I hope this doesn't make sense to you folks.

[cjsmith]

Seen in someone else's journal, a story: a maniac driver runs a red light at apparently a pretty good clip, and hits a car whose female driver is on the phone.

First comment indicates a wish that the cellphone got permanently implanted in the head of the woman who was hit. It goes on to say she was probably putting on makeup at the time.

Wow. First off, let's note the casual bigotry. If the driver who was hit hadn't been noted in the story as female, that lovely throwaway comment about the makeup wouldn't have been in there. Would the first part have been? Next let's take a look at the fact that the commenter is more ticked at someone for being on the phone (and yeah, being female) than at someone who RAN A RED LIGHT AND HIT ANOTHER CAR. O-kay. I know there are links between cellphone use and distraction while driving, but this gal DIDN'T run the light, and was thus to my mind quantifiably less dangerous at that time than the person who did run the light. I sure know which driver I'd rather share the road with. But this commenter defended his comment, saying it was every driver's responsibility to look out for others and he just hates it when women put on makeup in the car.

Bat shit, holy man.

Comments

[jupiter29.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's just wrong. I hate cell phones as much as anyone, simply because they cause people to drive stupid. I have no study to back this up, in fairness, other than my own experience watching people drive 10 mph too slow for the lane they're in or decide a mile too late that they need to get over to exit, and then passing them and seeing a cell phone nine times out of ten. :) On a related note, I hate tractor trailers for the same reason. Even when they are driven perfectly safely, they (indirectly) make other people drive stupid and it annoys me. My definitions of what should and should not be legal are made from a very self-centered point of view. :)

Having said all of that, though, there are more dangerous things out there than cell phones. I was driving down the road the other day and saw a woman (yes, it was a woman, but I make no broad statements here) eating an ice cream cone. What the heck? First of all, why would you even try to drive while eating an ice cream cone? You're not going to enjoy the cone particularly. But that's not the issue, I guess. What the he** do you do with an ice cream cone if you suddenly need your other hand for something?

But, anyway, I digress. I agree that trying to put the blame on the driver that was hit was silly, although I do admit that I might have been tempted myself to say something like "Hmm, I bet she wishes that guy had cared enough about the people he was on the road with to pay full attention while he was driving." Because I'm a jerk, I admit it. Still, bringing sex (or, for that matter, any activity that she wasn't actually engaged in) into it is just ridiculous.