Two collisions yesterday
Discussion
Both involving mobile phone users!
Fortunately all of us were on foot.
But it does illustrate what I have mentioned before, stand on any busy street and watch the pedestrians as they walk along chatting on their mobile phones. They can't walk in a straight line and many are oblivious to everything else going on around them!
Yesterday morning, in broad daylight, a man gassing away on his phone crossed into my path. In the evening a lady laughing gaily at some bon mot walked straight into me. Her eyes were open, but their sense was shut.
Oh, no! Now I've quoted from the Scottish play! ... "Angels and ministers of grace defend us!" Logs out, turns round three times widdershins, swears (
), and logs back in again.
Streaky
Fortunately all of us were on foot.
But it does illustrate what I have mentioned before, stand on any busy street and watch the pedestrians as they walk along chatting on their mobile phones. They can't walk in a straight line and many are oblivious to everything else going on around them!
Yesterday morning, in broad daylight, a man gassing away on his phone crossed into my path. In the evening a lady laughing gaily at some bon mot walked straight into me. Her eyes were open, but their sense was shut.
Oh, no! Now I've quoted from the Scottish play! ... "Angels and ministers of grace defend us!" Logs out, turns round three times widdershins, swears (
), and logs back in again. Streaky
Do not get me started on Handy phones Liebchen.. I really dislike these und just cannot understand the obsession und need to chat on them all the time. 
I saw people walking down road together .. but not chatting with each other.. both on their mobiles
I think they intrude.. deplete real social skills und interaction .. und compromise courtesy und good manners too.
Of course.. my view may be coloured by having my night out at the opera, ballet, theatre, cinema und even a "romantic" session of being wined und dined by Mad Doc spoiled by these idiots who pay good money like us to have a decent soiree und chatter nonsenically throughout.. thus ruining theirs und others night out..
I would love to ram these phones down their throats or arrange to have a phone instead of a fly in the soup Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
I saw people walking down road together .. but not chatting with each other.. both on their mobiles
I think they intrude.. deplete real social skills und interaction .. und compromise courtesy und good manners too.
Of course.. my view may be coloured by having my night out at the opera, ballet, theatre, cinema und even a "romantic" session of being wined und dined by Mad Doc spoiled by these idiots who pay good money like us to have a decent soiree und chatter nonsenically throughout.. thus ruining theirs und others night out..
I would love to ram these phones down their throats or arrange to have a phone instead of a fly in the soup Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
And who watched Traffic Cops last night?
For those who didn't see it.
Followed a fatac where a LGV piled into the back of a Pug in a traffic queue killing 23yr old female driver. LGV driver fiddling with phone, proven by evidence from phone, evidence of driver's mate witness and cough from the driver, eventually.
Showed plod reconstruction showing that LGV driver had ploughed into the back of a traffic queue having passed one sign warnig of queues and at the point of second warning sign.
Showed family liaison officer doing one of those visits to bereaved family though nothing of the actual discussion shown of course.
Plus the family liasion officer bollocking drivers who were on the phone and basically driving like twunts when on his way back to the scene after the initial family visit.
Bloody good show actually. Almost no emotive stuff, just plain hard in your face footage of how it is.
No doubt this will initiate a number of posts from various people complaining about how long a road is closed for serious collisions. To them my answer is not repeatable.
FiF
For those who didn't see it.
Followed a fatac where a LGV piled into the back of a Pug in a traffic queue killing 23yr old female driver. LGV driver fiddling with phone, proven by evidence from phone, evidence of driver's mate witness and cough from the driver, eventually.
Showed plod reconstruction showing that LGV driver had ploughed into the back of a traffic queue having passed one sign warnig of queues and at the point of second warning sign.
Showed family liaison officer doing one of those visits to bereaved family though nothing of the actual discussion shown of course.
Plus the family liasion officer bollocking drivers who were on the phone and basically driving like twunts when on his way back to the scene after the initial family visit.
Bloody good show actually. Almost no emotive stuff, just plain hard in your face footage of how it is.
No doubt this will initiate a number of posts from various people complaining about how long a road is closed for serious collisions. To them my answer is not repeatable.
FiF
Agreed FiF. Saw it too. The trucker didn't even know he'd hit the car, he could only see the car in front of the one he'd hit, so far was that poor kid crushed under his lorry.
Mobiles are a menace in the car, they can totally distract from paying attention from what is happenning on the road. Not to mention the consequences of only having one hand on the wheel. At least get a hands free peolpe, £10 isn't that much to pay surely? Personally I think it should be illegal to dial out, incoming on a handsfree only seems reasonable. If you need to make a call, if it's really that important to you, then pull over!
Mobiles are a menace in the car, they can totally distract from paying attention from what is happenning on the road. Not to mention the consequences of only having one hand on the wheel. At least get a hands free peolpe, £10 isn't that much to pay surely? Personally I think it should be illegal to dial out, incoming on a handsfree only seems reasonable. If you need to make a call, if it's really that important to you, then pull over!
Edited by andy zarse on Thursday 9th November 11:36
WildCat said:
Do not get me started on Handy phones Liebchen.. I really dislike these und just cannot understand the obsession und need to chat on them all the time.
I saw people walking down road together .. but not chatting with each other.. both on their mobiles
I think they intrude.. deplete real social skills und interaction .. und compromise courtesy und good manners too.
Of course.. my view may be coloured by having my night out at the opera, ballet, theatre, cinema und even a "romantic" session of being wined und dined by Mad Doc spoiled by these idiots who pay good money like us to have a decent soiree und chatter nonsenically throughout.. thus ruining theirs und others night out..
I would love to ram these phones down their throats or arrange to have a phone instead of a fly in the soup Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Ah, dearest Wildy you need to see a play with Richard Griffins in it. He offers no compassion to mobile 'phone users who interrupt his performance. May the force be with him! - Streaky I saw people walking down road together .. but not chatting with each other.. both on their mobiles
I think they intrude.. deplete real social skills und interaction .. und compromise courtesy und good manners too.
Of course.. my view may be coloured by having my night out at the opera, ballet, theatre, cinema und even a "romantic" session of being wined und dined by Mad Doc spoiled by these idiots who pay good money like us to have a decent soiree und chatter nonsenically throughout.. thus ruining theirs und others night out..
I would love to ram these phones down their throats or arrange to have a phone instead of a fly in the soup Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
streaky said:
....Ah, dearest Wildy you need to see a play with Richard Griffins in it. He offers no compassion to mobile 'phone users who interrupt his performance. May the force be with him! - Streaky
IIRC, he launched into a tirade and had the person ejected from the stalls. Bloody good thing too.
Peronally I dread the available usage on aircraft, so far we are spared the dulset tones every few seconds, but....
And girliefriend really pees me off when in the middle of a conversation she has to answer a text - not just 1 but a whole ferkin' string of them. grrrr.
And relax...
Edited by mutley on Thursday 9th November 13:56
chrispy porker said:
rrring rring
Hello I'm on the bus
How i'd like to say 'not for much longer' and assist them off.
Hello I'm on the bus
How i'd like to say 'not for much longer' and assist them off.
Another benefit of not using public transport.
Things have probably got to a point now where people expect phones to be answered or to be able to make calls to optimise their time, especially for so many with long commutes.
However quite why so many calls have to be more than a few seconds I don't know. I blame the phone companies. Having taken the cash to get people into a monthly contract they give them far more 'free' time than they can use - so a call comes to have no direct value, just some remote monthly 'fee'. So use the phone any time.
The thing is my daughters operate that way as, it seems, do nearly all their friends. To them that's the way it is and always has been within living memmory of 'young adulthood'. Anything else would seem strange.
It makes me feel old to feel that such a social change is really not a benefit.
andy zarse said:
Mobiles are a menace in the car, they can totally distract from paying attention from what is happenning on the road. Not to mention the consequences of only having one hand on the wheel. At least get a hands free peolpe, £10 isn't that much to pay surely? Personally I think it should be illegal to dial out, incoming on a handsfree only seems reasonable. If you need to make a call, if it's really that important to you, then pull over!
I doubt hands-free gadgets make much difference. It's not the conversation that's distracting - people are capable of having conversations with passengers, even those in the back seat driver's side, with far less (in most cases) of their attention diverted from the road than when using a mobile. Push-to-talk radios are also a lot less distracting to use than a mobile. In the first case the feedback from the other party in the conversation is instant, and in the second it's greatly delayed. In the case of a mobile, the coding/decoding time is just in the right region to delay the feedback just enough to really screw your head up (a phenomenon which has been much studied by those interested in long-distance remote control systems such as would enable a surgeon in London to perform an operation in America). The result is that conversations on mobiles take an inordinate amount of concentration and they take it in such a way that the speaker doesn't notice it's no longer available for other tasks.
I entirely agree with that bit, it's a perfectly reasonable viewpoint to my mind. Pigeon said:
andy zarse said:
Mobiles are a menace in the car, they can totally distract from paying attention from what is happenning on the road. Not to mention the consequences of only having one hand on the wheel. At least get a hands free peolpe, £10 isn't that much to pay surely? Personally I think it should be illegal to dial out, incoming on a handsfree only seems reasonable. If you need to make a call, if it's really that important to you, then pull over!
I doubt hands-free gadgets make much difference. It's not the conversation that's distracting - people are capable of having conversations with passengers, even those in the back seat driver's side, with far less (in most cases) of their attention diverted from the road than when using a mobile. Push-to-talk radios are also a lot less distracting to use than a mobile. In the first case the feedback from the other party in the conversation is instant, and in the second it's greatly delayed. In the case of a mobile, the coding/decoding time is just in the right region to delay the feedback just enough to really screw your head up (a phenomenon which has been much studied by those interested in long-distance remote control systems such as would enable a surgeon in London to perform an operation in America). The result is that conversations on mobiles take an inordinate amount of concentration and they take it in such a way that the speaker doesn't notice it's no longer available for other tasks.
That's interesting Pigeon. I'd always put the less distraction of conversation with passengers down to the fact that they can see what's going on, when you are busy and so on, thus they can control subject and pace their delivery more appropriately.
Flat in Fifth said:
Pigeon said:
andy zarse said:
Mobiles are a menace in the car, they can totally distract from paying attention from what is happenning on the road. Not to mention the consequences of only having one hand on the wheel. At least get a hands free peolpe, £10 isn't that much to pay surely? Personally I think it should be illegal to dial out, incoming on a handsfree only seems reasonable. If you need to make a call, if it's really that important to you, then pull over!
I doubt hands-free gadgets make much difference. It's not the conversation that's distracting - people are capable of having conversations with passengers, even those in the back seat driver's side, with far less (in most cases) of their attention diverted from the road than when using a mobile. Push-to-talk radios are also a lot less distracting to use than a mobile. In the first case the feedback from the other party in the conversation is instant, and in the second it's greatly delayed. In the case of a mobile, the coding/decoding time is just in the right region to delay the feedback just enough to really screw your head up (a phenomenon which has been much studied by those interested in long-distance remote control systems such as would enable a surgeon in London to perform an operation in America). The result is that conversations on mobiles take an inordinate amount of concentration and they take it in such a way that the speaker doesn't notice it's no longer available for other tasks.
That's interesting Pigeon. I'd always put the less distraction of conversation with passengers down to the fact that they can see what's going on, when you are busy and so on, thus they can control subject and pace their delivery more appropriately.
That point is often made, but in my experience it doesn't always work like that. I've known people to carry on chatting regardless of how busy the driver seems to be, and they haven't always been non-drivers themselves.
Best wishes all,
Dave.
fangio said:
I wish someone would market a zapper that interferes with reception for a radius of 30'or so!
actually I have an idea for a device which cuts out CD players within a certain radius. No idea if it were possible in practice.
You hear the approach of Lax Power merchant, gazillion watts going through the subwoofer, thud thud thud, you press a button and zap ...... silence. Lax power starts fiddling with buttons, het gets out of range, he's turned everything up sp loud he blows out his kit and all the speakers. That would learn 'em.
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