Advocacy & Safety - Mon 9/10 Dr. Phil -Texting/Driving RE: a killed bicyclist from another forum

Evidently Dr. Phil's new season is going to focus on texting/driving - and he's starting it off with his show featuring a girl he's trying to ween off the texting by having the kid who hit a well known member (Jim aka Biker Billy) of another forum (Bicycling.com). Kid who hit and killed him (Jim was riding in a bike lane in CO, when this kid swerved into while texting) was not given jail time, but rather he was to go and publicly speak about the hazards of texting while driving.

Guess Dr. Phil will also be mentioning the 5 girls from my area who were killed just after graduation this year - as it is believed the driver was texting while driving her friends to a camp.

<snip>The Dr. Phil show is kicking off its sixth season, so buckle up because Dr. Phil is coming at you with intensity! This year, he tackles the news stories that impact you – from celebrity meltdowns to school tragedies. He delivers the news to you as it breaks on a revolutionary, high-tech news platform that will change the way you stay informed! Today, he exposes a deadly trend that’s sweeping the nation: driving while sending text messages. Between Blackberrys and cell phones, Americans have a harder and harder time keeping their eyes on the road, but with teens, the problem is even worse. Seventeen-year-old Chelsea averages 5,000 text messages a month and insists that she can text while driving a stick shift. What will it take for her to put the brakes on her dangerous hobby? Plus, Patrick killed a man while texting and driving, and he’s still living with guilt. Will his tragic story be a wake-up call for Chelsea? And, the DrPhil.com Web site has been totally revamped with a whole new look and lots of new features. Log on now and watch a special message from Dr. Phil!

<snip>

Extensive interview with pics
http://www.drphil.com/shows/show/928


And his daughter's statement - she too is a member of that forum.

http://forums.bicycling.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/671104717/m/9591028143

This same cyclist was also on other forums, under other names, including Sydney here at BikeForume.net, where he was a regular in the Bicycle Mechanics forum, and I think a couple of others.

I wonder how many drivers will be watching Dr.Phil on their little in-dash TV while driving, thinking it's OK to do so because there's no law against it.

I missed it! When I heard about it yesterday, I said that I'd try to remember to catch it (even though I can't stand Dr. Phil). I got caught up in going for a ride instead.

Just read through the slideshow (almost reads like a transcript). I liked what Dr. Phil had to say near the end:

"Dr. Phil recommends contacting their cell phone company to see if she can track Chelsea’s phone activity online while it’s happening. 'And if she violates it, then you get that phone, and you get a ball peen hammer, and you turn it into a pile of parts.'"

:D

The alternative, of course, is to get one of those kiddie phones that has absolutely no texting abilities whatsoever. Program it to call home and emergency services, and that's enough. Those were the things that Chelsea's mom was concerned about.

"27602. (a) A person may not drive a motor vehicle if a television receiver, a video monitor, or a television or video screen, or any other, similar means of visually displaying a television broadcast or video signal that produces entertainment or business applications, is operating and is located in the motor vehicle at any point forward of the back of the driver's seat, or is operating and visible to the driver while driving the motor vehicle."

That seems to make it illegal to drive a car if the driver or front seat passenger is watching videos (from youtube or myspace, etc.) on their cell phone, even if the driver can't see the videos. Anybody know if this law has been applied to text messaging or watching videos on a cell phone?

That seems to make it illegal to drive a car if the driver or front seat passenger is watching videos (from youtube or myspace, etc.) on their cell phone, even if the driver can't see the videos. Anybody know if this law has been applied to text messaging or watching videos on a cell phone?

If it hasn't, it should be.

Whenever I start up Google Maps, it says -- fairly prominently -- to not use it while driving.

Driving while intexticated should be a crime.

Driving while intexticated should be a crime.

Having kids and then choosing not to be a responsible parent should be a crime.

Having kids and then choosing not to be a responsible parent should be a crime.
I am glad that we dont live in that paternalistic of a state. There comes a point where it is on the kid, not the parent. And besides, who among us has not looked away for a moment, while operating a car or bike? It was just that we where lucky.

From:http://www.ghsa.org/html/issues/cellphone.html--
80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds before the crash.


Here is the BF thread from when Jim was killed.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=155557&highlight=sydney

I think that I recall that Koffebrown (aka guest, since she spoke her mind as a moderator and irritated somebody then asked that every post that she did be removed then was never heard from again), started a petition to make it illegal.
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=157294

Here's the petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?7474355

according to :
http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/laws/cellphone_laws.html

In May of 2007, Washington became the first state to ban driving while texting for all drivers. A few other states are considering similar measures.