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Subject: Re: How will the police find me.
Date: Tue, 21 May 2024 08:16:49 -0400
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On 5/20/2024 11:12 PM, Andrew wrote:

> Every single state reported similar trends of the accident rate going
> steadily down (for very good reasons, mind you) during the entire time that
> phone ownership rates were skyrocketing - laying proof to the lie that
> cellphones have any negative effect on the accident rate.
> 
> If anything, they have a positive effect by reducing the accident rate
> (e.g., reducing sudden unexpected traffic, re-routing traffic, warning of
> construction and congestion, fewer confused turnarounds, etc.).
> 

     Here we have a classic case of advanced, terminal cellphone
addiction. A vehement, irrational -- even religious -- belief that
cellphone distraction while driving reduces accidents. This is closely
related to the vehement geek belief that playing murderous video
games all day has no effect on mental health. "Cigarettes help your
lungs by reducing coughing." "Alcoholism is just the name used by
teetotalers to describe people who can hold their liquor." "I don't know
how she got pregnant. We never had sex... I don't think."

    If you can't be honest with yourself about your cellphone
dependency, that's addiction. Can you just set it aside for a couple
of weeks without any big problems? Then that's addiction. If you
think that you can pay attention driving while on your cellphone,
you're fooling yourself. Those of us who are paying attention are
preventing the accidents. We watch you carefully while your
speed changes, you make sudden movements, you brake for no
reason, you drive like an old lady and then suddenly speed up....
We try to get away from you as soon as possible because you drive
like a drunk, only vaguely aware of what you're doing.

   The last accident I was in was due to someone on a cellphone.
A man was driving while getting directions on his phone from friends
who he was going to pick up. He was in the left of 2 lanes, signalling
a left turn. I was passing in the right lane. Suddenly his friends told him
he was turning at the wrong street, he overcorrected with his one
free hand and veered into me.

   We locked mirrors for a few yards. The man first swore that
I'd hit him. Then he insisted there were not two lanes! He called the
police. He called his insurance company. He truly believed that I had
hit him while he was minding his own business. All the while he never got
off his cellphone. Luckily a sharp cop showed up and pointed out that
all the broken side mirror glass was in my lane, so I couldn't have
hit him... That accident wouldn't have been recorded as being caused
by cellphone usage. Anyone causing an accident by cellphone distraction
is likely to say they weren't on their phone. And we don't have breathalyzer
tests for cellphone mania.

   I saw a funny story the other day. I forget where it was. A young man
was tracked by a cop using his cellphone while driving, then pulled into
a fast food restaurant. The cop followed, walked over to his window, and
gave him a ticket for using a cellphone while driving. The young man 
insisted
that he had just then pulled out his cellphone to let the drive-through 
clerk
scan a coupon.

   Less amusing was the documentary made by Werner Herzog, about
Amish people in a buggy killed by a texting driver.
https://slate.com/culture/2013/08/werner-herzog-texting-while-driving-documentary-from-one-second-to-the-next-is-worth-watching-video.html

  To even imagine that you can safely drive while using a cellphone is 
feeblemindedness. Cellphone addicts feel like they're on top of things,
handling all sorts of input at once. Their cellphone is their cockpit. The
trouble is that the one thing they're not tracking is the here and now.
They're not where their body is. It's like those old Hollywood movies where
the mogul is answering 2 or 3 phones at once, too busy to relate to
any of the calls properly.