Outside The Media. Beyond the News. Live from Greensboro, NC.

So there was a crash between two trolleys up in Boston the other day, injuring 50 people. The cause? A trolley operator was too busy texting his girlfriend, since his attempt to call her moments before had not gone through.

W

T

F

?????

This business of texting people WHILE DRIVING totally boggles my mind. I actually saw some idiot doing that on the interstate the other day. I could not believe it. This guy is zipping along at over 70 mph in a vehicle that was well over a ton... he's less than 5 ft away from me, and he's concentrating on the words on his little Blackberry and only occasionally glancing at the road in front of him.

What could POSSIBLY be important enough for these people to risk their lives and the lives of countless people around them... just to be able to keep in instant touch at all times?

I thought the NTSB banned texting by train personnel in response to the in crash in CA last fall?

eddiebuckle wrote:I thought the NTSB banned texting by train personnel in response to the in crash in CA last fall?

They may have. And apparently, Boston had banned cell phone use by their mass transit operators as well, but it doesn't seem to be really effective.

Now, I will say that I'm all for being able to use cell phones in cars -- so long as they aren't used in a way that distracts from the top priority of keeping from crashing. I use a bluetooth, in case someone wants to call me. But if I ever feel the need to call of text someone, I pull off the road so that I don't have to drive distracted.

I would have thought that such a concept -- making sure you're as safe as you can be while you drive -- would have been a "no-brainer." Apparently, that isn't quite the case.

People are people.... I've caught myself driving off the road tinkering with the GPS on occasion.... we're just dumb monkeys.

Yeah, my stupid GPS insists on me touching the tiny "I Agree" button that follows a page full of legal warnings about using the GPS while driving. This comes up every time you start driving. Go figure.

A Person wrote:Yeah, my stupid GPS insists on me touching the tiny "I Agree" button that follows a page full of legal warnings about using the GPS while driving. This comes up every time you start driving. Go figure.

That's just the company making sure that the driver is held responsible for whatever stupid st!t he does while trying to fiddle with the little distracting gizmos in the car.

I got a cell phone call recently while in the city, so I pulled over to answer it - only to have a traffic warden tap on my window and demand that I put money in the meter.

Should have said...

"It's for you..."

The thoughtful folk at moonbattery.com are blaming the crash on affirmative action

Affirmative Action Transfreakazoid Crashes Boston Trolley

There's a price to be paid for moonbattery. Costs for this debacle will start at $9.6 million:

The Boston-area transit authority trolley driver who allegedly slammed into another train while text-messaging his [sic] girlfriend Friday was hired as a minority because of his [sic] transgendered "female-to-male" status and had three speeding tickets on his [sic] driving record in recent years, ABC News has learned.
Aiden Quinn, 24, was born Georgia Quinn and boasts on an Internet networking site that he [sic] was one of the first transgender hires by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.
The trolley driver lists his [sic] sexual orientation as "FTM" and was hired as a minority using his [sic] transgender status, two sources told ABC News.
"[Quinn] was initially hired as a minority and used her transgender status,'' an MBTA source said today. …
The Green Line trolley Quinn was driving rear-ended another trolley that was stopped between two underground stations in downtown Boston on Friday night, injuring 46 people, and he [sic] told police he [sic] was texting at the time of the crash, officials said.
Three of four trolley cars were crushed and MBTA officials estimated the cost of damages from the crash at $9.6 million.

No doubt the ensuing lawsuits will make $9.6 million look like an Obama budget cut. But that's okay, taxpayers have plenty of money.

Despite being sexually correct from the viewpoint of our moonbat masters, Quinn may not be the ideal person to put at the controls of a streetcar:

Federal investigators have said the crash was not caused by mechanical problems, but was a result of the operator running through a red light and a yellow light before the collision.
"Then the train encountered a yellow signal and a red signal. The point of collision occurred 80 feet past the red signal," NTSB board member Debbie Hersman told Boston ABC affiliate WCVB.
Officials said the trolley Quinn was driving was traveling at 25 mph when it hit the waiting train. They said it was not clear whether Quinn was braking, but if he [sic] wasn't, the idling train would have been visible for at least 13 seconds before it was struck.

We'll never know how many competent and responsible people were passed over so that the operator job could go to a pervert of political privilege.

There is no suggestion of why being trans-sexual would predispose someone to use their cellphone while driving. And they conveniently left off the last sentence:

If it turns out to be true that Quinn was texting his girlfriend at the time of the crash, he would be at least the 10th driver guilty of the offense in the last year.

At least nine other bus and trolley drivers have been suspended in the last year for texting or talking on their cell phones while driving.

Which does inconveniently disprove their thesis.

I know I see a LOT of people driving with their phones jammed to the side of their heads. It can't be only liberals involved in it. Not in THIS state.

They must all be trans-sexuals.

A Person wrote:The thoughtful folk at moonbattery.com are blaming the crash on affirmative action

Affirmative Action Transfreakazoid Crashes Boston Trolley........

We'll never know how many competent and responsible people were passed over so that the operator job could go to a pervert of political privilege.

I can use this stuff as a perfect example of hate speech with my Residents (some of whom don't understand what that concept means).

Questioner wrote:

A Person wrote:The thoughtful folk at moonbattery.com are blaming the crash on affirmative action

Affirmative Action Transfreakazoid Crashes Boston Trolley........

We'll never know how many competent and responsible people were passed over so that the operator job could go to a pervert of political privilege.

I can use this stuff as a perfect example of hate speech with my Residents (some of whom don't understand what that concept means).

Well, it's an obvious, sledge-hammer sort of example. For more subtle, real-life examples, you'll have to search elsewhere.

SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:Well, it's an obvious, sledge-hammer sort of example. For more subtle, real-life examples, you'll have to search elsewhere.

Yes, but they might not "get" subtle. This, anyone should recognize.

I'm Hungeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.....

NEEDHAM, Mass. (AP) -- A Massachusetts man may wish he had breakfast in bed instead of in his car. Police said a man who was stopped for erratic driving on Central Avenue last week was eating a bowl of cereal and milk while he drove. He told officers he was hungry.

Lt. John Schlittler told The Boston Globe that the 48-year-old man, whose name was not released, was also driving with an expired license. The man has been cited for unlicensed operation, failure to stay in lanes and operating to endanger.

Schlittler didn't know what kind of cereal the driver was eating.

Wasn't lucky charms, that's for sure.

LOL. I saw that this morning. It's never hard to find a story about someone who drives worse than you. Well, almost never. If you're this guy, it's kind of hard indeed.

I can drive a straight gear and eat a fully loaded Whopper without ruining my shirt. I once attempted the same feat with a Hardee's Six Dollar Burger. My shirt was splotched, but I did not wreck.

I've been a participant in sexual intercourse while driving.... So I guess, I can't talk.

Ah - but did your shirt get splotched?

Don't remember... of course thats why you always keep a spare set in the car. Poor Fecund sounds as though he hasn't learned that lesson yet.

Teen Girl Falls In Open Manhole While Texting

NEW YORK (CBS) ―It was an accident waiting to happen -- an open sewer and a 15-year-old girl who was texting while she walked.

Alexa Longueira, a high school sophomore, was walking along Victory Boulevard near Travis Avenue on Staten Island Wednesday evening when she felt the earth move and was plunged into smelly darkness. via

The other day I saw the new Iphone App for tube stations... and thought "How Stupid" people will be looking into their phone the whole time.... I said "they could fall into a gutter, or run out into a car"

[youtubevideo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fZk0HaIs4s[/youtubevideo]

Oh dear heavens!!!! Texting while driving???? We have a number here in Colorado that we can call to notify the State Patrol of a driver doing something really dangerous. Several drivers have been stopped and arrested because somebody notified the police of really bad driving. (Of course, one hopes the caller had a voice dial and headset setup to make that call). I would certainly be tempted to use that number if I saw somebody texting whilst driving 70 mph on I-25!!!

I shake my head every time I hear about people texting while driving. Not only is it incredibly stupid, OBVIOUSLY stupid, but it endangers both the texter and all those within range of the 1.5 ton projectile he or she is using to play Russian Roulette with.

So last night, I was listening to WFDD report on this new law. They interviewed some folks and played two responses on the air. One woman said, "I consider myself a good texter. So I plan to keep on texting while I drive."

Seriously... driving is complex enough. And dangerous enough. My first question to those who think nothing of texting while they drive is "how can you actually believe you can spot and react in time to ANY emergency around you while you're looking at you bloody phone and tapping buttons?"

My second question is (one that really is for ALL people who use their phones for text messaging) "what makes you think that text messages HAVE to be responded to the moment they arrive on your phone?" I've seen people texting while in public restrooms, in the middle of meetings, while driving down the Interstate at 75 mph. Why can't you view text messages like emails (I know -- some people just HAVE to answer emails the second they arrive in the ol' inbox)??

I dunno, but it sure looks to me like we have no clue how to act sensibly around the technology that we've created.

My message for all people who text and drive: PLEASE only do it when no one else is around you, so that when you run off the road, hit a tree and die, you'll only be killing yourself.

Texting while using the restroom? OMFG how dangerous is that! Are they completely unaware of the need to use at least one hand to aim? They're not only a danger to their own pants but those of everyone else in range of their 5" weapon.

It's a lot better than talking on a cellphone while in a cubicle. That's really annoying.


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Granted, the texting in the restroom is just plain creepy. Society really seems to be lagging behind in the whole realm of etiquette regarding cell phone usage. Certainly, things that seem "sensible" to me don't appear to enter others' thoughts.

But the issue of driving while texting isn't a matter of politeness. It's a matter of safety. One that I would have thought would not even be an issue, if people took some time to think about it. Sadly, it seems to be a universal thing that an awful lot of people don't even consider safety while they drive.

I hope they issue a LOT of tickets for this over the coming weeks. Might end up providing significant help toward solving the budget issues in the state.