How hard would it be to invent a text-messaging device that can take human speech, convert it to text, and then relay this text via radio signals to the appropriate recipient?

Or you can just call the farking person.

Sadly, Stupid knows no age group.

I see fat paunchy self-important 30 to 40+ agegroup business asshats attempting to do things just as bad as texting if not worse during my daily ride into work on the bike.

Just need to make the requirements for aquiring and maintaining a certification to operate a motor vehicle more along the lines of FAA single engine light aircraft requirements.

/that'd clear the roadways
//real fast
///public transit would be packed
////I know I'd pass, and my commute would be sweet
//While I'm daydreaming, I'd like to be rich as well

There are 2 laws that are way overdue to be enacted on a national level:
1. only hands-free communication on cell phones while driving.
2. Elderly people over the age of 70 must re-take the drivers' test (road and vision) annually to renew their license.

front left pocket on speakerphone FTW.

My uncle's pacemaker was getting f'ed up when he put his phone there, even when it wasn't on a call.

Does not approve

WarpZone i bet i can drive pretty good drunk. if i make an illegal lane change just give me a ticket.

I'm fine with that. No damage has been done. Wrecking while drunk = the jail

Just make them responsible to pay, out of pocket, for all medical and repair bills their incur. For everyone involved in the accident.

I see fat paunchy self-important 30 to 40+ agegroup business asshats attempting to do things just as bad as texting if not worse during my daily ride into work on the bike.

Like driving their behemoth of an Escalade while towing a boat , f'ing with their GPS, and talking on the phone?

cerberus9:

Right. You shouldn't be able to get a Driver's License until your early 20's. Because people that age are so much more mature nowadays.

/end sarcasm

I don't think he meant for age to be the determining factor. Perhaps some sort of litmus test for being functionally retarded.

/golf claps for fawlty

OK I'm back. Just a minor fender-bender.

BobNesta420
only hands-free communication on cell phones while driving.

The military base I work on has this ridiculous rule. The danger created with cell phones and driving is the fact that your attention is not on the road but on the conversation. It has very little to do with what your hands are doing.

Also, Josh Hancock approves of this. Oops, "approved".

tricycleracer

Don't forget reaching back to smack the shiat out of their 2.5 trophy kids in the back seat for spilling Icee on the rich corinthian leather.

Taking a break the other day and saw this douche on a crotch rocket with shorts, those floppy plastic shoes, no helmet, dialing his cell phone. What a piece of work.

/I think anyone who texts must invariably have a myspace acct.

Should be a shooting offense.

See, I've got this really nifty thing called voice to text on my phone. Which basically means, I don't have to shiat there and type for 5 minutes, and not stare at the road.

Yeah, it's kind of nice.

Not that I ever get phone calls and/or text messages while I'm driving.

When I went back home for Christmas I met up with a friend from high school who did this.

I kicked him in the head and made him make me talk to his girlfriend for him. I should have thrown the phone out the window but I'm a nice guy.

I dislike letting him drive enough anyways. He only failed his driver's license test the first time around.

Adman12
We need to make cars more challenging to drive once again, so people won't get so bored behind the wheel. Seriously.

Make everyone ride motorcycles. You need all four limbs just to control the thing.

That said, I actually did see a guy riding and talking on a cell phone one time. I couldn't farkin' believe it.

DannySpaz:

Not in a 1-2 hour commute. No. :)

Speaking of which...

My wife and I used to work in the same area and we'd commute in. One time I looked over and saw some guy reading the farking newspaper while he was driving. He was steering with his wrists. Traffic was stop and go, but seriously... it's a newspaper.

Couldn't add the cause I was busy running a red light.

NICU8697
The military base I work on has this ridiculous rule. The danger created with cell phones and driving is the fact that your attention is not on the road but on the conversation. It has very little to do with what your hands are doing.

I totally agree that it would be better to not talk on the phone at all, but I don't see that as too likely. So, opting for the lesser of two evils, I'll take the phone out of their hands, so at least they can use a damn blinker.

IAmRight

I also feel like the fact that I always use my blinkers when turning and changing lanes AND I check my blind spot EVERY time I switch lanes that I'm automatically in the top 5% of good drivers in America.

I am the same way. It's like when I am driving, no one around me has access to their blinker and it annoys the holy F out of me. Same with the dumb asses who feel that just because the person in front of them took the yellow that that is just turning red, they too have the right to run the light.

If I were wealty, every once in a while, I would seriously consider slamming my giant SUV into some of these people. At least once or twice anyway.

If you txt while you drive a fellow driver should be allowed to ram your car--maybe that'll teach you to stop being such a moran.

fawlty: I couldn't see the sign, I was too busy texting my bff jill.

Shd u txt, chat n drive?

Not at the same time, no.

NICU8697 The danger created with cell phones and driving is the fact that your attention is not on the road but on the conversation. It has very little to do with what your hands are doing.

i've heard that before... i think anyone who can't hold a conversation (with a passenger, on a phone, etc) and also concentrate on the road shouldn't be given a license.

If my cell rings while I am in the car I let it go to voicemail. I have enough to worry about on the roads without tring to concentrate on the road, and the conversation I am having.

cellphone jammers anyone http://www.antennasystems.com/cellphonejammer.htm

This is another one of those driving violations that should end in you being drug out of the car into the street and shot. Another good example is two footed automatic drivers.

/Talking/Texting on the phone while driving should be an automatic 1 year suspension of license.

I make it a point to honk when I'm behind a cell-talk driver on the freeway. Its fun to watch them swerve a little in their lane as they are shocked back into paying attention to the road.

Okay, can someone tell me wtf that photo has to do with the article? Maybe people who use their phones while driving need to be locked in the trunk....

I would be perfectly happy to see people texting if I was certain it kept their farking fingers out of their noses.
GD nose miners, quit driving on my GRASS!

WarpZone
No, dumbasses. Don't raise the age. Would you rather ride with a 21 year old with 5 years driving experience or a 21 year old with no driving experience? It's called training. Make it harder to get a license, don't raise the farking age. That's just stupid.

teens are far more prone to irresponsible and reckless driving. id rather drive with a level headed inexperienced driver than an erratic, hormone driven kid. statistically, they cause more accidents and drive insurance rates up.

id be interested to see accident statistics among people who start driving after 21. id be wiling to bet they are better than teen drivers.

Try driving down 29 in Charlottesville while talking on a cell. You will get in a wreck, or cause a few.

Why is it that people pulling out of the Wal Mart always shoot across the road to the left lane, directly in front of me?

take their licenses. make it a penalty about half as bad as a dui or something.

IAmRight: /has texted a couple times while driving

Dumbass.

jingks
Actually studies have proven that their is a huge difference between passenger and phone call conversations. The issue is a phone call cuts out much of the frequencies and tonal qualities we use in speech so the driver has to listen much more closely to understand the person on the phone.

I refuse to ride with my friend, who's 20, because he texts constantly while hes driving.

1. He almost gets in wrecks constantly
2. I still don't understand why he texts so often, only high school kids text because they're hs kids.
3. I'm pretty sure that he stopped mentally maturing at age 15 though, so it's not the biggest surprise in the world.

U R N MY LANE, DICK.

jingks: i've heard that before... i think anyone who can't hold a conversation (with a passenger, on a phone, etc) and also concentrate on the road shouldn't be given a license.

It depends on the conversation. If it's fluff, then yeah, it's very easy to drive and talk. But if it's a serious conversation it takes away from a driver's concentration.

I tapped a car in traffic when I was just looking up a phone number on my cellphone.

I haven't touched my cellphone while driving since, and never again.

I disagree. They should judge if you are able to drive by your maturity level and not your age. I was 18 when I started driving and I am far safer than some of those 30+ year olds.

/never a shortage of threads to post this

raise the driving age, lower the drinking age.

I saw we flip 'em. drink at 16, drive at 21.

DannySpaz
5-15 seconds texting = 3-8 minute conversation.

Wow, you can type a 3-8 minute conversation in 5-15 seconds on a phone keypad? You must type 500 WPM!!!! INCREDIBLE!!!

Or did you mean 5-15 second conversation = 3-8 minute texting.
.

lol oops....guess im arguing with myself again

/long day

CheezeAnvil

I make it a point to honk when I'm behind a cell-talk driver on the freeway. Its fun to watch them swerve a little in their lane as they are shocked back into paying attention to the road.

That logic is ... well...ah hell...logic is the wrong word all together as there is zero in what you just said. So, they are driving just fine...albeit while on the phone and you think it funny that honking could cause an accident. Guess what...start honking at everyone...with or without phones...Probably get similar reactions...Why? Becuase honking is supposed to cause people to look around...It's what the horn is for.

we need to just go ahead and pass laws that cover all distracting activities while driving. applying make-up, reading, painting fingernails/toenails, changing, eating, etc. make the penalty be something like triple the normal penalty.

/and add some kind of common sense test to the drivers test
//something to point out that you are driving a multi-ton vehicle and should pay the hell attention to what you are doing

Uncle Karl really?... interesting... [goes to ncbi]

All I found (in a real quick search) is Effects of remote and in-person verbal interactions on verbalization rates and attention to dynamic spatial scenes, which found no difference in preforming spacial tasks, just a slower verbal interaction.

any sources, i'd be interested in reading them.