Bus driver caught texting and driving.

[Aeroblast]

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blog...-her-133738455--abc-news-topstories.html?vp=1

Spoiler:

A Florida school bus driver has been suspended after she was caught on cellphone video allegedly texting while driving a bus packed with middle school students.
Venus Cotto-Silva's daughter, an eighth-grader, captured the video footage last Friday of the Hillsborough County school bus driver allegedly driving with one hand on the wheel while looking down at her phone, which was in the other hand.
"When she showed me the video, I just couldn't believe it," Cotto-Silva said.
A Florida law to ban texting while driving goes into effect Oct. 1, although bus drivers will be exempt.
The 14-year-old girl says she was shooting video to try to gather evidence that the driver curses. Instead, the video appears to show the woman drifting into another lane while texting. Then, it appears the driver finally looks up from her phone and suddenly grabs the wheel with both hands just in time to avoid traffic.
"The scary part is, see how quickly she grabbed the wheel?" Cotto-Silva said, pointing to the video.
Calling it a violation of policy, the school district said in a statement, "Clearly the driver is looking at her cellphone. That's a dangerous distraction for any driver, but the potential danger is greater when you have a bus full of children."
The suspended driver has not been identified.
Mayors across the country are now rallying for tougher laws.
"We realize it's up to us as cities and as a nation to put an end to this epidemic," Austin, Texas, Mayor Lee Leffingwell said.
Despite the driver's suspension, Cotto-Silva is still concerned. "Not only are they going to kill the driver, they're going to kill those children on that bus," she said.

Hah... Karma is a real you-know-what.

Also, what is your opinion on texting and driving in general? Though I don't really expect any opinion other than calling out against it.

 

[Kanzler]

It's against the law here, as it should be. It divides attention and is worse than having someone in the car talking to you, because the person you're texting can give you no feedback on the situation whereas a person sitting beside you can still respond with "Watch out!" If you've taken a course on or have basic knowledge of psychology, you'll know how important it is to have undivided attention while on the road.

 

[Esper]

It's bad and shouldn't be permitted by any driver in a moving vehicle.

I would also like to add that there should be other things not allowed, like drinking coffee, putting on makeup, talking on a headset, or smoking. I'm somewhat serious. People should treat driving like a privilege because it is serious business, but they don't because we need to drive (at least in America) since there is no good public transportation outside of a few cities.

 

[Aeroblast]

^Somewhat serious? Anything that distracts the driver should not be allowed to happen while driving.

Enforcing it is the problem, it's difficult to tell which driver is focused or not just from looking at their windows.

 

[Flushed]

I have to admit, I often fiddle with my phone to change the song, something I really shouldn't do, especially since I'm not exactly an experienced driver. But yeah obviously it's dangerous. I don't think even the law is going to eradicate such a thing, and sadly, only accidents may permeate the skulls of some of these ignorant people.

 

[Kanzler]

^Somewhat serious? Anything that distracts the driver should not be allowed to happen while driving.

Enforcing it is the problem, it's difficult to tell which driver is focused or not just from looking at their windows.

There could be a law that forces metro companies to comply with new regulations, or else they get crapped sued out of them. Regular drivers here get ticketed. Other provinces have tougher laws that fight against all of distracted driving, not just electronics. It probably works.

 

[Ivysaur]

Probably anything that is not listening to radio/CD/talking to a human being sitting next to you should be illegal. You need to focus on driving a highly weighty vehicle full of hazardous materials at high speeds, I think that's way more important than sending a message (and, if you REALLY need to, just pull off your car, send your damn text and then resume driving. Priorities!).

 

[Shiny Celebi]

Texting while driving is very dangerous. In most cases, unless you've memorized where the keys are, you're going to be taking your eyes off the road to text while driving. This means you're distracted and there could potentially be a situation where you need to react quickly. I don't understand why people feel the need to do this while driving. It can wait. People should pay attention to the road while driving, not their phone.

 

[Aeroblast]

^Even if you have memorized the keys, it's still a distraction just by having part of your attention shift to texting, thereby making yourself more vulnerable to accidents.

 

[Mana1]

talking on a headset,

Whilst I agree with all the other points, how is talking on a headset (or hands-free device) any different to talking to a passenger?

Road laws should be far stricter on bus drivers, taxi driver, etc. (people driving the public) than on your average road-goer. I really don't understand how this apparently no texting law, that the article mentions, excludes bus drivers :S.

All use of a physical phone whilst driving is illegal here. I definitely agree that things like smoking whilst driving should also be illegal.

 

[Palkia]

Although I am too young to drive, I feel that anything which affects focus when driving should be illegal, and driving schools should teach students (if they aren't already) about using hands-free systems to prevent accidents while driving.

Things like voice recognition in phones are great and still allow the driver to focus on the road.

 

[Kanzler]

Whilst I agree with all the other points, how is talking on a headset (or hands-free device) any different to talking to a passenger?

When you talk on a headset, it's slightly better than talking on a non-hands-free phone and worse than talking to a passenger. It's better to be hands-free because you aren't holding up the phone, and I guess that might be of some benefit. It might be more difficult to check your blindspot with a phone in the way.

However, speaking to passengers who are in the car with you is safer to the extent that they can respond to the road conditions. So, if there happens to be something dangerous, they can always provide feedback on that. Humans also communicate subconsciously too. For example, if the traffic all of the sudden gets worse ahead, the rhythm of the conversation may change or perhaps the passenger might even stop talking. The driver can (will, I should say, unless he's somewhat lacking in communication skills) cue in on these changes in behaviour - and vice versa too. If the driver all of the sudden notices more dangerous driving conditions ahead, his behaviour will change and the passenger will respond more easily to that - first of all because he's in the car and able to make the connection between road conditions and a change in behaviour, and second of all because he's there physically and able to receive stimuli - body language - telling him that now might be a good time to stfu. It's the presence of visual stimuli, perceived consciously and subconsciously, that makes the biggest difference.

 

[Dullstar]

"A Florida law to ban texting while driving goes into effect Oct. 1, although bus drivers will be exempt."

I have to ask why bus drivers are exempt... and why it's not illegal there already.

 

[Sydian]

It kind of bothers me that bus drivers are going to be exempt from that law, when they're the ones with the most passengers compared to, say, myself. I am definitely for laws against texting and driving. Those commercials scare the **** out of me, and if you know what I'm talking about, then surely you know what I mean. If not, please do yourself a favor and look some up on YouTube.

I know of one commercial that a group I was in used in our presentation about distracted driving. It was filmed in England, I believe. And in the video, a girl is in a full car with friends and hits another car with a family head on. Her friends all die, and she's just sitting there looking at them and screaming. In the other vehicle, the older child is asking his parents to wake up, and we're shown a baby with open still eyes and no responsive movements. It makes your heart sink, really. I watched it one time and was done. Didn't want to watch it again when we used it in our presentation. It was just that terrifying.

tl;dr If commercials like that don't get you behind the laws for this, I really don't know what else could.

 

[«Chuckles»]

I would hate for my bus driver to be pulled over by cops. I have been in enough car accidents or break downs involving a bus it isn't funny, by car accidents I mean like we have been driving and other cars have had one.

I hate having the bus needing to be stopped for reasons like this because honestly next time it happens I'm just hopping off and walking home. It's a joke I swear 75% of the bus drivers I have ever had have text or been on their phone talking to someone.

 

[Dullstar]

I would hate for my bus driver to be pulled over by cops. I have been in enough car accidents or break downs involving a bus it isn't funny, by car accidents I mean like we have been driving and other cars have had one.

I hate having the bus needing to be stopped for reasons like this because honestly next time it happens I'm just hopping off and walking home. It's a joke I swear 75% of the bus drivers I have ever had have text or been on their phone talking to someone.

Texting while driving is dangerous... and you should probably appreciate 25% of your bus drivers for not putting you in danger in such a stupid way.

 

[Eevee3]

Texting while in the car is okay, but NOT if you're the driver.

In grade 11, we did this test in health class where we would lay out a long piece of tape along the floor in a straight line. Then we'd have to text while walking and had to walk in a straight line. Let me tell you, it was tough to do. Imagine driving while texting? Impossible to do both successfully. It's bad enough being on the phone. But while texting, your eyes are down. Even if they were down for a second, it only takes a second to get into an accident.

It's happened so many times and definitely is right being illegal. Now, I'm about to sound like a mean person when I say this but it's one thing to put yourself at risk for your stupidity but to put a bus full of innocent kids as well? Cut me a break. Same goes for any texting while driving situation. If you do it and crash into a tree, it's your fault but if you kill others while doing the foolish deed...shame on you.

If you MUST text while on the road, pull over, text and then merge into traffic to drive again. Or simply, just wait if it's not that urgent.

I'm currently learning how to drive and you definitely need your full attention to what's going on on the road and both hands on the wheel.

 

[Guy]

While I fully support the law, texting while driving is criminal in my book, I'm bothered by the fact that it will be exempt from bus drivers. That just doesn't make any sense to me, more so given the details of the video. If anything, this law should be held in higher regard to bus drivers. After all, they are responsible for the lives they carry in their vehicle, whether it be a city bus or school bus.

Probably anything that is not listening to radio/CD/talking to a human being sitting next to you should be illegal. You need to focus on driving a highly weighty vehicle full of hazardous materials at high speeds, I think that's way more important than sending a message (and, if you REALLY need to, just pull off your car, send your damn text and then resume driving. Priorities!).

I agree, 100%.

 

[Aeroblast]

^I agree with you, it's a quizzical decision to leave out the bus drivers out of this law for whatever reason.

 

[Shiny Celebi]

Why did they exempt bus drivers exactly, that makes no sense. They are carrying more passengers and if an accident happens, I would think a bus would cause a lot of damage to the vehicle it crashed into, possibly killing the other driver and passengers.

No one should be texting while driving.