A father’s unbearable loss became his cause — banning cellphone by drivers

[Swede]

They loved photography, gadgets, and full moons. They cracked each other up with renditions of “The 2,000-Year-Old Man,’’ the Mel Brooks-Carl Reiner comedy routine. As a boy, Jordan said he wanted to go bald when he grew up, to be just like his dad. At 15, he became best man at his father’s wedding. At 18, he never stopped his dad from kissing him good night.

And then the father buried the son.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/09/26/tragic_crash_leads_to_safe_driving_crusade/?p1=News_links

[Cleanelec]

1. Cell phones are the new DUI

I drive nearly 1000 miles a week on business. I see it everyday.

[MajorChode]

2. The sad part about it is the most inexperienced drivers are the ones most likely to be doing it

That's not to say that there's not plenty of adults doing the same thing, but I just see younger people doing it more often.

[undeterred]

3. I see a lot of women doing it in the neighborhood

sometimes with a car full of children. I realize some people multitask all day long, but driving a car full of children safely is already multitasking. Adding a phone call makes it dangerous.

[MajorChode]

7. I see that a lot also

I see it even in school zones around here where it is illegal. Driving is already the most dangerous activity that most people do and they want to make it even more dangerous by doing everything BUT driving. Some people just have to learn the hard way, which is really sad for those caught in the middle.

[Liberal_in_LA]

18. recent study.. women are texting, men fiddle with iphones while driving

[Dappleganger]

4. While driving to the movies last night, my daughter cautioned

our son (17) as he was driving about a middle-aged woman driving a minivan in the next lane who was TEXTING while driving.

Unfuckingbelievable.

[cleanhippie]

5. Then you are doing it too.

Come on, be honest here. If you are spending THAT much time in your vehicle, you ARE at some point, using your phone. Right?

[Cleanelec]

6. Nope...here is why.

1. Company policy forbids us to be on the phone while driving. You can be written up and/or terminated.

2. New regulations by the DOT will hammer your ass if you are caught texting and driving a commercial vehicle.

[cleanhippie]

10. Seriously?

I will take you at your word, but I feel you are the rare exception to the rule.

[Cal Carpenter]

14. Most companies that employ drivers

Prohibit cell phone use when driving. I know this to be true with local/short haul drivers as well as over-the-road drivers. The drivers I know follow that rule.

[MH1]

21. not everyone has the need to be 'connected' all day

some of us can even remember a time when (gasp) there was no such thing as a cellphone, and you had no choice but to pull over if you needed to make a phone call.

[BuelahWitch]

25. +1

Mine is turned off unless I need to use it.

[bullwinkle428]

8. I see people talking on the phone as they're backing out of a

space in a parking lot! You need to be swiveling your head like Linda Blair in "The Exorcist", because you have no idea who might be coming through at a far-too-fast speed through there. I see it all the time.

[enlightenment]

9. I wish they'd ban the damn things, but in all honesty -

why should citizens use common sense (and in some states, obey the law) when they see law enforcement breaking it with impunity every day?

I don't know how the police in Las Vegas ever see anything while 'patrolling' - nine times out of ten, they're on their phones.

[NashVegas]

11. Just Culling the Herd

May as well start with careless drivers.


Driving while texting is illegal where I live and yet, many of my friends completely disregard this when they know I'm on the road. It's a choice.

[malaise]

12. As sad it most be to lose his son

Am I to assume that he didn't know it was stupid to be talking with his son while the kid was driving.

I'm betting that he was another 'small govmint' guru before this horrific loss and Darwin is not going to be kind to these people.

sp

[tblue37]

24. The kid didn't even make the phone call while he was driving. His stepmother

called him while he was driving, for a completely trivial reason, and then when she was done talking to him handed the phone to the boy's father just to chat:

At half past 4, Jordan’s phone rang. It was his stepmother, wondering if he had that morning’s paper. Then his father got on the line, just to say hello.

Moments later, the phone went dead.

The boy's father says that if he hadn't been on the phone he would be alive today. Yeah, and if his parents hadn't called him while he was driving, he wouldn't have been on the phone!


I get really ticked at people who are on the phone while driving--and at people who call people when they know they are driving.

[Cid_B]

13. You gotta watch those distractions...

.. while we are at it lets also ban the radio, food, other passengers and any advertisements that are along the side of the road. Anyone caught with their hands not at the 10 and 2 will be flogged.

[MajorChode]

15. Or we could just go the other way and allow people to shoot heroin and drive

[Paladin]

16. Jeez, Don't Give Him Another Libertarian Issue To Flog Around Here.... (n/t)

[Cid_B]

19. Love you too....

Warms the cockles of my heart to know I made an impression on you.

[prole_for_peace]

23. Not 10 and 2 anymore.

With airbags the new position is 9 and 3. Otherwise, if the airbag deploys, it can blow your hands into your face and do a lot of damage.

And there have been many studies on driving distractions that prove the radio and other passengers are not nearly the distraction that using a cell phone is. Apparently talking to someone in person or just listening to radio does not require the same amount of concentration that talking on the phone does.

[earth mom]

17. I can't believe how stupid people are who use a cell phone while driving!

All you need to do is drive behind someone who is on their cell phone and see they are driving like they have been drinking-they are just as dangerous!

What are these people thinking?! :wtf:

Such a sad story in the OP...what a tragedy that did not have to happen! :(

[CrispyQ]

20. ...

[Golden Raisin]

22. Sadly, I think this is

a losing battle that is only going to get worse. It's going to take massive amounts of tragic deaths before a ban is enacted. We now have an entire generation that has basically popped out of the womb already texting and using cellphones nonstop. I see adolescents (and younger) and teens who have phones in their hands almost constantly. Younger children see and absorb their parents dependency on cellphones like mothers' milk, and parents give their kids cellphones at ridiculously young and inappropriate ages. There were no cellphones when I was a child and somehow I managed to survive and grow to adulthood in an era when, if I was outside playing, my mom couldn't reach me at all.