Think Texting While Driving is Bad? Meet the Multi-Tasking Driver

10 years ago, I witnessed a multitasking driver swerving nonchalantly as she removed rollers from her hair during the morning commute. Hair rollers! Sheesh.

I would see a guy on I-95 where 2 other major roads merged in a VW Cabrio with cow pattern seat covers talking on the phone (using the hand-set) and either reading a book, newspaper or making selections out of a mail catalog. Traffic at this section of the highway would be moving at like 50 mph with high chances of it moving to 0 quickly.

I really hope someone turns that driver, and others like him/her in, before someone gets killed

UGH, that makes me angry even reading it. I can't even count how many times I've seen some idiot texting while driving.... in frickin rush hour traffic!!! Or some douche doing it and going 10+ miles under the speed limit which causes all of the backed up traffic.
UGH I can't stand idiot drivers!!

I hope he kills himself before he kills someone else.

Once saw a guy eating a bowlm of cereal while driving with his knees. Stupidest thing I've ever seen someone do while driving.

Just because you can't do it doesn't mean it's impossible. Texting while driving was a de facto part of driving up until a year or so ago, and now everyone has jumped on the demonizing bandwagon. Why? Why all the vitriol? Ooooh, someone's breaking a rule!

Unless performance is affected, it is not a Big Deal. It astounds me to no end how frigging concerned everyone is with what other people are doing.

Now, the assholes who do it when they clearly shouldn't - those who lag behind or swerve - fine, criticize the slow down or the swerving. But those people aren't "distracted" drivers, they're simply BAD drivers. a GOOD driver can drive well in a variety of adverse conditions, including in-car distraction.

I used to be able to text while driving without even looking at the screen, but since i do it so infrequently now, it actually IS a distraction, when before it wasn't because it was something I'd practiced and done a million times.

I feel the same way about drunk driving laws, in that they keep mostly honest people from ever drinking and driving, and then the one time that they do, of course they're horrible at it - they haven't had any practice.

It's symptomatic of the flaws of prohibition as the answer to anything - especially things that normal, decent people already do. We'd see less drunk driving accidents and deaths if people were compelled to take the time to get sloshed and re-learn how to drive.

It's the difference between two diametrically opposed philosophies: X is bad, so make anyone who does X a criminal, OR X is bad, so how can we reduce the impact of X, given that people are going to do it no matter what the law says? Laws never stopped anyone from doing anything, but education helps people do whatever it is they're going to do well.

I guess texting while driving becomes a bigger issue when someone you know personally has become a paraplegic because the chick that was texting ran over him while he was stopped at a 4-way (he was on a motorcycle, she was in an SUV)... she was texting at the time and had no idea there was an intersection, stopped traffic... anything. She dragged my acquaintance quite a way under her vehicle before she managed to stop. My acquaintance is paralyzed... forever... he's in his 40's, has a young son as well as grown kids.
The point here is not that she was doing something legal or illegal- the point is- she was being profoundly stupid and her action forever altered an innocent person's life... and- she has to live with it now, too. Whether or not it's legal has NOTHING to do with the stupidity of the action. People do it all the time and are all the time endangering someone else because of it. Of course, other life-altering accidents happen all the time that are completely unrelated to texting, multi-tasking, drinking (I can't even believe you have the gall to mention that- maybe you or someone you love will get hit by a drunk someday and feel differently; I don't wish it on you- it's a horrible price to pay). The part of education in this? I think we've all been educated... and Guess what? It hasn't stopped anything. I'm all in favor of laws that punish people who KNOW BETTER but do stupid stuff anyway and then, in the process, destroy other people's lives because of their irresponsible behavior.
I don't think this has anything at all to do with 'ooo- someone's breaking a rule'... and everything to do with crazy people driving and simultaneously doing something that endangers other people's lives. There is a reason why the laws were created to begin with.

Gee whiz, I hope @nutbastard is only kidding with his rationalization that it's OK text (or drink or whatever) while drving, as long as you are "good at it."

The worst driver I've ever seen was holding up traffic on SB 101 in Brisbane while eating a bowl of noodle with chopsticks.

you are aptly named, nutbastard. i say we let 'em 'practice' drinking/texting while driving within a 1 mile radius of your home
and only when your loved ones are on the road or your kids are out playing in/near the street.

you're so ridiculous that i hope you're kidding...sadly, even if you are, there are plenty who really do think like that out there.

we should drive like every car on the road carries one of our loved ones inside...because it might.

nutbastard- Did you seriously just defend drunk driving?? Oh so b/c the person is a good person, then they should be allowed to drive drunk? Or b/c they can focus a bit better, they're OK to do it? Seriously????

You must not know anyone who has gotten hit by a drunk driver.

My brother, cousin and his girlfriend were hit by a drunk driver and they're all lucky to be alive with just scars to show for it. My brother walked away with a scar on his eyebrow (it was too the bone when it happened). My cousin walked away with only bumps and bruises. His girlfriend was in the hospital for 2 weeks because her face got completely messed up. She had to have 3 plastic surgeries to make her look normal again, minus the HUGE scars that were now permenantly etched on to her face.

Don't even talk about any of this crap being OK, especially drunk driving.