Driving while texting

[Newby]

(The title is appropriate -- when you're texting, it requires most of your attention, the driving happens to be a side thing at that point!)

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/08/29/1224250/Utah-Law-Punishes-Texters-As-Much-As-Drunks-In-Driving-Fatalities?art_pos=23

What are your thoughts?

15 years seems excessive as a punishment, but I'm completely fine with people being sent to jail for texting while driving, especially if they get in an accident. It's willingly taking your eyes off the road and endangering everyone else around. At least when you're drunk your judgement is legitimately clouded. (Not that either is OK.)

Perhaps even just a minimal fine for texting while driving? Much like how California now doesn't allow anyone to chat on the phone while driving unless they have a hands-free way of talking.

[Camel]

I never had a problem texting while driving when I had a T9 flip phone. It's impossible with my Samsung Omnia!

People always seem to text me right around 5 O'clock, when I'm driving. I can't even open the app to read the messages, let alone type a response without dying.

[iago]

I never had a problem texting while driving when I had a T9 flip phone. It's impossible with my Samsung Omnia!

People always seem to text me right around 5 O'clock, when I'm driving. I can't even open the app to read the messages, let alone type a response without dying.

I have the same issue. Went I went from an old-fasioned 12-button phone to a full keypad, I suddenly lost the ability to text without looking. Now, I save my texting for red lights. :)

[Lead]

I never had a problem texting while driving when I had a T9 flip phone. It's impossible with my Samsung Omnia!

People always seem to text me right around 5 O'clock, when I'm driving. I can't even open the app to read the messages, let alone type a response without dying.

I have the same issue. Went I went from an old-fasioned 12-button phone to a full keypad, I suddenly lost the ability to text without looking. Now, I save my texting for red lights. :)

You guys are crazy. I don't even touch my phone when I'm driving. There are enough maniacs and idiots on the road as it is and I don't need to contribute to the harm of other people :o

[iago]

I never had a problem texting while driving when I had a T9 flip phone. It's impossible with my Samsung Omnia!

People always seem to text me right around 5 O'clock, when I'm driving. I can't even open the app to read the messages, let alone type a response without dying.

I have the same issue. Went I went from an old-fasioned 12-button phone to a full keypad, I suddenly lost the ability to text without looking. Now, I save my texting for red lights. :)

You guys are crazy. I don't even touch my phone when I'm driving. There are enough maniacs and idiots on the road as it is and I don't need to contribute to the harm of other people :o

If you have the phone's layout memorized, then typing a text message while driving, at least on my phone, is something that can be done 100% without looking. It's really no different than driving with one hand on the wheel. I don't really see anything unsafe about that. :)

[Towelie]

I never had a problem texting while driving when I had a T9 flip phone. It's impossible with my Samsung Omnia!

People always seem to text me right around 5 O'clock, when I'm driving. I can't even open the app to read the messages, let alone type a response without dying.

I have the same issue. Went I went from an old-fasioned 12-button phone to a full keypad, I suddenly lost the ability to text without looking. Now, I save my texting for red lights. :)

You guys are crazy. I don't even touch my phone when I'm driving. There are enough maniacs and idiots on the road as it is and I don't need to contribute to the harm of other people :o

If you have the phone's layout memorized, then typing a text message while driving, at least on my phone, is something that can be done 100% without looking. It's really no different than driving with one hand on the wheel. I don't really see anything unsafe about that. :)

There are two things I see that are wrong with it. I do it myself, but the problems are: you mostly focus on the texting (I really don't focus too much on driving normally though), and you have to look down after every word to check that you spelled it right, or the right one is selected if you use t9.

[iago]

I never had a problem texting while driving when I had a T9 flip phone. It's impossible with my Samsung Omnia!

People always seem to text me right around 5 O'clock, when I'm driving. I can't even open the app to read the messages, let alone type a response without dying.

I have the same issue. Went I went from an old-fasioned 12-button phone to a full keypad, I suddenly lost the ability to text without looking. Now, I save my texting for red lights. :)

You guys are crazy. I don't even touch my phone when I'm driving. There are enough maniacs and idiots on the road as it is and I don't need to contribute to the harm of other people :o

If you have the phone's layout memorized, then typing a text message while driving, at least on my phone, is something that can be done 100% without looking. It's really no different than driving with one hand on the wheel. I don't really see anything unsafe about that. :)

There are two things I see that are wrong with it. I do it myself, but the problems are: you mostly focus on the texting (I really don't focus too much on driving normally though), and you have to look down after every word to check that you spelled it right, or the right one is selected if you use t9.

My phone had a feature similar to t9, except you didn't pick from a list and it just gave you the most likely one (you could use '+' to get the next most likely). I knew the 2-3 words that I had to hit '+' on ('home'/'good' and a 2-letter word that I forget now), so that never became an issue for me.

I would write whole messages without looking. As long as my phone didn't go BEEP (telling me there was no matching word), I didn't look at it.

[Camel]

Even if you picked the wrong word with T9, the meaning was rarely lost.

[deadly7]

My phone had a feature similar to t9, except you didn't pick from a list and it just gave you the most likely one (you could use '+' to get the next most likely). I knew the 2-3 words that I had to hit '+' on ('home'/'good' and a 2-letter word that I forget now), so that never became an issue for me.

I would write whole messages without looking. As long as my phone didn't go BEEP (telling me there was no matching word), I didn't look at it.

Would those two-letter words be "he" and "if"?

[Towelie]

My phone had a feature similar to t9, except you didn't pick from a list and it just gave you the most likely one (you could use '+' to get the next most likely). I knew the 2-3 words that I had to hit '+' on ('home'/'good' and a 2-letter word that I forget now), so that never became an issue for me.

I would write whole messages without looking. As long as my phone didn't go BEEP (telling me there was no matching word), I didn't look at it.

Would those two-letter words be "he" and "if"?

me/of is another

[iago]

My phone had a feature similar to t9, except you didn't pick from a list and it just gave you the most likely one (you could use '+' to get the next most likely). I knew the 2-3 words that I had to hit '+' on ('home'/'good' and a 2-letter word that I forget now), so that never became an issue for me.

I would write whole messages without looking. As long as my phone didn't go BEEP (telling me there was no matching word), I didn't look at it.

Would those two-letter words be "he" and "if"?

me/of is another

Yep, those are the ones!

he/if, me/of, and good/home. :)

[Falcon]

When I had a regular number pad phone that I had to use T9 on I could type out text messages while driving without problems. I have an Xperia X1 now and I type a lot slower even though it has a full qwerty keyboard =/

[Camel]

My phone has a T9-style (touchscreen) keypad. I'm going to try using it regularly.

[Quik]

I'm completely the opposite. When I had T9, I never got used to it. As soon as I got a full QWERTY keypad, I could type very fast without looking, like I was using a laptop keyboard with my thumbs. Now that I have a touch screen phone, it makes it more difficult. I avoid doing so while driving because it's dangerous, and illegal in California (other places too?).

[Blaze]

I could type with t9 without looking, but I try not to use my phone at all while driving.