# Distracted Driving Incident Causing Death Establishes A New Low! Where Will It End? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [January 27, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373 "2016-01-27T21:33:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![common-sense-answer](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/common-sense-answer/32/716_2.png) [@common-sense-answer](https://community.cartalk.com/u/common-sense-answer)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/1 "2016-01-27T21:33:01Z")
From: The Detroit News, January 27, 2016 " A state police spokesman said it’s the strangest incident he ever encountered. ‘There’s so much technology out there a lot of people are more paying attention to what they’re doing other than driving their car,’ said Lt. Mike Shaw of the Michigan State Police." People texting on cell phones, putting on make-up, eating, and now this… They’re out there on the road, folks! Watch out! Link: > **[Detroit motorist watching porn on phone crashes, dies](https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2016/01/26/detroit-motorist-porn-movie-crashes-dies/79370556/)** > > The 58-year-old wasn’t wearing a seat belt and was partially ejected through the sunroof CSA ---
**Author:** ![sgtrock21](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/sgtrock21/32/246_2.png) [@sgtrock21](https://community.cartalk.com/u/sgtrock21)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 10:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/2 "2016-01-27T22:01:28Z")
Let me correct the articles typos. The driver, 58, wasn’t wearing a seat belt and was partially ejected ( **prematurely ejaculated** ) through the sunroof. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/3 "2016-01-27T22:06:30Z")
Well, he will not know about it, but I am confident that this now-deceased dangerous dummy will be the recipient of one of the Darwin Awards at the end of the year: > **[Darwin Awards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_Awards)** > > The Darwin Awards are a tongue-in-cheek honor, originating in Usenet newsgroup discussions around 1985. They recognize individuals who have supposedly contributed to human evolution by selecting themselves out of the gene pool via death or sterilization by their own actions. The project became more formalized with the creation of a website in 1993, and followed up by a series of books starting in 2000, authored by Wendy Northcutt. The criterion for the awards states, "In the spirit of Charles Dar... ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 10:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/4 "2016-01-27T22:24:16Z")
The more crap like this happens…the more I want the driverless cars to arrive. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 10:30pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/5 "2016-01-27T22:30:32Z")
Yeah, then they can use both hands… ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 11:21pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/6 "2016-01-27T23:21:16Z")
Look on the bright side-“No child left behind” to further contaminate the gene pool. ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/7 "2016-01-27T23:32:32Z")
Imagine the embarassment that wreck caused the family members of the guy; assuming they’re not of the same ilk. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/8 "2016-01-28T00:23:48Z")
> **Yeah, then they can use both hands...** And you seriously think they’re NOT now? ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 2:27am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/9 "2016-01-28T02:27:09Z")
I’m sure many of you too, but I always worried about getting my name in the paper and what that would do to my mother if she saw it-the humiliation. When I was a kid, a 50 Chevy traveling at high speed missed a turn coming into town and the two in the car were killed. We rode out there on our bikes and I heard the comment that the guy’s pants were down. Of course they said maybe it was the force of the impact, but I always thought what their mothers would think if they died that way. ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 3:04am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/10 "2016-01-28T03:04:08Z")
A couple of years ago in OK City the police tried to stop a guy in a pickup and instead of pulling over he made a run for it. After a bit of a pursuit he had a minor crash and suffered no injuries. The guy was completely nude and originally the police were only going to cite him for failure to use a turn signal. The really sad part in things like this is if they have children. Even though the kids are blameless they will no doubt get undeserved total humiliation heaped on them at school from classmates. ---
**Author:** ![Mustangman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mustangman/32/44130_2.png) [@Mustangman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Mustangman)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 3:14am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/11 "2016-01-28T03:14:32Z")
+1 MILLION to @jtsanders I just about spit my drink all over my screen! Saw this article and sent it to my former Michigander relatives with the note; Thank Goodness it wasn’t Florida!! But we have THIS; [jalopnik.com/he-was-mearly-missing-a-dead-poached-alligator-in-the-t-1746983782](http://jalopnik.com/he-was-mearly-missing-a-dead-poached-alligator-in-the-t-1746983782) ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 4:33am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/12 "2016-01-28T04:33:18Z")
Thanks @Mustangman. I just couldn’t resist. ---
**Author:** ![the\_same\_mountainbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@the\_same\_mountainbike](https://community.cartalk.com/u/the_same_mountainbike)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/13 "2016-01-28T20:37:13Z")
The man is definitely a Darwin award candidate. The thing that disturbs me the most is that auto manufacturers are contributing to the problem. They’re introducing more and more technology into cars that require the driver to take his/her eyes off of the road and his/her focus off of his/her driving. Having been rearended at a stoplight recently by a kid trying to tune his radio, the effects of this new technological wondercar age came full force into my own life. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/14 "2016-01-28T21:30:17Z")
I think the auto manufacturers are responding to the auto insurer’s demands for safer cars. It seems to me that they are working to make the driving experience more forgiving of the distractions drivers have these days. It used to be that conversation and fatigue were the only distractions. Now add to that telephone and a list of entertainment options. ---
**Author:** ![Rod-Knox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Rod-Knox](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Rod-Knox)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/15 "2016-01-28T21:37:32Z")
Could we be safer if the technology used to sense approaching a car too closely and failing to remain centered in the lane trigger the computer to go to limp mode and reduce the speed to \<30 mph for an hour rather than allerting the driver to pay attention for a moment or two and then retrun to playing games or… whatever. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2016, 10:52pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/16 "2016-01-28T22:52:34Z")
If that happens on a highway, prevailing traffic might be moving at 70. A car slowing to 30 in a through lane creates another hazard. Maybe it is less of a hazard, but some companies have an audible alarm to alert you to a problem. IIRC, some vehicles also have a light to go along with the buzzer that shows you which side the lane violation occurred. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 1:25am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/17 "2016-01-29T01:25:44Z")
Huh, perpetual motion? We used to shake our heads when the person that created the problem was then assigned unknowingly to solve the problem they created. Who could be better qualified to dismantle a ridiculous process than the person that came up with it in the first place? So, having exhausted many other means of distinguishing themselves from the competition, auto makers focus on technology. Adding more and more electronic devices and features that cause more and more driver distractions trying to deal with them. Then need to come up with more technology solutions to solve the distraction problem they created. How clever. Me, give me the plain old radio with a couple control knobs and I’ll be happy. ---
**Author:** ![Rod-Knox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a183cd/32.png) [@Rod-Knox](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Rod-Knox)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/18 "2016-01-29T01:55:53Z")
I just think it would be more fair if the onus of driving while otherwise occupied be immediately dropped on the head or lap of the multi tasking driver. Including a video monitor on the rear of new automobiles that are loaded with wi-fi, blue tooth, etc and have it flash DRIVER VIEWING XXX, or DRIVER TEXTING G-F, etc., as appropriate while throttling back the speed to the posted minimum. There is a price for all the technical distractions being used. Make every effort for the cost to be paid by the otherwise occupied. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 3:13am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/19 "2016-01-29T03:13:37Z")
In my neck of the woods, there was a fatal accident a few weeks ago, and–finally–just today, the police concluded their investigation and issued summonses to one of the drivers. Apparently this driver was using a cellphone for navigation purposes, and the phone fell to the floor. When he reached down to pick it up, he wound up going through a red light, and his car was T-boned by a van that had the right of way. The person who was killed in the collision was the 13 year old sister of the driver, and he was issued 3 summonses today for going through a red light, going straight ahead in a left turn lane, and failing to make sure that all of his passengers were wearing their seatbelts. His deceased sister might have survived if she had been belted in. One more tragic result of distracted driving… > **[Driver gets seat belt ticket in crash that killed his sister, 13](http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2016/01/driver_cited_for_seatbelts_in_crash_that_killed_hi.html#incart_river_home)** > > Azel Hernandez Vargas received three traffic summonses but no criminal charges. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2016, 4:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373/20 "2016-01-29T04:16:23Z")
That’s something you never get over if you cause harm to someone. My wife gets a little upset if I stop the car until she is belted but that’s life. Would you rather be mad or dead? Car doesn’t leave the driveway without the belts on. [Next page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/distracted-driving-incident-causing-death-establishes-a-new-low-where-will-it-end/92373.md?page=2)