Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge cell death

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Oh and this is not so much a cell phone or yard work rant as another SUV driving idiot not paying attention rant. Way too many of those critters here.

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I think this story is just an illustration of a collection of things that make it more and more dangerous to be on a bike (or apparently, mowing the lawn)..

The first is people increasingly finding things to distract them from driving. Your car is NOT a phone booth, a movie theater, a restaurant, a hair salon, a bathroom, a coffee shop, or a reading room. Sure, MOST of us are able to take a sip of our coffee or nibble on a bag of chips while driving. But the last time I was almost run down on my bicycle, the driver had to take BOTH his hands off his cheeseburger to grab the wheel and swerve. As he passed me, the look of panic on his face was punctuated by the cheeseburger hanging out of his mouth like a giant beige/brown tongue. As far as cell phones, there a VERY few reasons to take a call in the car. With voicemail, there are almost NONE (if your wife is in her 9th month and ready to pop, that's a reasonable excuse... otherwise, let it go to voicemail).

The other problem is that with everyone driving MUCH more car than they need, there is what I call a sense of 'detachment from the road'. As everyone here knows, if you are the most vulnerable vehicle on the road, you notice EVERYTHING. Is that guy in the turn lane going to cut in front of me? Is that dog in the un-fenced yard going to run in front of me or chase me? etc... On the other side of that, if you are 5 feet above traffic in a sound proof chamber, you notice MUCH less. I'm not saying everyone should drive a Smartcar or a Mini. You need what you need. If you have a farm or even acres of land to maintain, you may need an F350. If you spend your weekends 4-wheeling through waist-deep mud, a Hummer might be the best choice for you... If on the other hand, you've got a hummer that's never seen dirt (and probably never will), you should probably find another way to compensate for your feelings of inadequacy.

When you couple these things together and have a soccer mom driving a giant sound-proof tank and talking on the phone while applying make-up... That's more dangerous than a drunk driver, and a MUCH more frequent sight on the road.



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