The cellphone paradox - where are all the accidents?
Per ceg:
Where are all the accidents?
How about under reporting?
How could cell phone-generated accidents get into the system as such?
Guy I used to windsurf with bought the farm a couple of years ago when a
guy in an F-150 drove into him from the back at highway speed (i.e.
50-60 mph).
He was riding on a wide shoulder, bright clear day, no intersections.
I have a hard time imagining that the guy who killed him told the
investigating officer "Yeah, I was just so into this (cell phone
conversation/text message/email) that I drifted on to the shoulder and
drove right into the victim."
Same with the buy who almost got me on the Atlantic City Expressway a
couple years ago: I'm running the right lane, guy in the left lane just
starts drifting into me and I can see him holding something in one hand
and poking his finger at it with the other hand (steering with his
knees?).... I took the shoulder and avoided contact - but if there had
been an accident I would not have expected the other driver to 'fess up.
Same with the guy in a pickup truck that almost nailed me on my bike
several years ago. I was riding on a very large cross-hatched (no
cars) area. I saw him coming - intent on *something* between his
knees... I zigged, he didn't zag and then he drove right through the
space I was occupying... never looked up. If I had woken up dead that
day, I am pretty sure he would have some other explanation than "I was
absorbed in my cell phone".
And then there is the Canadian study that equated driving while talking
on a cell phone with some level of alcohol intoxication....
--
Pete Cresswell
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