On Sat, 28 Mar 2009 09:13:44 -0700, Darren New wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Well, *most* of those illegal activities (with the possible exception
>> of teens sleeping with each other) don't generally cause things like
>> automobile accidents.  This is a generally different class of problem
>> that we're talking about.
> 
> Fair dinkum.

Ironically, I read what I wrote again and should clarify that I don't 
think teens sleeping together causes automobile accidents. ;-)

>> I think we've got enough laws to cover "reckless driving" without
>> having to legislate "you can't eat a cheeseburger", "you can't talk on
>> a phone", "you can't read a book".
> 
> I think part of the problem is that people are really bad at judging
> low-risk activities.  People wouldn't know that talking on the phone is
> dangerous if you didn't get the word out, and legislators get the word
> out by passing laws.

Well, I'd say that *some* people are really bad at judging low-risk 
activities.  But why penalize the rest of us for it?

For example, I tend to talk on the phone when I'm driving to and from the 
office (which happens about once every 2 weeks these days).  It's 90 
minutes on the road round-trip and generally a pretty boring drive.

So I'll talk to my mom or my wife while I'm driving home.  They know I'm 
in the car and paying attention to the traffic around me, and if I don't 
respond immediately it's because I'm dealing with something.

But I also have an effective way to divide my attention during that 
drive.  When I get into town, things change, so I tend to get off the 
phone, but on the freeway it's an entirely different matter.

> Granted, if you don't realize that trying to type a text message while
> you drive is dangerous, you're stupid, but...

Well, yeah, but at the same time, if I'm out driving (as I was today) and 
need to let my kid know we're on the way home, I'll ask my wife (who 
doesn't know how to use my phone to send text messages) to let me know 
when the light changes, and send him a message while I'm at the light.  
If I don't finish writing, fine, driving comes first.  But not while 
moving.

The new law in Utah would make that illegal.  However, the cops have no 
way of knowing that's what I'm doing.

> I think that comes from when they pass laws saying "you can't talk on
> the phone", but people don't want to adjust their habits of doing work
> while driving.

True.  Many people can multitask.  When someone schedules a meeting for 
7:30 AM, I'm not going to be in the office for it - not a chance that I'm 
up at 5:30 AM most mornings just so I can be to the office for an 7:30 AM 
meeting.  But if I have something I need to be to at 9, an hour meeting 
from 7:30 to 8:30 leaves me insufficient time to get there, so I'm very 
likely going to be on the call while I'm driving.

>> LOL.  My wife has a habit of writing on Livejournal after having had a
>> bit to drink.  Her friends really enjoy those posts. :-)
> 
> It's funky. I have no problem at all, but even one or two mouthfuls of
> wine are enough to multiply my typos several-fold. Clearly you can be
> impaired and not feel it in the least. Whether it's bad enough to ruin
> your driving depends on how well you drive before that, I guess.

True.  And how well attuned you are to your own abilities and driving 
habits.

I've only once, for example, been so drunk that I couldn't remember what 
had happened (the time I got home and wasn't sure); but the memory did 
return after a few days (and let's just say I was damned lucky).  So I 
know my tolerance and I don't get anywhere near it now.

But I think a lot of people *use* drinking as an excuse to act stupid - 
even on that night when I didn't remember getting home, when I started to 
remember things the next day, I recalled that I still didn't do stupid 
things that were out of character for me (confirmed by the friends I was 
with).  And "stupid" is generally not in character for me.

Well, apart from "stupid" driving home - that was out of character, but I 
was still pretty young and didn't know my limits then as well as I do now.

Jim

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