I'm just impressed/scared about lane splitting. I'd like to try it, being from Tennessee, but with a chaperone/lead. I'm glad that California figured that out, and it's the norm there. That happened long before cell phone retardation.
"I think cars with touch screens to control all of the various features are just as bad. There is no tactile feedback from a flat screen as there is with a knob or a button. There is no way to use those things without taking your eyes off the road. It's just a bad idea. I am not too sure I will ever buy a late-model car again."
HANDS ON THE WHEEL. EYES UP, 9 O'CLOCK 4 O'CLOCK. Brake, then go pedal. Watch past 2 cars ahead (which sucks nowadays with all the ginormous SUV's and big dick trucks)...
My mom taught me how to drive. I learned how to ride. Still alive. Driving a truck considered an antique now, runs better, truer, and faster than everyone I pass. Thanks, Vern.
As mentioned above, enforcement is the issue. Sure, we all see it...but we're not LEO's. That makes it up to us to not become a statistic. Not so much of a leap as you'd think, but it's similar to people who have CCW permits - cops aren't always there when bad stuff happens, and citizens have to be prepared for when they aren't. Pay attention to the idiots who text.
I agree - the fine should be more of a deterrent than it is. MD has "no text" laws, but IF you get nabbed, the fines/penalty are pretty spineless. I'd like to see immediate (as in, roadside - you do not leave the traffic stop) revocation of the drivers license...as a START.
I have a 19 year old truck. For $89, I bought a mech-less (no CD player) Alpine head unit with bluetooth, phone controls, and a really good mic. For $4.95, I bought a magnet mount for the dash - my phone goes on the magnet, Waze on the screen, tunes through the stereo, and IF I have to answer a call...I can say "ANSWER" and start talking.
And that's another thing - phones on the windshield (or, GPS units). Get 'em OFF THE GLASS - those units are big enough to hide a CAR, nevermind a motorcycle. Put them on the face of the DASH, so they don't block any sightlines.
Touch screens can be learned. I have an 8.4" in my Grand Cherokee and it's no more difficult than the buttons on a (non-steering-wheel-controlled) stereo - you have to look to hit the right preset button, or the skip button, or the volume knob. Once your muscles learn where "it" is, you can reach and touch without looking, or at least only looking for a split second. It's not like I'm attempting a corporate takeover with my stereo...and most touch screens (like mine) DO come with steering wheel controls for volume/skip/preset, and I have hard buttons for basic HVAC (temp up/down, fan speed, auto, and OFF) outside the touch screen in addition to an HVAC screen if I want to go in-depth. I'll take touch screen over rotary-encoder ANY day - drive a Mercedes sometime and tell me how intuitive THAT crap is.
I have a 19 year old truck. For $89, I bought a mech-less (no CD player) Alpine head unit with bluetooth, phone controls, and a really good mic. For $4.95, I bought a magnet mount for the dash - my phone goes on the magnet, Waze on the screen, tunes through the stereo, and IF I have to answer a call...I can say "ANSWER" and start talking.
Q: Why does "hands free" make things so much safer? A: I'm fairly convinced it doesn't. Can you really not see ahead or maintain your lane position because you are holding a small electronic device in one hand? I don't think that's the problem at all. It's that the conversation is distracting the brain from driving. It doesn't matter if you are holding the phone or not. I've seen some fairly convincing studies that seem to support this idea. Also tested on Myth Busters. I've become convinced that when you are having a conversation with someone there in the vehicle with you, it's acceptable to pause the conversation mid-sentence if needed to pay attention to the road. The passenger sees what is going on and it's just part of the tempo of the conversation. Have that same conversation with someone who is not there though, and you feel the need to not have driving dictate the tempo of the conversation, because you know the person on the other end doesn't see the idiot you are watching swerving across three lanes of traffic to make his exit. So you try to keep the tempo of the conversation more normal. What's going on though is that you would normally put your focus on driving when it gets sketchy, and not on the conversation. Suddenly with a phone conversation though, we put the focus on the conversation, instead of the sketchy stuff happening on the other side of the windshield. The results of this are obvious. The brain is an amazing thing, but it can only focus on so many things at once. Everything else must be placed on a lower priority. Of course each individual has a different capacity for how much distraction they can handle. Unfortunately, it's a natural thing to believe that we are better than others in dealing with the distraction.
We are driving in Europe now and I am very glad that I have been riding for almost 50 years to be able to focus as a habit on the autostrada, narrow, poorly labeled city streets, etc. Even talking to my lovely bride is too distracting sometimes.
...BOSTON – The 23-year-old man charged with seven counts of vehicular homicide after he collided with a group of motorcyclists in Randolph, N.H., has an even more troubling arrest record than previously thought, with drug charges and traffic incidents spanning at least six states, according to new reports...
Zhukovskyy’s father told the newspaper that his son recently secured a green card. They family is from Ukraine, said his father, who is also named Volodymyr Zhukovskyy.
