Originally Posted by
FBinNY
That's when you give up, and talk to some of the kids and parents directly.
Sadly the whole texting brouhaha is highly exaggerated and making people paranoid. Yes, it does cause an increase in accidents, but it's not a sea change, and the problems that exist always existed because drivers were always driving distracted, whether it was fiddling with the radio, eating a bagel and coffee, turning around to yell at their children, putting on makeup, and even reading the newspaper. Nothing's changed and out roads and streets are roughly as safe (or dangerous) as they've been for years. We just pin different labels on the causes when writing accident reports.
I definitely disagree that cell phones haven't resulted in a sea change in the overall hazard level for cyclists - it's a statistical fact that nowadays, cell phone distraction rivals drunk driving as the largest cause of auto accidents in general - and while drunk driving happens mostly at night - cell phone use in the car happens mostly during the day time when most of us ride. It is a fact that drivers distracted by cell phone use while driving is the single greatest safety threat for recreational cyclists on public roads.