[150flyer]

I was wondering if any of these distracted women drivers I watch on a daily basis putting on makeup, yapping on the phone, yelling at their kids, eating, and texting while they drive are members of MADD. I hate drunk drivers as much as the next guy but the distracted cagers have me just as scared.

 

[jrhSeattle]

Distracted "women" drivers? Not so concerned about distracted teen aged drivers, or aggressive young male drivers? Come on man..............your focus is a little narrow don't you think?

 

[AntRT]

Irony?

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20036544-504083.html

 

[05Train]

Give me a drunk driver over a distracted driver any day of the week. Never mind the fact that the legal limit now is substantially lower than it was 30 years ago, but a drunk is generally concerned with getting home safely. Their reaction times may be slowed down a bit, but they're at least paying attention.

 

[Knife]

Give me a drunk driver over a distracted driver any day of the week. Never mind the fact that the legal limit now is substantially lower than it was 30 years ago, but a drunk is generally concerned with getting home safely. Their reaction times may be slowed down a bit, but they're at least paying attention.

Slowed down "a bit"? Are you kidding?

 

[05Train]

Slowed down "a bit"? Are you kidding?

Nope. If you look at the empirical research that's been done time and time again (rather than the semi-hysterical appeals to emotion), you'll find that for most drivers at the legal limit (.08), reaction times are impaired, but not dangerously so, assuming that the driver is paying attention to the road. I'm not talking about people who are blowing a .20. Study after study shows that the person who's had one too many is no more dangerous than a person on a cell phone.

I'd rather worry about the drunks for the reasons I outlined above.

 

[150flyer]

Distracted "women" drivers? Not so concerned about distracted teen aged drivers, or aggressive young male drivers? Come on man..............your focus is a little narrow don't you think?

You miss my point. I'm not saying women are the only distracted drivers. I am saying that the women who are multi tasking with the kids, makeup and phones while driving make up a huge part of the distracted driving problem, and I'm sure at least some of these distracted, driving women are MADD members who in turn are pointing their distracted, phone dialing fingers at drunk drivers envolved in fatal accidents. I don't often ride late at night when the majority of drunks are out. I do ride to work at 8:00 am and back home at 7:00 pm when there are a lot of distracted drivers out.

 

[WhittleD]

Ever play this game?
One week end my family and I were headed to an amusement park, as a fun travel game, after watching a guy veer over the center line and back, I told my kids to start counting the people they seen talking or using phones. WOW. Was a real eye opener to my 16 y.o. son who just started driving.

 

[hschisler]

Distracted "women" drivers? Not so concerned about distracted teen aged drivers, or aggressive young male drivers? Come on man..............your focus is a little narrow don't you think?

I see your point, but when I see a young female driver I am more concerned about keeping an eye her, as compared to a young male driver. That is because the young female driver "issues" (admittedly, a stereotype) include the makeup thing, they preen and primp in the mirror frequently, they are most likely on a cell phone, and when they have a car full of friends they don't seem to know how to look out the front windshield while they talk - they have to turn around to their 'buds' in the passenger seat or back seat. The aggressive young male driver or otherwise inattentive/dangerous male driver is greatly outnumbered by this menace.

Sorry, ladies, that's my experience. I see it every day on the way to and from work, and any other day I'm "out there".

 

[jrhSeattle]

Whether a testosterone poisoned young man or a distracted young women............youth are generally not to be trusted!!!!

I bet if you look at the statistics, young men behind the wheel are more of a menace than young women, though I grant you the causes of accidents probably differ by gender ...... men more from aggressive driving and women more from distraction. Could be there are no definitive answers to that. Used to be that insurance companies had the overall answer in their rate structure, and young men had the highest insurance rates, but perhaps with the advent of texting that has changed.

Regardless, call me paranoid, but when riding I assume that all cagers and deer intend to kill me, especially those does on their cell phones accompanied by fawns.

 

[jrhSeattle]

You miss my point. I'm not saying women are the only distracted drivers. I am saying that the women who are multi tasking with the kids, makeup and phones while driving make up a huge part of the distracted driving problem, and I'm sure at least some of these distracted, driving women are MADD members who in turn are pointing their distracted, phone dialing fingers at drunk drivers envolved in fatal accidents. I don't often ride late at night when the majority of drunks are out. I do ride to work at 8:00 am and back home at 7:00 pm when there are a lot of distracted drivers out.

Given the AM or PM commute time frame you make a fair point.

 

[Diolach]

my wife say's that any time she see's someone driving erratically she checks to see if they have a DARE or MADD bumpersticker and most of them do.

 

[UltraLT]

All this does not matter to the survivor's of a killed motorcyclist. What really bothers me is the fact that society puts a great deal of blame for the death of a motorcyclist on the motorcyclist, even if they were doing nothing wrong when killed. See Fred Rau's commentary in the April issue of Motorcycle Consumer News.

Ultra LT

 

[LeftCoastMan]

Nope. If you look at the empirical research that's been done time and time again (rather than the semi-hysterical appeals to emotion), you'll find that for most drivers at the legal limit (.08), reaction times are impaired, but not dangerously so, assuming that the driver is paying attention to the road. I'm not talking about people who are blowing a .20. Study after study shows that the person who's had one too many is no more dangerous than a person on a cell phone.

I'd rather worry about the drunks for the reasons I outlined above.

Interesting study, but I'm coming to a different conclusion than you. The study says "alcohol clearly increases the risk of accidents in real-world settings." And your assumption that someone who is impaired or legally drunk has any shot of paying attention is not an assumption on which I'd risk my life. The article makes it clear that impaired or drunk driving is about the same as cell phone use in causing accidents.

I'm concerned about both when I'm on a bike (well, this summer when I get it).

Although a bit off topic, are there any of us who would drink any amount and get on a bike? I certainly wouldn't.

Oh, one more thing. Go Syracuse!

 

[05Train]

Interesting study, but I'm coming to a different conclusion than you. The study says "alcohol clearly increases the risk of accidents in real-world settings." And your assumption that someone who is impaired or legally drunk has any shot of paying attention is not an assumption on which I'd risk my life. The article makes it clear that impaired or drunk driving is about the same as cell phone use in causing accidents.

I'm concerned about both when I'm on a bike (well, this summer when I get it).

Although a bit off topic, are there any of us who would drink any amount and get on a bike? I certainly wouldn't.

Oh, one more thing. Go Syracuse!

Syracuse? You must be drunk..... :rotf:

My point was that they were about the same, though in the second study, the reaction times for cell phone use were substantially longer than the ones for the .08 driver. The drunk driver has at least some chance of paying attention, the driver on his/her cell phone isn't paying attention.

Given the choice, I'd rather be surrounded by drivers who'd had an extra glass of wine with dinner rather than drivers who were having a texting argument with their ex-spouses.