Texting and Driving

[PiperGeorge]

This is a good advert. I hope the message gets out to people
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Text drive film to 'shock' pupils

A shocking video has been made for pupils in an attempt to stop car crashes caused by the driver texting while driving. Gwent Police said it hoped the graphic video would be shown in schools around Wales and hopefully the rest of the UK.

The short film, starring young actors from south Wales, shows a teenage girl killing four people after she uses her mobile phone to send a text.


BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | Text drive film to 'shock' pupils

[slayerdarkcross]

Saw this a couple days ago its pretty interesting. But there is a fine line between trying to scare someone or making it look like an action flick.

[quicksilverdon]

OMG!
WTF?

[mopar_man]

That's almost a little too much but what else can you do? They obviously won't listen to anyone when they're told it's dangerous. I was following a girl one night a couple months ago from a red light. It turns green and she accelerates at a snail's pace. She nearly gets up to the speed limit but won't go any faster. There's a slow curve in the road not long after the light and she nearly scrubs her car into the curb. I finally get pissed and drive around her. She's got both hands in the middle of the steering wheel, texting on her phone.

[Travis2k7]

I think cell phone usage should be outlawed while driving with the exception of emergency calls.

But, like everything else in this country it is going to take X amount of people getting killed before it happens... some states already have outlawed it (New York for one) but most haven't... Every day I am passed on the interstate by someone doing 90 mph with a cell phone in their ear.

I'm also against the elderly driving without passing the tests as well... my grandfather (94 living in New York) had his taken away at 83 when he couldn't pass a vision test. On the other hand here in Georgia I have a friend who's grandfather is 91 and still has his license. He was involved in 2 wrecks over the last 3 years, one in Savannah where he pulled out in front of a lady and totaled both their cars, then another in Rincon where he rear ended a lady who was stopped waiting to turn, knocked her car into the oncoming lane where she was T-boned... 3 cars totaled in that wreck.

He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's last year but guess what, he still has his GA driver's license. The man can't drive 2 miles in his own city he's lived in for 30 years without getting lost... He'll keep driving until he kills himself or a family of 4 like the elderly man did last year when he went the wrong way on 95 and hit a car head on.

I just hope my tombstone doesn't say "killed by Mary Jane who was texting to find out if the pot roast was ready."

[PiperGeorge]

Originally Posted by mopar_man

That's almost a little too much but what else can you do? They obviously won't listen to anyone when they're told it's dangerous.

If I was doing this commercial I think I would have added a bit more to the end.
Maybe fade in to the girl in her wheelchair still all bandaged up and then zoom back to show her in the court room where they are just proclaiming her guilty of several counts of manslaughter, reckless driving, endangerment and a whole pile of other related counts.

People have got to realise that this kind of stuff is dangerous - probably just, if not more so than driving drunk.

[PiperGeorge]

Originally Posted by Travis2k7

I think cell phone usage should be outlawed while driving with the exception of emergency calls.

Several Canadian provinces are making them illegal. Manitoba where I live has just passed the law but aren't going to enforce it yet until they do their public awareness program. They say not until next spring.

[chris15]

I'm all for banning cell phones while driving. I'm also all for periodic driving tests, oh, say, every 3-5 years or so. That would get a lot of the elderly off the road (as previously mentioned) that should NOT be driving. I work part time at a supermarket, and some of the people that pull into the handicapped spaces beg me to bring them those electric carts. Some are obese, some are injured and others are so old that they LITERALLY cannot see over the steering wheel, and even if they could-- probably still couldn't see the road..

And for that matter, I'm also sick and tired of being tailgated while doing 10 over by someone with a handicapped hangtag/license plate. If you're given a citation for speeding and you have a handicap provision on your car/license, it should be revoked. That shit is a priviliege and I think if you drive recklessly, you shouldn't be entitled to it.

/end rant

[PTHelga]

Depending on where you are in MI, its city by city not state-wide, it is illegal to be on the phone without a hands free. Perversely, its still legal to text message and drive. I have yelled at my MOTHER for texting while she drives! That crap makes me crazy! Of all the idiotic things to do while driving, taking your eyes off the road for that long. It only takes a second and you are in trouble.

I have to renew my license this year and the test in MI to do so is ridiculous. Really. I cannot believe that they dumb it down THAT much for people to renew. 10 freaking questions. I think the test should be much more in depth. And I really do believe that you need to spend time studying for it. Its a good way to refresh old knowledge in your head, remind you of traffic laws and that its a privilage to drive, not a right. I think that you should have to pass an eye exam as well. A refresher test with an instructor should be mandatory if you do not pass the written or you have had moving infractions between renewals.

[Hooligan]

In Florida you can renew your license by mail, no test or anything! And there are MILLIONS on the road, oh, maybe those are the illegal's who drive older beat up trucks who fall asleep on I-95 and cross the center.