This Texting While Driving is really starting to get to me!

[mojo84]

The phone companies can do what they want but it won't solve a darn thing as all of the phones can be hacked to defeat anything the phone companies put in as software. Education is the key not more laws or software.

You think people aren't aware texting and driving is dangerous?

Nothing will be 100% but if something were to be done, I'd prefer it be done by the phone makers rather than the legislature or congress.

It's unreasonable to expect software to fix the problem when it can be defeated. iPhones can be jail broken and everything else can be hacked. The problem isn't the tool, it's the people who use the tool in an improper manner. Are you a proponent for smart guns?

Stop with comparison to anti gun idiots that support smart guns as that is insulting, ridiculous and uncalled for as they are two completely different situations.

The average person is not going to jailbreak their phone in order to defeat the texting while driving safety features is they are installed by the manufacturers of carriers. Like I said, nothing is 100% and I do not believe it should be forced by legislation.

phone mfgs aren't going to force it on their customers without leg, because their customers don't want it, and if they are forced to put it on, yes the average person will figure out how to break it, that will be the first thing they do.

Have you read my other comments in this thread. I've acknowledged no carrier or manufacturer wants to be first. I also said I don't want it to be legislated as I do not like the government getting involved at that level. It is a conundrum and there isn't a perfect answer.

What is your answer?

Also, there are some excellent benefits to jailbreaking a phone or unlocking them. Have you already done it? Most average users have not either.

[mojo84]

We already have the law on the books. We didn't and do not need more. Just needed to enforce the laws we already have.

http://codes.findlaw.com/tx/transportat ... 5-401.html

Texas Transportation Code - TRANSP § 545.401. Reckless Driving;  Offense

(a) A person commits an offense if the person drives a vehicle in wilful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property.

(b) An offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by:

(1) a fine not to exceed $200;

(2) confinement in county jail for not more than 30 days;  or

(3) both the fine and the confinement.

(c) Notwithstanding Section 542.001, this section applies to:

(1) a private access way or parking area provided for a client or patron by a business, other than a private residential property or the property of a garage or parking lot for which a charge is made for the storing or parking of motor vehicles;  and

(2) a highway or other public place.

(d) Notwithstanding Section 542.004, this section applies to a person, a team, or motor vehicles and other equipment engaged in work on a highway surface.

[1911 10MM]

The phone companies can do what they want but it won't solve a darn thing as all of the phones can be hacked to defeat anything the phone companies put in as software. Education is the key not more laws or software.

You think people aren't aware texting and driving is dangerous?

Nothing will be 100% but if something were to be done, I'd prefer it be done by the phone makers rather than the legislature or congress.

It's unreasonable to expect software to fix the problem when it can be defeated. iPhones can be jail broken and everything else can be hacked. The problem isn't the tool, it's the people who use the tool in an improper manner. Are you a proponent for smart guns?

Stop with comparison to anti gun idiots that support smart guns as that is insulting, ridiculous and uncalled for as they are two completely different situations.

The average person is not going to jailbreak their phone in order to defeat the texting while driving safety features is they are installed by the manufacturers of carriers. Like I said, nothing is 100% and I do not believe it should be forced by legislation.

You are entitled to your opinion as am I. They are not completely different things but have a lot in common. Just because you don't see it doesn't make it insulting, ridiculous, or uncalled for. I have already seen several other comparisons. Just because you disagree doesn't make it factual. If you don't think the youngsters won't be hacking and jail breaking phones to text well again I believe they will. It is part of their life. They are already doing it.

[mojo84]

You are entitled to your opinion as am I. They are not completely different things but have a lot in common. Just because you don't see it doesn't make it insulting, ridiculous, or uncalled for. I have already seen several other comparisons. Just because you disagree doesn't make it factual. If you don't think the youngsters won't be hacking and jail breaking phones to text well again I believe they will. It is part of their life. They are already doing it.

The reason it is insulting, ridiculous and uncalled for is because I do NOT support a law requiring carriers or manufactures to take steps to prevent texting while driving. The anti gun idiots you compared me to support laws that will require manufactures to add chips to guns. Therefore, your assertion and comparison involving me is not valid. I am not support the locking down of phones so they can't be used to text while driving nor am I supporting a new law. I have only challenged the premise some have based their arguments. As far as your smart gun comparison, it may be valid with others in this thread but not me.

I think people should choose not to text and drive on their own. I also think carriers and manufactures could curtai/preventl most of it if they choose to take steps to do so.

[Liberty]

I think people should choose not to text and drive on their own. I also think carriers and manufactures could curtai/preventl most of it if they choose to take steps to do so.

I detest any attempt to control my behaviour by the outside world.
I don't want governors on my cars to help keep me safe.
I don't want seatbelt laws to force me to be safe.
I don't want cell phone companies dictating my behaviour.

Its about freedom. Giving up freedom is one more step to servitude. There is a certain safety in slavery I suppose. It turns out that when companies and government force us to certain behaviours in the name of our interests, it turns out that it is really in their interests.

No I don't text or even talk on the cell while driving. But it's my decision, not Verizon, Not Samsung or any governments.

[mojo84]

I think people should choose not to text and drive on their own. I also think carriers and manufactures could curtai/preventl most of it if they choose to take steps to do so.

I detest any attempt to control my behaviour by the outside world.
I don't want governors on my cars to help keep me safe.
I don't want seatbelt laws to force me to be safe.
I don't want cell phone companies dictating my behaviour.

Its about freedom. Giving up freedom is one more step to servitude. There is a certain safety in slavery I suppose. It turns out that when companies and government force us to certain behaviours in the name of our interests, it turns out that it is really in their interests.

No I don't text or even talk on the cell while driving. But it's my decision, not Verizon, Not Samsung or any governments.

You messed up the quotes.

Do you think I want any of that?

[1911 10MM]

You are entitled to your opinion as am I. They are not completely different things but have a lot in common. Just because you don't see it doesn't make it insulting, ridiculous, or uncalled for. I have already seen several other comparisons. Just because you disagree doesn't make it factual. If you don't think the youngsters won't be hacking and jail breaking phones to text well again I believe they will. It is part of their life. They are already doing it.

The reason it is insulting, ridiculous and uncalled for is because I do NOT support a law requiring carriers or manufactures to take steps to prevent texting while driving. The anti gun idiots you compared me to support laws that will require manufactures to add chips to guns. Therefore, your assertion and comparison involving me is not valid. I am not support the locking down of phones so they can't be used to text while driving nor am I supporting a new law. I have only challenged the premise some have based their arguments. As far as your smart gun comparison, it may be valid with others in this thread but not me.

I think people should choose not to text and drive on their own. I also think carriers and manufactures could curtai/preventl most of it if they choose to take steps to do so.

I didn't compare you to anyone, I asked you a simple question. Texting and driving is dangerous but so are a lot of other things people do while driving.

[mojo84]

You are entitled to your opinion as am I. They are not completely different things but have a lot in common. Just because you don't see it doesn't make it insulting, ridiculous, or uncalled for. I have already seen several other comparisons. Just because you disagree doesn't make it factual. If you don't think the youngsters won't be hacking and jail breaking phones to text well again I believe they will. It is part of their life. They are already doing it.

The reason it is insulting, ridiculous and uncalled for is because I do NOT support a law requiring carriers or manufactures to take steps to prevent texting while driving. The anti gun idiots you compared me to support laws that will require manufactures to add chips to guns. Therefore, your assertion and comparison involving me is not valid. I am not support the locking down of phones so they can't be used to text while driving nor am I supporting a new law. I have only challenged the premise some have based their arguments. As far as your smart gun comparison, it may be valid with others in this thread but not me.

I think people should choose not to text and drive on their own. I also think carriers and manufactures could curtai/preventl most of it if they choose to take steps to do so.

I didn't compare you to anyone, I asked you a simple question. Texting and driving is dangerous but so are a lot of other things people do while driving.

My last comment on this and I'm done.

Yes I do think there are a lot of things that are dangerous to do while driving. I also think there are already enough laws on the books to address them. See the portion of the transportation code I posted.

One more time, I do not support more laws or the manufacturers locking down the phones. I disagree with the basis of some of your and other's arguments that nothing can be done to curtail the activity. That is all. The last word on this is yours.

[Liberty]

You messed up the quotes.

Do you think I want any of that?

I did mess them up, but I wasn't agreeing/disagreeing with anyone. Just explaining how I look at it. My perspective. Everyone forms opinions and beliefs based on their own perspective even when we agree.

I look at most things through freedom and liberty perspectives. Others see things through other lenses. I think there would be more understandings of other peoples views if we tried to look at things from other views.

While I want the government to stay out of my business and leave me alone. I surely can understand why someone who lost a child because of a texting driver wouldn't feel the same way. It doesn't change my core beliefs, but I can still respect the one I disagree with and not expect to change his mind in an internet discussion.

[Charles L. Cotton]

The phone companies can do what they want but it won't solve a darn thing as all of the phones can be hacked to defeat anything the phone companies put in as software. Education is the key not more laws or software.

You think people aren't aware texting and driving is dangerous?

Nothing will be 100% but if something were to be done, I'd prefer it be done by the phone makers rather than the legislature or congress.

It's unreasonable to expect software to fix the problem when it can be defeated. iPhones can be jail broken and everything else can be hacked. The problem isn't the tool, it's the people who use the tool in an improper manner. Are you a proponent for smart guns?

Obviously, you are correct about hacking phones, but software can fix the problem for the vast majority of drivers. People capable of hacking phones make up a small percentage of users and frequent mandatory firmware upgrades can make disabling the safety features very difficult to maintain.

Education won't fix anything; people already know the dangers, but they think it won't happen to them because they are too skillful. As I posted earlier, people texting and driving have "Other Guy Syndrome."

Chas.

[ninjabread]

If they added the speed lockout to imessage and facetime, would jailbreaking your iphone make a difference?

[twomillenium]

There may already be an app the would send a message to the textor that the textee is driving or unable to safely operate the phone (anyone who thinks they can text while driving safely is of the low IQ category). But the government nor the manufacturer should not disable my phone. I do advocate hefty fines for texting and driving because it endangers everyone on the road around the person texting.

[nonleg]

I haven't read every post in here, but the "being young while driving while messing with phone" trope needs to be drug outside and shot. Over, and over, and over, and over, and OVER again in Katy, I see adults scrolling through Instagram/Facebook while driving *with* their kids in the car. I've never pulled past any of the high schools in the area and seen a kid on their phone, but I constantly see adults on their phones 50 yards out of their driveways, or before they've even left the preschool parking lot, etc.

A seventeen year old messing around with their phone is bad, but much less common than watching adults do it. Teenagers are already well documented in their complete inability to judge consequences, risk etc., and that's scientifically proven. The adults driving their teenagers around while doing it are inexcusable, as adults brains are supposed to have fixed their risk management wiring.

While technological functions are nice to have as an *option* (you know who jailbreaks their phones more often than teens? Adults. Teens don't really care, their parents are too technologically limited to prevent them from installing Snapchat, so why bother?) Americans (at least in the south) have a total reluctance to use the horn. Watching the person in front of you text six seconds after the light turns green, and you just stew, rather than honk? You're part of the problem. It doesn't need to be an angry honk, but even a quick toot 10% of the time you encounter this would be helpful. The "cocoon" effect of people believing they are invisible to others while the windows are rolled up is well documented, which is one reason people continue to behave badly. A "toot" is, "hey, I see you, and a cop might see you too," not a threat to run someone off the road.

Ah, the whole conversation makes me miss Rome... (A Roman told me, Nonleg, do you know what a millisecond is in Rome? The time between when the light turns green and the people behind you start honking.)

[OlBill]

Good post nonleg.

[Charles L. Cotton]

Teenagers are already well documented in their complete inability to judge consequences, risk etc., and that's scientifically proven.

. . . Americans (at least in the south) have a total reluctance to use the horn. Watching the person in front of you text six seconds after the light turns green, and you just stew, rather than honk? You're part of the problem.

. . .

Ah, the whole conversation makes me miss Rome... (A Roman told me, Nonleg, do you know what a millisecond is in Rome? The time between when the light turns green and the people behind you start honking.)

With this, the thread is locked.

Chas.