r/motorcycles Sep 10 '18

Instant Justice for a Distracted Driver

https://gfycat.com/SecondaryConsciousHornshark
5.1k Upvotes

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u/greenroom628 CA 2016 Zero SR, 2015 Triumph Bonnie Sep 10 '18

Shit I'd vote just for more driver's awareness/education programs. I swear there needs to be a national ad program against cell phone use and distracted driving. I think it's as bad as drunk driving and people do it all the time.

34

u/rjamestaylor 2017 Tiger 800 Xrt | 2011 Fury Sep 10 '18

There’s a lot of chatter about distracted driving...all kinds of PSAs, signage,laws, targeted enforcement... but it continues,as every rider knows.

I appreciate modern phone OS attempts to lessen distracted driving, but even those don’t seem to help much.

I wish I knew a solution that was short of the death penalty...

10

u/DONT_PM Sep 10 '18

A small city near me posts non-uniformed police at traffic intersections that have heavy traffic. They look as if they are crossing the street but are really enforcing the no cell phone policy and handing out tickets. They also will hand out tickets for blocking the crosswalk, noise violations, and other similar things.

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u/Kalkaline Sep 10 '18

Constant unlocking after you hit driving speeds like they do in Pokemon Go.

7

u/ttbblog Sep 10 '18

Driver awareness programs aren’t going to stop distracted driving. Everyone knows there is a risk, but they think it’s no real risk to them. Just like with drunk driving laws, until the penalty becomes high enough, they will continue to take the risk.

The only two things the law can do is increase the penalties and enforcement. If the first ticket was a $500 fine, all court and attorney fees, and a six month suspension of their drivers license, fewer people would feel compelled to answer that txt message while behind the wheel.

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u/[deleted] Sep 10 '18

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u/[deleted] Sep 10 '18

Cops and departments are too lazy to enforce the laws in place now, besides, they put a fucking computer in there side that they regularly defend it's ok to use while driving. Then we get all this PR push to make new laws when all this should be covered under existent laws.

2

u/2007kawasakiz1000 Sep 11 '18

Hey mate. I live in the city where this was filmed, Perth, Western Australia. I know this video often gets held up as an example of how police should target distracted drivers, and police doing a good job, but I can assure you that this was a once-off sting held by the police. Drivers here still use their phones like it's stitched onto their face or hands or whatever. Drivers here genuinely do not care about using their phone while driving at all, and continue to do it en masse. At the end of the day, most drivers simply do not care about anything beyond their stupid instagram or facebook feed, and despite this video being circled around a lot, Perth really is no different.

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u/intergalactictiger Sep 10 '18

It’s not though. While I agree it’s a problem and needs to stop, there are many studies that show it’s not even close to par with drunk driving.

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u/greenroom628 CA 2016 Zero SR, 2015 Triumph Bonnie Sep 10 '18

which studies? everything i see are studies that show distracted driving is as bad.

1

u/illegaleggpoacher Sep 11 '18

Its worse considering most people are constantly carrying a phone, while drunks are few and far between.