Is texting while driving the same as Twittering? Pdxcommute,part of Trip check Oregon, is now condoning texting while driving.

http://twitter.com/pdxcommute/

I wonder which 20 something department head thought up this wonderful idea. We need more people not paying attention while driving

I agree that texting while driving is (could be...) as bad as DUII.

But I do see a can of worms (slippery slope?) here.

I (as do you) have an iPhone. There are 100s of apps, but I only use a very few while driving. Here is my question (concern?):

Which useage should be illegal while driving?

A1) hand-held phone? (no speaker phone)
A2) hand-held phone? (using speaker phone)
B) texting?
C) email, Twitter, FB, etc?
D) iPod? (music useage)
E) GPS? (I stop to input GPS co-ords, but follow the directions while driving)

I would think it should be legal to use A2, D and E.

And the enforcement issues are going to be a nightmare.

And the enforcement issues are going to be a nightmare.

Amen to that. This will take society turning against the pracitce of yapping and texting while yer supposed to be paying attention to the road.

With DUI we have that, plus sobriety tests for effective enforcement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ttNgZDZruI&feature=related

Texting is every bit as dangerous as being intoxicated if you are doing it behind the wheel. Yesterday morning I nearly got side-swiped by a woman who was texting while merging onto I-5 traffic at 60mph.

We have pretty good tort laws for negligent driving. That helps. What we need -- more, I think, than laws to enforce specific conduct inside the car -- is better driver training and more restrictive licensing. Driving is a dangerous activity. It requires the driver's mostly undivided attention.

It all falls under driving while distracted law. Just use the catchall law and allow police to use it as a primary reason to pull people over. Other then that, only way any to enforce such laws is to get the moron to admit what they were doing after the accident.

Utah has the right idea.

Actually the cell network will usually out the moron.

Try these:
1. Look up phone number in outlook or gmail on blackberry while driving.
2. Read e-mail while driving
3. Muck about trying to get the speaker phone to work while driving

I do all of these. The most difficult and distracting is trying to use the speaker phone in WA.

I never write e-mail or text while driving. Is this even possible without crashing?

Actually the cell network will usually out the moron.

True, if there's injury or death involved. I doubt that investigators or insurance companies even bother to check this out if it's anything less than that.

Recently a moron fell into a manhole while walking and texting, so if this can happen at a pedestrian pace, I would think it's highly dangerous at any higher speed.

Well...I know for a fact that there is an idiot out there with an after-market video screen installed in his dashboard and he watches porn on it while driving.

Assume that AT LEAST one in ten drivers is a TOTAL MORON. Drive accordingly, or don't drive at all.

I wonder which 20 something department head thought up this wonderful idea. We need more people not paying attention while driving

That would be Adams. It was one of his campaign planks (to get people text message updates on traffic).

Yes, he's that vapid and stupid.

In my opinion, anyone who can't talk and drive at the same time is functionally retarded.
Anyone who thinks texting is ok however, needs only to drive I-5 on any given morning. You'll see countless examples of people drifting into the next lane or nearly rear-ending other cars while gazing intently at their mobile devices.