http://www.theage.com.au/national/absentminded-drivers-to-blame-for-crashes-20080820-3ylr.html
“Absent-mindedness is to blame for more crashes on Victorian roads than speeding, fatigue and drink-driving combined, research shows.”
A crash for them represents insurance wrangling and demerit points. But for cyclists it means hospital time or worse.
Boring anecdote and social hand-wringing follows
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a woman spend an extra 10 seconds waiting at a light that had changed from red to green. I peered into the cabin to see if she’d had a stroke or something, but it was because she was texting.
Am I supposed to be grateful that she’s not doing it while she was driving, well, she’s still driving even if the car’s stationary …
Or should I give in to the RED MIST and explode in an apoplectic fury, open her door, snatch the phone and smash it on the road? This would remove the temptation to text while driving - until the phone is replaced, at least. This is what I felt like doing, until I had a Hicks-esque ‘But Bill, that’s mean!’ self-check. And then I started making excuses, oh, maybe she was just checking to see what the time was, maybe it was a missed calll, blah blah. I wonder how many people I would have reached, down the track, as she related her experience to friends at work, or her family, about the time that crazy cyclist broke her phone, and what effect that might have.
