It seems that automobile crashes (and fatalities) caused by smart phone distractions are increasing. Out on the road (in mid US), I notice a lot of people on phones, and I find it alarming. There are multiple local news articles every month for car crashes.
Do you think that there are realistic actions that can be taken by every day people to help spread awareness, or better yet make impactful differences?
My ChatGPT subscription is expiring soon, and I wanted to try to use it for something useful. So I used deep research to generate an informative article related to this, and I broke into smaller web pages. You can see it here - https://no-more-distractions.info/
It’s decently written, although true, it is probably AI slop. Even so, I think it highlights some interesting information (maybe important even), and is worth skimming through at the very least.
Nothing is going to change until there are real punitive measures that are enforced as well as regulatory changes.
To drive while using one’s cellphone is to risk killing other people around you. And the punishment for doing such is usually only a couple hundred dollars, assuming you are even pulled over in the first place.
That fine needs a few more 0’s as well as the nullification of ones licence. Once people understand that getting caught while driving on the phone will financially ruin them then they might stop and think before doing it.
Agreed - people must be held accountable. Perhaps if enough people are punished severely enough through legal action and fines, then maybe others will take it more seriously. The idea of paying a fine seems to worry people more than the risk of crashing.
Any fine should be adjusted for income level.
Exactly
Certainty of punishment is much more likely to help here than severity. Severe punishments are even likely to lead to an increase in police enforcing it selectively, not citing or arresting people they decide don’t deserve it.
I think a lot of people could get on board with harsher penalties for distracted driving, but a big problem with that is evidence. It wouldn’t be easy to prove somebody was distracted by their phone.