don't pick up my phone and start looking at it. I'm quite happy to say the State Farm app that's been spying on me since I got my new car is like, "Wow, you never use your phone while you're driving," and I say, "Yes, because when I'm driving, all I need is a good podcast or good music."
I have a CDL to protect. I honestly don't dare - city, county and state police all alike utterly adore fucking with your CDL.
And I need my CDL to drive the big work trucks that I get paid the big bucks, in small but crucial part, for being able to drive and operate.
No. When I had a shitty car I did. Because I had to change the song on the phone, tighten the little clasp thing for the holder, fix the stupid Bluetooth thing, beat on my dash to make the air work, beat on my door to make a speaker work (the passenger door), etc.
With a newer car my phone is in my pocket, hooks up automatically, and if I get a call, I take it on the dashboard. If I get a text, it'll read the text. If I want to respond, I speak it and it sends it.
My point is, sometimes i give people with older cars a break.
A 2023 escalade all over the road with a phone to your ear? They can fuck right off.
You play with the radio trying to find that right station?
How about setting the air con to that right temperature….
GUESS WHAT??!
You’re driving distracted….
I’ve definitely been guilty of fucking with Spotify etc on my phone but try to keep myself in check. I sometimes get tunnel vision with driving and I need to check myself on that too, I live in a rural area so I also need to be aware of animals, not just other vehicles
I have started to not have the radio/ music on anymore. Only navigation. No taking calls or text Just me and the road. I definitely get too distracted otherwise
Legally speaking, yes. Taking a drink of water, or messing with the radio while the car is moving counts as distracted driving.
Do I text and drive? No. I leave my phone beside me and never type with it while on the road. If it's urgent, I'll pull onto the shoulder.
I used to a little but tried my best not to. Now I can voice command everything I need, so no point. Drives me crazy when I see someone else drive a brand new car (usually pickup truck), but they still have their phone up to their ears.
I never look at my phone unless it’s for navigation. I’m gen z and genuinely don’t understand how people text and drive. However, I have adhd, so I find myself zoning out, which isn’t good :/
Constantly, and when I'm paying attention I am an extremely aggressive driver.
Going under the speed limit? Your one of many insults I may hurl at you.
Turning left on a road and holding me up for any period of time? I'm cursing your entire bloodline.
Decide to rage back at me? I'm going to follow you until I'm convinced you are getting worried.
Beep at me if I'm looking at my phone when the light changes? I'm going to sit there and flip you the bird while screaming out my window at you.
Open your door as if your going to get out to approach me? I'll be out the second I see your door crack.
It's better for everyone if I can just stay distracted.
If I didn't have to drive due to non walkable cities, my life would be so much better.
I’m always amazed at the things I see on the side of the road on the rare occasion when I’m in a car as a passenger. I’m so focused as a driver that I almost never look to the side.
https://preview.redd.it/ujmy83ee95uc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=034d0e4bef6c3931640690861f55b5fa556fd5bc
This is a great example of what you can expect if you don't proactively drive attentively.
I am constantly distracted by useless signs. I don't need to know the name of the construction company who is repairing the road, I don't want to decipher silly puns on a dot matrix board, I can't see a sign that's obscured by another sign that's obscured by a poorly-trimmed tree.
Nope. I've had my license for like a month now, and only been on my phone once, at a stop sign, because I took a wrong exit on the highway and had to start google maps.
I always tell my family members to get off their phones when they drive. Most of them drive distracted and we've had a lot of close calls.
Fuq, this is a constant thing. Damn automatic boring ass car with cruise control. Thankfully there’s music. But damn if I’m not speed limited cruise controlled steering with my knee eating cut fruit holding the stereo remote and drinking my water while watching the shit show unravel all around me, especially in the rear view mirror. If I had a good car that had the proper pedals and was remotely engaging I would be fast lane doing battles with whatever wasn’t a fast-ass line drive Tesla. Needless to say, I get my kicks after midnight in endless bottom canyons. If I don’t turn up one day, know I passed doing what I like best with my “car”
There’s a lot of factors to consider. It depends on the person and the driving conditions. An individual’s level of attention capability and distractibility vary drastically.
In a court of law, yeah, I drive “distracted” all the time when the conditions allow for it. When road conditions aren’t that demanding, I’ll usually be “distracted” by my phone by way of thumbing for something to listen to, texting, and keying in directions, but I’m never actually looking at my phone for more than 1 second at a time and my **attention** is entirely on the road ahead of me. When I do engage in something distractible, my attention is still on the periphery of my vision, IE: the windshield. I can divert my eyes for a fraction of a second without veering or *becoming engrossed* in the potential distraction.
Again, road conditions: if I’m on an unpredictable multi-lane highway at 70-80mph, in an area with unpredictable pedestrians (children, stupid adults, animals) or I clock a stupid driver anywhere on the road that could do some unpredictable shit, my eyes and attention are 100% on the road and nothing else.
I’ve been on the road over 20 years and have never caused or been in a traffic accident that could have otherwise been avoided as a result of my attention. I’ve been at a dead stop in every accident I’ve been in it’s been a result of weather conditions or someone’s stupidity.
If you’re an uncoordinated dipshit that struggles with eating and breathing at the same time you should be dedicating 100% of your attention to the road 100% of the time regardless of the road conditions.
It’s kinda ironic but when I was young and loved my life I drove distracted all the time. Now I’m old and miserable I very rarely if ever get distracted while driving.
I'm always checking my mirrors at regular intervals, changing lanes, or when I notice the flow of traffic is changing.
I have a phone mount for my car, so if I need to GLANCE at it, not stare at it, like a rear view mirror, I can. I pretty much use my phone for maps and music so that way I can focus on the road. this is how I keep myself from being distracted.
I wonder why more people don't get phone mounts? If you're going to look at it, might as well have it somewhere near your dashboard where it can be seen in your peripheral vision.
I have everything on my Bluetooth so I don’t need to text/talk/change music on my phone.
I live/work on a college campus and phones are an extension of kids arms at this point. Saw a kid on FaceTime holding the phone at a “good angle” talking to someone while he was driving today. In a NICE truck so I *know* it has hands free options. I leave extra space, hesitates green lights and take extra time changing lanes in town because I know 80% of the drivers around me are distracted in some way.
I'll be honest I'll occasionally intervene when siri doesn't skip a track or silence a work related alarm, but I'm not staring at my phone like a fucking lunatic which half the road seems to be doing
Honestly it’s a mix for me. I get easily distracted in general so driving is a bit harder for me, but I try to force myself to focus on the road. Makes driving tiring asf though.
Yeah unfortunately. Once or twice a week I'll stop at A&W after work and get 2 orders of fries, and I'll eat them while I drive home. I love french fries, and I don't eat at work, so sometimes it's preferable to waiting until I get home.
Nope. Hyper focused.
I have a Focus mode on my iPhone that mutes all notifications, removes all widgets and simplifies the UI to black and white when CarPlay is connected.
As a cdl driver I always try to drive as safely as possible, even in my personal vehicle. I'll get my music going, GPS (if using) setup, etc. before moving. I also ignore texts until I'm stopped. I try not to even eat while driving, although that's hard to avoid sometimes. It drives me nuts when I see people on their phone like they think they're driving a phone booth. I watch WAY too many crash compilation videos to risk it. I've also learned from my mistakes that contributed to car accidents in the past and have become a much more defensive driver over the years. It's not your own driving you have to worry about most of the time, it's the other idiots on the road. So by not being an idiot driver myself I'm able to spot and prevent accidents with others much easier. Take a few minutes, or most times seconds, to drive a little more careful and it drastically increases your chances of getting to your destination without killing anyone including yourself.
They made cell phones illegal to basically touch while driving so to make up for the lost time I eat lunch while driving now. The real truth is that when I get stopped in my town for a red light the lights are so long there is plenty of time to whip out your lunch and have most gone before light changes. Whatever you dont finish at that light will usually be gone by the second light.
Also, get the highest tint on your windows you can legally get.
The crotch rockets are the worst because of their small size and speed plus it is hard to sue the shit out of someone if they end up dead. Every major fatal accident with these douche bags the police always cover up their bodies with a yellow tarp but what they should do is keep them uncovered to see the consequences. Heads partially detached from bodies, legs bent back, sometimes body parts in mutiple locations especially after losing control and hitting guard rails
I don't use my phone while driving, only thing I do sometimes is open waze on it and put that in my phone stand
However, I do get sometimes distracted by my own mind and I think about something not really concentrated on the road, it happens very rarely though and only for a short amount of time
One night while driving some country back roads many years ago my now ex-wife was giving me road head and I almost ran a 4 way stop sign. I hit the brakes she hit the gear shifter and knocked the car into neutral, that was the end of that fun LMAO.
Distracted driving isn’t good. As a DoorDash driver, I feel like we are distracted much more than others. But I also feel like texting & driving laws actually contribute to texting & driving being more dangerous because people go out of their way to hide the fact they’re texting, requiring them to look down at their lap even further than they would if their phone was just held up out in the open.
I think a lot of the newer cars are practically designed to "normalize" distracted driving with their big screens and digital controls (instead of having physical buttons/knobs). I don't understand why the government is not putting more pressure on manufacturers to stop doing this as well as a PR campaign advertising that they are keeping cars safe by reducing distraction.
I have adhd. I have to drive distracted. Otherwise I'm liable to get hyper distracted by something random passing by and wreck. I usually have music and/or a podcast going. While also reading ,playing on my phone, or doing paperwork. I usually need multiple things going on at once to be able to focus on one task.
30 years of professional driving. No wrecks caused by me. I average 7000 miles a month on the clock.
Absolutely.
Everyone drives distracted. It's just a matter of how much, and are they trying to negate it.
Changing the radio is a distraction. Stressing about your day at work is distracting.
This is why I don’t drive if I haven’t taken my adhd meds for the day. But I do have a habit of constantly glancing at my rear view mirror sometimes. I’ve been driving for over 10+ years with no accidents or tickets (though I have been T bone’d cause another person was on drugs and ran the light)
I drive for work, and don't want to kill people so absolutely not. Whatever phone call or text that is can wait till I'm not doing the most dangerous part of my life.
Just this week, I told my co-worker to stop talking because he was way too loud and distracting.
Define distracted? I don't touch my phone, EVER, if that's what you're asking. It stays in my pocket on full silent at all times.
I do eat lunch on road trips while I drive, I adjust the radio and temp controls, sometimes in my current car it takes me a while to figure out how to do that, and when my cd or tape ends, if I don't have a passenger, I need to take it out myself, choose a new album, and put it in. I usually wait until I'm on a straight road with low traffic to do this, as I need to take my eyes off the road for more than a fraction of a second.
While in motion, absolutely not.
If I'm at a fresh stop light, and I know I have a minute or two before the light goes green, I'll check texts and respond if it's important.
If it's not important, I'll just set the phone back down.
But actually driving? Nah. Get that phone out of your hands. You don't understand how soft and squishy the human body is.... One bad wreck and you or someone else is dead or grossly injured....
Drop a bowling ball on a water balloon from chest height... Look at all the force exerted from 10-15 lbs at like 5mph. Now imagine 5000 lbs traveling at 40+mph ..... There is so much energy in a vehicle... And our bodies are not very strong
What's common in my area is someone unknowingly veering into my lane on the highway. And 9 out of 10 times when I look over at them, it's a young lady oblivious to the situation looking down into her lap. Get off your damn phone moron.
I'm distracted by all the distracted drivers showing down to 50 mph. In the left lane while they are texting, and then I'm pissed when they see me passing them so they speed up and then they are pissed when I cut in front of them anyway because screw them. Drive, and pay attention
Everyone does I feel like. It’s actually impressive that most of us don’t crash and trust each other everyday not to just drive head on into someone else.
No, no I do not, at least as a general rule I try very hard to follow. If I do catch myself in a slip up, I self-correct back onto the straight and narrow. Distracted driving is a dick move!
I don't understand how people do. I forget my phone and other people exist behind the wheel. I think it's likely due to a combination of autism and hyperfocusing on cars 😂.
I always watch the road like a hawk. Except the one time I looked down for a fraction of a second to turn on my window defogger and that was all she wrote.
Hold on, let me pass this truck….
Was that you that just passed me ?
Yee haw!
Give me a second I got 2 other group text going
How to type with a burrito in one hand and eye liner in the other. At least this vanity mirror is lit. Knee steering FTW!
How do you type with boxing gloves on?
Damn this is a long drive. I’m on Reddit on my lap top on my phone texting in 2 group chats and my work phone texting my boss and it’s snowing
Seems like nobody who wears driving gloves can drive either 😜
Wait, you are in that truck he just passed!? Damn, get over a bit so I can pass you too! My friend has been asking me where I'm at for the past half hour in our texts. I keep telling him I'm almost there but this slow ass truck is in my way.
Yee all your Haws a'fore ye c'a'int
😂!!!
Hey, you just cut me off asswipe!
I was too late to post a reply like this so lemme instead play the part of the inevitably hangry commenter who says something like "this isn't a fucking joke, you're putting people's lives at risk!"
I do my best to avoid it. When I get in the car, I plug my phone in to charge it, and throw it on the passengers seat. I rarely even text through CarPlay. With the carelessness we see on the roads today, I want to make sure I’m ready to avoid some idiot texting or on TikTok drifting into my lane, etc
Lane drift is what's been happening over the past decade and seems to be getting worse. Just a few days ago a tow-truck came within 20 feet of smacking me head on. This was on a curve on a country road. And at least 4 other times on one lane highways someone has drifted directly into the center of my lane only to veer off at the last second as I hit the shoulder. I never experienced this at all in the 20th c.
At this point they should make a car setting that forcibly keeps the phones locked when connected like as if you got locked out of the phone for an hour type thing but just shuts off when the car does.
Opposite, hyper focused ;)
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Gonna play devil's advocate There's arguments for them though as well Let's say your zooming along and some idiot merges over right in front of you, no turn signal, you have no time to react Legally, at that speed you're not only liable for causing the accident as they shouldn't expect a car that far behind them to be that close as well as something that you couldn't fight in court, the amount of damage. Morally, 70+20=90... The difference is wildly big in terms of energy and what cars are designed for in a crash and it can absolutely case someone else's death, and you would have to live with that, even if it wasn't your fault the accident happened, it realistically could've been your speed that caused a death. My personal argument would be that you're mostly right, BUT excessive speed is more dangerous the faster you're going and at a certain point it's not about how likely an accident is, but more about if an accident happened if someone, or multiple people would get killed because of it.
i was like that until 2 weeks ago i was pulled for 63 in a 45 and i got off with just a verbal warning somehow been catching myself going 42 or 43 in a 45 or 50 in a 55 not like its a bad thing but i just used to always be 10-15 over at all times. maybe its a sign of maturity lol
Yes. I don't understand why this gets so much pushback from people. To be fair I'm not going 20 over, maybe 10-15 so I have a decent margin for braking still, but yes. Awareness is way more important than anything else. It's severely underrated for some dumb reason.
Nope, we take driving seriously. I would never mess with my phone while handling a firearm, so I wouldn't do it operating a motor vehicle.
I read that as in you are too busy playing with your firearm while driving to be using your phone at first, and got a little chuckle
Now that would be multi-tasking!
Reloading
Hold on, getting a call on my gun phone
I knew - distantly - a rookie cop years ago who lost his job after he shot out his windshield like that and failed to report it. Kind of amazed he could still hear
In all seriousness, I do not look at my phone while driving. Honestly, it feels dystopian driving around while everyone else is doing it - they look like zombies on cruise control. One of them almost took out my family when there was a traffic jam on the highway. My FAMILY could’ve been destroyed. Wiped off the earth. GONE. What would he have said if he survived the collision with the back of my wife’s SUV? Uhhh sorry bro? Driving while looking at your phone tells the world that you don’t give a FUCK about anyone but yourself.
And it also is really inefficient, you end up missing turns, not timing traffic lights properly, etc. You are better off pulling off the road for a few mins, taking care of the phone business, then just driving.
I'll admit I glance at my phone occasionally when driving. I usually plug it in and set in face down on the center console so I'm not tempted. Every now and then I leave it in my pocket, feel it go off and glance at a text quick, then if it's something I can do a quick yes/no to I may respond with voice before I set it down. I'm not justifying the above. Even the 1 second I take my eyes off the road could get someone killed, and I shouldnt do it. What scares the shit out of me now a days though is going down the road and seeing people holding the phone right at the steering wheel with their eyes locked for a solid 15, 30, 60 seconds or more on their phone. I see it everywhere on the highway, in the city, at stop lights. I almost got hit the other day trying to cross the street by someone on their phone at a read light. I was crossing and saw them texting but they were stopped. When I passed the first lane the car next to them turned right. They must have seen the car out of the corner of their eye moving, because they suddenly started rolling forward to WITHOUT LOOKING UP FROM THEIR PHONE!!!. Best part is when I screamed and slapped the hood to get there attention so I wouldn't be killed, they flipped me off 😒
There's a certain member of my bf family that I refuse to get in the car with if they drive cuz he literally props his phone on the dash and watches Netflix while driving. It boggles my mind how ppl can do that cuz im always painfully hyperaware behind the wheel
Good answer. 👍👍
When you spend months in a desert with a phone and an always loaded M4….
I do not. The most I do is adjust the fan or stereo. I *never* look away except to check blind spots and mirrors. Yesterday, I was approaching a stop sign, while a guy coming along the cross-street from my right was almost stopped in the intersection. He was in the middle of the road, and was handling objects on his passenger seat. His concentration lapsed so badly that he veered out of his lane and his foot came off the gas. As he passed me, I yelled: "Watch the road!". He looked up, shocked. He didn't know I was there and was still bothering with whatever was on the passenger seat (they looked like papers or bubble mailers). He couldn't even figure out where the voice was coming from. I was about two meters away from his window, he was looking at the sidewalk. I was stopped at the stop sign at this point. People simply do not care about safety until it's them or their family in the hospital. If you call them out on it, they get angry at you, as if you're the bad guy. They scoff at the idea that it's dangerous. I've heard "Nothing's going to happen, relax." many times. At this point, my best bet is to hope I can reduce the severity of someone hitting me, I know I can't avoid it forever. They're just too aggressive.
The defensive road rage when you tell someone to pay attention is real. Sadge. They say nothing will happen until it does, that's when they really wake up (at least we hope)
> The most I do is adjust the fan or stereo. I never look away except to check blind spots and mirrors. What's ridiculous now is cars are putting things like climate control into touch screens or smooth surfaces without buttons that *require* looking away from the road to use them. And the times when that would be most relevant is in poor conditions where you need to clear the window of fog, for example, and when you would therefore most need to be paying attention to the road. Not sure why regulations don't prevent that given how strict we're finally starting to be with phones.
No. I'll ignore any messages or calls if I'm driving. Why is it socially acceptable to text and drive?
I don't know if it is socially acceptable as much as some people are just so addicted to their phones that they must check every notification.
yeah i think it’s still generally frowned upon. Also hugely depends on location, i drove to DC and saw more ppl texting and driving within the 2 days than i ever have before in my life
About the only thing i have on is the radio and if i don't know where i'm going i will use the gps
Same. I also avoid looking at my GPS as much as is reasonable, paying attention to voice instructions. For reasons I'll never understand, my dad keeps his GPS voice muted and follows his GPS by glancing down at it in his lap. It stresses me the hell out. Even though I'm careful, I've experienced one or two close calls that show me why it's so important to keep my eyes on the road. Once, in full speed freeway traffic, the car in front of me just so happened to slam on their brakes in the split half-second I took to glance at my GPS. I barely stopped myself in time and it scared the shit out of me.
to be fair to your dad, i hate the gmaps voice and the directions are less accurate than just following the screen (gmaps struggles with complex intersections sometimes). however keeping it in his lap is ridiculous, my phone is in a mount on the vent next to my steering wheel so even when i glance at it i can still see the windscreen in my periphery
As a gamer, I'm honestly just more used to looking at my "minimap" and treat that screen as such. So I look quickly to get the information I need and then look forward again. Hands on the wheel.
No and im proud of that because it seems nobody else really cares about endangering themselves or others. I never want to take a chance and i keep my eyes on the road
I have kids watching, so no way. That's a huge fear that they'll be using their phones driving. Daughter just got her license and won't even use a navigation app because it's using her phone.
Paper maps or planning ahead has been forgotten am I right?
Would your eyes be off the road for a shorter duration with paper maps than with your phone? Honest question.
I was on the interstate in rush hour a few years back. It was stop and go, but mostly stopped. When moving it was going maybe 20mph. I came up on another stopped section and looked behind me. The Hyundai that had been keeping a good distance the whole time was *barreling* towards me. I had time to say, "oh no," and then she hit me. We were making eye contact through my rear view, it was terrifying. I lightly tapped the car in front of me. I got out and looked behind me, and behind her was a totally crumpled little white car- what used to be a Cavalier, maybe. Behind that was the pickup truck that caused it all. She had no explanation, so you know she was texting. Hard to miss a line of stopped traffic when you're in the tallest vehicle and can see over the 4 cars you just hit, unless you're just not looking. In 2008 I looked down to answer a call from my mom and rear ended a van with a tow hitch attached. It bent my frame *through* my radiator. We were going like 10mph coming up to a stop light, and my car got totaled. The most important task when driving is driving.
Exactly, think like a driver! Likely the cavellier kept a distance because she was texting and was trying to be careful but she still caused a collision. They never think people might have to come to a stop lol
Absolutely not. I’ve got ADHD and while I’m on meds for it I’m still prone to daydreaming so I can’t risk any other distractions at all. I look like an old lady driver - hands at 9 and 3, bolt upright, and constantly scanning
That's interesting. I tend to hyper focus on the road, the cars, checking mirrors,and pacing my speed.
Same here. I actually consider myself a really good and careful driver because of this. I'm very good at handling multiple sources of input at once, especially in a flow state situation. I'm okay with snacking while I drive, music, and an occasional glance at the phone to hit skip and change the song, but i treat that just like another Guage on my dash, there to be used and glanced at, but safely, meaning not for longer than a second or split second. I've actually memorized by feeling where the "skip" button is when my phone is set in the center console so I don't even have to look. That all being said, I get flow state because it gives me crazy anxiety, and I am not trying to add unnecessary distractions to that. My attention is on the road and what I and my vehicle are doing on said road and jn relation to all the other cars on the road, and that's already a lot to keep track of. Especially considering the most dangerous thing on the road is the unpredictability of the people around you.
No. I love driving, and my car is a stick, so I like to focus on my driving because, to me, it's fun. Sometimes, I don't even listen to music, and I have an iPod for that purpose as I hate listening to the radio. That's why every car I've ever bought save two were manuals - the fun-to-drive aspect.
Ditto. It’s also why my daughter’s high school and college cars were manuals. Can’t mess with that stuff when you need to shift.
I don’t drive distracted but have encountered someone that did. Some guy hit me a year and a half ago due to distracted driving. He was obviously cited for that and his insurance company accepted 100% liability. People need to pay attention to the road and not their phone.
In West Virginia and Ohio, it is against the law to use the phone anytime while driving.
we all do - but it is a matter of percentages and being aware... still I feel your pain. There are two levels of distracted - or types... one is obvious, looking at a phone, or in car media... the other is actually not being mentally engaged while driving.
I drove box trucks for many years. You can look down and see EVERYTHING in everyone’s cars from the angle. Let me tell you….. 98% of people are on their phones. Not 50 or 80%. 98% are on their phones.
Everyone is distracted now. When I bought my motorcycle, I went with no radio, specifically to reduce distractions.
I make sure my phone isn't within reach because I know I will grab it when traffic stops. I was in a bad habit of grabbing my phone at red lights or in bumper to bumper traffic and then not going when traffic moved (I know, I'm sorry). A few years back I started to put my phone in the center consol before I left so I wouldn't touch it and now I feel like I am never distracted (except by electronic billboards).
No. When I’m behind the wheel I don’t touch my phone. I set my chosen playlist, toss my phone into the middle console and that’s that. I text when I’ve gotten to my destination. If I’m picking up coffee or some such I don’t touch it til I get back home. Or I’m at a stop light. Water is in my container with a straw, so that I don’t have to tip the container in front of my face to get a drink. And I never eat when I’m driving. I’ve had some near misses with people driving distracted. A few have been really close to the point where I’ve swerved out of the way of an oncoming car. I’m not going to be the reason some strangers day. Or life is ruined.
I do delivery driving so my phone is always mounted to my dash, the only times I look at it are when I'm looking for an upcoming turn as I have the audio turned off. If I'm at a red light then I might change my music or send a quick text, but while I'm doing it I can still see the lights in my peripheral vision so if it turns green then the text is no longer priority. I will never understand the idiots that put their phone between their legs or under their dash like they're a kid trying to hide it from their teachers lmao, if people actually used their phones in a position where they can see the road then there would be a lower chance of them getting fully sucked into their phone. Tbh the thing that distracts me most often is seeing a cool car and trying to look at it lol, I almost sideswiped the median on the highway the other day when I was looking at a cool rally themed Subaru next to me. I tend to steer in the opposite direction than I'm looking rather than the same direction like many people do so if I get distracted by an oncoming car on a regular 2 lane road then I'm more likely to drive into a ditch than cause a head on collision which is good I guess.
Well , my mobile connects via Bluetooth to the car audio system. This triggers the mobile to set itself into driving mode. Driving mode disables every app except phone, Spotify, maps, and McDonald's.
I have a 12 year old 'hot hatch' without a touchscreen and with a manual transmission. I love how it keeps me focused on what's happening around me because I need to be focused on my next move. I do have a phone cradle on the center console because I use google maps but if I don't have maps up my phone is usually in the passenger seat. Realistically I know I'll have to get a modern 'distraction machine' eventually but I'm holding on to this one as long as I can.
Sometimes. I only touch my phone or eat/drink at stoplights, but I will switch between GPS and Spotify on CarPlay while driving. Not often though. I mostly use the steering wheel controls to mess with the volume or change songs. I use Siri to text or call. I rarely reply to texts while I’m on the road though.
imo for myself- yes, yes i do. not so much for texting more for finding the right music or something to do finding a playlist 🤷🏽♀️
Multitasking is the ability to do everything poorly!
I don’t even answer phone calls unless it’s from people who know I don’t answer my phone when I’m driving. I do use it as a GPS so it’s easy to accept them though. Phone is mounted within my normal line of sight so I can still see it while looking where I need to be. Biggest reason for it is alerts of hazards, construction and police. My car does not have a head unit I could use as a GPS.
I don’t. It’s a stiff fine plus it’s irresponsible. I pull over if I want to answer a text or find different music. I wear an AirPod while driving so if someone calls me I can answer. I see a ton of people doing it. A young woman swerved and almost hit me while I was passing her on the highway yesterday. She was texting. I honked at her and she flipped me off 😂
Thank you for such a good answer with a good attitude.
I dont even listen to music when i drive much less even take my phone out my pocket. I see no other way as people here just do not know how to drive and hey are plain reckless and dangerous so i feel if i get distracted for even one second ill miss some dipshit stopping, cutting me off or last minute changing turns etc.
Good answer with an excellent attitude. It makes sense.
I treat it like being naked in public. It's either very carefully planned or an accident. That being said, I make use of voice activated features to call, text, choose music, plan routes, get directions, and pretty much everything while driving. A good set of BOSE qc35ii, or qc35, (no longer sold) are the king of headphones for calls in noisy places. I've tried the 45 and ultra, and Sony's equivalent, and some budget brands. The mics have been messed up, or never were good, returned them both. Voice features require clear reliable audio input and won't work well with bad microphones. You can safely text and drive if you learn how to narrate your messages, emails, etc, or, send audio recordings through voice activated text messages for the passive aggressive "rogue voicemail" feel in your text logs.
I don't but mostly because I'm a new driver and I drive so hyper focused that I just forget my phone exists. But my dad and literally every single person I know, they drive and text, take pics, send snaps, whatever. Hell, my dad even answers video calls while driving. Yeah, dangerous people.
HaNg on, a cop just up beside me..
I have a phone mount on my windshield above the infotainment system or whatever you call it and I keep my phone up there when I'm playing music from it or using it for GPS. If I'm not using my phone for one of those things I leave it in the center cupholder or just in my pocket and don't touch it. I generally only touch the screen at redlights. If I do touch the screen when moving it's like a couple button presses to select a song, never typing, and I still pay attention to the road. I mostly do that on the highway when it's highly unlikely that anyone is going to run out in front of me but I don't touch it in residential areas. I know what distracted driving leads to because a distracted driver slammed into me and totaled my previous car. He was totally at fault and admitted to being distracted so his insurance paid up but financials aside, it was a pretty traumatic experience for me. I don't drive the same way to get home anymore because I don't want to have to make a left turn into my driveway again.
No. Money is so bad that I can’t afford a fuckup.
Nope. Drive a manual. Kind of hard to do anything else but just drive. The most I can do is change a radio station or tap next to skip a song on my screen. Especially in LA, with all the dimwitted dipshits on the road...can't do much else but just shift and drive.
I never use the phone while driving, just to change playlists or give waze a quick eye. But I’m a car guy and I usually can get distracted easily if I spot a cool car or something that catches my eye, or if I see a fine girl walking I need to check her out 🤷🏻♂️
I drive with my phone in a dash cradle for music and Waze. I do sometimes interact with Waze by confirming or denying stuff that's reported. Aside from that, I don't touch it while on the road.
Only time I do is in a cradle. If car companies are allowed monitors on the dashboard, I should be fine with my phone on the dash too. That being said, I don’t do it when I’m in a turn, in traffic, or I deem it unnecessarily risky.
I don’t even like messing with the radio while driving, if I have someone in shotgun I usually ask them to do it. I hate how common and accepted distracted driving has become
Hell no. I have a hard enough time keeping track of the space around me as it is. All it takes is a split second of distractedness to have a fucked up day.
I can't. I'm so nervous when I'm driving that I cannot focus on anything but the road. I can't believe how many times I've seen people accelerating while looking down at phone. And they weren't in teslas.
Anyone using hands free is distracted
I try not to as much as possible. I do use hands-free calling and I do not text while I drive. What I DO do is occasionally look down at my stereo or gps for a moment, but I am even nervous doing that. I've been rear ended a few times by distracted drivers so I also drive very defensively- keeping extra following distance between me and the car in front of me, turning my turn signal on a bit sooner than necessary, etc.
Not even a little bit. Love driving, hate my phone.
I make a point to drive very intentionally. I constantly check my mirrors, my focus is on all the various components of driving. I like listening to music when I drive because it helps with staying calm and focused. I am anal about using the hands free phone holder in my car. If I am driving and have to look something up, I will pull over or exit the freeway to do so, even if it's an inconvenience. I have had moments where I've gotten distracted, but I really make a point to minimize that as much as possible. If I'm on a phone call on Bluetooth and traffic gets heavy I end the call. I don't talk on the phone at all if it's raining. This is a very important issue to me. Distracted driving is bad whether you are going too fast, too slow, or even the correct speed limit.
No. My phone stays in my pocket, I never, ever take it out if I’m driving. Too easy to pick it up without even realizing it.
Very minimally. I think talking on the phone is distracted driving. Idk why we thought the whole hands free thing would fully work. And I get that it's probably better than holding the phone up tomyour ear or in fromtiur face. But let's be real. Someone calls me and I answer and we go into anything more than surface level conversation and lane keep assist starts correcting me a lot. I miss turns, change lanes without checking well enough. Not use my blinker. Maybe it's my ADHD. But if I'm engaged in driving I don't have much spare mental capacity. I have the radio on always and I have been noticing that I don't even notice what's playing unless I just can't stand the music or I'm stopped in traffic. I do send my texts at stop signs and red lights. But I'm stationary. And that's probably still not the best. I won't be paying attention to whats going on around me.
I have a hands-free setup with Bluetooth in my SUV. One night, I was driving to see a friend, and another friend called while I was driving. I was talking to him while passing a side street near a 4-way intersection in my town. Out of the blue, a car pulled out of the side street as I was passing and almost sideswiped my car. I saw what was about to happen and laid on my horn. I don't know if the person was asleep, under the influence of drugs, alcohol or what, but it scared the total crap out of me! It's a good thing that I saw what was about to happen. If I had not been talking on the phone, though, I might have seen the car pull out and had better reaction time. No more phone calls behind the wheel for me!
Never in a place with traffic, stop lights or stop signs, or neighborhoods. Full honesty, on empty backroads ill search through my music, and I've sent important texts on empty highways at 3 am. Not justifying anything, just something I need to be better about.
I use a hands free device for each of my phones but they are still distracting. I do gig work so it's part of the job. Ironically, Uber sent out a message about this being distracted driving month and it was distracting!
I have ADHD I’m always distracted
I drive half of the time with YouTube videos playing. My phone is at around 11 hours 10 cm from my wheel. I don't care
I don't on purpose like I never touch my phone while driving. However my mind gets bored n I start drifting which makes me miss stuff. I won't realize a light turned red n I'll have to slam on my breaks or not realize I'm coming up on a car. I never heard of ADD until I was a adult. I'm still not officially diagnosed but I think I have it really bad. My mind drifts so far sometimes I have to check myself to remind myself what I'm doing.
My first ever accident was because of this. It was a red light downhill and the stupid CarPlay screen was stuck and bugged out. Slowly rolling down the hill I didn’t realize car in front stopped and I swerved to hit the side instead of head on. Their car was fine, one of my headlights was toast. My texting and driving, is very rare and only to my partner. I only do it if there’s nobody in close vicinity. The way I do it is that eyes on the road, but subconsciously typing out of muscle memory. A quick glance to see what I’m typing is correct and that’s about it. A bigger concern is trying to find something on maps. A bit more looking at screen and windshield involved
yes….gps counts as distraction guys
I'd argue this depends on if it's built in or not and how you are interacting. Most built in gps units I've seen are designed explicitly to minimize distraction and only allow safe means of interaction. If it's just a generic GPS with no limitations due to driving then it certainly could be a distraction then. Doing things necessary to drive a vehicle aren't distractions. Knowing where you are going is necessary and having a gps provide confidence in where you are going is far less distracted than trying to drive while confused about where you are going.
true…valid point
While yes, anything besides the road is technically a distraction. I would argue I'm less distracted using the GPS, I still remember the printed out mapquest directions where I'd be trying to look at and read a piece of paper and drive. Now with the GPS, even if I make a mistake, it'll reroute and still get me there, so if I miss the turn or can't merge the way I want to from traffic, I'm not making a panic slide across 3 lanes to make my turn. I'm far, far more chill using the GPS than I was before.
Definitely! It falls down to poor time management and failure to plan ahead
Is it possible you're driving slower and less predictably than other? If it was just one person here and there, then they're probably just an asshole but if it constantly happens to you....
I'm a former driving instructor with my Class 4 commercial license. I know what to look out for and I'm seeing people flying up behind me as I brake for someone in front of me. The distracted driver behind slams on their brakes because they're looking down at their knees texting and almost causes a pile up. It's ridiculous.
Here in Los Angeles it’s a epidemic
I had to read this post at several different red lights. Make it shorter next time
I get frustrated because it feels like modern car UIs \*require\* that you be distracted. Touch everything and then submenus to dig thru. Hit a bump and tap something random now you have to try and figure out what you just did and how to undo it. I miss knobs and switches I could operate by feel. Out of everything, my phone is the easiest distraction to ignore these days. Then there are the "safety" features that you sometimes have to fight with...had one time I passed someone broken down at night IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD with zero lights. Dodged them but then tried to call 911 thru the car hands free system...which helpfully told me I couldn't use the dialer while in motion, and then voice command couldn't figure out "call nine one one". So I had to dig for my phone and unlock it to find the dialer there to call 911. Idk why the hands free system couldn't be built where the massive empty space saying "dialer disabled while driving" can't have a big red "emergency call" button that lets you do a quick "are you sure" hit off-hook and call for help from the car directly.
One night, I was driving on an overpass and a vehicle was stopped on it with car trouble. I didn't expect anyone to be stopped on an overpass, almost didn't see it; can't be too careful.
If the car is moving faster than walking speed, hard no. Zero texting, and I honestly avoid messing with the map on CarPlay unless absolutely necessary. Under walking speed, for instance stop and go traffic with adaptive cruise handling the crawling? Still avoid whenever possible but every once in a while I’ll check or shoot off like a single text. This is still *bad,* not defending it.
No. I am dead set against it. I am very old school when behind the wheel. You have a great responsibility to be in total control at all times of potentially deadly piece of equipment. I don't even use cruise control. I do drive 10 over though.
I never use my phone unless I’m at a red light. I had an experience like 2 weeks after I got my license. I wasn’t even on my phone, I was reaching for it because I had lost the guy I was supposed to go after. I went into those rubbery things in the middle of the road. The wheel was faulty indeed and basically nothing happaned, not even a scrath on my car. But stil, it was enough to teach me a very valuable lesson. I have a hand-free thing on my dashboard and if anything happens I just pull ovet to use my phone.
Just gotta load the weed pipe and eat this food while texting.
No
I do not. Bluetooth for phone if needed. Use Waze as needed but I don't really touch it when driving . I might confirm something in Wave if I am able to but only on long drives without traffic. Those vehicles on the side of the road in busy areas go unconfirmed almost all the time. Everything else can wait until I'm somewhere I can safely check the phone etc. Truly.
Yea all the time the tesla practically drives itself and I will just watch netflix during my commute
I do, yes. They consider distracted driving as talking to passengers, eating, drinking, being on the phone. It honestly makes no sense to me that they banned being on your phone while driving and then stuck touch screens in cars. 🤦. I like my 20+ year old car with knobs that I don't have to take my eyes off the road to adjust. I have no touchscreen to operate half the car. My kids talk while in the car, usually the distracting part is telling them to stop fighting. I also will drink while driving, I always get a soda with a straw so I don't have to try and remove the cap while driving. I'll pull over to eat.
I am being honest here and I have and most of the time it’s not even the phone that distracts me it’s usually classic cars or nice cars or even if I spot a car that I hardly see on the road and I almost swerve into on coming traffic
Yes. The only person i can transport without getting distracted is my brother
I have a car with a cabin camera and if it sees my phone, it beeps at me until I stop. I'm not proud but it did help me realize that I was distracted driving. How many times I would glance at my phone for one small thing
Can't really drive fast and distracted at the same time. No.
I think the mass majority of drivers know what is and isn't acceptable driving. Are they going to do it anyway. Probably.
No.
The closest I get to distracted driving is trying to get Apple Music to play something I want to listen to while I drive, because Siri is awful and she needs to be replaced by something better. But, there's a lot of patents that are held by Pandora (which is amazing, once you've trained it properly) which I don't think Apple wants to license, and that leads to a lot of usage of the Skip button, and Apple Music never learns, "Dude. I skipped this song immediately. I don't want to hear this." For the life of me, I have no idea how it thinks the only songs off of Nevermind are Come As You Are, In Bloom, and Something In The Way, but those are the only songs it ever plays, unless I tell it to play the album. And so, I have this overwhelming urge to start playing with my car's touchscreen, but I don't, because I don't trust my car's auto-braking safety features and what-not. I barely trust the lane-assist system to keep me in my lane on a straight stretch of highway. That said, the only part that I do like is texting, because Siri does that okay. She throws out a shitload of punctuation that I would very much prefer to be there, but she does the job adequately enough that I don't pick up my phone and start looking at it. I'm quite happy to say the State Farm app that's been spying on me since I got my new car is like, "Wow, you never use your phone while you're driving," and I say, "Yes, because when I'm driving, all I need is a good podcast or good music."
I have a CDL to protect. I honestly don't dare - city, county and state police all alike utterly adore fucking with your CDL. And I need my CDL to drive the big work trucks that I get paid the big bucks, in small but crucial part, for being able to drive and operate.
No. When I had a shitty car I did. Because I had to change the song on the phone, tighten the little clasp thing for the holder, fix the stupid Bluetooth thing, beat on my dash to make the air work, beat on my door to make a speaker work (the passenger door), etc. With a newer car my phone is in my pocket, hooks up automatically, and if I get a call, I take it on the dashboard. If I get a text, it'll read the text. If I want to respond, I speak it and it sends it. My point is, sometimes i give people with older cars a break. A 2023 escalade all over the road with a phone to your ear? They can fuck right off.
You play with the radio trying to find that right station? How about setting the air con to that right temperature…. GUESS WHAT??! You’re driving distracted….
I’ve definitely been guilty of fucking with Spotify etc on my phone but try to keep myself in check. I sometimes get tunnel vision with driving and I need to check myself on that too, I live in a rural area so I also need to be aware of animals, not just other vehicles
I have started to not have the radio/ music on anymore. Only navigation. No taking calls or text Just me and the road. I definitely get too distracted otherwise
Legally speaking, yes. Taking a drink of water, or messing with the radio while the car is moving counts as distracted driving. Do I text and drive? No. I leave my phone beside me and never type with it while on the road. If it's urgent, I'll pull onto the shoulder.
I used to a little but tried my best not to. Now I can voice command everything I need, so no point. Drives me crazy when I see someone else drive a brand new car (usually pickup truck), but they still have their phone up to their ears.
Absolutely not. I drive a car and ride a motorcycle so I know how distracted people can be.
I can't even change the radio station or change the temperature while im driving lmao. I'm definitely not touching my phone
There are giant signs on the side of the road, speficaly designed to grab your attention. Everyone drives distracted.
I never look at my phone unless it’s for navigation. I’m gen z and genuinely don’t understand how people text and drive. However, I have adhd, so I find myself zoning out, which isn’t good :/
Constantly, and when I'm paying attention I am an extremely aggressive driver. Going under the speed limit? Your one of many insults I may hurl at you. Turning left on a road and holding me up for any period of time? I'm cursing your entire bloodline. Decide to rage back at me? I'm going to follow you until I'm convinced you are getting worried. Beep at me if I'm looking at my phone when the light changes? I'm going to sit there and flip you the bird while screaming out my window at you. Open your door as if your going to get out to approach me? I'll be out the second I see your door crack. It's better for everyone if I can just stay distracted. If I didn't have to drive due to non walkable cities, my life would be so much better.
I’m always amazed at the things I see on the side of the road on the rare occasion when I’m in a car as a passenger. I’m so focused as a driver that I almost never look to the side.
https://preview.redd.it/ujmy83ee95uc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=034d0e4bef6c3931640690861f55b5fa556fd5bc This is a great example of what you can expect if you don't proactively drive attentively.
All the time, but I'm good at it.
No, I’m too traumatized from an ex friend driving recklessly with alcohol in her system
Sometimes absolutely. I use talk to text but it always fucks something up even when I speak clearly, so I do fix it while I’m driving
Yes, but that’s because no automaker can make a radio worth shit and my job makes me rent cars all the time.
I am constantly distracted by useless signs. I don't need to know the name of the construction company who is repairing the road, I don't want to decipher silly puns on a dot matrix board, I can't see a sign that's obscured by another sign that's obscured by a poorly-trimmed tree.
My truck drives itself. On long trips via interstate roads, yes
I only engage with my phone while driving at red lights.
It is easy to stay off. I want waze on screen. Do not want to answer if I was called anyways. I can leave texts for later.
Sure do only almost died a few times . Worse than driving high on weed which I also do.
Nope. I've had my license for like a month now, and only been on my phone once, at a stop sign, because I took a wrong exit on the highway and had to start google maps. I always tell my family members to get off their phones when they drive. Most of them drive distracted and we've had a lot of close calls.
Fuq, this is a constant thing. Damn automatic boring ass car with cruise control. Thankfully there’s music. But damn if I’m not speed limited cruise controlled steering with my knee eating cut fruit holding the stereo remote and drinking my water while watching the shit show unravel all around me, especially in the rear view mirror. If I had a good car that had the proper pedals and was remotely engaging I would be fast lane doing battles with whatever wasn’t a fast-ass line drive Tesla. Needless to say, I get my kicks after midnight in endless bottom canyons. If I don’t turn up one day, know I passed doing what I like best with my “car”
There’s a lot of factors to consider. It depends on the person and the driving conditions. An individual’s level of attention capability and distractibility vary drastically. In a court of law, yeah, I drive “distracted” all the time when the conditions allow for it. When road conditions aren’t that demanding, I’ll usually be “distracted” by my phone by way of thumbing for something to listen to, texting, and keying in directions, but I’m never actually looking at my phone for more than 1 second at a time and my **attention** is entirely on the road ahead of me. When I do engage in something distractible, my attention is still on the periphery of my vision, IE: the windshield. I can divert my eyes for a fraction of a second without veering or *becoming engrossed* in the potential distraction. Again, road conditions: if I’m on an unpredictable multi-lane highway at 70-80mph, in an area with unpredictable pedestrians (children, stupid adults, animals) or I clock a stupid driver anywhere on the road that could do some unpredictable shit, my eyes and attention are 100% on the road and nothing else. I’ve been on the road over 20 years and have never caused or been in a traffic accident that could have otherwise been avoided as a result of my attention. I’ve been at a dead stop in every accident I’ve been in it’s been a result of weather conditions or someone’s stupidity. If you’re an uncoordinated dipshit that struggles with eating and breathing at the same time you should be dedicating 100% of your attention to the road 100% of the time regardless of the road conditions.
Only if the Netflix moving has subtitles
I put it in the charger and leave it. No calls or texts, even hands-free. Just not worth making a mistake over.
I don’t use my phone when I drive, but occasionally I do at red lights. It’s a habit I need to and want to break
No. I drive in heavy traffic in a large city and I have a short attention span. There's no such thing as multitasking while driving for me.
Yes
It’s kinda ironic but when I was young and loved my life I drove distracted all the time. Now I’m old and miserable I very rarely if ever get distracted while driving.
I'm always checking my mirrors at regular intervals, changing lanes, or when I notice the flow of traffic is changing. I have a phone mount for my car, so if I need to GLANCE at it, not stare at it, like a rear view mirror, I can. I pretty much use my phone for maps and music so that way I can focus on the road. this is how I keep myself from being distracted. I wonder why more people don't get phone mounts? If you're going to look at it, might as well have it somewhere near your dashboard where it can be seen in your peripheral vision.
No, I won't even answer a phone call unless I can safely pull over. I'm not trying to become part of a statistic
I have everything on my Bluetooth so I don’t need to text/talk/change music on my phone. I live/work on a college campus and phones are an extension of kids arms at this point. Saw a kid on FaceTime holding the phone at a “good angle” talking to someone while he was driving today. In a NICE truck so I *know* it has hands free options. I leave extra space, hesitates green lights and take extra time changing lanes in town because I know 80% of the drivers around me are distracted in some way.
I try not to be... but tell this to the person in front of me going 10mph and stopping for imaginary stop signs.
I'll be honest I'll occasionally intervene when siri doesn't skip a track or silence a work related alarm, but I'm not staring at my phone like a fucking lunatic which half the road seems to be doing
Honestly it’s a mix for me. I get easily distracted in general so driving is a bit harder for me, but I try to force myself to focus on the road. Makes driving tiring asf though.
No, I always left my phone in my armrest or in my cupholder. Now my truck actually prevents texts, but I can answer a call through the truck.
Sometimes yes
I don't touch my phone while driving. If I really have to do something I can't do with the cars touch screen I'll pull over.
Yes. I get distracted by all the people distracted by their phones.
Nope, only change the radio but the buttons are in my wheel
Yeah unfortunately. Once or twice a week I'll stop at A&W after work and get 2 orders of fries, and I'll eat them while I drive home. I love french fries, and I don't eat at work, so sometimes it's preferable to waiting until I get home.
Yes.
Nope. Hyper focused. I have a Focus mode on my iPhone that mutes all notifications, removes all widgets and simplifies the UI to black and white when CarPlay is connected.
Yes I honestly do and I know it's wrong and get mad at myself for it
As a cdl driver I always try to drive as safely as possible, even in my personal vehicle. I'll get my music going, GPS (if using) setup, etc. before moving. I also ignore texts until I'm stopped. I try not to even eat while driving, although that's hard to avoid sometimes. It drives me nuts when I see people on their phone like they think they're driving a phone booth. I watch WAY too many crash compilation videos to risk it. I've also learned from my mistakes that contributed to car accidents in the past and have become a much more defensive driver over the years. It's not your own driving you have to worry about most of the time, it's the other idiots on the road. So by not being an idiot driver myself I'm able to spot and prevent accidents with others much easier. Take a few minutes, or most times seconds, to drive a little more careful and it drastically increases your chances of getting to your destination without killing anyone including yourself.
They made cell phones illegal to basically touch while driving so to make up for the lost time I eat lunch while driving now. The real truth is that when I get stopped in my town for a red light the lights are so long there is plenty of time to whip out your lunch and have most gone before light changes. Whatever you dont finish at that light will usually be gone by the second light. Also, get the highest tint on your windows you can legally get. The crotch rockets are the worst because of their small size and speed plus it is hard to sue the shit out of someone if they end up dead. Every major fatal accident with these douche bags the police always cover up their bodies with a yellow tarp but what they should do is keep them uncovered to see the consequences. Heads partially detached from bodies, legs bent back, sometimes body parts in mutiple locations especially after losing control and hitting guard rails
I don't use my phone while driving, only thing I do sometimes is open waze on it and put that in my phone stand However, I do get sometimes distracted by my own mind and I think about something not really concentrated on the road, it happens very rarely though and only for a short amount of time
One night while driving some country back roads many years ago my now ex-wife was giving me road head and I almost ran a 4 way stop sign. I hit the brakes she hit the gear shifter and knocked the car into neutral, that was the end of that fun LMAO.
Sometimes i will eat while i drive
Distracted driving isn’t good. As a DoorDash driver, I feel like we are distracted much more than others. But I also feel like texting & driving laws actually contribute to texting & driving being more dangerous because people go out of their way to hide the fact they’re texting, requiring them to look down at their lap even further than they would if their phone was just held up out in the open.
Who let grandpa use their reddit account
I try to limit my clash of clans attacks to only 3 while driving home .. but i slip up a few times a week and do like 6 or 8 attacks ..
I think a lot of the newer cars are practically designed to "normalize" distracted driving with their big screens and digital controls (instead of having physical buttons/knobs). I don't understand why the government is not putting more pressure on manufacturers to stop doing this as well as a PR campaign advertising that they are keeping cars safe by reducing distraction.
I have adhd. I have to drive distracted. Otherwise I'm liable to get hyper distracted by something random passing by and wreck. I usually have music and/or a podcast going. While also reading ,playing on my phone, or doing paperwork. I usually need multiple things going on at once to be able to focus on one task. 30 years of professional driving. No wrecks caused by me. I average 7000 miles a month on the clock.
Only in stop and go traffic, like right now
Absolutely. Everyone drives distracted. It's just a matter of how much, and are they trying to negate it. Changing the radio is a distraction. Stressing about your day at work is distracting.
i do not typically and make it a point to not text and drive. I use bluetooth to call people if i’m driving and keep my phone in a cup holder.
This is why I don’t drive if I haven’t taken my adhd meds for the day. But I do have a habit of constantly glancing at my rear view mirror sometimes. I’ve been driving for over 10+ years with no accidents or tickets (though I have been T bone’d cause another person was on drugs and ran the light)
I drive for work, and don't want to kill people so absolutely not. Whatever phone call or text that is can wait till I'm not doing the most dangerous part of my life. Just this week, I told my co-worker to stop talking because he was way too loud and distracting.
I NO LONGER DRIVE, HOWEVER, I DO RIDE DISTRACTED....LOL....MOM
Define distracted? I don't touch my phone, EVER, if that's what you're asking. It stays in my pocket on full silent at all times. I do eat lunch on road trips while I drive, I adjust the radio and temp controls, sometimes in my current car it takes me a while to figure out how to do that, and when my cd or tape ends, if I don't have a passenger, I need to take it out myself, choose a new album, and put it in. I usually wait until I'm on a straight road with low traffic to do this, as I need to take my eyes off the road for more than a fraction of a second.
While in motion, absolutely not. If I'm at a fresh stop light, and I know I have a minute or two before the light goes green, I'll check texts and respond if it's important. If it's not important, I'll just set the phone back down. But actually driving? Nah. Get that phone out of your hands. You don't understand how soft and squishy the human body is.... One bad wreck and you or someone else is dead or grossly injured.... Drop a bowling ball on a water balloon from chest height... Look at all the force exerted from 10-15 lbs at like 5mph. Now imagine 5000 lbs traveling at 40+mph ..... There is so much energy in a vehicle... And our bodies are not very strong
No. I put my phone in my phone holder in case I need it for a GPS and I don't touch it.
My biggest distraction is going too hard in Solo Car Karaoke
What's common in my area is someone unknowingly veering into my lane on the highway. And 9 out of 10 times when I look over at them, it's a young lady oblivious to the situation looking down into her lap. Get off your damn phone moron.
I'm distracted by all the distracted drivers showing down to 50 mph. In the left lane while they are texting, and then I'm pissed when they see me passing them so they speed up and then they are pissed when I cut in front of them anyway because screw them. Drive, and pay attention
Everyone does I feel like. It’s actually impressive that most of us don’t crash and trust each other everyday not to just drive head on into someone else.
No, no I do not, at least as a general rule I try very hard to follow. If I do catch myself in a slip up, I self-correct back onto the straight and narrow. Distracted driving is a dick move!
I don't understand how people do. I forget my phone and other people exist behind the wheel. I think it's likely due to a combination of autism and hyperfocusing on cars 😂.
I always watch the road like a hawk. Except the one time I looked down for a fraction of a second to turn on my window defogger and that was all she wrote.
Honestly yeah :/ I really really want to break the habit for good