Media Morons

In a classic case of misinterpreting data or dumbing it down to the point even Communications majors imagine they understand it, this idiot article completely misses the most important point about the boneheads who play with their cell phones while driving, “Survey finds people text and drive knowing dangers.” There are two major contradictory statements in this article:

“In an AT&T-sponsored survey of drivers who text daily — regardless of where they are — 98 percent said they were aware of the dangers of texting behind the wheel. Nonetheless, three-quarters of them admitted to texting while driving, despite broad public-service campaigns and laws against it in some states.”

and

“More than a quarter of those who texted while driving believed they ‘can easily do several things at once, even while driving.’"

I disagree with the claim that those delusional drivers that surveyed first statement are “aware” of anything. I watch those morons tailgate, wander across lane markers, panic at the slightest variation in road or traffic conditions, fail miserably at the most remedial attempts to merge in traffic, and generally display driving skills that would embarrass a dog. I do not, under any circumstances believe 98% of cell phone addicts are skilled enough to recognize any sort of danger until their vehicle is sliding over a precipice.

On the other hand, I totally agree with the second statement. I do believe these skidding down the highway of life morons absolutely believe “they can do several things at once, even while driving. The problem is that they do not do anything well. Ever. So their standards are sub-human.

Almost ironically, AT&T conducted this poll with the half-hearted side-goal of promoting their “free app that silences text message alerts and activates automatically when a person is moving 15 miles per hour or faster. (Passengers can turn it off.)” True to form, this too-big-to-fail corporation is masking their responsibility in this plague of distracted, deadly drivers with an easily bypassed app that requires the user to be sentient. We all know the solution is to force the telcoms to use existing technology to shut down all mobile communications when the phone is in motion. Fuck a lot off passengers. They can’t drink in a moving vehicle, why should they be calling anyone and distracting the driver with their inane chatter? Personally, I think the real solution is to make the telcoms partially responsible (as deep pockets) for any crash, injury, or fatality in which their service is involved. A few multi-million dollar lawsuits and they’ll suddenly do the right thing.