Powerful message from the folks at VW...

[USMC_5-Echo]

I miss the days of being unavailable as soon as I left the house. The electronic leash is getting old

[Dave_L]

I leave my phone on silent 99% of the time. It stays in my pocket until I need it. People get mad at me but people forget that owning a cell phone does not obligate me to be at your beck and call. It's a tool for me to use, at my convenience/necessity. Friends have learned to call my wife and ask for me if they need something ASAP

[Jer]

I miss the days of being unavailable as soon as I left the house. The electronic leash is getting old

It's called voice mail. It's really not that much more of a difference from the 'good ol' days' if you don't let it be other than the positive aspects of being able to use it to your benefit. Ask anyone who knows me and I don't answer my phone often when it rings. I hate phone calls. You can text it or leave a voice mail and I'll get back to you when it's more convenient for me. If it bothers you that much just use it that way and you'll actually find that it saves you from phone calls and interactions not convenient for you.

[Jer]

I leave my phone on silent 99% of the time. It stays in my pocket until I need it. People get mad at me but people forget that owning a cell phone does not obligate me to be at your beck and call. It's a tool for me to use, at my convenience/necessity. Friends have learned to call my wife and ask for me if they need something ASAP

Okay now that's just weird. lol

[MarkCO]

Problem is, like drunks, these idiots often kill innocents as well. They don't think, don't care, or don't realize the consequences of their actions.

If your spouse/child, was killed by a drunk, would you be pissed? What if your spouse/child was killed by a driver not paying attention because they were texting, eating a burrito, changing stations on the radio, doing their make-up? How are any of these deliberate actions that remove their attention from the operation of a MV any different? If I could be sure that the idiot would maim/kill him/herself, then sure, I have little issue with it.

Having seen firsthand the pain of a family where a parent was killed because a 54 year old truck driver could not resist watching porn while driving, or the 8 year old ground to hamburger by a 17 year old girl who could not resist the text from her boyfriend...Both are still living with their families, their victims are not.

MV deaths due to drugs and alcohol has been on a decline the last several years, but it is being outpaced by driver inattention due to media.

Pure selfishness to not pay attention while driving...the willingness to take someone else's life so you can play with your phone while driving, or drive drunk...all the same, and all pathetic.

[Dave_L]

Okay now that's just weird. lol

Haha, yeah. I'm just tied to my office phone ALL day so a ringing phone is the last thing I want to deal with when I leave.

[Jer]

Problem is, like drunks, these idiots often kill innocents as well. They don't think, don't care, or don't realize the consequences of their actions.

If your spouse/child, was killed by a drunk, would you be pissed? What if your spouse/child was killed by a driver not paying attention because they were texting, eating a burrito, changing stations on the radio, doing their make-up? How are any of these deliberate actions that remove their attention from the operation of a MV any different? If I could be sure that the idiot would maim/kill him/herself, then sure, I have little issue with it.

Having seen firsthand the pain of a family where a parent was killed because a 54 year old truck driver could not resist watching porn while driving, or the 8 year old ground to hamburger by a 17 year old girl who could not resist the text from her boyfriend...Both are still living with their families, their victims are not.

MV deaths due to drugs and alcohol has been on a decline the last several years, but it is being outpaced by driver inattention due to media.

Pure selfishness to not pay attention while driving...the willingness to take someone else's life so you can play with your phone while driving, or drive drunk...all the same, and all pathetic.

Would I be upset? Of course. I'd be crushed. Just because I'm crushed it doesn't give me the duty to take liberties from others as if it would have saved them. Chances are it wouldn't have. That's life. As long as you're alive there's only one other option and there's a million ways for it to happen so living is inherently dangerous. Not every death needs to be followed by sweeping laws to make something common illegal. Using your examples are we going to make burritos, listening to the radio and make-up illegal? After all, if it saves just one child's life.. it's worth it, right? Man... this is sure sounding ironically familiar to something we generally despise on our gun forum.

I'm glad you brought up DUI... have we REALLY made a dent in alcohol related injury accidents as a result of more strict DUI laws?

The bottom line is that driving is dangerous business and the focus should be on the action... not the tool. Once again, sounds awfully familiar... right?

[MarkCO]

Jer, actually, painful as it might be, I agree with you. Our government has tried way to hard to protect the stupid and the innocent from the stupid. There are things you can do to mitigate your exposure to idiots, but nothing is foolproof. Yes, the focus SHOULD be on the action, not the tool.

So, how do we go back to making people pay for their stupidity instead of walking out on it? Text/drive drunk/ eat a burrito and kill someone...do we, as a society strap you in a chair and flip the switch? Our society has lost its will to punish stupidity due to apathy, sympathy, etc, so how does the impasse get resolved?

But, yes stricter DUI enforcement and penalties, along with educational campaigns by the alcohol producers, have made a sizable dent in alcohol related accidents and deaths.

Just FTR, I did not, in this thread advocate making texting illegal. Philosophically, I am against it. Now if an automaker wanted to create a system where handset use was not possible while the ignition was on, free market would decide if it was good or bad. I have my cell set to decide if I am driving to go to auto-speak and not let me text. BUT, I controlled myself, I don't want the government to do it.

[Irving]

Now we're getting into my real pet peeve of people who don't answer the phone.

[Dave_L]

Now we're getting into my real pet peeve of people who don't answer the phone.

Leave me a voicemail and I'll gladly call you back at my convenience. Don't worry, I won't get mad at you when things aren't done on the regular time table as I realize my inability to answer results in longer wait times.