bigdo13

SOURCE: Man Biking Across US for Charity Killed in Crash

RChung

"Morris admitted to looking at her phone at the time of the crash."

Her FB page, now deleted, showed as her profile picture a selfie taken in her car.

It sounds like Wanninkhof was a fine young man who cared about people and was an asset to society. His loss is our loss. Condolences to his friends and family. He died because someone couldn't ignore her phone.

Dan333SP

I have friends that have ridden with him and have done the bike/build ride. It's devastating and not totally surprising.

bassjones

Very close friend did this ride and build 2 years ago. He's somewhere bouncing back and forth between grief, anger and sympathy right now. Put your damn phone down and drive, damnit!

esskay1000

Cell phone use while driving is pretty much an epidemic now, how many more lives will be lost before we start cracking down and getting serious? It needs to be treated like DWI and get that level of stigma and penalty, or it's only gonna get worse and bodies are going to continue to pile up.

doug59

I agree.

intransit1217

So sad.

Marcus_Ti

I see it every day, even by police.\ in states where it is very much illegal.

There's no stigma at all. Everyone knows they shouldn't do it, and most do it anyway, and don't feel the least bit guilty about it. DWI is penalized as well, it it happens each and every night.

bassjones

Charge accidents that cause death due to distracted driving as vehicular manslaughter. No exceptions. I'm typically pretty Libertarian, so banning cell phone use completely I'm not entirely comfortable with, at least not with criminal penalties applied, but if you cause death or injury, you should serve jail time.

ModeratedUser17082018

Don't most smart phones have GPS in them that could detect speed and disable the phone over a certain speed? If you're moving, you couldn't be on the phone talking, texting or taking selfies.

arben

And if you're a passenger?

ModeratedUser17082018

Good point. Now I feel dumb, but enlightened .

Willbird

I see it at work, people just cannot stop themselves from texting at work, when they can get onto a progressive discipline system leading to termination by doing so.

some will do it while operating a 8,000 Toyota forklift around people, I drove one for a year straight, well over 2,000 hours and I for damn sure did not text while doing so :-).

exime

I'd feel safer from a guy 6 beers deep on the road then a driving and texter. The latter isn't even looking at the road.

She made a huge mistake admitting that. She's so stupid that she thought negligence would be innocence. She better be going to jail for a long time.

cthenn

I doubt it. At least in CA, you can cross over a double yellow, head on a cyclist, kill him, leave him for dead, hide your vehicle, try to fix the damage, evade police, and only admit you did anything after the police find your vehicle and match it with parts from the scene. This is punishable by "time served" and a few years probation. Cyclists and cycling is so frowned upon, that it's pretty much open season on anyone on a bike.

Hearing about these stories is very sobering...it's gotta be at least 50% of drivers that stare at a phone while driving. It used to be that once in a while it would cross my mind that I could be injured riding, now almost every ride I think it could be my last. And I worry even more when my GF goes for a ride by herself. It's so dangerous out there now...but hey, can't stop living. We do what we do and be thankful every time you make it back safe.

koconcept

I'm a very libertarian minded person myself except i think of this a bit different. If you text or watch youtube or instagram whatever on the phone while you are driving you are making the choice to get in a automobile and drive between 35-75 mph and not watch where you are going in a 4-10 thousand pound vehicle. Therefore in my mind you are intentionally putting everyone around you in danger when its unnecessary. Its already illegal in pretty much every state to do it while operating a commercial vehicle.

rms13

Cell phone distraction needs to be treated like drunk drivibg. Its an epidemic and penalties are not severe. I was riding next to a guy the other day who was swerving all over the road and when I passed I see him holding his phone to his face reading and laughing... Not a care in the world

Oldhead

I can't see why they can't limit functions on the phone while it is moving. Say only being able to use the gps or gps based apps. Only if started before moving. No calls no texts or social media apps. If your phone is found to be jail broke so you can use it while moving and the cause of an accident you get put on a no phone black list. This would include the purchase and or contract for a phone/ burner phone. If while on this list you have a second offense then there is mandatory jail time.

bikemig 

+ 1. The driver needs to spend some time in jail.

Maconi

There's a reason self-driving cars are being pushed so hard by everyone (even various governments). There's really no good way to fix the problem other than taking control away from these terrible drivers. It's probably still a decade off from becoming a reality everywhere, but at least it's a safer future to look forward to.

rms13

True. But drunk driving is less of a problem since people started getting 15 year prison sentences for things like this

fstshrk

May he rest in peace. I ride to work daily for 7-8 months out of the year and see this A LOT on our WA state roads.

She will probably get out of this without going to jail.

Mike F

If LE wont treat it as a DUI, the insurance companies should. Like drunk drivers these people just didnt start texting and driving, its habitual. They are a huge risk. You get a ticket for texting, jack the rates and/or cancel.

Bunyanderman

The technology is already in the cars that are on the road now, its just a matter of getting the public to like the new tech. People can understand an accidental death in a freak accident, life happens. People can't take technology failing leading to an accidental death, even though it could/will be 1000x safer then human interactions.

fstshrk

I don't think it should be optional. VOLVO has shipped cyclist and pedestrian detection and automatic braking for 6 years now.