How often do you think this actually happens? It seems like it ought to be a lot more than I hear about, judging from the woman who came extremely close to hitting, me, my girlfriend and our dog as she whipped around a corner in a residential neighborhood talking on her cellphone. Amazingly, she didn’t seem to even notice :mad: . Or even, “Whoops I almost hit someone/thing, I’d better get off the phone”.
So, how often was the person who barely missed you on the phone? (I think the number should be painted on the car somewhere so you could call them up and yell at them.)
A few years ago, a candidate for governor of Massachusetts was on his cellphone while driving, being interviewed by a radio station, when he got in an accident. Didn’t help his campaign much, as I recall…
Last year I saw an idiot plow into a kid who was crossing with the light at an intersection. Ran straight over his back wheel, and threw the kid to the ground. The doofus actually pulled over to the side of the road and just sat there and continued talking on the phone.
I was maybe twenty-five or thirty feet away and started running over there. (I couldn’t see the kid, the car was between me and him.) I’m reaching for my phone to call an ambulance, when I see that the kid is standing up. He picks up his bike (which is ruined) and moves it out of the street, and keeps looking over at the doofus, who is still sitting there, talking on the phone. Eventually, he walks over to the passenger side door and peers in, and the guy decides he can wrap up his call.
I gave the kid my number, but I guess they settled up without going to court.
Very lucky that the kid was only a little skinned up. If he’d entered the intersection a second later, he’d have been under that car.
I was plowed into while sitting at an intersection two months ago but someone on the phone, although at the time I just thought he’d simply been horrifically inattentive. It was only later while talking to his insurance agent that I learned he’d been on a cell. The agent went on to say the guy had tried to use that as an excuse. Oh yeah, that makes totaling two vehicles and damaging a third A Okay.
A read about a study a year or two ago that basically concluded that folks talking on a cell phone are about as likely to get into an accident as a drunk driver.
I refuse to get a cell phone (I don’t even like answering my home phone, why the heck would I make it easier for people to annoy me?) and I personally have also never been hit by someone who was talking on a cell phone.
I have, however, been talking to a friend of mine when he literally said “Whoops, I just hit someone, I gotta go” almost exactly like in the OP.
Fortunately he wasn’t going very fast. I’m guessing we had both been stopped at the same light but shortly after the light turned green I stopped again to wait until I could turn left into a busy parking lot. The brake lights on my minivan must not have registered with his brain in time for him to stop or move over completely.
Surprisingly enough, most of the idiocy that misses me by a hair isn’t from people on the phone (unless they’ve got bluetooth and I just can’t tell). More often it’s someone talking to someone in the car or otherwise just not paying attention. I can’t say that it’s been cell phone talkers that have caused me indigestion.
The candidate was Jack E. Robinson III and it was a live interview. What most folks don’t know is that he wasn’t at fault in the accident, another driver was. But it still makes for great listening.
I knew a rather erratic young lady for awhile who insisted on calling me on her cell while she was driving. One time while she was on the line I heard a “crunch” followed by her saying, “whoops, I just ran over a curb”. Another time she reported that she’d have to hang up because she had just blown past a state cop at 90 and it looked like he was coming after her. The last straw was when she interrupted a call to say that she’d just “bumped into a Mexican” (a pedestrian, yet, just so we’re clear). I finally had to say that I was flattered that she liked to talk to me, but please wait till she got home.
I had just started teaching last semester, and was trying to figure out if I had time to go to the farmers’ market before preparing for and teching my lab. Basically, I was testing the idea that I could.
I had a huge canvas tote bag over my shoulder, carrying a cantelope, some basil and assorted other yummy food. As I was walking back to the Metro stop, I had to cross a small road. I had the light, and started to cross in front of a van stopped at the red light. I was about 1/4 of the way past her grill when she started forward. I tripped over my own two feet trying to hustle out of her way, and ended up sort of falling on her hood. I think that’s when she noticed me. She rolled down her window, moved her phone away from her mouth a little and said, “Sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
Lady, I was right in front of your damn van!
I made it to school with only 5 minutes to spare. I didn’t try to go to the market in the morning again.
I *heard * that! It was hilarious. Even more hilarious because he took a pretty strong position on driving & celling. I don’t recall whether he was pro or con, but either way was funny.
This happened to me last summer. I was chatting with a friend (she driving, me at home) when she was hit. The accident investigator actually found the other driver 100% at fault…but I did wonder if it was something my friend could have avoided by paying better attention. She’s a non-stop cell-user while driving, though I have to say in four years that’s the only accident she’s been involved in.
Except for the one that broke her arm.
But her husband was driving that time, and he wasn’t talking on the phone…
Not too long ago i was approaching a side street when a car came along. I waited at the crossing point (in the UK most streets have lowered curbs and textured paving to indicate where it’s easiest to cross. These are generally situated a metre or two from the road end) for the driver to pass. There was a couple of metres til the road end so if he was pulling out onto the main road he would pause there and i would have plenty of room to walk behind him…except…the :wally decided to stop RIGHT ON the crossing point. There’s nothing illegal in this but it is inconsiderate to pedestrians - especially when they are standing right there waiting to cross.
I saw he was chatting to his female passenger so i tutted and sighed and moved along a bit to walk behind him. At which point he forgot that whole clutch-control deal and almost backed into me! :rolleyes: I nipped out of the way quickly and stormed round to the driver window. He was so busy chatting to blondie that he still didn’t know i was there til i banged hard on the window. When he wound it down to receive his yelling at ( ) he again seemed somewhat clueless cos he lost control again and the car started sliding onto the main road. I’m thinking that if you are distracted enough to seriously mess up three times in thirty seconds then you need to stop driving!
Even more hilarious because he took a pretty strong position on driving & celling. I don’t recall whether he was pro or con, but either way was funny.