is because if you get hit by someone texting they will blame you.
That is a true statement. If someone that's over the legal limit is stopped at a stop sign and someone texting read ends them they will blame the person that's legally impaired. The texter will likely get off scot free.
This doesn't mean the impaired person should get off. They are guilty of DUI and should be punished.
On the other hand the texter, that actually caused the accident to begin with, should definitely be punished. After all, they caused the accident. They were driving distracted.
I'm not going to get into what constitutes DUI here. That's been determined by law. I will go so far to say that unless a driver is seriously impaired they generally pose a lesser danger than someone that drives distracted all the time. More often than not, the mildly impaired driver is paying serious attention to his driving simply because he doesn't want to get caught. They will not speed and they will carefully stop at stop signs. Bombed out of your mind is a separate issue.
In any number of cases distracted driving is as bad or even worse than a low level DUI. It ought to be punished severely. Over the years I've seen too much distracted driving, most of it phone related.
Years ago with a flip phone it was no big deal taking a call while driving on a light to moderate traffic Interstate. You'd hold the phone to your ear while keeping your head on a swivel.
Enter the smart phone that has the ability to text, email, take pictures and God only knows what else. There's plenty of room for distraction with a smart phone in your pocket, although the bulk of it is not very important at all. Then ought to make a lot of people be required to place their phones in the trunk of their cars before they get in the driver's seat.
Then there's the busybodies. Enter stage left. The ones I like are the people that drive around taking pictures of other drivers doing something wrong and post them on social media.
"This guy was driving 60 in a 30 zone!" said one post.
When I asked why they were taking pictures while driving they claimed their passenger took the picture.
So I asked them why not only was the steering wheel in the picture but the top of the speedometer that showed THEM driving 60 to keep up with the speeder.
Delete.
While I'm at it, I just got $20 richer because I bet someone I could post a simple true statement on Nextdoor and get the usual suspects up in arms.
He said he'd take the bet so long as it had nothing to do with Donald Trump.
I posted 'Do not drink and drive because if you get hit by a driver that is texting they will blame you.'
ZING! Sure enough the usual suspects came out in numbers and I got $20 richer.
Frankly I think he took the bet planning on losing the bet. I think he was just looking for the entertainment.
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