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

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

I haven't read the studies, but your comment fits wiith my intuitive feelings on the subject. At least with passengers in the car, they can sense when traffic's bad. The one thing that's almost as bad as a cell-phone is inquisitive children, because they tend to not be aware of traffic and tend to repeat questions. And mine always ask deep philosophical questions just as I'm merging onto 101. But even there you can yell at them to shut up if necessary.

I still sometimes talk on my cell-phone when driving, though. And yes, it's stupid. If it's an intricate conversation, I pull off.