Secrets of the City

What a heartbreaking story.

Some day, we will figure out that driving is a full time job, and a dangerous one at that.Hands free does not solve it.  Thew problem is not that your hands are busy, the problem is that your brain is busy.  We do not multitask as well as we think.  Study after study says our error rate goes way up when we try to do many things at once.Inatttentive driving, whether it’s eating, talking on a cell phone, groping around in your purse, or getting some lovin’ from your girlfriend needs to be treated like the irresponsible safety hazard it really is.

Yes it is tragic. But I had a friend get in an accident when he was putting CDs in his CD player.  I got in an accident because I was tired and didn’t see another car coming. In fact, I recently hit a tree while moving less than 5mph, I just didn’t see it.  All three of those things are also inattentive driving, but none of those would have made it to the news if a child would have died.  I mean, isn’t every accident pretty much caused by inattentive driving?

meanwhile, some douchebag doesn’t know how to properly secure a mattress to the top or in back of their car/truck and a motorcyclist is in critical condition.  That’s actually gross neglect. I hope they find that guy.  http://www.startribune.com/local/88521557.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUZ

This is why all cell phone use should be banned while driving. I don’t know enough about this story to have an opinion of whether or not she deserves greater charges. Talking on the phone or answering the phone while driving is obviously dangerous, and people have got to stop. I generally try to refuse to talk to people who I know are driving. If all cell phone use is banned and then someone gets in an accident then it would definitely be fair to press serious charges. And by all cell phones I mean all hands-free options, too. People can pull off the road if they need to contact someone that desperately.

It could be done. This is The State Where Absolutely Nothing is Allowed.

As road hazards go, mattresses and 94 belong together like broken pavement and the 3xxx blocks of Nicollet. And speaking of inattentive driving, a Ford Expedition SUV was able to swerve out of the way, but a motorcycle couldn’t? Meanwhile, I am still quite bitter about almost getting doored this morning — what part of my garish blue jacket and bright headlamp aimed at eye level makes me invisible when you open your door on the street, and are they related to the family in the pickup truck with the father smoking a cigarette and the baby on its mother’s lap?

Champs, I live on a 3XXX block of Nicollet. It is hell over here.  Did you know they haven’t repaved this portion since 1977? And they don’t intend to do it until 2013? Bullshit.

And this woman was not talking on the phone. She was reaching for her phone.  We know that for a fact. What we don’t know is if the child was securely put in his childseat. Or if Dad was on his phone or high on crack for that matter. And if we outlaw reaching for the phone, do we also outlaw reaching for your morning coffee? Seems just as dangerous to me.

And now I look like a total ass.  Strib has a better article. She wasn’t just reaching for her cell. She had dropped the cell on the passanger side floor and was reaching for it there. The child was strapped in correctly.  Yes, reaching for things on the passanger side floor is wrong, wrong, wrong. (though I’ll point out it has nothing to do with the cell, what is wrong is reaching for things on the floor on the other side of the car.)  http://www.startribune.com/local/north/88601102.html

Also from the article:  ”
State traffic records show that since 2000, the woman facing charges has been cited three times for driving after withdrawal [of license], and several traffic violations, including speeding, failure to obey a sign and improper lane change.”So she may not even have had her license.

I know, ban women drivers.

If she wasn’t allowed to talk on her phone she wouldn’t be reaching for it. Well, given that she’s obviously nuts maybe she would be, anyway (if not busy blowing stop signs and otherwise ignoring traffic laws). Not everything needs to be banned, but talking on the phone is such a big, easy, and obvious one that it makes sense. After reading the Strib article I 100% support the idea of charging her with something more serious. This is a totally incompetent driver who should not be out on the road and who repeatedly demonstrated that she has no common sense or apparently concern for basic safety, let alone the law. She’s a danger to society. It’s a sad, sad story, but it’s not like this was some innocent woman who just made a one-time bad judgement.

@uptown_urbanist: Reaching for a dropped phone wouldn’t necessarily mean she intended to talk. Texting-while-driving is even more of a hazard.

uptown urbanist- that’s not true. My phone is also my music player and my GPS unit. I could see needing it for things other than talking/texting. But you are right that based on what the Strib says, that woman should not have been allowed to drive. And what she did was just as bad as not securing a mattress and heading out on to the highway.

“My phone is also my music player and my GPS unit. I could see needing it for things other than talking/texting.”That’s a huge problem in many areas of life today.People don’t understand the difference between want and need.You got a radio in your car? How about a roadmap?

I’ve seen people parallel parking while they’re talking on the telephone. It’s crazy. You can’t stop for the 45 seconds it takes to back into a parking spot? Try leaving the phone at home when you go somewhere in the car. I think most of us have message functions with our calling plans. I do it all the time. When I return, and there’s a message, I call the party back. Novel.

And yes, Maz, it was a woman parallel parking and talking on the phone at the same time.

They could have made a compilation video like that with just my wife’s driving but it would have exceeded YouTube’s duration limit.

” How about a roadmap?”   reading a map while driving is no better than texting.