On tweeting while driving. And eating babies.
From Cassie's Twitter stream Tuesday afternoon, a cautionary tale 140 characters at a time:
Tweeting a response to @B_Nut got me pulled over [on Wolf Road]. Telling the officer "I wasn't texting. I was Tweeting." is not recommended.
Officer: "License & Registration, please.""Do you know why I pulled you over?" Me: "No." O:"I saw you using your phone...
while driving w/o a headset. You're aware that texting while driving is illegal?" M: "Yes, but I wasn't texing. I was tweeting."
(Small lecture about the law from officer) "What were you tweeting about?" Me: "Eating babies." (Blank stare by officer)
O:"Eating babies? Huh. That's something I won't forget. You can go...just be careful and don't do it again." Me:"Really? Thanks!"
And that is a true story folks. Take it as a cautionary tale and via the small lecture from the officer...it's dangerous, don't do it.
It seems that Cassie might have just gotten by with a warning. The law that bans texting while driving in Albany County takes effect August 1.
Schenectady County's ban started in March -- the first TWD ticket there was issued earlier this month. A bill banning TWD has passed in both houses of the state legislature.
In related news: a study out today concludes that texting is far more distracting for drivers than dialing or talking on a phone.
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Comments
twitter bird character drawn by philip pascuzzo!
... said Aaron on Jul 28, 2009 at 3:14 PM | link
Actually, as a female, tweeting with @B_But can get you in much more trouble than a ticket, so consider yourself lucky...
... said -S on Jul 28, 2009 at 3:14 PM | link
@-S Dully noted. Thank you. :-)
... said Cassie on Jul 28, 2009 at 3:18 PM | link
Am I the only person who doesn't think this is funny? Cassie, please read the Times' stories, and please stop.
... said N on Jul 28, 2009 at 5:13 PM | link
@N I read the Times' story this morning. I'm aware that is dangerous. So is speeding, talking on your cell phone while driving, doing your makeup in the mirror, changing radio stations, talking to the person sitting next to you and many other things that plenty of people do every day while driving. No one is a perfect driver and everyone has their slip ups...including you, I'm sure. That being said, I was making light of a serious situation. The conversation was humorous and I'm sorry if you can't see that.
... said Cassie on Jul 28, 2009 at 8:05 PM | link
The first time I saw someone doing it I was flabbergasted. Then I realized a LOT of people do it, and I just can't believe it. I "affectionately" tease my friends for it, but really, I think it's crazy that anyone would ever even consider it.
... said Summer on Jul 28, 2009 at 10:10 PM | link
ROTFLMAO!!! maybe next time you'll kill a family and you can tweet about that too!!!
... said dylan on Jul 28, 2009 at 10:51 PM | link
ok. look people. texting is fun, cool, instant, live, private, and just efinA in terms of communication. I was addicted. truly. actually, still am!! the phone is constant friend and instant-communication status. texting saves time, money & communication errors, when done right.
In the right time, place &/or circumstance.
True story, dudes. it happened to me. I was the biggest, snotbucket about it when others made a big deal. then I was behind the wheel, at a light, and saw no harm in using my time wisely. hey! I multi-task like a mother !(which I also am)
so, I whipped out the phone, peering for coppers once the traffic started up again, and continued my conversational communication.
music and driving. no biggie, do it all the time-old hat. conversing with passengers? hello! born with a mouth! we alllllll do it. no biggie. convo on the phone? hello? been there. headsets? duh! makes it easier to keep a hand free for the cup o'joe, tea, soda-pop, or beer !(seriously kidding there:bad joke, ikno) oh yea, make-up... well what can I say?! girls gotta look good!! so in between traffic flow, at lights, out comes mascara, eyeliner or something needing a trained eye (without taking out an eye) lipgloss is like stupid-perfect, idiot-proof. no brainer as don't really always need mirror. if need one, keep mirror down, glancing occasionally, while scanning traffic, street for foreign street objects or too close vehicles.
texting almost lost me though. there I was, at the light on balltown road and then outta nowhere - a text..... I respond. we exchange a few sends and then traffic light rudely interrupts. So, I gotta go with the flow.... and I do. just this time if it wasn't for that other nosy!as**d! driver who beeped their almost too-loud horn, i'd be in the other lane facing wrong-way traffic. I was pissed it broke me outta the reverie. I mean, I saw the peripheral, things were clear, y'know? No.
texting? while driving? No.
I do not recommend it.
and to that nosy&ssed, never-minding their own business driver?!
thank-you.
... said been there, not doing that!! on Jul 29, 2009 at 1:40 AM | link
didn't mean to be harsh, some of my very good friends text and drive. i talk to them about it all the time. what bothers me isn't that you did it (and i hope you never do it again, i just don't see why people can't wait til they get to their destination to text), it's that there's a cute story about it in AOA.
... said dylan on Jul 29, 2009 at 7:14 AM | link
I would text more while driving, but I'd have to put my beer down.
... said bk on Jul 29, 2009 at 8:30 AM | link
Talking to the person next to you while driving--not at all the same as texting--in fact since they are usually also aware of traffic and driving conditions, they can help the driver avoid accidents.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/02/AR2008120201066.html
I understand you were trying to be cute. I guess I'd find it more humorous if I, my 6 month old and 2 year old were not almost hit by a texting driver while we were walking in our Albany neighborhood a couple of weeks ago (hey, maybe it was you--do you drive a silver toyota camry?). She was sitting at a red light texting and just started turning into us as we were walking across the street with the light. She could have killed my baby or my toddler or me or seriously injured us. She just wasn't paying attention to the road.
I'm not some old anti-tech fogey. I'm not old, not anti-tech, but, seriously, not everyone texts while driving. I understand why teens do it==they have not -yet fully developed cerebral cortexes so they may think that they are invincible and can't grasp how dangerous it is to them and to others. Adults who do it, though, they are either idiots who don't grasp the danger involved (and I see that you say you do get that, so this doesn't apply to you) or jerks who don't give a f^&* about possibly killing someone.
... said Lulu on Jul 29, 2009 at 11:28 PM | link
I do have a sense of humor, Cassie, but I didn't find the fact that you were typing and sending a 50-something-word text message while driving funny. That's the part I focused on, not your conversation about it afterward.
Of course I don't think I'm perfect, but I don't trust myself to talk on a cellphone (even hands-free), apply makeup, use the Internet, or send or read text messages while I'm driving. I don't think it's fair to compare Tweeting while driving to looking down for half a second (or not at all) at the radio dial. And I am frustrated that regardless of how cautious and considerate I am of other drivers, it may not matter because what other people do on the road is out of my hands.
... said N on Aug 2, 2009 at 12:12 PM | link
Ridiculous.
Your defense of your actions is that many others do things which are just as potentially fatal to innocents? That's absurd.
On another note, the officer had no PC to pull you over inasmuch as the law is not yet in effect and therefore you had not violated any laws apparently; and additionally, were it in effect there's no way for the officer to have known that you were not instead dialing a phone number or looking though your phone book, two actions which are not against the law which will go into effect - a piss poor piece of legislative drafting and conception. Nor do you need a headset, only a speaker phone.
... said Pablo on Aug 2, 2009 at 6:42 PM | link