Stay off your phone at the wheel...

[Catch and Grease]

At the end of Janurary I rear ended a woman while I was on my phone, she was nine months pregnant and I felt horrible, thankfully she and her child were fine and our vehicles weren't completely totaled. It could have been much worse, I got off easy.

The ticket was 112$, my insurance is going up 98$ a month, and I'm about to take a 90$ distracted driving class...

[deaknh03]

Its too bad with all the warnings and laws being passed that it took a hit to your wallet to get it..but at least you now get it. Your very fortunate.

[I.rar]

I see too many people texting while driving and it's infuriating. I've seen people look up from their phone to see they're about to rear-end someone and jump on the brakes. That text, Facebook post or email can wait especially when you're driving a 2+ ton chunk of metal. 

It's good that what happened wasn't any worse. Lesson learned I hope. 

[Bankbeater]

I'd say you were very lucky.

[Catch and Grease]

1 hour ago, Bankbeater said:

I'd say you were very lucky.

Yes, very.

3 hours ago, deaknh03 said:

Its too bad with all the warnings and laws being passed that it took a hit to your wallet to get it..but at least you now get it. Your very fortunate.

Yeah, I'm actually surprised my insurance didn't go up more, I got off very easy... I really very very rarely picked my phone up while driving. It only takes once though to ruin your life or someone else's.

[mrmacwvu1]

I drove two times to florida and back in the last six months. Almost everytime I was involved in an accident it was always someone talking on the phone. Mythbusters did a show on this and legally drunk drivers did better on traffic course then people talking on the phone.

[Fishing Rhino]

A hundred (rounded off) bucks per month, for how many years?  In Mass that surcharge would be for three to five years.  At 1200 per year, that's 3600 to 5000 dollars when all is said and done.

Still, you are getting off lightly.  Had you caused injuries, you'd have that on your conscience as well.  That could be worse than the monetary hit.

1 hour ago, mrmacwvu1 said:

I drove two times to florida and back in the last six months. Almost everytime I was involved in an accident it was always someone talking on the phone. Mythbusters did a show on this and legally drunk drivers did better on traffic course then people talking on the phone.

How many accidents were you in on those two trips?  I could be wrong, but it sounds as though it is a common occurrence.

 

[mrmacwvu1]

23 minutes ago, Fishing Rhino said:

A hundred (rounded off) bucks per month, for how many years?  In Mass that surcharge would be for three to five years.  At 1200 per year, that's 3600 to 5000 dollars when all is said and done.

Still, you are getting off lightly.  Had you caused injuries, you'd have that on your conscience as well.  That could be worse than the monetary hit.

How many accidents were you in on those two trips?  I could be wrong, but it sounds as though it is a common occurrence.

 

none thankfully but I am a very defensive driver

My dad was a fireman and taught me how to drive, but if you are not constantly paying attention it will happen

[iabass8]

4 hours ago, mrmacwvu1 said:

Almost everytime I was involved in an accident it was always someone talking on the Phone.

 

3 hours ago, Fishing Rhino said:

 

How many accidents were you in on those two trips?  

 

2 hours ago, mrmacwvu1 said:

none thankfully but I am a very defensive driver

[mrmacwvu1]

sorry i just read my post again Every time I was almost involved in an accident

still drinking from my team losing last night

[DogBone_384]

In '05 a girl, while on her phone, passed another car already stopped at a red light, blowing through the intersection wiped out my wife's 4-Runner... Distracted driving is nothing new, and not going away with more laws.

People just have to decide not to text/talk/drive .... 

$98/month increase?!?!? That's more than my annual policy and I live in a city just south of Boston... 

Lesson learned - I assume.

[gardnerjigman]

6 hours ago, mrmacwvu1 said:

sorry i just read my post again Every time I was almost involved in an accident

still drinking from my team losing last night

Hopefully not driving lol

[Fishing Rhino]

14 hours ago, mrmacwvu1 said:

sorry i just read my post again Every time I was almost involved in an accident

still drinking from my team losing last night

Now I get it.  The first post read like you were in a demolition derby.

[Hurricane]

Thank God for Bluetooth in my Tacoma. . Even have the Spotify hooked up so the phone stays in my pocket..

[Gundog]

I drive the interstate highway almost every day and you can not believe how many times I see people texting or talking on their phones while driving. It's almost every other driver. I've been rearended by a driver on her cellphone. Lucky I was in my truck and she was in a small car and actually went under my bumper. No major damage to me but her car busted the radiator and had to be towed.

[Oregon Native]

Glad everyone's ok .... lesson learned.

[Choporoz]

I keep seeing a commercial for new crash avoidance system that automatically brakes to keep from rear-ending someone.  While I see huge upside to this...I can't help but wonder if we keep asking the cars to do the work of avoiding crashes, aren't we enabling the distracted drivers to some degree?  I mean, doesn't this lessen the incentive to stop texting while driving?

[Gundog]

1 hour ago, Choporoz said:

I keep seeing a commercial for new crash avoidance system that automatically brakes to keep from rear-ending someone.  While I see huge upside to this...I can't help but wonder if we keep asking the cars to do the work of avoiding crashes, aren't we enabling the distracted drivers to some degree?  I mean, doesn't this lessen the incentive to stop texting while driving?

Yea it does make it more likely that people will be distracted more. Also, from what I have read about it, its not perfect. 

[buzzed bait]

the crash avoidance technology is to become standard over the next like 5 or 10 years....  somehow, in direct relation, the ability to drive like you have any sense will become extinct in the next 5 or 10 years...

no amount of money will make you "learn your lesson"  you've got to realize how quickly you could have ruined an entire family, process that and how it would relate to your family and then hopefully learn said lesson

[N Florida Mike]

Texting and driving will eventually result in an accident.One of our drivers was texting and looked up to see the girl in front of him stopped.He went for a voluntary off-road scenario to avoid an accident and mowed down some landscaping and turf grass before coming to a stop inches from a rubber company.Then he left the scene and drove on to our shop 1/4 mile away.He seemed surprised to see the police wanting to interview him the next day.Security cameras don't lie,ya know.Didnt seem too surprised when he was fired tho

[Hurricane]

I got rear-ended at a stop light because the lady admitted to the cop she was looking down at her phone... She gave some excuse and avoided the ticket...

[Nitrofreak]

On March 21, 2016 at 9:03 AM, Choporoz said:

I keep seeing a commercial for new crash avoidance system that automatically brakes to keep from rear-ending someone.  While I see huge upside to this...I can't help but wonder if we keep asking the cars to do the work of avoiding crashes, aren't we enabling the distracted drivers to some degree?  I mean, doesn't this lessen the incentive to stop texting while driving?

We are slowly getting to the age of programming a vehicle to do everything for us, there are and have been for some time now systems being tested that allows you to voice your destination and the vehicle will take you there.

There are many new technologies coming down the pike in the near future but we are still in our infancy stage, however with all of the technological advances made as well as those coming, it still boggles me as to why we still have little to no regard for our own lives and the lives of others, we are still in an age that applies common sense to the ways we go about everyday life, common sense "should" tell you not to pick up that device until you have pulled over somewhere safe, where exactly is it that we have we lost the simple thinking, the respect for the lives of ourselves as well as others, what is it about this concept that we simply ignore?

[Last_Cast]

You're very lucky.

 

Got a ticket a year or so ago foro talking on my phone while driving.

$250 bucks and 5 points later..