Texting when driving: when allowed?

[Fluid]

iridebikes said:

scenario;

You are going to meet a friend at a location. Your friend texts you while you are driving to ask if you have left. You reply 'yes'

You are on a single lane straight road doing approximately 40 mph, using a blackberry/phone with a qwerty keyboard..

Is this acceptable? i personally think yes, although illegal (in my opinion) if you cannot type 3 letters while holding a steering wheel and watching the road you aren't really capable of fiddling with the radio ect?

Utter bks.

[Jagmanv12]

Fubar1977 said:

Nope, not under any circumstances.
If it`s that important I`d pull over and deal with it properly.
Basically it`s stupid and dangerous, no doubt I`ll get slated for saying that but people who text and drive are morons, period.

+1

There is no way anyone can give 100% concentration to their driving when they are texting, looking at the keyboard, screen, etc. The offence should carry a year's ban and a hefty fine.

As the OP is based in the Netherlands perhaps he was smoking a funny cigarette when he posted.

[anonymous-user]

Fluid said:

Utter bks.

Is the correct answer.

[dinkel]

Petrol Only said:

Old phone with proper buttons before this touch screen malarkey. No problem I could touch type and send the message without looking at the screen.

Now only a fool would text and drive.

Nokia 2007 here.

I am surrounded by fools who text and drive. It's driving me nuts!

[dinkel]

s p a c e m a n said:

Why a single lane? Surely a motorway would be better as it would be straight and cruise control would probably be used

To keep ones attention.

[dinkel]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

It is that scary . . . Thanks for noticing Tonker: this is a serious post / although some may think I've smoked a reefer.

So many people page & drive: what are they thinking?

[dinkel]

Heathwood said:

Your based in the Netherlands OP arent you? Do they have different rules for these sort of things over there?

Rule is: holding a phone while driving is illegal.

Reality is: no coppers to check this.

I'm doing 200 kms every day and I see both city and highway police maybe twice a week.

[anonymous-user]

dinkel said:

So many people page & drive: what are they thinking?

Bugger all unfortunately.

[Debaser]

Texting when driving? My spelling so bad when I'm drunk there's no point trying.

[theworx]

iridebikes said:

scenario;

You are going to meet a friend at a location. Your friend texts you while you are driving to ask if you have left. You reply 'yes'

You are on a single lane straight road doing approximately 40 mph, using a blackberry/phone with a qwerty keyboard..

Is this acceptable? i personally think yes, although illegal (in my opinion) if you cannot type 3 letters while holding a steering wheel and watching the road you aren't really capable of fiddling with the radio ect?

But you would have to take your eyes and concentration away from the road to read the initial text

[Crafty_]

iridebikes said:

scenario;

You are going to meet a friend at a location. Your friend texts you while you are driving to ask if you have left. You reply 'yes'

You are on a single lane straight road doing approximately 40 mph, using a blackberry/phone with a qwerty keyboard..

Is this acceptable? i personally think yes, although illegal (in my opinion) if you cannot type 3 letters while holding a steering wheel and watching the road you aren't really capable of fiddling with the radio ect?

..And whilst you are holding your phone and tapping out the reply/selecting the recepient/checking the message sent you don't have hold of the steering wheel properly, your observation is poor, a child runs down a pathway leading to the road, trips and falls in to the road. Even if you see the child in time you do not have proper control of your vehicle to cope with the emergency.

If you need to send a reply pull over, send it, resume journey, its really not that difficult.

[ch108]

Fluid said:

iridebikes said:

scenario;

You are going to meet a friend at a location. Your friend texts you while you are driving to ask if you have left. You reply 'yes'

You are on a single lane straight road doing approximately 40 mph, using a blackberry/phone with a qwerty keyboard..

Is this acceptable? i personally think yes, although illegal (in my opinion) if you cannot type 3 letters while holding a steering wheel and watching the road you aren't really capable of fiddling with the radio ect?

Utter bks.

Agreed. People seem to think nowadays driving is just something you do while doing something else. When in charge of a car surely the primary function is to be in control of the car and be aware of what is going on around you. Would you pass a driving test whilst typing on a phone? No. If the police stopped you for using your phone would they let you off because you only typed 3 letters? No. The defence that if you can't drive and use a phone at the same time then you must be an incapable driver is just idiotic. And the reason for texting as per the above post is hardly a life or death one. Once you've run someone over because you haven't been paying attention whilst texting then we'll see how important it was to be texting and driving.

[Strawman]

I was driving on the m25 a months or so ago and there was a small hatchback in the middle lane ahead weaving from side to side in it's lane doing about 70. I thought the driver must be pissed or having a heart attack or something, as I drove past and looked across it was a young woman texting as she drove along(I assume), she was looking at phone for 10+ seconds, then looking at the road and correcting the wheel, then looking back at phone, and repeat. I thought of sounding my horn and gesturing or something but was worried that she might crash through shock.

[iridebikes]

on that note then, adjusting the radio should also be illegal surely? Fair enough selecting a preset station, or skipping a track on a CD can be done without too much thought, but trying to find a station, or selecting a song on an ipod is very distracting. where do you draw the line?

[Rick 343]

Debaser said:

Texting when driving? My spelling so bad when I'm drunk there's no point trying.

Lol

[Debaser]

Rick 343 said:

Debaser said:

Texting when driving? My spelling so bad when I'm drunk there's no point trying.

Lol

Ironically I even got that post wrong....

[Crafty_]

iridebikes said:

on that note then, adjusting the radio should also be illegal surely? Fair enough selecting a preset station, or skipping a track on a CD can be done without too much thought, but trying to find a station, or selecting a song on an ipod is very distracting. where do you draw the line?

ipod is classed the same as a phone, run someone over and tell the cops it wasn't a phone you were using will not wash.

For the radio you have steering wheel buttons and/or the controls are intuitive enough to find by feel alone - you don't need to take your eyes off the road and if you must take a hand off the wheel (no steering wheel controls) it only takes a second or two, using a phone will take significantly longer.

[paranoid airbag]

Ari said:

dinkel said:

I say:

- only short messages, no conversations.
- when on a single lane only.
- not in the evening.

I'm interested in your opinion.

Jesus Christ.

This. I've just finished reading about someone, a father, killed by a woman fiddling with her satnav. No limited visibility of any sort. No dangerous road. Just an irresponsible arse and now an orphaned family.

Don't fking text and drive.

[The Moose]

It's an interesting one this. A bit like chatting on the mobile. It used to be legal and acceptable to do so. Now, it's illegal, everyone seems to have jumped on the band wagon of it being unacceptable (at this point, I'm just voicing my observations not opinions). I have spent a lot of time in countries where it's legal to do the above...and have done with no issues.

[ch108]

iridebikes said:

on that note then, adjusting the radio should also be illegal surely? Fair enough selecting a preset station, or skipping a track on a CD can be done without too much thought, but trying to find a station, or selecting a song on an ipod is very distracting. where do you draw the line?

I would say an iPod would be dealt with in the same way as a phone by plod. But a car radio? Are you really likely to be fiddling with a radio for as long as it would take to send a text? And is that not the reason why radios are high up in the centre console, to minimise time with eyes off the road? I think drivers have to take responsibility in a way. Whether it be an iPod or radio, if something you are doing while driving is taking your attention off the road should you not be pulling over? Just because a car has a satnav/radio/iPod socket doesn't mean it will be safe to use these 100% of the time. Cars have reclining seats but you wouldn't use them when on the move!