This is an incredibly tortured use of the 26 minutes meme.

...Oh dear...

KingKauff: I may have missed it, but what about the driver of the car he hit? I'm assuming he's alive since the article didn't mention it.

He's alive. He's got some shoulder pain, but I don't believe he even went to the hospital.

His parents live next door to my folks (I grew up about 10 minuts from where that happened).

Clearly the only solution is to outlaw all cell phones for everyone!!!!

Just because this guy can't handle doing two things at once doesn't mean no one can.

Would it have been okay to drive in the wrong lane and then swerve even further into an oncoming car if he hadn't been using the phone?

medieval: This is an incredibly tortured use of the 26 minutes meme.

not even quite sure why this was green lit, slow news day? ran outta links about the batman shooter? No cops shooting dogs?

B-O, N-O, M-O, oh, oh, ohhhh...it's Bonomo! (aside: Facing charges!)

Now why to I suspect alcohol was involved and this kid's daddy knows somebody, who knows somebody.

elk-tamer: Would it have been okay to drive in the wrong lane and then swerve even further into an oncoming car if he hadn't been using the phone?

I'm stupified as to what he was doing on the phone to be that retarded. I've seen a woman miss a slight curve in the road and continue straight up an embankment before, but not someone over steer in a turn.

Last week, a guy futzing around with his GPS nearly killed me, so... no, not really getting a kick out of it.

/ motorcycle
// could have placed my hand on the passenger window, if I wasn't so busy swerving out of the way
/// he never looked up, but his kids waved at me

I'll admit to using my cell phone while driving, but never once did it cause me to leave my lane. I don't see how that happens. Does having an electronic device near one's ear suddenly cause one to lose the ability to manipulate a steering wheel with the other hand?

I was all excited to see my hometown paper make the Fark front page, so at first I was like


Then I read the article, and I was like


/Not subby

looking for 69 and head ....YES....
thanks. leaving now

Last week I was making a left turn on a green arrow and had to slam on the brakes for an oncoming car that didn't even slow down for his red. The driver was yakking away on his phone - as was the lady in the next car that followed him right through the intersection. Both drivers were on autopilot while looking into space (at the mental image of the disembodied voice they were talking to) and totally oblivious to what they'd just done. Blind leading the blind...

/csb

i just had my whey protein so i have to weight exactly on ehour and then work out
! followed by
carrots and more whey protein

cranked: Last week I was making a left turn on a green arrow and had to slam on the brakes for an oncoming car that didn't even slow down for his red. The driver was yakking away on his phone - as was the lady in the next car that followed him right through the intersection. Both drivers were on autopilot while looking into space (at the mental image of the disembodied voice they were talking to) and totally oblivious to what they'd just done. Blind leading the blind...

/csb

They were talking to each other

'Hey, look at that idiot trying to turn left, let's really mess with him...'

I was stopped first at a red light recently and heard a police car with sirens coming up behind me. So I moved over a lane to give him an opening. The cop car pushes into the intersection, waiting for cross traffic to clear, when some idiot in a pickup barrels on through -- with a cell phone held up to his ear which was also blocking his side vision. Cop suddenly changes direction to follow said idiot and pulls him over out of my sight. That was good for a chuckle. Then one minute later my light is green but here comes the cop through the intersection again to continue his original emergency. I know he couldn't have spent much time with Mr. Idiot Cellphone Driver, so I can only hope he got the message through.

StaleCoffee: John Napkintosh: I'll admit to using my cell phone while driving, but never once did it cause me to leave my lane. I don't see how that happens. Does having an electronic device near one's ear suddenly cause one to lose the ability to manipulate a steering wheel with the other hand?

Well, actual neuroscience says yes, cell phones do cause this.

Having a conversation with someone in the car with you is different because their brains respond to the same external stimuli. Conversing with someone who isn't there physically confuses that.

Exactly, and that's why it's so dangerous - people think it's only idiots that can't talk on a phone and drive. We're programmed for face-to-face communication. When the other face is missing our attention shifts focus to imagining it. You can overcome this with concentration, but it's just a matter of time before you become immersed in a conversation and your mind does what comes natural. Hopefully you snap out of it before something really bad happens.

I guess I'm just weird, my wife can tell if I'm talking to her while driving because I'm never really paying that much attention to her. Everyone else just assumes I'm spaced out.

Concentrate on driving the person on the phone can repeat what they said if you didn't fully hear.

medieval: This is an incredibly tortured use of the 26 minutes meme.

I couldn't agree more.

"but Bonomo reportedly continued steering toward the other vehicle, according to witnesses,"

What in the fark?

DoBeDoBeDo: I'm stupified as to what he was doing on the phone to be that retarded. I've seen a woman miss a slight curve in the road and continue straight up an embankment before, but not someone over steer in a turn.

About a year ago, a woman blasted through a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint here in Arizona. It's a massive white tent structure with floodlights and signs screaming SLOW DOWN and CHECKPOINT AHEAD. Hell, there's even a speed sensor that flashes your speed at you in bright blinking red numbers. Agents leaped out of her way and then chased her down. Those poor bastards must've been sure she was a cartel kingpin making a run for it. Turned out she was talking on her cellphone and nothing else registered in her mind.
That said, I talk on my phone all the time while driving. It doesn't mean I'm not aware of everything else going on around me.

Knucklepopper: That said, I talk on my phone all the time while driving. It doesn't mean I'm not aware of everything else going on around me.

Because you can multitask, right?

ph0rk: Knucklepopper: That said, I talk on my phone all the time while driving. It doesn't mean I'm not aware of everything else going on around me.

Because you can multitask, right?

Exactly. I'm picking up your sarcasm, so no worries there, but the point remains, some people can, some people can't.

RumsfeldsReplacement: Just because this guy can't handle doing two things at once doesn't mean no one can.

In New York it does.

Knucklepopper: ph0rk: Knucklepopper: That said, I talk on my phone all the time while driving. It doesn't mean I'm not aware of everything else going on around me.

Because you can multitask, right?

Exactly. I'm picking up your sarcasm, so no worries there, but the point remains, some people can, some people can't.

Actually....

neomunk: Knucklepopper: ph0rk: Knucklepopper: That said, I talk on my phone all the time while driving. It doesn't mean I'm not aware of everything else going on around me.

Because you can multitask, right?

Exactly. I'm picking up your sarcasm, so no worries there, but the point remains, some people can, some people can't.

Actually....

Good point, but it's not like I stop driving to talk on my phone. I'm usually going about 5 over the speed limit and I watch the speedometer to make sure I'm not going over and below that. On the rare occasion that someone does something stupid around me that requires a reaction, I've reacted safely i.e., no accident. So if I arrive at my destination and I'm able to carry on a phone conversation I would have had to have later, all at the same time, isn't that multi-tasking?

neomunk: Knucklepopper: ph0rk: Knucklepopper: That said, I talk on my phone all the time while driving. It doesn't mean I'm not aware of everything else going on around me.

Because you can multitask, right?

Exactly. I'm picking up your sarcasm, so no worries there, but the point remains, some people can, some people can't.

Actually....

(Link goes to article titled Think You're Multitasking? Think Again.)

Somebody needs to tell all those musicians who play an instrument and sing at the same time that they can't really do that...

Knucklepopper: neomunk: Knucklepopper: ph0rk: Knucklepopper: That said, I talk on my phone all the time while driving. It doesn't mean I'm not aware of everything else going on around me.

Because you can multitask, right?

Exactly. I'm picking up your sarcasm, so no worries there, but the point remains, some people can, some people can't.

Actually....

Good point, but it's not like I stop driving to talk on my phone. I'm usually going about 5 over the speed limit and I watch the speedometer to make sure I'm not going over and below that. On the rare occasion that someone does something stupid around me that requires a reaction, I've reacted safely i.e., no accident. So if I arrive at my destination and I'm able to carry on a phone conversation I would have had to have later, all at the same time, isn't that multi-tasking?

No, that's dividing attention, which is an extremely dangerous thing to do while in control of that much mass moving much faster then you've evolved (or been designed, if that's your thing) to be able to react to.

I don't talk on my cellphone when I drive. This isn't because I'm not a good driver (I am, and my record agrees) it's because I allow reason to triumph ego. It doesn't matter how well I think I divide my attention, I know that if I'm talking on the phone the already relatively high probability (bolded for importance) of being in some type of collision goes up, and it goes up rather dramatically. To me it becomes a rather simple matter of cost benefit analysis. I like living, and especially living while knowing I haven't done major damage to someone else due to my own negligence, far more than I would like the convenience of chatting while on the move.

cranked: Last week I was making a left turn on a green arrow and had to slam on the brakes for an oncoming car that didn't even slow down for his red. The driver was yakking away on his phone - as was the lady in the next car that followed him right through the intersection. Both drivers were on autopilot while looking into space (at the mental image of the disembodied voice they were talking to) and totally oblivious to what they'd just done. Blind leading the blind...

/csb

Yesterday, I was tooling down APD highway 515, traveling at 75 mph, but slowing, since I was on the outskirts of a town. Suddenly, some gomer crossed the divided highway after just rolling the stop sign. If my car had not had anti-lock brakes and a stability system, gomer would be dead right now, since I would have tee-boned him in the driver side door. No, he beat up old pick up didn't have any air bags.

"...I got to call you back, man! IT'S A TRAP!"

I always see the "going to the gym in 26 minutes" can some one explain what it means please?

Yeah, 1 demerit for incorrect usage of the "be at the gym in 26 minutes" meme.

I see I'm too late to join in before the assholes who swear they can yap and drive at the same time.

Knucklepopper: ph0rk: Knucklepopper: That said, I talk on my phone all the time while driving. It doesn't mean I'm not aware of everything else going on around me.

Because you can multitask, right?

Exactly. I'm picking up your sarcasm, so no worries there, but the point remains, some people can, some people can't.

His point, which you missed, is that the people who say they can may just be unaware that they can't, just as the woman in your story was unaware.

Also:

Anthony Bonomo, 21

So, you know.

StaleCoffee: blasting Ratt at max volume

I frequently see people text/talk and walk run into something. It is really scary to see them bike/drive while using a cell phone. A girl walked out in front of my car one night, texting away and wearing headphones. I know she didn't see me driving toward her because I she jumped about 3 feet in the air when I blew my horn as I braked hard. I always laugh at the bikers though, they frequently hit a curb and topple over onto the sidewalk area when trying to text. Thank goodness they have a bike lane which helps reduce fatal accidents.

/ live near a college campus so the driving is really bad most days; we have a no distracting the driver rule in our car
//there is a reason phones have a voice mail feature...

From the authors of a study:

People who start talking while driving become more cautious. People who act like jackholes behind the wheel with a cellphone will act the same without one. And although cellphones clearly distract some drivers, they may also help other drivers stay alert.

DocFarker: I always see the "going to the gym in 26 minutes" can some one explain what it means please?

http://bit.ly/LJxo9a

/the googles

neomunk: I don't talk on my cellphone when I drive. This isn't because I'm not a good driver (I am, and my record agrees) it's because I allow reason to triumph ego. It doesn't matter how well I think I divide my attention, I know that if I'm talking on the phone the already relatively high probability (bolded for importance) of being in some type of collision goes up, and it goes up rather dramatically. To me it becomes a rather simple matter of cost benefit analysis. I like living, and especially living while knowing I haven't done major damage to someone else due to my own negligence, far more than I would like the convenience of chatting while on the move.

That's just silly. I drive more than 30,000 miles a year and haven't caused an accident in 20 years. In fact, the last three accidents I've been in all involved an idiot who rear-ended me, none of which I could have prevented, phone or no phone:
One at a stop sign, one backing out of his parking spot (I was coming out of the store as it happened) and a third at a red light.
I'm just an alert person. Well that, and I don't go worrying too much about cost-benefit analyses.
Now if you'll excuse me, it's 1:04. I have to be at the gym at 1:30.

MycroftHolmes: Knucklepopper: ph0rk: Knucklepopper: That said, I talk on my phone all the time while driving. It doesn't mean I'm not aware of everything else going on around me.

Because you can multitask, right?

Exactly. I'm picking up your sarcasm, so no worries there, but the point remains, some people can, some people can't.

His point, which you missed, is that the people who say they can may just be unaware that they can't, just as the woman in your story was unaware.

No, I still contend that it's the individual. Some people really shouldn't be driving at all, phone or no phone. It would be equally inaccurate to apply that level of ineptitude to all of us.