Witness: driver who hit church bus said he was texting

San Antonio Express News ^ | 03/31/2017 | By Zeke MacCormack

[mpackard]

My God, I am so sorry for your loss.

[dragnet2]

Paramedics will tell you the most critical generally never say word get their attention first and those making noise are generally a good sign.

[dragnet2]

The exact same thing has happened to drivers who merely dropped their sunglasses or lipstick on the floor. They bent over, look down and that was it. It only takes but a second or two to stray over the line. Probably the number one cause of collisions are people failing to pay attention to their driving.

[kearnyirish2]

I wish people were getting ticketed; I don’t think they are.

[Cvengr]

Already a feature in 2017 Honda Civics.

[kearnyirish2]

Treat it like DUI (which isn’t a crime here in NJ but a driving offense); take their licenses away until they grow up.

[Night Hides Not]

I agree with you. Part of the problem are the prosecutors who don't aggressively pursue these cases.

I think we've all become aware of the tell tale signs of texters: speeds slower than the traffic flow, crossing over into other lanes, etc.

I'm not there yet, but I sure feel like rolling down my window to shout at them, "Put down the damn phone!!!"

[dragnet2]

The reason cell use is at the same level of carnage or worse than DWI’s, is because everyone has a cell and a good percentage of those use it while operating their vehicles. It’s a shear numbers thing. It would be the equivalent of 90 percent of the drivers on the road being impaired.

[LouieFisk]

“I wish people were getting ticketed; I don’t think they are.”
==
People can ignore tickets anyway. Being arrested, cuffed and tossed in jail is a little harder to ignore.

[dragnet2]

Disables text only or powers it down?

[Java4Jay]

Why on earth was there no prosecution?!

Because Adam was walking on the shoulder of a highway entrance ramp (unlawful) AND was under the influence of heroin.

[raccoonradio]

One woman texted her fave sing, Happy, was on her car stereo.Crashed and died. “It can wait”

In the comedy film Defending Your Life, Albert Brooks’ character dies and winds up in “Judgement City”.The char
died because he was retrieving a CD when driving.

Trying to retrieve a cigar killed Ernie Kovacs as he drove.

[mazda77]

Every one of them has an accelerometer in them. I suggested a long time ago since certain motions while texting are very repetitive, especially when they are using the steering wheel as a rest to keep it in front of them, they can be programmed to shut it off when the detection is coupled with the GPS detects movement. A passenger in a vehicle has very different movement patterns than does a driver.

[pollywog]

Oh how sorry I am for the loss of your son. No prosecution?
Our courts are becoming insane!!!

[Blue Jays]

Completely agree with you.
In many states cracking someone for $100-$200 is less than a decent dinner for two people.
The overall "personal hassle / financial pain" factor must increase.

Loss of license would grab attention of many people, for sure.
This issue is so rampant that I also believe technological intervention is needed.
Glancing over on the highway to see a 17 y.o. fellow motorist staring at a bluish glow in his/her lap at 75 mph is way too late.

[liberalh8ter]

OMG! I'm so sorry for your loss.

[old gringo]

i have lost 3 trucks due to these cooyons’

[Mr. Douglas]

I agree, but there is another aspect: I consider a person with .1 alcohol or less not all that dangerous. I think they are dangerous in an “emergency” situation. e.g. when someone does a boneheaded mover near you, if you are at around .1, you may not be able to respond, resulting in an accident. But the person texting is likely to be the one making that boneheaded move.

I’ve seen texters run off the road several times, right in front of me. I came around one corner to find a car upside down in front of me, engine still running, tires still turning, with a woman dangling out of the passenger side door screaming for help.

It was on my morning commute on a very high quality, wide two lane highway.

It was dry, dark and she was almost certainly texting in her top heavy SUV. You have to be pretty drunk to cause that sort of accident due to intoxication.

[Night Hides Not]

I cannot imagine the pain you’ve endured. I’m at a loss for words, my FRiend.

[fr_freak]

I know everyone wants to jump on the "There ought to be a law!" bandwagon, but the root of the problem is not the cellphone use, it is the lack of maturity and sense when driving. Truth is a lot of people don't take driving seriously. They don't realize that driving is a life-and-death action, so they don't bother to pay as much attention or be as careful as they should. The kind of person who will plow into a another car while texting would just as likely plow into another car while changing the radio station or swapping out a CD, or arguing with their honey.

Sure, cell phones are an ever-present distraction, giving thoughtless dummies more of a reason to do stupid things, but the root of the problem isn't the phone. There are plenty of people who could make use of the phone while driving and have no accidents. Putting more and more laws in place banning things instead of penalizing behavior is the road to tyranny, and we're well on it already. If a guy shoots another guy, do you ban guns thinking it will stop murder, or do you penalize the behavior?

Fry the guy for homicide for plowing into the other vehicle, but the actual thing that he fixated on when he did the stupid thing is not the core issue.