New Volks on! Bad Day

[Da Hapa]

I drove all day today in New York and Jersey with the phone in my ear. I agree that there should be a penalty if an accident is caused, but I am way against the big brother thing. GET OUT OF MY CAR!

By the way, I witnessed a "legal" head-set guy still driving with one hand and looking at his phone and paperwork. in the other hand.

Another peave of mine is the driver seat belt law. Think about it for a second. You can smoke, drink, and do all sorts of other dangerous things that endanger yourself AND people around you. When has a non-belted driver ever been thrown out of a car in an accident, and "injured" someone as a projectile? It is 100% big brother trying to reduce injury.
QUOTE]

While I appreciate and share your aversion to Big Brother, I couldn't disagree with you more strongly.

The fact is that it's far too easy in this great nation of ours to obtain a license. Compare the joke of the licensing process that we have with that of Germany, for example and you'll see what I mean.

The avg. American has no idea what they're doing behind the wheel and doesn't need any more distractions. And as long as this is a democracy (ok, a republic) the majority rules. And by that I mean that no matter how good you are behind the wheel the other 99 idiots around you aren't and when it comes to public safety sometimes the least common denominator is the way to go.

As far as the seat belts are concerned, I liken it to helmets for motorcycle riders. I am not a statistician so I can't quote the numbers for you but the cost to the rest of society is simply way too great to allow you to take the additional risk inherent in not belting up. Nothing more and nothing less.

You (and I'm not using you as an attack on you personally but rather as a insert for Joe Public) might feel that you have the right to be Evel Kanieval and take that risk but I resent having to pay for in terms of increased insurance. Not to mention the sheer cost to society of losing someone who is presumably a benefit to society and a loved one to his/her family.

 

[sgvnsxrated]

I felt sick to my stomach when I heard the story and saw the pics. Luckily there was no sheet metal involved.

I don't think its visible from the cheap pictures i took with my cell phone, but the right rear quarter panel is dented in also. Its really not that much of a dent, not sure if i should get it fixed or replace it. I'm not too concerned about the repairs as much as I am the paint matching. Fresh paint sometimes doesn't match old paint. I just hope I got a hell of a bodyshop.

 

[jaytip nsx]

As I understand it, talking on cell phones is still allowed as long as you have an ear piece. Apparently this doesn't make a huge difference because your still distracted by the conversation

so couldn't the same be said of talking to passengers.i think a hands free kit makes a BIG difference.you don't need to touch your phone to answer it,and if you have a blue tooth phone you have voice dialling(on some phones anyway) therby eliminating the need to dial the # you want while driving,which a lot of people do and which is really distracting and dangerous.
you think you have it bad in the States with the big brother situation.i have read two different stories in the press over here where
1, a woman was booked for having a drink of water in har car WHILE IN A QUEUE AT A RED LIGHT

2, another woman was charged for eating an apple while driving,which she challenged in court.the result was that the police spent something like £20,000 trying to prove her guilty.
she was found guilty and had a £60 fine.
Oh yes,and the cost of the poice investigation was paid by the poor tax payer.talk about a waste of money

 

[White92]

I drove all day today in New York and Jersey with the phone in my ear. I agree that there should be a penalty if an accident is caused, but I am way against the big brother thing. GET OUT OF MY CAR!

By the way, I witnessed a "legal" head-set guy still driving with one hand and looking at his phone and paperwork. in the other hand.

Another peave of mine is the driver seat belt law. Think about it for a second. You can smoke, drink, and do all sorts of other dangerous things that endanger yourself AND people around you. When has a non-belted driver ever been thrown out of a car in an accident, and "injured" someone as a projectile? It is 100% big brother trying to reduce injury.

I agree 100% that children under 18 need to be buckled as a liability and common-sense issue, but does it make sense to force an adult to buckle up, when he only endangers himself?

The arguement can be made that less injury will hapen, and less insurance rates (yeah right) But what about all of the other "adult" recklessness that occurs? This is just a stepping stone for big brother to control all of our actions.

OK flame suit is on! Just venting.

I don't know about hurting someone else as a projectile, but how about the fact that it does affect other people around you? I have seen first hand how accidents from people not wearing their seatbelts affects other people. Yes, adults not wearing their seatbelts.

One actual example comes to my mind. A family is moving across the country driving a truck and towing a horse trailer. The mom and dad are in the front seats NOT wearing their seatbelts. Their 2 kids are in the back seat buckled up. The truck rolls. The 2 parents are thrown from the truck and killed instantly and their kids walk away without a scratch. They now have no parents. I think that the action of the parents not wearing seatbelts absolutely affected the lives of someone else. This action in no way only hurt the parents.

Or another example. Family is driving around shopping. The mom is driving and the daughter (over 18) is in the front seat not wearing her seatbelt. The mom rolls the van and the daughter is thrown from it. The van rolls on top of the daughter and kills her very slowly before anyone can get there to help. I'd say the lives of that family were pretty well affected from this.

I'm just throwing another side out there for this. Go ahead and flame me if you must.