Drivers that straddle the center line/driving into your lane

[Miss Mary]

This has been a major pet peeve of mine. Over the past 5 years or so. Used to be when you saw an oncoming car straying over the double yellow line, into YOUR lane, you naturally assumed it was alcohol related. Wrong! Now it's 9 out of 10 times, a driver talking on a cell.....

So if I'm on a back street in my community and I'm able to, I slow down and pull over almost, to signify I don't trust this driver. Then of course the driver is forced to stop talking for a minute and is made aware of the fact, that he/she is driving a car, not sitting in a chair at home yacking on the phone. Car seat = comfortable recliner? I don't think so!!!!

The "can you hear me now" thread prompted me to ask if this is a daily occurrence in your area? It is in mine - I encounter oncoming cars doing this at least twice a day.

Thanks for letting me vent......I think the lines need to be painted in a neon green or something. That yellow color means absoulutely nothing to these jerks.

Mary

[alicia-w]

I thought I drove the only vehicle with the idiot magnet in it!!!!

Thank goodness we now have that full size bronco. I just wanna jerk the wheel to the side and scare the you-know-what out of them.

Has anyone seen the commercial with the two old folks driving down a country lane and the old lady sitting on the passenger side pulls out a steering wheel? that one is hilarious.

[Miss Mary]

No, haven't seen that commercial yet! We could flash them a sign that asks - do you think this is the UK buddy?

Mary

[sunny]

I'm with you Miss Mary. There should be a law against talking on a cell while driving. I get so mad when drivers make a RIGHT hand turn from the LEFT lane to get onto the bridge. All because they were too busy talking on their cell when they realized they needed to turn. Happens all of the time.

[alicia-w]

i'll find it at home tonight and post the link here. (the network gestapo wont let me look at the site here...)

[therock1811]

Oh yeah. That's a real pain. Cell phones are a necessity in an emergency, but otherwise don't have it on when driving!

Coincidentally, my dad and I were running around town yesterday, and he called my mom from a parking lot before we even pulled out. So, that's the way to use a cell phone...do so while in parking lots, waiting rooms, whatever...just NOT on the road!

[alicia-w]

think you posted that in the wrong thread, rock.

[therock1811]

think you posted that in the wrong thread, rock.

Nope. It's related, because my dad never pulls a YWD (yakking while driving). At least, it was meant to be before I said it.

[sunny]

Just saw this Miss Mary. msnbc.com


Drivers on cell phones kill thousands
Study explores mechanism behind deadly distraction

Mark Wilson / Getty Images file
A new study has found that cellphone use in traffic causes younger drivers to drive like older drivers, with slower reaction times and larger error rates in detecting changes.
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior writer

Updated: 2:42 p.m. ET Feb. 1, 2005When young adults use cell phones while driving, they're as bad as a 70-year-old on the verge of a nap and signaling for that eventual left turn. And yes, you can blame the chatty 20-somethings for the stop-and-go traffic on the way to work.

"If you put a 20-year-old driver behind the wheel with a cell phone, their reaction times are the same as a 70-year-old driver who is not using a cell phone," said University of Utah psychology professor David Strayer. "It's like instantly aging a large number of drivers."

The study was announced Tuesday and is detailed in winter issue of the quarterly journal Human Factors.

Traffic jams and death
Cellphone distraction causes 2,600 deaths and 330,000 injuries in the United States every year, according to the journal's publisher, the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

The reason is now obvious:

Drivers talking on cell phones were 18 percent slower to react to brake lights, the new study found. In a minor bright note, they kept a 12 percent greater following distance. But they also took 17 percent longer to regain the speed they lost when they braked. That frustrates everyone.

"Once drivers on cell phones hit the brakes, it takes them longer to get back into the normal flow of traffic," Strayer said. "The net result is they are impeding the overall flow of traffic."

Strayer and his colleagues have been down this road before. In 2001, they found that even hands-free cell phone use distracted drivers. In 2003 they revealed a reason: Drivers look but don't see, because they're distracted by the conversation. The scientists also found previously that chatty motorists are less adept than drunken drivers with blood alcohol levels exceeding 0.08.

Separate research last year at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign supported the conclusion that hands-free cellphone use causes driver distraction.

"With younger adults, everything got worse," said Arthur Kramer, who led the Illinois study. "Both young adults and older adults tended to show deficits in performance. They made more errors in detecting important changes, and they took longer to react to the changes."

The impaired reactions involved seconds, not just fractions of a second, so stopping distances increased by car lengths.

Among the common over-the-counter and prescription medications that can impair driving ability:
Sedating antihistamines
Tricyclic antidepressants
Anti-anxiety medications
Painkillers containing codeine
Muscle relaxants
Anti-psychotics
Blood pressure medications
Glaucoma agents
Sea sickness patches
Accutane (acne medication)



Medical conditions that may interfere with safe driving include:
Heart disease
Stroke
Arthritis or other joint problems
Sleep disorders
Alzheimer's disease and dementia
Diabetes
Vision problems including cataracts and glaucoma
Impaired hearing
Chronic pain
Foot abnormalities such as painful bunions
Neurological disorders such as Parkinson?s disease
Asthma and other lung diseases
Epilepsy (drivers must be seizure-free for two years)
Injuries or disabilities that limit movement



Unhealthy behaviors on and off the road can impair driving. Among them:
Lack of sleep
Alcohol or drug abuse
Driving late at night
Lack of exercise
Getting behind the wheel when upset, overly stressed or exhausted
Not drinking enough water ? dehydration can impair your thinking skills
Driving long distances without rest stops
Not wearing appropriate eyeglasses or contact lenses

Older drivers more cautious

The latest study used high-tech simulators. It included people aged 18 to 25 and another group aged 65 to 74. Elderly drivers were slower to react when talking on the phone, too.

The simulations uncovered a twofold increase in the number of rear-end collisions by drivers using cell phones.

Older drivers seem to be more cautious overall, however.

"Older drivers were slightly less likely to get into accidents than younger drivers," Strayer said. "They tend to have a greater following distance. Their reactions are impaired, but they are driving so cautiously they were less likely to smash into somebody." But in real life, he added, older drivers are significantly more likely to be rear-ended because of their slow speed.

Other studies in the journal found:

Telephone numbers presented by automated voice systems compete for drivers' attention to a far greater extent than when the driver sees the same information presented on a display.

Interruptions to driving, such as answering a call, are likely to be more dangerous if they occur during maneuvers like merging to exit a freeway.
Things could get worse. Wireless Internet, speech recognition systems and e-mail could all be even more distracting.

© 2005 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

[weathermom]

There is a law here in NJ. It doesn't do any good. If you watch people going through an intersection while you have a red light, you will see about 60% on the phone. It is really scary. People on cell phones are supposedly more impaired than someone who has been drinking.

[vbhoutex]

AMEN Miss Mary AMEN!!! And besides them using both lanes they can't signal turns, etc. because the hand they need for that is holding the darned phone!!!! AAARRRGGHHHH!!!!! I can't count the number of times I have almost been hit etc. by these ignoramus'!! And they have the nerve to act like you are in the wrong when you honk at them!!!!!