I know I don't need to tell you guys this but stay off the damn phone while driving. Watched a guy nearly get killed this morning

[Kyle_E]

This poor guy, riding his bike at Ogden and Main street this morning was hit by the white car in the photo. Stupid driver was on her phone, turned into the guy on his bike making the crossing legally. The construction worker was a millimeter from being hit. Used my motorcycle to block him from getting run over as he was complaining about neck and back injuries so couldn't move him.


Obviously a poor guy who is probably scraping by just had his world screwed up by this asshole who couldn't stop texting for five damn seconds. His bike is ruined crankcase is destroyed. Thankfully LV Marshall was driving by shortly after it happened and was able to put a rush on the ambulance. LV Fire was quick and professional, LVMPD officers were great as well during the investigation.


Gave my card to the motor officer to have the guy call me when he gets out of the hospital so I can get him a new bike while he is dealing with the insurance BS. Making giant assumptions but I assume the guy is a day laborer and illegal (did not speak English at all heavy Salvadorian accent) so he may be afraid to file insurance claims for injury but what the hell do I know?

We all see the idiots on their phones, we all have had close calls because of it.... Just a little unsettling to see the bad side of it happen in living color.

 

[Nikolajsen]

Scary stuff...

 

[Sierra1]

That is horrible, but that's why I ride/drive as if nobody sees me. I attempt to figure out where "they" are going....so I won't be there.

 

[Kyle_E]

That is horrible, but that's why I ride/drive as if nobody sees me. I attempt to figure out where "they" are going....so I won't be there.

Had a friend follow me home the other night. She said "Why is your head always turning?"

 

[Sierra1]

Tell her it's "situational awareness". Very useful in all aspects of life.

 

[Cycledude]

I believe texting while driving is illegal most places but from what I see that doesn’t seem to be having much effect.

I find it hard to believe that talking on a phone while driving is legal anywhere but it is legal almost everywhere !

 

[Kyle_E]

I believe texting while driving is illegal most places but from what I see that doesn’t seem to be having much effect.

I find it hard to believe that talking on a phone while driving is legal anywhere but it is legal almost everywhere !

I think everywhere but Arizona and Montana have ban's on texting. Most are worded that you cant even have the phone in your hand.

Hell I saw a damn taxi driver the other day watching youtube cooking videos as he was driving down a 45mph street a few months ago... His companies response was "so what?" when I called it in.

 

[Kyle_E]

Tell her it's "situational awareness". Very useful in all aspects of life.

Yeah we had the "brake lights are the new turn signals" talk.

 

[Sierra1]

I believe texting while driving is illegal most places but from what I see that doesn’t seem to be having much effect....

The enforcement of the current law is the issue. At least in Texas, the law allows EVERYTHING except texting; i.e. talking, navigation, and searching for music is legal. So, when pulled over, a person will of course claim they were NOT texting. And, since a search warrant is required to look into someone's phone....unenforceable. As far as videos go....illegal in the front seat.

 

[EricV]

Put this on a couple of weeks ago.

 

[ballisticexchris]

Put this on a couple of weeks ago.
View attachment 57121

Anything is better than nothing!!

 

[ballisticexchris]

We all see the idiots on their phones, we all have had close calls because of it.... Just a little unsettling to see the bad side of it happen in living color.

Unfortunately It's perfectly legal to text and drive everywhere in the US. Want proof? Just look around. If there is a law I sure would like to see it enforced. It's also perfectly legal to speed, tailgate, drive over the gore points and other bonehead moves. Very sad indeed.....

 

[Mak10]

It seems that they really only enforce speeding around here. This is usually done by some sort of trap where they hide behind something- a bush, a hill or in a school zone.

I have seen a lack of presence and enforcement of other traffic laws. Sad really.

 

[Madhatter]

as a professional driver sitting high up in the cab of a class 8 truck I see everything , it is bad out there. I know I can not txt and drive , a quick phone call is bad enough . txting takes your focus away from whats around your vehicle , its always bad.... every day lots of rear ender crashes in stop and go traffic (ill just send a txt ,what can happen , crap, bang , there it is ) yesterday I went to new braunsfel tx to drop my bike off at cycle country to get warranty issue corrected. going south on I-35 at the 70 mph speed limit I was the slowest vehicle on the road , at 75 mph I was the slowest on the road , at 80 I was still the slowest on the road , at 85 mph I was about even with traffic , and some had heads down looking at phones...… a disabling devise for automobiles is in the future im thinking.... lots of carnage out there.

 

[okiegtrider]

Had a friend follow me home the other night. She said "Why is your head always turning?"

Ask her, why isn't yours?

 

[EricV]

Unfortunately It's perfectly legal to text and drive everywhere in the US. Want proof? Just look around. If there is a law I sure would like to see it enforced. It's also perfectly legal to speed, tailgate, drive over the gore points and other bonehead moves. Very sad indeed.....

Cities & states are the jurisdictions that pass laws against texting and driving. LINK

Text Messaging ban: 48 states, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands ban text messaging for all drivers.

• Missouri prohibits text messaging by novice or teen drivers.

What you are referring to is enforcement. Traffic duty officers will be judged far too often on the number of citations they write in their area that fall into the classification that their supervisors wish to enforce. Speed is easy to see, gets many complaints and easy to observe and cite, as well as those citations are relatively easy to get to hold up in court.

Most of the things we wish were better enforced require longer observation times and are more difficult to document, making them more challenging to get held up in court.

Trying to prove someone was texting and driving is a bitch. We see the car weaving around with the driver looking at their lap and it's obvious to us, but try to show proof on video that it was indeed what was happening. W/o a log of that persons cell/text activity you have a difficult time proving the texting activity. That brings up other hard questions; namely how much of your rights do you want to give up in order to have safer roads?

Sadly the bulk of traffic enforcement is about the low hanging fruit. Failure to obey traffic control devices and speeding. I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing more effort when into things like left lane squatting and obstructing the flow of traffic, tailgating, cell phone/texting abuse, etc. A lot of texting drivers could be cited under long existing laws like failure to control your vehicle. Crossing in and out of your lane is a pretty obvious lack of control, imho.

LINK

General Cell Phone Statistics

• The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year.
• Nearly 390,000 injuries occur each year from accidents caused by texting while driving.
• 1 out of every 4 car accidents in the United States is caused by texting and driving.
• Texting while driving is 6x more likely to cause an accident than driving drunk.
• Answering a text takes away your attention for about five seconds. Traveling at 55 mph, that's enough time to travel the length of a football field.
• Texting while driving causes a 400 percent increase in time spent with eyes off the road.
• Of all cell phone related tasks, texting is by far the most dangerous activity.
• 94 percent of drivers support a ban on texting while driving.
• 74 percent of drivers support a ban on hand-held cell phone use.

There are about 3500 actual deaths each year directly linked to cell phone/texting while driving incidents.

Historically, the US is not willing to give up rights to make roads safer. Want a nice common sense example?

According to NHTSA 10,874 people died in alcohol-impaired crashes in 2017.

And yet, we still encourage people to drink and drive. It's perfectly legal to drive to a bar and drink, then people drive off, often meeting the legal definition in that area of DUI/Impaired. There is an entire economy around going out to bars. Unlike some other parts of the world where you drink at the neighborhood pub, most Americans drive or ride somewhere to drink.

 

[EricV]

Anything is better than nothing!!

It's on the front windscreen, covering a hole that I prefer covered to minimize water against the back of the GPS. I used to cover it with duct tape, but realized I have tons of stickers that will do the job, so last time the duct tape needed replacing, I tossed that sticker on instead.

On rare occasions, it proves useful when a texting driver is in front of me at a stop and I can tap the horn to get them to look back. Although it's hard to tell if they can actually read it, but it does sometimes seem to have a positive effect.

In regards to road rage, I don't participate. I'm far too busy avoiding the idiots to get worked up about their bad driving. It's far more uncommon for me to see a good driver these days.

 

[Kyle_E]

a disabling devise for automobiles is in the future im thinking.... lots of carnage out there.

No, self driving is the future. We already have a fleet of them on the streets here in Vegas as Lyft rides. Aptiv is the company doing. Think they hit something like 5,000th paid fair. I hate them, but it will probably make us on 2 safer once the scale tips to the majority of cars being them.

 

[ballisticexchris]

Cities & states are the jurisdictions that pass laws against texting and driving. LINK

And yet, we still encourage people to drink and drive. It's perfectly legal to drive to a bar and drink, then people drive off, often meeting the legal definition in that area of DUI/Impaired. There is an entire economy around going out to bars. Unlike some other parts of the world where you drink at the neighborhood pub, most Americans drive or ride somewhere to drink.

That's all fake news Eric. I will not believe it until I see it enforced. And yes Drinking and driving is another welcome pastime in our country. Every damn single day I see the same idiots going to the fuel station and getting a few tall "driver friendly" beers. The attendants are very courteous and have a paper sack waiting for one beer to drive with. And a trash can in front of the store is waiting for the other one they suck down before leaving.

Had a friend follow me home the other night. She said "Why is your head always turning?"

Ask her, why isn't yours?

Funny you mention this. I asked my friend why her head was always bobbing?

 

[EricV]

In every state I've lived in I have witnessed beer cans spread out along roads in the space it takes the local drivers to drink one and toss it out. Clearly a few people that drove home on my local roads drink a six pack every day on their commute home. In many states the convenience stores at gas stations offer cold beers sold single serving right at the door in ice bins. Sold like candy, positioned as impulse buy items at the check out counter.

No, we don't have a problem with alcohol in the US...