In New York State alone more than 10,000 tickets were issued to drivers from 14Dec12-31Dec2012. These violations included speeding tickets, seat belt violations, DWI Arrests and other such driving violations. I love to speed on my cycle but understand why the rules of the road need to be enforced. I wish the police would spend less time on enforcing speeding offenses and go after individuals who Text While Driving. I have no data on this but I have to believe that trying to spell out words on a little phone while driving 65 MPH is much more dangerous than speeding. I think the penalty for texting while driving should be just as severe as DWI. This may seem rather harsh but that’s how dangerous I feel the texting threat is while on the open road. People who text while driving suffer from TACS (Texting Ass Clown Syndrome). Help stop TACS, and put your phone down while driving.
I guess I am a bit of a hypocrite b/c I believe that speeding offenses should be less harsh. To go beyond that I don’t believe we should have speed limits on many major American highways.
So what do you feel is more dangerous, Texting While Driving or Speeding?
I do know one thing. If I am going to get pulled over I would rather get a ticket from a Motorcycle Patrol Unit rather than a normal Patrol Car.
January 4th, 2013 at 3:28 am
TACS. Haha, love it. I’d put my dollar on texting drivers. Not a ride goes by where I’m not shaking my head at multiple texting drivers. Makes me mad. I never text when I drive a car because I hope others would do the same. What I don’t understand is how some bikers who have had close encounters with texting drivers still text when their driving cars. Seriously?
January 4th, 2013 at 10:05 am
Girl Rider- Great point, even those of us who have had ugly experiences with Texting gone wrong find ourselves doing it while driving despite the dangers. I’m telling you it makes no sense and that is why TACS is such a serious condition. If someone is so important that a text cant wait till they are done with their car ride then they should have enough capital to hire a driver. Heck Passengers may text till their fingers fall off.
January 4th, 2013 at 4:12 am
Drivers texting and using cell phones (hand-held or strap-on) exhibit the same driving behavior as drivers who are DWI. If our legislators were serious about public safety they’d ban communication devices in vehicles.
On the other hand, riding slightly faster than surrounding traffic is a survival tactic.
January 4th, 2013 at 10:11 am
Fiddle Mike- Right on, I concur with your statement 100%. It’s true, when ever I see someone texting while driving the car looks to be swerving like the driver just won a 22 hour marathon beer pong tournament and decided to do a victory lap down the highway.
January 4th, 2013 at 1:36 pm
First of all, RIGHT ON! Secondly, TACS…… down right funny and yet so true. If I thought it would make a difference I would personally start a lobby group here in Texas to stop texting while driving. In my humble opinion this is worse than DWI, more common than DWI and if it isn’t killing more people than DWI, it is on its way. Penalties for texting while driving should be more harsh than DWI…… Dang, you got me worked up at 7:35 AM! I better get off my soapbox and go home now. Great topic.
January 5th, 2013 at 1:37 am
Don’t get to worked up bikermonkey, 730am is to early to get crazy. It sounds like were in agreement again. Great minds think alike.
January 4th, 2013 at 3:49 pm
Both are dangerous to us from the cage crowd. To me, texting is worse. However, the most hazardous driver out there is the drunk one.
January 5th, 2013 at 1:41 am
No doubt, driving drunk is wrong. I only wish, that people could just take a cab home. Have fun, party like its 1999 but don’t drive home drunk. Heck sleep at the bar.
January 11th, 2013 at 10:01 pm
Yeah, the bars could rent couches for drunks to sleep it off.
January 4th, 2013 at 5:50 pm
I hate seeing all the people texting while driving. I agree that the penalties should be more severe! My hubby has a friend who retired from the NY motorcycle patrol.
January 5th, 2013 at 1:43 am
I have a ton of respect for police officers but even more for those officers on motorcycles. Good stuff!!!
January 16th, 2013 at 2:39 am
Definitely texting for me. Rpeat offenders should lose both their phones and their licences.
January 16th, 2013 at 10:33 am
I like the concept of loosing your phone and your license. I think most people now a days would rather loose their phone rather then their license.
Sometimes I wish someone would take away my phone.
January 16th, 2013 at 8:13 pm
Trying to get my students to turn off their phones is often challenging, sometimes almost impossible, and as soon as we take a break it’s the first thing they look at. Weird.
January 18th, 2013 at 1:35 am
Its a virtual world but I think I would take the real world any day of the week but I do like blogging at night when I cant get outside….
January 17th, 2013 at 3:35 pm
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/drivers.ssf?/base/news/123840094585910.xml&coll=2 according to this, texting is actually worse than driving under the influence.
January 17th, 2013 at 3:52 pm
http://www.cnbc.com/id/31545004 Here is a better link.
January 18th, 2013 at 1:29 am
That is some great information…I thought it but now I have some proof. Thank you!
February 24th, 2013 at 5:24 am
I have been a motorcycle advocate for sometime now, a rider leader in one of the largest riders welfare organizations here in the Philippines (and one of the very few active lady riders around too). I have gone around my country to speak about safety, proper road usage and discipline.
As discipline goes differently for different cultures, I agree to what you said about the hazards of Texting While Riding. Not only that the rider loses focus on the road, he also shifts the energy of reflexes towards what to encode on his phone rather than making them sharp for the ‘unexpecteds’ on the road.
While a motorcycle was built for speed, here in the Philippines where the roads are too congested and most four wheel drivers are not disciplined enough to show respect towards motorcycles and other vehicles as well as to consider poorly constructed roads (the Philippines, is after all, a third world country where over discipline, survival is more important) i also do not support speeding in my country.
Oh, there are well built roads for us to lose ourselves to the wind so to speak; we have race tracks also for that purpose. But for the common road and for the common rider, speeding is as hazardous as texting while riding.
The difference between riders in the Philippines and riders from America, let’s say, for a bit of socio-cultural comparison, riding here has gone beyond being a passion. Owning a motorcycle now is a smarter choice to augment daily economics struggle in each household. The bike can get us to our destinations more economically, in a lesser time frame and maintenance is definitely cheaper. This stretches the monthly household budget which is essential for survival in our country. So most riders here don’t have much choice between owning a car or a motorcycle. The motorcycle wins. Unfortunately, most of them also do not invest in helmets or riding gears. And this is what me and my group had been trying to instill in the minds of the common rider. To give you an example, kindly refer to my first blog: http://2wqueen.wordpress.com/2013/02/23/mending/
I truly appreciate when a fellow rider, wherever he/she in the world, talks about safety. Small efforts like blogging about it or talking to others can truly help save lives. Kudos to you and your blog post!
February 27th, 2013 at 2:13 am
Thank you for taking the time for such a well thought out response. Safety is key and you bring us some good points about speed as well. I actually just got pulled over for speeding today which was a huge realization that I need to slow down not only for safety but also to keep my license. Please stop by again, your comments will always be welcomed here.
March 31st, 2013 at 12:32 pm
Thanks for visiting my blog. Regarding speeding vs texting!!Motorcyclist have long been a target for the police, something to do with an old idea that bikers are all bad. Its not the case today and most bikers are safer on the road than motorist. I see it all the time, driving a car and eating lunch, or checking hair/makeup,talking on a cell phone and or texting.
April 15th, 2013 at 1:11 pm
TCAS is absolutely worse than speeding. At least with speeding I figure the chances are greater the driver is actually paying attention. Whenever I see texters on the road I make a point to get away from them as quickly as possible.
April 16th, 2013 at 1:05 am
Very true…Darn Texters really get me fired up.