Have you all seen this? Hines Ward suspected of a DUI. But he SWEARS he wasn’t impaired by alcohol and by all reports, he cooperated fully with the arresting officers and was very apologetic. As of now, we don’t know the results of the tests that were taken at the scene so we’ll soon know.
But I did a little more looking and came up with this on his Twitter page. Then this on his Facebook wall. So, the new rumor is he wasn’t drunk but he was texting. Which he seems to think is okay and he shouldn’t be charged with anything.
I had the unfortunate task of telling my mom this winter that I really felt she shouldn’t be driving anymore. It was by far one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do but it got brought up by her and I was just honest. She’s got macular degeneration and she can’t see out the center of her eyes. She can see “around the edges” but not head on. So if someone was standing right in front of her car, she wouldn’t see that person but if a person was standing to the right of left of her center, she’d be able to see. She tried arguing with me that she could see “well enough.” Well that just got me started and I told her she was no better than a drunk driver or a driver who just smoked a joint or someone on any other drug. Well, that didn’t sit well with her and she did give up driving.
Does it really matter “how” you kill someone with your car? Does it matter if you’re texting? Or talking on your phone or if you’re drunk or on drugs? Is it okay if you’re looking at your radio or flipping channels or lighting a cigarette? What makes it okay to kill someone with your car? If someone would have killed one of my boys by running them over with their car, I probably wouldn’t have given a rat’s ass WHY! They’d still be dead no matter what the person was doing who took their eyes off the road and killed my child. Who really thinks they’re so self-important that they feel they can text or be on the phone while operating a dangerous vehicle? Of course those who do it claim “I’m really good at it” or think it doesn’t apply to them.
What do you all think? Would it matter to you if someone hit your child with a car and killed them, what they were doing at the time? Would it matter to you what “excuse” they used?
Us Girls..Our Views 
I think if I would hear that the person was drunk or texting etc. I would try my best to let that person pay big time. And by pay I mean do time in prison for a very, very long time. It is murder to me.
Well, I might actually be more angry at the person if he was sober but texting. At least if you’re drunk, you can say you didn’t think through the risks. If you’re sober and you decide to do something that occupies your eyes, hands, and brain for more than a very brief moment, you are intentionally endangering me and mine.
But to be honest, my opinion might depend on whether the person was all alone on the road, or sharing it with other cars, pedestrians, etc. If you’re driving along in a place where taking your eyes off the road isn’t going to hurt anyone except maybe yourself, then I’m not going to lose my mind over a momentary swerve. I sometimes want to see if I’ve received an anticipated email while I’m driving, but I’ll first check my surroundings and decide whether it’s safe or wether I should wait until I get stopped at a redlight.
I totally agree with you about the desolate area’s you’re sometimes in. While I still would never text no matter what while I was driving, I would answer my phone or voice dial out and make a call like that. But I’d never do that while in any traffic. I’m scatterbrained enough without trying to do this kind of thing while driving.
I often wonder, as I see all these people driving down the road with phones attached to their heads, how did they exist ten years ago? How did the business boom happen in the ’80’s without texting, cellphones, and the like? It amazes me how quickly we have each become so incredibly indispensable in our own minds. We cannot be out of touch for more than five minutes without getting twitchy.
I have friends who will sit at tables, texting away, and not think a single thing is wrong with it. I see pictures on friends’ FB pages that they took *of themselves* while they were rocketing down the road. I pray that a police officer catches them before they drive off and kill themselves.
As the wife of a man who injured himself while driving incapacitated, I can say that it made me absolutely furious. Yes, it was a one-vehicle accident. He didn’t destroy any other lives…. besides ours. Our whole life was turned completely inside out and upside down because of his stupidity. So I can’t see any reason at all for any of it. And I’m saying that, knowing that I have an earpiece in the truck, and I use it occasionally while I’m driving. But I try not to. If a text comes in, it can wait. If a person is calling, the earpiece goes on, or the call goes to VM. I am not that important that the call can’t wait a few minutes until I get where I can stop.
I often wonder how people managed without a cell phone too. Don’t get me wrong, I love my phone and I take it with me everywhere I go. Now even if I go running/walking, I take it with me. I play the music on it so I don’t need to use headphones. Headphones have always hurt my ears and I can’t even us an iPod. They are quite handy those cell phones (when you know how to use them). I particularly love it for Facebook and I like the games on it when I’m sitting in the waiting room waiting for my mom. Lately, I love my phone more and more but I’m really using it as a computer and NOT to talk to people. If I’m texting, I’m not driving.
Yesterday my phone rang while I was right in the middle of the town I take my mom for her appointments and she said “who’s that?” I told her I didn’t know and she asked me what I was going to do and I said nothing. I told her I’d see who it was when I got to Cub and I’d check in the parking lot. There’s no way I can driving in traffic and talk on the phone at the same time. I don’t feel it’s safe. I know other people do it but I don’t.
You crack me up with your comment on the “one armed” photo’s that people take of themselves. It still kills me that in today’s time, with timers and all, why people take photo’s of themselves. Seriously. Then of course “everyone” says, “but when I do it you can’t tell! Well, for your information, I can. The shoulders are off. You can tell. Timers people or wait till someone comes home and have some take a really nice one of you.
No excuse will bring a child, mother, sister, brother…back. I do feel that it should be charged as manslaughter. Doing anything that requires you to take your eyes, attention off the road is thoughtless, and just plain stupid. People who text while driving are on the top of my list for being smacked right up side the head-with full force! Smack some sense into them, maybe!
I don’t talk on the phone while I’m in the car driving. I don’t text anyhow but there’s no way I’d ever even think about doing that.
It doesn’t really matter what a person is doing at the time of an accident… the damage is still done and CANNOT be undone. A life is lost, a person is maimed and it’s forever! Some things heal over time, others do not. Drinking, texting, anything that shows a total lack of respect for others in the area should result in loss of driving privileges Death, loss of the use of someone’s body should be prosecuted as the violent crime it is, because doing those things while driving is a choice people make. It shows a total disregard for life!
NO ONE is soooo important that a message, call, etc. can’t wait until it can be safely done. I rarely use the phone in anyway while driving. It can wait until I can park and use the phone safely or if I’m driving with someone they can answer the phone if it’s a family member.
To be honest, as far as my cell phone goes, the majority of my calls are incoming. I have a plan that includes 700 min @ month, and rarely use 60 min. Anything incoming is free. I don’t text because it’s too impersonal. Want to tell me something? Call me. I’ll return the call when it’s safe. Seeing all the texting people do nowadays just plain ticks me off.
It ticks me off too Phyllis!!!! I cuss at them every time. I might be the only one hearing it sometimes, but I can’t help myself!
The kind of texting I do is strictly for fun and is done from home. Every now and then I’ll text Toby at work if I need to ask something and don’t want to bother him OR get hung up on the phone with the secretary. OR family members. Bailey or a few cousins I have that I test but I’d NEVER do it while driving. I will answer my phone if I’m near my home where I could travel 12 miles and only see a deer, turkey or pheasant. Otherwise, it’s like you said. I wait till I get home or where it’s safe to pull over.
Yeah, texting is basically as bad as drinking when done in a car. I honestly don’t care what the excuse is, though. People should be more careful while driving and realize that what they’re driving is a freaking WEAPON.