Bicycle Austin forum

AusTexMurf

Member

From: South Austin

Registered: 2008-11-21

Posts: 439

Talk of distracted driving....

The article is disturbing.
Watch the video by herzog at the end of the piece.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl … BqFkRwdFZ0

Selfies with a splash of serious safety issues
http://news.yahoo.com/selfies-with-a-sp … 45416.html
By Ross Tucker
November 1, 2013 10:20 AM
Talk of distracted driving has largely been centered on talking on the phone or texting. Now, taking selfies while behind the wheel is joining the list.

According to a report from the Huffington Post, the number of people taking self-portraits while speeding down the road has exploded.

"There are over 3 million posts on Instagram tagged with '#driving,' nearly 50,000 with '#drivinghome,' over 9,000 tagged '#drivingtowork' and more than 3,500 tagged '#drivingselfie,'" reads the report.....

Famed director Werner Herzog addressed the impact of distracted driving with a 30-minute documentary released in August. The short film, titled "From One Second to the Next," was done in collaboration with AT&T and has been viewed more than 2.2 million times. If you need any more reasons why taking selfies while driving is a bad idea, you need only watch the first couple minutes of Herzog's work.

AusTexMurf

Member

From: South Austin

Registered: 2008-11-21

Posts: 439

Re: Talk of distracted driving....

Pretty common for people to get out their phone getting into the drivers seat. I see it nearly every time I ride through a parking lot. If someone can't safely walk and talk, what makes them think they can safely drive and talk. Somewhat mind-boggling.

Motorized couches with electronic devices.
What energy left for navigating, safely ?
Yuck.

Last edited by AusTexMurf (2013-11-06 09:24:08)

btrettel

Member

Registered: 2013-10-01

Posts: 60

Re: Talk of distracted driving....

Scary stuff. I've seen the documentary, and it's chilling too.

Distracted driving in Austin seems to have reached endemic levels. I moved to Austin just a few months ago, and I'm continually surprised by how many drivers I catch obviously texting while driving here. It's easily 1 to 2% of all drivers I see when I'm stopped at an intersection. I don't know what could be done to reduce this short of a crackdown, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for that.