Rear Ended by a Texting Driver (Again)

[Mad_Marx]

So there I was sitting at a red light, minding my own business, when "WHAM" a lady who was too busy texting to watch the road plowed into the back of me (just like the lady that hit me in my 86 DLX). This time I was driving my 1967 Chevrolet K20, with the bed full of firewood (Oak). I barely felt a thing, and managed to walk away from this one without going to the emergency room, no whiplash or anything, guess you could say it was a competitive collision and I won. The tailgate, rear bumper, and trailer hitch will have to be replaced, and the frame rails where the trailer hitch mounts will have to be straightened. My pickup was drivable, her SUV was damaged beyond function and had to be hauled off on a flatbed.
She didn't even say so much as "sorry", and went right back to her phone after we got off the street and into a parking lot (I had to call the police).

Is it just me, or is inattentive driving becoming a bigger cause of collisions?

Stay safe out there!

M_M

[dlb]

is that the other driver, texting in the last picture? holy mother of hell, i would have been flipping out on them. is using cell phones while driving still legal where you are? it's illegal here. people still do it but the laws have curbed it quite a bit, for sure.

glad you're alright, mark. sorry about the crappy luck.

[Mad_Marx]

Yep, that's her, still texting.... She was so unbelievably entitled, I really had to struggle to maintain, I wish I had video. She even tried lying to the police about what happened.

Texting while driving is illegal here (Ironically the law got passed one year to the day after my DLX was destroyed).

[ARCHINSTL]

Well - at least her vehicle suffered worse damage than yours.
Did she admit to the police that she'd been texting? If not - what was her excuse?
Interesting to see her insurance company's reaction to the police report.
Tom M.

[Mark]

I've been in Houston, Texas for the last few weeks and I'm pretty sure driving while texting/surfing Facebook/etc. is legal here because it seems everyone does it. I've seen so many accidents on the freeways since I've been here (an average of 2 a day). 3 days ago, a car up ahead changed lanes without looking and hit the side of a police car. I really had to slam on the brakes for that one. On the same day, I was stopped at a light and the guy next to me was on Facebook on his phone and didn't realize he wasn't pressing hard enough on the brake. I looked over wondering why he was moving forward at a red light and saw what he was doing. He hit the car ahead of him (fortunately at a very low speed). I see lots of people looking at their phones at high speeds on busy freeways here. It's pretty nerve-wracking driving next to them. It's ironic that I feel relief driving next to a big rig truck since I assume there's a better chance they'll be paying attention to what they're doing. I've been to Austin and San Antonio here as well, but the drivers don't seem as bad there. I assume not putting your phone down for more than 10 minutes is a Houston thing. I haven't heard or seen much of a backlash against it here so I doubt laws against it are in the works.

[lannvouivre]

It is legal in TX.

[BaileySims]

It is legal in TX.

All of tx? I could have sworn they passed a law here in El paso some time ago. People still do it though. I had man close calls while riding my motorcycle. Had to bust a few mirrors back in the day.

[Mad_Marx]

@ARCHINSTL: I believe the citation was "inattentive driving". I don't know exactly what she admitted to with the police (they had us separated).
Her insurance company contracted a 3rd party to do the estimates on my vintage pickup. They also contacted me and asked for a recorded statement about what happened. On the advice of my legal council I declined to make a statement and referred them to the police report for details. I'm concerned about the damage done to the frame of my pickup, the trailer hitch acted like a lever and bent the frame rails downward at a 45%-ish angle. I'm wondering if the bed will have to be removed to do a proper repair. Fortunately I can get a New (reproduction) tailgate and bumper.

@Mark: The law doesn't seem to be enforced much here. I can stand in my front yard and watch a dozen people a day drive by while texting or web surfing, but I live in a crap part of town and we also have a speeding problem that the police refuse to enforce. (Skip to the end if you don't want to read the Grumpy Old Man rant that follows) Keep in mind this is a residential neighborhood with a mix of houses and duplexes, but we also have a day care and a church at one end of the street, the speed limit is 20mph. The first 5 years I lived in my house I would call them about once a month to request radar enforcement, they always brushed me off or gave me some line about how they didn't have enough cars in my area. Eventually, they parked one of those Radar trailers at one end of the block. I think people were using it for competition, I got a copy of the data from the trailer. Over a two week period it showed an average sped or 40mph and tracked a vehicle traveling at 65mph every day at the same time of day for the entire duration of the data collection. Eventually I gave up, and let my neighbors with kids and dogs know that they might want to be concerned.
I had a close friend lose her brother-in-law to a head on collision from a texting driver a couple of years ago. It seems like a big enough problem that the automotive industry, or some enterprising start up, could develop a solution that saves lives and maybe even turn a buck in the process. I sure would like to see what the texts said from my last 2 experiences getting rear ended. ??? "OMG I'm about to destroy a T4" ???
I really think a collision as a result of Texting, Web Surfing, or whatever electronic device distraction... should follow a driver like a DUI.

[splatterdog]

Whiplash! Too bad her airbag didn't knock the phone down her throat.

Texters scare me more than drunks.

A parts runner told me how he messes with texters at stop lights. The only bad part is there can be innocents involved. Anyway, when he sees someone buried in their phone he will start to roll forward. The texters peripheral vision says green light! Get the picture?

A customers chev truck recently got totaled by a wrong way driver. The wrong way guy actually told the cop, I was only following the gps on my phone(like it wasn't his fault). So he got a ticket for wrong way driving and distracted driving, not to mention an unfavorable accident report.

The police have actually been enforcing distracted driving laws lately. Even got to see a ticket issued right in front of my house. It looked like she immediately texted someone about it! haha