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Texting kills 13 in deadly bus crash

Dittohead not! said:
In the meantime, there will continue to be crashes due to texting, DUI, and Indy wannabes, among other things.
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And why don't they invent some technology where you can actually talk to somebody in real time and give more of your attention to the road instead of a keyboard?
 
ttwtt78640 said:
We must wait and see - so far there have been ZERO charges filed for any traffic law violation, much less any that would qualify as reckless. That is exactly the kind of "special" enforcement that I am talking about - if one gets away with not killing someone then this type of driving is "legal".
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Reckless disregard for human life does not require you commit a per se crime.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
Then explain why no ticket/charge for any of these "observed, reported, witnessed and documented" traffic law offenses (alleged violations?) has been issued. Are any other laws enforceable only if witnessed live by a LEO?
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It isn't a race against time to the courthouse. If I were to offer a guess, it would be that the prosecutor is planning to present the case to a grand jury to determine what is the most aggressive homicide statute he can proceed under. It sounds horrible, but if he wasn't drunk, then reckless driving is probably the best they could get a conviction for in my area if it happened here. The distracted driving related fatalities, and falling asleep at the wheel seems to almost always have the reckless driving cap on what they can get legally out of the system. The rest is for the insurance companies to sort.
 
haymarket said:
And why don't they invent some technology where you can actually talk to somebody in real time and give more of your attention to the road instead of a keyboard?
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They have.

It's called a roadside rest.
 
backpacker said:
It isn't a race against time to the courthouse. If I were to offer a guess, it would be that the prosecutor is planning to present the case to a grand jury to determine what is the most aggressive homicide statute he can proceed under. It sounds horrible, but if he wasn't drunk, then reckless driving is probably the best they could get a conviction for in my area if it happened here. The distracted driving related fatalities, and falling asleep at the wheel seems to almost always have the reckless driving cap on what they can get legally out of the system. The rest is for the insurance companies to sort.
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I Googled this morning to see what charges might be brought but didn't find any news.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
Unlikely, that would make it illegal only sometimes (multiple fatalities?) which should be unconstitutional under equal protection of the law. Making the law (bending of the law to?) fit "this special case" while not applying in general is a very bad idea. The best idea is to change the law making any distracted driving charge as serious as drug/alcohol impaired driving charge.
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texas is too busy trying to deal with birth gender in bathrooms rather than real problems

wouldn't surprise if it banned self-driven cars as 'satanic' even with tons of evidence they're far safer
 
haymarket said:
My hope is that someday technology will make giant leaps of progress and there'll be a device where you do not have to actually type the words to communicate with somebody else but you can simply speak with them directly in real time and you will not have to take your attention off the road as much as with texting.

I don't know if that will take five years or ten years or fifty years, but we can only hope and dream.
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it's called autonomous cars, to be sold to the public in CA starting next year. In texas though? They'd be more likely to arrest you for riding in one of those than for texting while "driving" yourself, so ****ed is the government there
 
haymarket said:
My hope is that someday technology will make giant leaps of progress and there'll be a device where you do not have to actually type the words to communicate with somebody else but you can simply speak with them directly in real time and you will not have to take your attention off the road as much as with texting.

I don't know if that will take five years or ten years or fifty years, but we can only hope and dream.
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it's called autonomous cars, to be sold to the public in CA starting next year. In texas though? They'd be more likely to arrest you for riding in one of those than for texting while "driving" yourself, so ****ed is the government there
 
It is not like the guy did one stupid text and veered off and hit a car... the ****er was doing it for twenty minutes, swerving nearly off the road and into oncoming lanes over and over and OVER.
 
Thoreau72 said:
For some reason you seem to have missed his point.
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Which would be what exactly?

That the answer to problems of technology is always even more technology?

That clearly IS NOT the case with texting while driving replacing phoning while driving.
 
If I was following that driver I would have got close to him and laid on my horn as I always do when I see cars veering in to on coming lanes. it is sad that the news said the govt. will look at making texting while diving illegal. How does one debate not looking at the road while driving is or is not illegal?! I'll never understand the worldwide addiction to smart phones.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
13 others have no rest of their lives. The sad fact is that our legal system will treat this as an accident even with solid evidence of gross negligence. It should result in a 10 year prison sentence for each of 13 counts of vehicular manslaughter - if a drunk "should have known" that they were incapable of driving safely then surely one that admits to texting while (instead of?) driving should get the same penalty.
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The woman that ran over me back in August while looking at her cell phone did not get anything done to her despite nearly killing me.
 
haymarket said:
Which would be what exactly?

That the answer to problems of technology is always even more technology?

That clearly IS NOT the case with texting while driving replacing phoning while driving.
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I can only speak for myself, but I took his point to be that if one needs to text, pull over at the rest stop, pull over somewhere.
 
Thoreau72 said:
I can only speak for myself, but I took his point to be that if one needs to text, pull over at the rest stop, pull over somewhere.
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And I would agree with that advice. However, I also realize that probably represents a very tiny minority of people who text and drive. I wish I had a dollar for every person I get behind at a red light who when it turns green is oblivious and needs a horn honk when they suddenly look up and realize they need to move it.
 
rhinefire said:
If I was following that driver I would have got close to him and laid on my horn as I always do when I see cars veering in to on coming lanes. it is sad that the news said the govt. will look at making texting while diving illegal. How does one debate not looking at the road while driving is or is not illegal?! I'll never understand the worldwide addiction to smart phones.
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Have you viewed the witness's video? I would definitely NOT have gotten close to him; I would've done what the witness did, which was to repeatedly call 9-1-1. Where you don't want to be is right up on a head-on collision.
 
Update:

After pushing the issue for nearly a decade, key lawmakers in the Texas Legislature are optimistic that a statewide texting-while-driving ban is within reach.

Texas is one of four states that do not have a statewide ban on texting and driving. That distinction has drawn renewed attention in recent days following an accident in West Texas in which a truck driver who was texting and driving crashed into a church bus and killed 13 senior citizens. https://www.texastribune.org/2017/0...rings-concerns-about-texting-and-driving-ban/
 
ttwtt78640 said:
It is a shame that it is legal to do so. ;)
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I wonder where this KC place is where it's legal to run over pedestrians while looking at a cell phone instead of the road. Kansas City? Sounds like they need to seriously revise their traffic laws.
 
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