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by MoonWalk 39 days ago
I find any conclusion that doesn't focus on TEXTING to be suspect.

By focusing on the wrong things (especially the endless caterwauling about "speeding"), people are letting legislators off the hook for abetting murder. Texting while driving should be a DUI-level offense, with the same penalties. But year after year, they refuse to do anything about it.
1 comments
estebank 39 days ago
What would make non-Americans text less?
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MoonWalk 39 days ago
Why non-Americans?
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estebank 39 days ago
Because the effects are explicitly called out for US roads and not other locales.

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/FDvTWy0LMt4

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MoonWalk 39 days ago
Not only does that not have anything to do with texting, but it has nothing to do with the roads. That's about giant vehicles hitting people above the waistline. If you hit someone with a tall-ass truck in Portugal, I'm pretty sure he's going to fall over just like he would in the USA.
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estebank 39 days ago
> Not only does that not have anything to do with texting, but it has nothing to do with the roads.

From both the NYT video and their article:

> And that increase is unique to the US. Most other wealthy countries haven't seen a similar surge, suggesting that possible culprits, like the raise of smartphones, don't tell the whole story.

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> If you hit someone with a tall-ass truck in Portugal, I'm pretty sure he's going to fall over just like he would in the USA.

How popular do you think the tall-ass trucks are in Portugal?

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MoonWalk 39 days ago
I didn't see that statement in the (door-shaped) video, so I'll take your word for it.

> How popular do you think the tall-ass trucks are in Portugal?

Not very, which is why I was mystified by your question. Why would we NEED special sanctions for non-Americans?

Not addressed (as far as I saw) are the penalties for texting & driving in different countries. In the USA, they're basically nonexistent.

But let's say there's no difference, and no difference in the prevalance of this behavior. Texting is still going to be far more deadly behind the wheel of a giant barge. In fact, the vehicle difference serves as a multiplier for the deadly outcomes of it.

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