Wow dude, your sis totaled 3 cars??? I'd be a bit afraid to ride in her car J/K!!!

 

I'm saying punish the actual problems, not the innocents who might not be distracted any more than anybody talking to a passenger. There are no laws, for instance, preventing women from putting on eye make up while driving. Until there is one specifically for that, why have one for cell phones?

Cell phones are just the trendy nanny issue right now. Statistically, wrecks with people on cell phones isn't as big an issue as people like to assume they are from what I've seen, as I've said above.

I rarely use a cell phone in my car, and when I do, I generally use a headset.

 

You and your car are safe.

She and her car will be totalled soon.

The end.

 

Ya, LA drivers seem to love to talk on the phone, drink coffee, read the newspaper and drive at the same time, changing lanes whenever they please. They'll flip ya the bird too, but I found a solution that gets my anger right out. A little childish of me, but I tend to thru snapple/sobe bottles once I get flipped off I throw anything that's broken actually, like my old cd player that stopped working, that's a fine hello how are ya hehe

 

I suspect when someone is in an accident while on the phone, they don't readily admit on the accident report.

 

I could say the same thing about people eating, reading, or putting on makeup. No laws specifically against those things, either.

 

Now guys, don't go and turn this into another male vs. female driving thing.

Statistically speaking, the reason women's rates are lower is because the wrecks they have cause less monetary damage than guys wrecks. But we all know when a guy does something, he's gonna do it right!

And I will admit, as a female, I get VERY annoyed with all these women I see putting on makeup, talking away and not paying attention, etc. but I do see guys reading papers and doing other stupid things, as well. But why is it that I see more women doing stupid stuff than guys?!?!?

Of course the dumbest move I know of was pulled off by a guy--he was talking on his cell phone (big surprise), ran a red light and PLOWED into a poor lady's little car. Unfortunately, I work with this moron and he is the primary reason my company requires us to use hands free devices with our cell phones. And this same guy just went out and bought one of those aweful H2s. He's going to kill someone one day the way he drives in that thing.

 

You don't live in Texas buddy, if you ain't going 80, someone in a pickup truck is going to rear end you. (or pass you on the shoulder)

Actually, when I took defensive driving for speeding, I remember the video saying more accidents were caused by people driving too slow.

Richard

 

Hi Richard,

I was being sarcastic. My point is that police in North America are obsessed with speeding and catching speeders, yet you rarely see someone get pulled over for tailgaiting or cutting someone off.

The message you constantly hear from police and politicians is that "speed kills" which I think is a load of dog doo-doo. If this were the case, most of Europe would be dead.

I firmly believe that the vast majority of accidents are not caused by someone going 10 or 20 over - its caused by people following too closely, changing lanes without checking the mirror, pulling out blindly, not paying attention, etc.

I just find it frustrating that because catching speeders is easy and lucrative, this is what police concentrate on rather than concentrating on the main cause of accidents.

 

Its not the property damage that's assessed by the actuaries. I'm pretty sure that the medical claims, since they are sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars, are the big concern with insurance companies.

It may be that men are involved with a higher proportion of medical claims and that is why their insurance is much higher (at younger ages). The actuaries go by pure statistics. The insurance rates seem to even out much more as men and women get older (talking about singles here). Married people get an even bigger break on insurance, since they must be involved with fewer claims...

 

Hey Jon, I used "monetary" to include property and medical costs. Kind of all inclusive. I used to work in insurance (Hated it though) and in all honesty, some of their supposed formulas to determine a risk are complete bunk!

 

Thats pretty funny, you must be driving on the tollway! Had a moron in a BMW X5 actually do that today, going 100MPH in the rain, couldn't stop so he pulled over and passed about 6 cars in the breakdown lane!

Best part is he had to pull into the change lane at the toll plaza so all the cars he passed ended up in front of him again!

Also, do the Hummer people charge extra for indicators? Not one of the Frisco soccer moms driving these things ever signals, guess the advanced mind reading technology GM is including doesn't work with brainless idiots (end of rant!)

 

When I see "damage", I immediately think "property damage". Sorry about that.

Did you work with actuaries or just the insurance people? You might have only seen the end result of compiled statistics from actuaries.

I'm not defending insurance companies, though. I hate them with a passion. I'm especially pissed about the medical insurance issues lately. Quite a few people are alleging that insurance jagoffs are raising malpractice premiums because the insurance companies have been losing a ton of money on other investments. I sure hope that's not true...

 

Eric,

My thoughts exactly! But people in Texas do drive pretty aggressively.

Richard

 

Also, whats with SUV and trucks feeling the need to get right on YOUR *** when you're stopped at a light?

A weak attempt to make them feel better about the ridiculous amount they spend on gas for no real reason?

I'm going to start looking into replacing my 3rd brake light with a beaming hot white HID with F-YOU spelled out in the middle.



If feels great to vent and rant here. I love threads like this.

 

I'm glad I could provide an outlet for ya! And I know what you mean about people stopping right on your ***. Happens ALL the freakin' time to me! But you know what's even funnier? It happened MORE when I drove a truck! It's like they were pissed off at me for being bigger than they were.

 

LOL, I'm the opposite, threads like this just get me steamed!

Mannishboy, in reference to your comments about cell phones, makeup, etc. There are laws about putting makeup on, not specifically but you are required to give driving you full attention. I think there are laws like "personal grooming, eating...should be done at properly marked rest stops and are illegal while driving" or something along those lines.

As for cell phones, you're in cell phone denial if you think it doesn't take away from your mental faculty. The reason you can't talk on a cell phone while holding it and drive as well as without boils down to the fact that your brain makes the association that you are doing something with your other hand, and whether you like it or not, it consiouscly thinks about it. With a handsfree you are able to talk like you would to someone else in the car, which still isn't 100% safe, but it's a much better alternative than holding a cell phone up to your head. None of this even addresses the fact that you have one less hand on the wheel, can't signal, shift, etc, as well, if at all, with a cell phone smacked to your ear.

There is only one kind of person on the road I hate before cell phone users, redlight runners, more specifically turn signal redlight runners. I know of one friend who has died because of someone running a turn signal. Nothing gets me more ready to "hulk out" than seeing someone run a turn signal with me on the front row of oncoming traffic and they put their child, signifigant other, etc right there in harms way, with me ready to plow right into the passenger side all because they are in a hurry. Think about others when you're out on the road people, don't be a part of the problem.

See, now I am steamed, way to go Christi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Exactly my point. "Not specifically". Punish the problem, not the cause of the month. The problem is people not paying attention, and there are many ways we get there.

 

But don't you feel better now that you've vented some anger? I know exactly what you mean about those people running lights in general. Drives me nuts! I've almost been rear ended a few times (not in my Z, thank goodness!) because people behind me were expecting ME to run a light so they could too! That's insane!

 

Most of the consequences of not paying attention (in the millions of ways) come AFTER an accident is caused. The person who causes the accident is usually sued through the other person's insurance for negligence...