About the phone thing, I agree that a lot of people get distracted by it, but like with my brother, he can't really help being on the phone, he 's always on the road and gets phoned for his job.
Hahaha, you sound like my dad a little bit. But I don't plan on doing too much multitasking while driving.
...pull over? Does he at least have a bluetooth or a headset? Because honestly, my biggest issue with cell phones while driving is either texting or having to hold it while you talk. Granted, talking on the phone is distracting regardless of whether you're holding a phone or not, but to me, talking with a headset is no worse than talking to a passenger...at least you've got both hands on the wheel.
Come to Puerto Rico where you will be issued a mandatory Bluetooth in-the-ear thingie so that you will blend in to the babbling masses as they wait in traffic jams caused by other people who have had their in-the-ear thingie fall to the floor.
i totally broke the law today to my knowledge, louisiana has yet to retract an old, old law that said a woman was only allowed to drive if her husband was walking twelve feet in front of the car waving red flags around. haha, silly old laws. other than that, cell phones talkers need to get some tickets around here. you wouldn't believe how many wrecks i've almost been in but avoided by noting that the car nearing me has a driver whose cell phone (and left hand) is plastered to their ear and i've deduced that they're probably going to do something stupid.... i'm almost always right.
You haven't lived until you've seen an MBTA driver tooling along the Turnpike in bumper-to bumper traffic in a packed city bus, reading a newspaper draped over the steering wheel. I kid you not.
In general I think most people get detached while driving and it becomes the equivalent of a video game to them. There's a lot of emphasis put on the right to drive, but it seems there's not enough emphasis put on the responsibilities of a driver. The seatbelt laws and the no cell phone laws and that whole category of road safety laws are just reflections of that. Yeah it may suck and be a "nanny state" thing (or whatever your particular talking-point phrasing is), but those laws are being put into place because they're obviously needed. Cars are one of the biggest killers, and almost entirely due to human negligence.
OMG!! What a ridiculous law! What do you do...still drive? I can't believe the state government would even allow that one to stay active. That is amazing.
I think the most ridiculous law that they stipulated on that was the one about walking in the carparks with no footpaths. If a mother has two children with her, she is not able to hold both their hands, one has to walk alone because it is illegal to walk 3 abreast in the carparks... I have seen a billion people doing this, clearly because they don't want their children to get run over and killed. But apparently, it is illegal to do so.
The first time I ever saw someone with a Bluetooth, it was an old man who only spoke German. He turned so he was facing me and screamed, "GUTENTAG!" I thought he had an imaginary friend. Back on top, though, as someone who's seen eight people (six under the age of eighteen) die in the past year due to car accidents, I have to say, the lack of responsibility people have is scary. Not talking on your cell phone is obvious no-no, and yet an overwhelming majority people still continue to do it. Not wearing your seatbelt is a really stupid thing to do, and yet there are people who rebel (like my father) simply because they can. Driving while intoxicated is a selfish thing to do, and yet two of those eight people died because someone else was intoxicated. Driving while distracted is just as bad as driving while intoxicated, and I have no shame in saying I look down on people who do. Dont put on makeup, dont text your friend you saw four minutes ago, dont drive with your feet, and dont read the newspaper. My only complaint is the legality of the seatbelt law... it's in place to protect the people from themselves. The cell phone law is fine --you're putting other people at risk, and that is unforgiveable. Unfortunately, it seems, these laws make infinitesimal difference. The only people who adhere to them are the people who wouldnt do them to begin with.
haha, it's not really high on the priorities. here in new orleans, we tell people that there's a 18 hole golf course at angola (the state prison) because all the politicians know they'll be spending about 6 years there by the time they end their term. while in office, they give enough to the prison, so that they'll have a nice place to stay hahaha (it is, of course, a joke... halfway)
The seatbelt law has been in effect in Australia and New Zealand for as long as I can remember. I'm 23 now and have never known a time when I could legally forego wearing one. I believe it has merit too. It does protect you in serious collisions. Someone brought up the fact that it's stupid that the government is trying to tell you to protect yourself. You may think it's a stupid law but it is technically the same as the law against suicide. They put it in place to protect the individual. Bet you dont think that one is stupid. The cell phone law, in my opinion, is stupid, but needed. The vast majority of drivers on the roads, are, quite simply, idiots. They can't protect themselves, so they need laws to make it safe for them to drive. Personally, I have always been someone that talks on the phone while driving if I receive a call. Never have I had an accident. However, the first time I pulled over to answer a phone call (not out of any conscious effort to abide by the law, but rather because I was asking for directions and didn't want to miss a turn off), I had a fatigued driver ram up the ass end of my car at 60kph, completely writing my car off. In that regard, if I'm talking while driving, at least I'm still in control of my own life. In Australia, it's legal to have one standard alcoholic beverage before you drive. I'm by no means a large guy and am quite sure that one standard drink would affect me more strongly than it would a larger guy. I won't even have one drink if i'm driving at all in the next three hours. This probably stems from the fact that my father died 19 years ago because he was intoxicated behind the wheel. I despise no other road users more than drink drivers.
In NZ, the seatbelt ads are sponsered by Macdonals. So, imagine if you will, Ronald McDonald singing the following to 2 children in a car with him (as they drive to a macdonalds, of course): Kids you must remember every time you're in the car And it makes no difference if you're going near or far If you're in the front seat, or if you're in the back Click goes your seatbelt before you hit the track! Click goes your seatbelt, click click click! When you take a ride you've got to belt up quick Tell all your friends and your family, that's the trick Click goes your seatbelt click click click! Make it click! Our drink driving ads range from shockingly gruesome to quite funny and educational. I think they're changed tack recently, I don't really see any of the "this is what will happen to you if you drink and drive" kind of ads, the ones I see most now show a group of guys in their early 20s playing a game to see who has to be the sober driver, then shows them at a party having fun, then shows them having a fun and safe drive home with the sober one (or, in a variation, the sober driver drinks and they make him pay for a taxi) all while acting drunkenly hilarious. I think they're more effective personally. The other great new ad that comes to mind is one about intersections (which are a problem because of confusing give way rules in NZ), where there's this creepy dude sitting on a chair on the footpath next to a kind of "spin-to-win" prize wheel type thing, marked with near miss, minor collision, major collision and death, and so the ad shows a car pull up to an intersection, and the guy spins the wheel, and whatever it lands on they show happening. Its quite creepy (the soundtrack especially) and highly effective I think. And yeah, I don't see any reason you wouldn't wear seatbelts. They. Save. Lives. It IS that simple. Who cares if its legislated or not, its stupid not to wear one, and what's more important, petty liberties or your life?
The give-way rules here threw me when we first moved back. Getting used to the mirror-image driving over in Australia was tricky enough after so many years of right-handedness in the States. Then I get here and we have the whole turn-signal thing. I got my nerves rattled a few times riding around with my wife. You're going to find a pretty dramatic difference in the attitude of the average American towards this, at least compared to the average attitude here or in Australia. American culture has this whole individualism aspect to it, with one of the the premises being that any form of government regulation is seen as intrusive and unnecessary, regardless of any benefits it might carry. The seatbelt laws are a perfect example - "I'm gonna wear it anyway but they shouldn't make me do it!" is a bit of doublethink, in my view, but it's reflective of the thought process. Then you get the true idiots that won't wear their seatbelts just to make some kind of point. I don't think "physics beats ideology every time" is the point they're going for, but hey, I'm pragmatic like that.
Omg arron, I totally forgot that. Haha, it's actually a catchy tune though. NZ intersection rule..... people turning right have right of way over those turning left. I learnt to drive in NZ and now live in Aus and that rule makes no sense to me!
Only if you are driving alone. If you are in a full car, and one person chooses not to buckle up, if they get into an accident, the flailing body can seriously injure or kill everyone else in the car. So in a sense, you are protecting others from yourself.
