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This is mainly just venting.

But it is interesting how the news is spun and how things look different depending on where you stand.

Yes texting is bad while driving. We all know this. Speaking on the cell phone or eating your lunch while driving is bad, but texting is absolutely insane.

I'm sure you saw the story about the school bus accident on the highway where texting was blamed. It was the poster child for the NTSB's recent call to ban any form of cell phone use in a car.

Here is the story and the shocking photo of the school bus on top of an 18 wheeler with a pickup underneath

http://news.yahoo.com/driver-texting-mi ... 41737.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The photo does not show the second school bus that plowed into the back of the first school bus killing a young girl, someones daughter.

I wrote this on my facebook page with a link to the story.

"What I find interesting is that the texting person was not the two school bus drivers that smashed into the pick up truck and the 18 wheeler. What is their excuse, oh they are just lousy drivers."

A few days later I get an email. In the small world department, one of my very old friends who lives in Southern Missouri wrote the insurance for the driver of the first school bus, and the driver is dieing of cancer. She is a nice 75 year old lady with a perfect driving record and is dieing of cancer. The whole town is reeling from this terrible loss and I'm being an insensitive rear.

Here is a news report from the accident right after it happened.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/210547 ... two-deaths" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The Highway Patrol charges that the first bus driver (the nice old lady who is dieing of cancer) with inattention. The second bus driver who killed the young student sitting in the back of the first bus, the Highway Patrol says was following too closely.

But the NTSB says this accident was the poster child of why texting is dangerous. Do they not understand we can read more into a story than just the headline.

Where is it even mentioned that you never caravan to a destination. Had the school district required that its drivers follow that one simple rule that young girl would still be alive.

Maybe 75 is a little old to be driving a school bus full of kids on the interstate.

Ok I have vented, I will be apologetic when I reply to the email.

Lord only knows what would have happened if I said Missouri was stupid to leave the Big 12 to be the doormat of the SEC.










http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/210547 ... two-deaths" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You are right. I thought the same thing. Just like someone running a red light and killing someone who was driving drunk, the drunk is "at fault" and it's another "drunk driving death". Sober person caused the accident, drunk driver gets blamed.

I have driven a school bus, you can not let your attention drift, you must have 100% of your attention on the road, it's scary, but this is what can happen, peoples lives depend on you knowing what's going on around you...if you're worried about your health, what's for dinner, the kid in the 3rd row, what's that sound under the hood...this is what's going to happen. and these drivers undoubtedly had adults on the bus, most don't.

Unless her sex and age were factors in her wreck, they're not relevant. It sounds like one or more bus drivers were negligent and killed a child. That's the bottom line, no matter what smoke and mirrors people throw up to hide behind.

Of course the big elephant in the room that no one is mentioning is the school buses. I have never been a big fan of the yellow blue bird buses traveling on an interstate and no seat belts for anyone.

Had the now dead 19 year old texter and his pickup truck not been there, the first bus would not have had the cushion to slow it down and send it over the top of the big rig.

Apparently there was gasoline everywhere. This could have been so much worse.

just another reason to pass another law that ignorant finger-pointers will find their way around anyway .
the same people that get worked up about injustice and profiling and harassment are very quick to pass another law to be harassed about .
nevermind the facts and being responsible for ones self .

im not defending the texter , im sure he broke 3 other laws that need to be enforced before making up a new law that wont .
not sure about his state or texas but in florida you could go to jail for wreckless driving .

He's dead. I suspect a traffic ticket is the least of his worries.

Where is it even mentioned that you never caravan to a destination.

I have never heard this safety advice. What's the reason?

The only reason that I can think of is that sometimes when multiple vehicles are going to the same
place, the drivers behind the lead vehicle seem to feel that they must TAILGATE their friends, instead of
keeping a reaonable cushion.

SIA

Why did we not have this problem in the '70s when the CB radio is all the craze? I do not recall a rash of accidents that were blamed on truckers talking on CBs. Nor accidents caused by automobile drivers using CBs. Maybe we need to get "handsets" for our cell phones shaped like CB microphones :>)

That's a big 10-4 good buddy.

Maybe something like this with a different mike shape.

surprise_i'm_armed wrote:Where is it even mentioned that you never caravan to a destination.

I have never heard this safety advice. What's the reason?

The only reason that I can think of is that sometimes when multiple vehicles are going to the same
place, the drivers behind the lead vehicle seem to feel that they must TAILGATE their friends, instead of
keeping a reaonable cushion.

SIA

It was something I think I was taught by the Boy Scouts. Having ten cars all following each other is a recipe for disaster. Drivers are focused on staying together, rather than simply driving safely to the destination. One incident on the road now involves multiple cars in the troop instead of just one car. Tailgating also tends to happen just like in this incident.