F3500: 1, Porsche: 0

[Crash Cash]

So I'm sitting at the intersection behind a blue Porsche. Guy's chatting away on the phone having a grand 'ol time.

Light changes for the left-turn lanes, and they start going.

Porsche-guy sees movement out of the corner of his eye, presses foot hard on the go-pedal. Left-turning F3500 Diesel teaches him the error of his ways by pushing an expensive German-built engine out the side of the engine bay. Hilarity ensues.

Of course, I stopped over on the sidewalk to let the cop know the guy was on the phone, and give him my info as a witness. Oh, and to wish Mr. Porsche a nice day.

 

[08FJR4ME]

+1 got a luv it!

Problem is 8 out of 10 drivers are on there cell phones.

Be careful out there,

Dave

 

[madmike2]

My wry sense of humor hopes that was a very important phone call because it suuurrre was expensive!

 

[Mike Kelly]

Being a Porsche owner, Myself, If it was a newer 911, it was a "total" and expensive experience.

What I don't understand is why most people DON'T have a hands free device. It makes zero sense to me... spend all that money on your phone/data plan and then cheap out and take teh risk of... Things like this!

Mike

 

[olsonm3915]

What I don't understand is why most people DON'T have a hands free device. It makes zero sense to me... spend all that money on your phone/data plan and then cheap out and take teh risk of... Things like this!

Do you really think he would have been any less distracted had he been using a hands-free phone?

People are distracted by the conversation with someone who is not present in the car with them, not by the fact that they're holding their hand next to their head.

 

[Mike Kelly]

Yea, actually I do. It has as much to do with the fact that people have to add to the distraction of holding the phone, holding it close to the ear, not pressing the wrong button, and any number of other factors. There's a GOOD reason that many states are mandating hands free or fines.

Mike

 

[Silver Penguin]

Ouch! Glad it was an F350 that he tangled with rather than a motorcyclist. He'll learn a much better lesson if HE'S the one who is hurting.

 

[Bokerfork]

Yea, actually I do. It has as much to do with the fact that people have to add to the distraction of holding the phone, holding it close to the ear, not pressing the wrong button, and any number of other factors. There's a GOOD reason that many states are mandating hands free or fines.

Mike

Yeah, the reason is heavy lobbying by the manufacturers of hands free devices. To date, as far as I know, there is no conclusive evidence that the hands free aspect of talking on a cell phone reduces the risk one bit.

I could be wrong. After all, it is mid October. I'm about due.

 

[GalaxyBlue]

Might as well remove ALL navigation and Stereos also... They are distractions too.

See how silly this could be?

 

[madmike2]

My personal observations (as one who spends their working life on the road):

A hands free device does help. It frees those individuals to write notes, unwrap their meal, etc., rather than having to hold the communication device.

 

[Big-D]

I would have enjoyed pictures of the custom work the F350 performed on the Porsche!

Of course I am happy no one was injured other than maybe some pride and a pocketbook.

 

[Crash Cash]

I would have enjoyed pictures of the custom work the F350 performed on the Porsche!

Of course I am happy no one was injured other than maybe some pride and a pocketbook.

Yeah, I really need to start carrying my old camera. It smacked him 90 degrees and there was antifreeze everywhere. He was really shaken, but not hurt. Of course, since the fire station is 3 blocks down the road, they rolled the fire rescue anyway.

Just the day before, I was behind another guy trying to leave the local IHOP, and he was behind a minivan that was being timid about traffic, so he decided to slam it into reverse to go around the van or something. Fortunately I was quick on the airhorns and he didn't hit me, but boy, was he in a mood. When the van finally went, he floored it and went around the van before it cleared through the median.

Might as well remove ALL navigation and Stereos also... They are distractions too.

Actually... I'm kind of in favor of that. The stereo isn't that bad, but the joke in Orlando is "what's worse than a tourist driver with a GPS? a tourist driver without one!"

I've seen people on I-4 hunched over punching buttons on their GPS for several blocks at 60mph, drifting between lanes and yanking the car over when they discover they're in a turn lane, or just slamming on the brakes for no reason at all.

Personally, my Garmins and my Tomtom have such ****** GUIs that I don't even attempt to futz with them while I'm in traffic.

 

[beemerdons]

Might as well remove ALL navigation and Stereos also... They are distractions too.

See how silly this could be?

+1, Gunny! I am with you 100% on this one, Adam! Get rid of those fecking GPS's! From, Your Favorite Neanderthal Luddite

 

[wheatonFJR]

I'm all for personal liberty and individualism...so if you say you can do all things safely...then you ought to be able to prove it during a licensing road course...yearly.

Gonna eat that big mac while driving...do it during the slalom cones...gonna be consulting the gps whilst driving...do it during the u-turn...gonna talk to wifey on the phone about all the important things you did during the drive home instead of at dinner...do it while parallel parking on the road course.

See how many really can do all that stuff... and pass the licensing exam then.

 

[Mike Kelly]

Well as a national high performance driving instructor with the largest driving club in the country, I can tell you that we do focus on teaching students how to multitask while driving on race tracks at very high speeds without losing their situational awareness... We're not talking about screwing around with gadgets and gizmos in the car. Talking to the student to add another level of complexity is one of our things... We ask them to check their gauges (and report the status of each) during the most inopportune moments, and we also ask the to constantly check mirrors, look far up track to the next series of corners, flag stations, other vehicles elsewhere on the track... All this is to add more and more, all while making sure the shift points are correct, position on the wheel is correct, and heel/toe shifting is correct... We don't do this "just" for track day fun... It helps with real world safety and dealing with all the distraction of life in cars on the road.

If you're going to outlaw hands free devices, then pretty soon someone will recommend outlawing conversation in the car... It gets beyond silly before long... But that's just one person's opinion...

YMMV!

Mike

 

[juniorfjr]

I used to be in the Sherriff's reserve and had to pass an Emergency Vehicle Operation Course (EVOC). In it we had high speed as well as low speed courses and had to be able to operate the radios, lights, sirens, while doing some of the manuvers. Some of us found it easy, and some never figgured it out. Like all drivers, some shouldn't be multi-tasking. Not in their skill set.

The safety laws will always default to the lowest common denomenator.

 

[slapnpop]

Yea, actually I do. It has as much to do with the fact that people have to add to the distraction of holding the phone, holding it close to the ear, not pressing the wrong button, and any number of other factors. There's a GOOD reason that many states are mandating hands free or fines.

Mike

Yeah, the reason is heavy lobbying by the manufacturers of hands free devices. To date, as far as I know, there is no conclusive evidence that the hands free aspect of talking on a cell phone reduces the risk one bit.

I could be wrong. After all, it is mid October. I'm about due.

I did see a study a while back that indicated being in conversation (with or without the person in the car) cause the majority of the distraction. The holding of the device was a minority (20%) of the attention used. The study showed drivers talking with a passenger just as distracted as a driver using a hands free cell.

 

[BikerGeek99]

I'm with Big D here...

 

[SacramentoMike]

+1 got a luv it!

Problem is 8 out of 10 drivers are on there cell phones.

Be careful out there,

Dave

Here in California it's illegal to talk on a cell phone (hand set, anyway) while driving. So it's only 7 out of 10.