Study: 1 In 3 Americans Text And Drive

[AtheistCrusader]

132. No, you're not going to get away with that.

We have, just like laws that require functioning lights of certain height and visibility at a certain distance, so too do we have laws about distracted driving, wherein actual bad driving is produced (lane wandering, failure to yield, following too closely, etc, all of which can be interdicted without requiring an associated property damage, personal injury, or fatality crash).

I see people who forget to turn their lights on all the time. Same for people who drive like drunken assholes with their phone in their hand. Both exist.

Yesterday I happened to observe a woman in the lane to my left, texting with both hands at a stoplight, waiting to turn left. (Intersection has two lanes that turn left, she was in the left, I was in the right). When the light changed, she put one hand back on the wheel, and started exactly when she was supposed to, executed the left perfectly, and then stopped perfectly at the next light, while continuing to text with one hand. (I was genuinely interested because, being in the right lane on that curve, if she screwed it up, I was the most likely vehicle that would be sharing paint with her.) She did nothing wrong. I did not consider her behavior threatening to me. No moreso than any other vehicle to my left at that intersection, a driver of which could munge my car for a broad variety of reasons, inclusive of texting or calling.

You remember to turn on your lights at night, if you car doesn't do it for you. Something you get a ticket for if you don't.
That woman in the car next to me drove responsibly while texting, at least while I was observing it. Something she'd get a ticket for if she didn't.

I would say your claim of 'major risk taker' is highly spurious, on artificial, personal, subjective inflation of risk. Lowest risk would probably be for me to hop on a bus and let a professional do the driving. You draw the line at something you judge 'more dangerous'. That's all. I've read the studies. I see the fraction of a second reduction in response time. I also see the automatic increase in following distance, which is a POSITIVE thing under those conditions. All people compensate to a degree here. Success might be tied into how good they are at compensating. Some increased the following distance by more than others.

"but there is a greater likelihood that if you continue this behavior that you will in the future."

The same is true of driving AT ALL, so this is an utterly meaningless statement, and applies to both the driving roulette wheel, as well as the smaller risk roulette wheel of texting. Both require skill. Both incur risk. Both are OPTIONAL, or ELECTIVE.

One of us is most certainly employing flawed logic.

"Your freedom to risk texting while driving is not equal to my or others safety on the road. You will never convince me otherwise. "

Spoken like a 'true believer', with a touch of 'arrogance'.