Arkansas Blog

I have one of those earpiece thingies for my recent conversion to cellular phones. But shit
I still pull over if I'm in the drivers seat which is not often.
The 39 and under generation does this routinely, texts while operating the biggest, most powerful killing machines in the world.

Just think, since the Iraq Invasion began we've destroyed over 170,000 lives with our vehicles.
How do that match up with abortions Red, Anonymous?

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Indirectly, the power to fix this is already on the books. The will to enforce it just doesn't seem to be there, though...

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Arkansas Code of 1987, Ann. Sect. 27-51-104. Careless and prohibited driving.
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person to drive or operate any vehicle in such a careless manner as to evidence a failure to keep a proper lookout for other traffic, vehicular or otherwise, or in such a manner as to evidence a failure to maintain proper control on the public thoroughfares or private property in the State of Arkansas.
(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to operate or drive any vehicle on the public thoroughfares or private property in the State of Arkansas in violation of the following prohibited acts:
(1) Improper or unsafe lane changes on public roadways;
(2) Driving onto or across private property to avoid intersections, stop signs, traffic control devices, or traffic lights;
(3) Driving in such a manner, or at such a speed, so as to cause a skidding, spinning, or sliding of tires or a sliding of the vehicle;
(4) Driving too close to, or colliding with, parked or stopped vehicles, fixtures, persons, or objects adjacent to the public thoroughfares;
(5) Driving a vehicle which has any part thereof, or any object, extended in such fashion as to endanger persons or property;
(6) To operate any vehicle in such a manner which would cause a failure to maintain control;
(7) To operate or drive a vehicle wherein or whereon passengers are located in such a manner as to be dangerous to the welfare of such passengers; or
(8) To operate a vehicle in any manner, when the driver is inattentive, and such inattention is not reasonable and prudent in maintaining vehicular control.
(c) A person who violates this section shall be subject to a fine not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100).
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Take a look through the Arkansas State Police's daily log of traffic fatalities... Inattentive driving, coupled with speed, is the number one killer in this state.

You Cali is really screwing up there state these days.. Im glad for the law for banding texting,,that
is a good one,,but they also want the schools to teach being bisexual is an alternative live style!!,What the heck is that all about? They WILL lose their funding if the governor passes that. Every one will take their kids out of the schools just because of that,,You know I thought passing the law to marry same sex was ridiculous, But TEACHING their kids ,,its ok?? Absurd!!! Lets hope that law dont pass for the childrens sake!!!

I cannot drive and talk on the phone at the same time. Safe driving requires paying attention...might need to dodge idiots on phones; and when I talk to people I generally pay attention to what they're saying. But I smell something funny in this California collision. I smell some kind of cover up. It's not like 'they' actually drive those trains...like a car. And, if one person distracted from texting on a cell phone can cause this kind of pileup...people need to get off those trains. More than likely, however, the texting engineer is a scapegoat for bigger fish, bigger problems. We'll see...

Cell phone gabber while driving has become a national obsession. Every day you see the consequences - the direct gruesome ones where you have mangled bodies and metal - and other instances that will domino into a problem - the light turning green . . .the lead driver not moving . . . then slowly starting up to turn . . .and creeping through the intersection while gabbering . . . impeding traffic . . . causing others to miss the traffic cycle. . . all while still gabbering into the phone he/she is holding to his/her ear, unable to look around and see the bottleneck he/she is creating behind him/her . . .increasing tempers and triggering road rage and otherwise ruining someone's day with delays, etc.

Unfortunately, like drunk drivers, the cellphone perp causing a wreck is probably not the one hurt the most by their selfish action.

ottis is absolutely right that California is wrong to teach bisexuality as an alternative lifestyle. Everyone I know is bisexual. I think it's gays and the straights that are the alternatives.

What? What did I say?

Well that may be true John A A but half of everyone I know is below average.

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Just minutes ago, stopped at a traffic light, I was suddenly rear-ended by a kid (maybe 17). He must have just taken his foot off the brake, because it wasn't a terrible crash. I don't know if he even had a cell phone, but I can't even imagine a person that age without also imagining flying thumbs. He did have stuff written all over his windows...you know how they do..."Heather loves me", or whatever....I imagine he was probably sh***ing in his britches. Against my better judgment we just pulled into a parking lot and didn't make a report. No one hurt. No apparent damage. (This is one reason I drive an older, very sturdy, not at all pretty car. Well, it's pretty to me.)

I asked him if he was hurt.
No.
Okay. Pay attention while you're driving.

Either ban cell phone use while driving or reduce punishment for drinking and driving. Just be fair.

Is the era of the designated texter upon us?

The public is overwhelmingly in favor of such a ban - even the people I know who talk or text constantly.

It is our legislators, influenced by the telecom lobbyists, who are standing in the way.

Just a couple of days ago I was pondering an initiated act. I think you could get a zillion signatures pretty quickly.

Not an open thread but just a quick shout out for Norma Bates' blog. http://norma-bates.blogspot.com/

ARK. BLOG: Coming soon to Ark. Times.

But then...I don't want my government making a law for every stupid human act. There are enough laws on the books to give cops ample citations to pick from. Enforce current laws, quit making a new law for every idiocy.

I still don't believe that the engineer's texting was the only reason for the crash...but then I still can't believe Monkeyboy is president.

Glad you're OK, hugh. My niece (who has a history of wrecks...ranging from hitting a big yellow school bus to rear ending a bus full of elderly folks) had the worst habit of making family calls (so-called family duty calls) while driving home from work. Guess she thought she was multi-tasking...but the call would scare the hell out of those on the other end...'Hey, aunt Z---WATCH IT JERK---whatcha been doing---HONK HONK--we're fine--IDIOT DRIVERS...' Luckily, she is blessed/we are blessed 'cause she's alive/well and never hurt anyone...except her parents' ability to buy reasonable insurance. (Yes, we screamed/pleaded and, at least, she doesn't do it in front of us anymore; and she's been wreck free for awhile.)

I'll bet Sarah Palin's kids text while driving.

I agree that texting while driving is very dangerous and should not be allowed. However should we also outlaw putting on make-up, eating, and other such activities while driving?

In regards to simply talking on the phone, how is this any more dangerous than talking to the person sitting next to you and holding a bottle of water in your hand? If we're going to outlaw talking on the cell phone while driving, shouldn't we outlaw holding anything in your hand while driving (make-up, bagel, soda, etc.).

As stated by Up The Road, these activities seem to already be accounted for in the current law, if the officer deems them to be dangerous at the time.

I'm all for making it illegal to text and drive at the same time, but not simply talking on a cell phone.

I haven't seen any studies that say driving with a water bottle in one hand, or talking to your passenger, is statistically the same as drinking and driving. But I have for talking on the cell.

People who talk on the phone in the car are as dangerous to me as people who are drunk, and the existing laws aren't working.

People who are drunk weave back and forth. People on cells can't control their speed. They get in the left lane and lock onto someone else's speed and go on auto-pilot. Someone gets rear-ended. They can't pull out into traffic safely because they can't estimate speeds, and someone t-bones them.

For one reason, the Quarter Pounder with Cheese is not talking incessantly to you. Your boss, on the other hand, does not know the light has just turned red and you're in the middle of the intersection.

She yammers on, while you look like a turtle, swinging your head from side to side, stranded, trying to prioritize all the different inputs.

If your boss were in the car with you, your conversation with her is going to modulated by the situation. She's going to shut up while you dive in front of oncoming traffic.

And there is bandwidth. When your boss is in the car with you, you don't have to concentrate as hard to get what they are saying. You hear inflections and pick up body language.

When they're on the phone, you're having to pay much more attention to get the message. Leaving less of that attention for the people on the road.

Brett,

I disagree. Cell pnone talking is much more distracting than talking or eating. Talking and or eating are a distraction but obviously not as bad.

Here is your challenge.

Today on your way home from work or where ever, look for obviously distracted drivers. (Slow to take off with other traffic, greatly increased follwoing distance, floating around in the lane as if DWI.)

Then pass them (should be easy since they are slow and all) and see if they are phoning, eat/drinking, or elderly.

If your experience is anything like mine on Cantrell Road it will 80% cell phone, 10% eating, and 10% geezers.

That indicates banning cell phoning will knock out 80% of dangerously distracted driving.

I agree with Otiss.. It seems there is a cover-up going on here.. I mean really, taking your eye off a dedicated track for a mere few seconds and u get an accident on the scale of what happened.. Really, Sounds like something else was going on and maybe trains are not as safe as we think!!!

Since this thread mentions California and driving I wanted to relate a recent item.

My sister from Near Los Angeles came in for a sick mother episode.

Sister flew in one night and was taken to a house she still has in Jacksonville.

I went to pick her up early the next morning to take her to visit Mom at the hospital. As soon as I got on 67-167 my cell phone rang and I answered it. Sister immediately began looking out for police. 10 second call was finished and Sister said I must be pretty successful if I can risk the fine for cell phoning while driving.

I said it is legal in Arkansas and that texting was also legal. She looked at me like I was trying to play a joke on her. She didn't believe me and when we got to the hospital she asked my Dad if it was true.

The other thing that happened was.

When we got on 67 - 167 there was an abandoned car on the shoulder. My sister said that was sure a coincidence because a car the same color was stalled nearly the same place last night about 10.

I told her it was obviously the same car becasue the neon green sticker on the window looked a little faded.

Sister could not believe abandoned cars would not be hauled off within minutes or hours. In LA they would haul it before you could hike to the next exit.

I told Sister, she had left Arkansas and changed a bunch in the last 20 years but Arkansas did not.

I started riding motorycles in the early 1990's. You still had to watch out for cars and trucks. There were very few cell phones then.

Today? Jebezus! Now people have 3 ton SUV's. Cell phones. And the worst part seems that people are easily pushed towards 'road rage'....and it is usually the women.

In the last 6 months I have been near rear-ended 4 times....car driver with cell phone in hand locking up tires. I have been cut off more times than I can count...about half of the drivers had cell phones.

This is why on my motorcycle I always ride faster than the flow of traffic, especially on I-430 and I-630.

Due to the fact that my motorcycle sits up high I can ride at night and see all the cell phones in use. It is a lot.

Oh, and I can't tell you how many cops I have seen in the LR area talking on their cell phones while they are driving their patrols. Hey guys, those dark tinted windows don't hide everything.

The stupidest thing I have seen was when I was down at the Fun Wash on Cantrell. There were 3 cars stopped in the east bound lane and the first car in the line was signaling to turn into Damn Good Pies. The fourth car comes along and just plows into the back of the third car in the line. And guess what...she was on her cell phone when it happened. I gave an eye witness account on that one.

Posting here for another reader:

A few years ago, there was a university study(URI I think) that determined that talking on a cell phone reduced the field of vision of the driver to a 30% cone directly in front. Someone may want to follow-up.

The scariest thing to me is the person driving a Yukon in a Wallyworld parking lot while trying to turn into a parking space. I saw one have to back up three times to make the turn but never put the phone down (even though I was screaming at her since she wasn't watching where she was backing either).

Makes you wonder how we were able to survive over 2000 years without a cell phone and being so important that we can't wait for 20 minutes to get home or to pull to the side of the road.

Fed Up to Here

Current laws already cover careless driving and it's seldom enforced. Often those causing accidents are not even given a ticket. We need a law stating that people who cause wrecks are personally responsible for ALL costs caused by their carelessness. There are many ways to be careless while driving. Talking to a passenger can distract you. Listening to the radio can distract you. Daydreaming can distract you.

We don't need another law. We just need to enforce the one we have and hold people accountable for their actions.

"You're trying to take my rights away . . ."
"When it's my time to go . . ."
"If you old farts can't talk and drive, you don't need to be on the road . . ."
Then there's the boss who pointedly says, "I tried to call you a few minutes ago . . ."

Pass the blasted law. I'm sick of dodging some twit who has a phone plastered to her ear while trying to make a turn at a busy intersection. The only reason I haven't been creamed is that I watch the other guy/gal too and my reaction time is still pretty good. But someday I'm not gonna be fast enough or there's gonna be the fool to the rear I can't always watch who's gona drift over and catch me on the rear quarter panel. (If you see someone who's been in a fender bender at one of the Bowman intersections taking a tire iron to the other ditz's phone, well, wave and chip in for bail if you can spare it. That'll be me.)
And yeah, Brett, I've been know to drink a Coke on the run, even eat a french fry -- but never in traffic unless I'm sitting at a light. Tain't completely kosher, I'll admit, but how many yakkers put the phone down when they start moving?
Kiddie yakkers who run up mom and dad's insurance? Gimme the phone. Gimme the keys. (Note: would work, right? Well, yeah, you'd think so, unless Gramma -- not this one obviously -- was willing to lend both to poor mistreated baby girl. Heh, Gramma's already gotten the phone bill. Now I'm waiting to see what she says when she gets next her insurance bill.)

I can't think of any activity that cries out for a law that forbids the use of cell phones while operating vehicles. EVERY close call I have encountered on the streets and highways that almost resulted in a wreck involved the other person using a cell phone. In most cases they were multi-tasking females.