# "Sure I text while driving. \*#@% you if you don't like it!" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 5, 2016, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sure-i-text-while-driving-you-if-you-dont-like-it/745271 "2016-02-05T21:07:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sure-i-text-while-driving-you-if-you-dont-like-it/745271/261 "2017-04-06T15:41:04Z")
As a pedestrian, I now make it a habit to get the eye of the drivers as I attempt to cross streets but, more often than not nowadays, they don’t see me, the traffic or anything else-they are envisioning the person they are talking to. They are seeing with their mind’s eye instead of their physical eye, sometimes even moving their hands about to people that cannot possibly see them. How many times I have almost been hit by an idiot that saw out the corner of their eye a light change in another lane, or even just a another car moving anywhere, I cannot say. You say you have good instincts? I say you have bad habits. ---
**Author:** ![Beren\_Erchamion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/90ced4/32.png) [@Beren\_Erchamion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beren_Erchamion)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sure-i-text-while-driving-you-if-you-dont-like-it/745271/262 "2017-04-06T16:18:52Z")
I’ve already gotten in the habit of making eye contact with drivers before I cross the street because, even if they’re not texting, they’re also often so focused on vehicle traffic so that they can make their right turn on red that they don’t notice pedestrian traffic. I don’t know that banning right turns on red is feasible (both from the perspective of traffic engineering as well as getting people to actually stop doing something they’re so used to being able to do), but fuck so many drivers forget that vehicle traffic isn’t the only thing that has to be clear. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sure-i-text-while-driving-you-if-you-dont-like-it/745271/263 "2017-04-06T16:34:29Z")
“[Hey! I’m walkin’ here…](https://youtu.be/c412hqucHKw?t=15)” ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sure-i-text-while-driving-you-if-you-dont-like-it/745271/264 "2017-04-06T23:45:05Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > And again, this has been heard from _many_ drivers post-accident. They all think they are the ones that can multitask safely. > Now convince me through words alone(because that is the only means you have here) that you are different from all the others. It’s against the law here to do use a mobile phone while driving (including stopped at traffic lights) so I don’t do it. I still don’t agree with the law. Actually _driving_ and texting is stupid and dangerous. > [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > So you’ve never had to honk at a texter in front of you at a stoplight that goes from red to green? No, I haven’t. > [@](#): > > Also, mentioning regularly-driven routes (such as, within half a mile of your home, for instance) - isn’t that where most accidents occur anyway? Since the average commute in Brisbane is several kilometres - I know people who drive more than 50km each way to and from work - we’re talking about different things, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sure-i-text-while-driving-you-if-you-dont-like-it/745271/265 "2017-04-07T02:55:34Z")
> [@chicagowhitesox1173](#): > > Is texting while driving more dangerous than driving while impaired? Honestly i’ve driven with both and I find texting far more scary. It is driving while impaired. Anything that prevents you from putting 100% attention into your driving is impairment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sure-i-text-while-driving-you-if-you-dont-like-it/745271.md?page=13)