[Arainach]

>I don't text at red lights.

Why is this a problem? My car is at a complete stop and is not legally allowed to proceed. What's the threat? Doing things while moving (even creeping along in stop/go traffic), sure, I'll agree, but stopped at a light?

[robotresearcher]

If your head is down in the car, you lose track of what's going on outside and have to reaquire situational awareness from scratch when you 'wake up'. That takes longer at best, and you may miss something important at worst.

Small things like bikes and pedestrians are frequently occluded and you may miss the glimpses of them you needed to predict their future trajectory.

We could argue about the absolute importance of this effect, but it's definitely real.

[bobbylarrybobby]

Especially when you don’t notice the light has changed, someone honks at you, and now you have half a second to reacquaint yourself with what’s going on in front of you before stepping on the gas. I see many drivers looking down (presumably at their phone) at a red light who get honked at and almost immediately take off without any safety checks. If, say, a child had run out in front of the car, that child would get run over.

[diggan]

The problem is not texting itself, it's not paying attention to your surroundings, while moving or standing still.

If you're sitting at a red light fiddling with the stereo, the light turns green but you missed it, so the person behind you honks, chances are you'll start moving forward without actually being fully aware of the scene in front of you. And if there is someone in front of you, you could hit them. So why take the chance? Always pay attention to your surroundings.

[darkpicnic]

Man, this is why self-driving cars can’t come soon enough. Everyone else’s replies to this already sort of answer your question, but for me this hints at the bigger issue: people don’t take driving seriously. My counter is: why do you need to be looking at your phone in a car? What text is so important that you can’t pull over and read it? Why give up the situational awareness that is absolutely required to safely operate a machine that can kill people?

Life is about trade offs and constant cost/benefit analysis. How is reading/responding to a text message slightly sooner worth the decrease in situational awareness and possible accident involving a 2 ton vehicle?

I think we have normalized the dangers of driving a vehicle to the point where we sort of just shrug at the monumental number of vehicular deaths. I’m confident that when my kid is an adult, he’ll look at us with astonishment when we say we used to drive vehicles around, poorly trained, staring at phones, half-drunk, kind of paying attention sometimes, a bit sleepy and it was not only legal but _normal_. It’ll be like us hearing about how our great-grandparents had a 2 year old work dangerous farm equipment alone. You think “How the hell did anyone survive?”

[diggan]

> It’ll be like us hearing about how our great-grandparents had a 2 year old work dangerous farm equipment alone. You think “How the hell did anyone survive?”

This reminds me of a old news article from Sweden I came across some weeks ago. The headline was something like "Driver crashed into house, judge released him without any fines because he was drunk so couldn't properly control the car"

In the context of the modern world, it's hilarious. But one could wonder how that news headline was reacted to back in the day.

Edit: Actually found it, I was barely right, still funny (https://teknikensvarld.se/nyheter/bil-och-trafik/rattfulls-d...)

> In 1928, a materially serious car accident occurred on the national road between Örkelljunga and Åsljunga.

> It was an Örkelljunga resident who drove over a merchant from Skånes Fagerhult.

> At the subsequent trial in Klippan, it was said that Örkelljungabon, who was the cause of the accident, received a mitigating sentence because he had drunk brandy and therefore had difficulty controlling.

[darkpicnic]

Hilarious. Thanks for sharing!