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Distracted and no Headlights

3K views 27 replies 8 participants last post by  bevo1981 
#1 ·
This is a great example of a person who should have their DL revoked and be forced to ride the bus for a few years.

Driving his big Dodge truck in the dark on the freeway with no headlights, not even DRL's, and staring down at his phone.

I don't think he ever knew I was there at any point in this video. It is hard to see, but he was looking down at his phone as I passed, just oblivious.

https://youtu.be/Y8p-lWIe1w0
 
#2 ·
not sure if this is one of those situations where its good or bad to 'like' your post

good catch - It pays to be aware of how nuts the other people can be out there.
 
#5 ·
not to argue, but i watched it several times and couldn't tell if the driver was on a phone. i never saw a phone, and can't definitively say the person is even looking down. and as for the headlights, they should be on at this point, but it looks like the sun had just recently started to set and there are a lot of lights on the road so the driver might not have realized it was dark enough already for theirs to be on and that everyone else already had theirs on. i'm willing to give this person some benefit of the doubt rather than want to take away their license for a few years.
 
#8 ·
It is super hard to see in the video because I just briefly glanced at him and in the dark the GoPro is not the best. However this was at 6:15AM, the sun was rising. I have no idea how long he was driving, but it pitch black about 20 min before this.

People have always been distracted while driving: playing with the radio, looking at maps, Ham Radio and CB radio owners, looking for an address. The difference is people where not trying to hide what they were doing back then. When I first started driving back in the '70s I surprized myself a few times while looking at a map, and suddenly realizing I had not been 'looking' out the windshield for several seconds, but I was driving just fine. You can drive pretty well with your perpihial vision. Try it some time when you are a passenger in a car. Stare at the rear view mirror and see how much you can catch out the windshield.
There is some truth to this, but I am fine with a no tolerance rule as well. Driving is a privilege not a right.
 
#6 ·
This is a great example of a person who should have their DL revoked and be forced to ride the bus for a few years.



Driving his big Dodge truck in the dark on the freeway with no headlights, not even DRL's, and staring down at his phone.



I don't think he ever knew I was there at any point in this video. It is hard to see, but he was looking down at his phone as I passed, just oblivious.



https://youtu.be/Y8p-lWIe1w0


I agree, sheesh! Unfortunately I see this a lot at work which is why I go through citation books quickly. Thanks for sharing this with us.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#7 · (Edited)
I think Klurejr is saying he was clearly able to see the driver was looking down at something (phone), but it does not show well on the video.

When the low light AGC kicks on with video cameras the resolution and frame rate slows down and you are no longer getting full HD video.

I can clearly tell when a driver coming the other way is looking down at a phone, even when they are wearing glasses and you cant see their eyes - its the way they tip their head.

I think in many cases it would be better if we let people dial their phones and look at them while driving, as long as they hold the phone up by the windshield and have SOME peripheral vision out the windshield.
The way that everyone is holding their phones down on their lap while driving is taking a bad situation and making it worse, because they are trying to hide it.

People have always been distracted while driving: playing with the radio, looking at maps, Ham Radio and CB radio owners, looking for an address. The difference is people where not trying to hide what they were doing back then. When I first started driving back in the '70s I surprized myself a few times while looking at a map, and suddenly realizing I had not been 'looking' out the windshield for several seconds, but I was driving just fine. You can drive pretty well with your perpihial vision. Try it some time when you are a passenger in a car. Stare at the rear view mirror and see how much you can catch out the windshield.
 
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#9 ·
I have a 2 meter, 70cm and 10 meter radio in my truck. The difference in radios and cell phones is that radios are not full duplexing such as a phone. Other operators know mobiles do not answer calls immediately meaning you pause and leave breaks for emergency traffic and other operators can break in which is what you are supposed to do.
You should have punched his mirror and broke it.
 
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#10 ·
So you are not working CW on 80 meters on the highway at 80mph?!

Ive had my license since 1980, but have not owned any equipment in decades.
 
#11 ·
No I leave HF for at home. Just tuning them can be a daunting task. Funny thing is, my Kenwood ts440 came with a mobile mounting bracket.
My mobiles you can control just about everything on the Mic so I do not have to look at the display and take my eyes off the road.
 
#12 ·
you reminded me I renewed my license back in August and never got anything in the mail

went on the FCC website - you have to down load the document and print it yourself now.

Its funny, in the 40 years that Ive had my ham radio license, Ive never actually had to show it to anyone.

It might as well be a license to own Unicorns.
 
#14 ·
I got mine when I was in college for my BSEE degree, so it was easy to get the advanced class.

Really not into CW, so never bothered for extra class.
 
#15 ·
Yeah I am not into cw either. Usually phone and used to do psk.
I have a 440 repeater connected to a computer to do IRLP. Usually connected to east coast reflector.
All these people that use cell phones and text messaging can thank the amateur radio community for that technology.
 
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#16 · (Edited)
The thing i liked the most was SSB DX with just 100W on the antenna.

I talked to a guy at the South Pole research station for an hour one night from Buffalo, on 15 or 20 meters. We had a great conversation, and people kept trying to cut in to get a QSL card from him. He kept telling them to bugger off, we're talking here.

He was telling me about the 300 degree club (hot tub, outside, back in the hot tub...) and the 3 laps around the Earth race on the first day of spring.

The internet has taken the shine off of DX. Its not the same by a long stretch, but here we are talking to people all over the world like its nothing. Getting a good clear contact with Australia use to really be something to get excited about.
 
#18 ·
Im getting a sign from Bevo...

whats that? Oh, we have to break for a commercial.

After these messages we'll be right back!

:^O
 
#20 ·
Because you can send a message and do not have to get instant reply.
If you receive a message, you can answer it at your leisure.
You can also communicate without disturbing others such as a doctors office, waiting at an oil change shop etc.
 
#21 ·
Because you can send a message and do not have to get instant reply.
...
that is the best application on the surface. We were talking about amateur radio, beginners use to only be allowed use Morse code, and you had to get a general license to be able to use the voice bands. Text messaging is like that.

But the thing that has twisted it all around backwards is kids get a text message, and feel they have to text back RIGHT NOW, no matter what they are doing or where they are.
 
#24 ·
what makes you think all Discipline needs to be physical?

Each child will require a different way to deal with their personality.

For me it was spankings, nothing else worked. For my bull-dog brother spankings had no effect, my parents had to ground him, take away things he wanted. Perhaps your friends with the mean kid just need to try a different tactic. We are all products of our environment.

This thread has now gone way off-topic and I apologize for that.
 
#25 ·
There are countries on Earth where the punishment for certain crimes is to get 'spanked' with a cane.

Wonder if that would work to stop people from texting and driving with their headlights off?

It does stop people from spitting gum on the sidewalk in Singapore.
 
#27 · (Edited)
so its ok (legal) to spank children, but its not ok to spank an adult?!

Last time I was in Singapore we use to stop in a Starbucks to use the free wifi to check our email and facetime back home. I always got a cup of coffee or a danish or something just to be a nice guy.

One morning we left there to take the subway, my coffee was hot and I was drinking it slow, didnt really even want it. There were no trash cans at the entrance to the subway station, or on the platform were we waited for the train.

Right after we got on the train, my co-worker pointed to the sign below: !!!

I looked sideways and a local guy was giving me the stink eye!

I gulped that hot coffee down, folded up the cup and put it in my pocket, and apologized as best I could to the offended passenger.

So yes: $500 for drinking coffee on the subway, a public caning for spitting out gum, but I also understand prostitution is legal in Singapore. Its all a matter of culture.

And BTW, Singapore has a higher standard of living than the USA. I met several people who went there on a business trip, and decided to stay.

What was that about the ACLU again?!
 

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