Got cut off in traffic last night.
 

We were on a street in traffic with other traffic approaching. Moderate speed, probably 25mph. My lovely wife (great driver - well trained) was driving. We were in her car. Just as the approaching traffic was about to pass on our left, a lady in an SUV emerged from a gas station on our right, shot across our bow and into the approaching lane on our left. The only way for my wife to avoid was to stomp the breaks and stand the car on its nose, and the same was true for the driver in the approaching vehicle. Screeches of breaks and tires. As soon as it was safe my wife hit the horn. As the apparition zipped by about four feet from our front bumper, I noticed that she was holding her cell phone in the "forward lotus," tipped forward in FRONT of her face, talking into the bottom edge. She never once looked up at the screaming menaces on her left and right; she only stared past the top edge of the phone into oblivion. Even the blare of my wife's horn from a range of four feet didn't cause her to flinch in the least. Totally disconnected from driving. Shocked, my wife gasped, "Can you believe that?" With my heart racing I replied, "Yes."

I knew where this was going in the 1980s. I was doing a session for a TV network. The producer took a call from a voice actress who would be joining us later. She was in her car. Because her voice-acting career was keeping her really busy, she'd recently had a "car phone" installed and she called this day to say she'd be late. While she was talking on the phone there was a sudden crash sound and then silence. My friend, the producer, yelled, "Are you okay?" For a second there was silence, then moans, and finally she half-spoke, half-cried, "A guy just hit me. I'd better hang up so that no-one sees that I was on the phone." A week later she was able to come in and do the session she had been booked for. She showed up bandaged and in a neck brace. At that session she admitted to us that she'd gotten distracted by the phone, pulled through a red light, and was T-boned by a driver legally going through the intersection. Both cars were totaled. She wasn't going to admit to those who were involved that she'd caused the whole thing through distraction and negligence.

Folks, "driving as a secondary activity" doesn't work, and places everyone around you at risk.


Bob

Ain't it the truth, Even hands free is a questionable practice,
as studies have shown it is still distracting from total driving focus (admittedly I have done it a few times in the past , but I now always pull over if I think I need to make or take a call) . But unquestionably hand held is a tragedy in the the making. Thank goodness your wife was able to avoid a crash

I'm glad you two are OK Bob.

I've been driving for 45 years and hate it these days. I feel like I'm risking my life every time I'm on the road. My job allows me to work from home 2 or 3 days a week - love this.

My co-workers get angry with me when I don't answer the phone when driving. I don't apologize. I'm not going to die to have a phone conversation that can wait till I land.

I have to drive through a college town every day for work, and I see it all of the time. One day, I about got hit three times...by the same college girl on her phone while driving.

I hate it too.

I'm glad y'all are ok! :)

It's company policy here to NOT talk on the phone while driving. You can get in serious trouble / fired if caught using a cell while driving.

It's certainly gone way too far. People of all ages simply can't put their phones down. I see people all the time swerving all over the road and changing speeds.

I've said it for quite a while - the first person that hits me while driving distracted will be answering to a very mean attorney.

I'm not a litigious person by nature, but this is one issue I have very strong opinions of.

Glad you made it out OK, and very sad to hear the person that caused it was so oblivious.

Three times same day by the same girl ? Man you are a glutton for punishment :D

Bob, I've found that most of the drivers in Tidewater Virginia range between crazy and stupid so you're fortunate that nobody was hurt. I was at Virginia Beach one time in bumper-to-bumper traffic and there was a car flipped over on its roof. Tell me, how does somebody manage to drive so poorly in bumper-to-bumper traffic and end up upside down? At the risk of sounding unsympathetic, if you want to drive amongst courteous Virginia drivers, you'd better head west....

Glad you and your wife avoided potential tragedy.

I narrowly avoided a head on collision last week when a driver coming towards me drifted into my lane while on his phone. I had just enough room to hit the brakes and swerve right without hitting another car on my right.

Driving is inherently dangerous without talking or texting on cell phones...please put down the phone when you are behind the wheel.

A few years ago up here, bigger penalties were inaugurated for drivers convicted of distracted driving: a fine of $490, if settled out of court (includes a victim surcharge and the court fee) a fine of up to $1,000 if a summons is received or if you fight the ticket in court and lose. three demerit points.

I see texting every time I drive or ride my bike. A few times I've somehow gotten the driver's attention and made a hand signal to hang up. They look glassy-eyed, looking at me but not seeing or reacting.

Some new technology has to emerge wherein one can "text" by voice recognition, or other means of "texting" while driving to minimize distractions. Preferably, I wish I had a device that could interfere with the other driver's device, making it impossible for them to text while driving.

You are an idiot if you text thinking you'll be careful and not cause anyone to be hurt. Small chance that will happen, sure. Risking it is stupid wrong and that's what you do when you can't control yourself. Seems that calling someone an idiot or stupid, is not enough these days. Walls everywhere.

Thanks for posting your experience Bob and others. Education helps too.

Glad you guys are OK. I get in the car, my cell phone goes in the back seat. If a call does come through it is hooked up to my radio (ugh I sound old lol), so I can talk without taking my eyes off the road.

You’re preaching to the choir. Everyone just needs to be that much more aware of traffic around them - and what those deiver’s are doing.

In our little corner of the world (B.C.) a fairly vigorous campaign is waged against distracted driving. While still a huge menace, some improvement has taken place.
Sadly the end of this murderous practice is still a long way off.
Glad you escaped injury or ----

It's available. My car does it.

I'm glad there was no injury or loss of life.

I'm not sure distracted driving is as new as people claim but it's certainly gotten worse. It doesn't seem to be helped by the poor home to work or commute choices a lot of people make. Many I know spend 2+ hours of their day in a car when they add up work and family time.

The real answer for where we're at is the semi-autonomous driving technology that's been shipping for a while and the autonomous driving technology that's coming because we have not reversed the trend for so much communing on a grand scale.

Not driving a car is nice too. I'm in the 11th year of a few to 50 miles a week that used to be time in a car now done on foot or bike. That's foreign or unimaginable to many but not that hard. It's kind of like learning an instrument or language where you just need that first push and some time at it.

Having lost a family member to a selfish idiot behind the wheel, I confess that I cannot wait for better transportation planning, new technology to keep spreading far and wide, plus changed or new thinking on how we go places.