Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
I agree that many people just seem to be getting dumber behind the wheel, phone or not. Many people just have a lazy approach to driving and don't seem to care if their driving is bad and impacting traffic flow.
Phones and other distractions amplify the issue, but definitely are not the sole cause. A lot of the time when I see someone on the phone while driving, they are all over the place, not signaling, not really paying any attention to what they are doing. A lot of these people would still be bad drivers without the phone though. Also, not everyone who uses a phone while driving is driving poorly, it's just that many people are unable to pay attention to more than one thing at a time. How do you decide and control who is or is not capable of using a phone while driving?
I've also noticed people not going on green, or taking off at an unreasonably slow speed, almost like they are idling through the intersection. This is really annoying when it causes others to unnecessarily sit through another light cycle.
I think there are two social trends beyond simple phone distraction that are the root cause. One is that many people are simply self absorbed and not concerned about others. Impeding traffic does not concern them, because they are the center of the universe. Secondly, a lot of people have extremely short attention spans, and with cars becoming more isolated and more automatic in operation, they feel no real need to pay attention to what they are doing. Driving used to be a more involving activity for the driver, now it's almost as numb as laying in bed.
I think the growing trend of blind spot monitors, lane departure warnings, etc. actually make the problems worse because they give bad drivers a false sense of security. "I don't have to pay attention because the car will do it for me." They may not be treating these features as a second line of defense or a backup for catching things they may miss while otherwise paying attention. Rather, they pass all responsibility off to the electronic monitors.
The solution, if there is one, probably starts with licensing and tests. A lot of driving instruction in this country is from a different period in time. People are taught things like parallel parking and what a rail road crossing sign looks like, but not to be fully aware of their surroundings and what they are doing. I think driver education needs an overhaul, with more focus on paying attention and driving in a cooperative manner.
This. Every younger driver should be forced to drive an older car in my opinion. It keeps them on their toes. My Jeep rattles, has loose-feeling steering, suspension that could rattle teeth, and aerodynamics that make it feel like a plane landing in a crosswind on the highway. I always know exactly how fast I'm going, and what all the cars around me are doing. I drove 8 hours last summer on a trip with not one distraction. I got into my mom's Honda to drive my sister to school one morning, and it felt like the car had autopilot.
This morning I saw a girl driving down the highway with no hands on the wheel. One was holding a phone, the other was holding make-up.
I need a louder horn, one that doesn't honk, but screams "Wake up and drive [censored]!"
