Do you talk on your cell phone while driving? | The Coffeehouse

manickernel
anticipate consequences..

We had a local woman 'distracted' on her cell phone that ran off the road and killed a cyclist. Story here

EDIT: Oh, by the way this did not happen at night, it happened in the middle of the day. The newspaper account 'misspoke'.

Then she actually made comments in the local paper that are, shall we say, lacking in remorse.

Thread here (She is 1barber)

I know this isn't a typical topic for C9, but with 'Funny Cats' and the 'Air Marshal' story... this is what I have been keeping up with.

By the way, absolute stupidity is not grounds for a charge of 'Vehicular Homicide'

She will only get 2 points on her license for driving too fast for conditions.

Manip

She claims she wasn't talking on her Cell phone; what makes you believe, except a vague single line in a paper that she was?

Nothing to do with anything but we, here in the UK can't use a mobile phone while driving except via a completely hands-free kit (auto-answer, blue tooth headset etc).

In answer to the original question, no, you should not be talking on a cell phone, smoking a cigarette or operating a video camera (Scoble!).

manickernel
anticipate consequences..

The police report and eye witness testimony says she was. The police report also shows that she drove off her lane onto the shoulder and hit the cyclist.

PoliceReport

Manip

manickernel wrote:
The police report and eye witness testimony says she was. The police report also shows that she drove off her lane onto the shoulder and hit the cyclist.

PoliceReport

I don't see any eye witness testimony... And as that isn't her account, nor would the cyclist be in a position to see if she was at the time or not, it seems more like a supposition than fact (unless of course you have an eye-witness report).

I also find it curious that she was going 40, the limit was 40 and she got charged for going too fast for the conditions... I do wonder that if someone hadn't died the police would have pulled her over at that speed and or given her a ticket. I get the feeling the ticket was just a way to show the public something had been done.

manickernel
anticipate consequences..

She was driving down a four lane in the middle of the day and by her own words in the thread did not even see the woman and then claims that the cyclist must have collided with her side mirror thus losing control. It is hard to see thru the windshield in those big SUV's though.

Doesn't take a genius.

Manip

manickernel wrote:
She was driving down a four lane in the middle of the day and by her own words in the thread did not even see the woman and then claims that the cyclist must have collided with her side mirror thus losing control. It is hard to see thru the windshield in those big SUV's though.

Doesn't prove to any degree that she was on a cell phone.

Charles
Welcome Change

I try not too, but sometimes it's inevitable. Typically, unless it's a call from, say, Angelina Jolie, I just let it ring until I get in a place where I won't need to drive and dial or otherwise not pay full attention to what I'm doing travelling at 70 miles an hour.
C

Manip

This is what MSN Maps shows the road in question looking like:

Look how it slopes in before the turn off into Arrow rd, that could have delayed when the driver saw the bike especially at 40 Mps and fog.