{"id":2706,"date":"2004-07-28T04:02:32","date_gmt":"2004-07-28T18:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2004\/07\/28\/pay-attention-to-the-road-you-idiots\/"},"modified":"2019-12-10T16:58:05","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T00:58:05","slug":"pay-attention-to-the-road-you-idiots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2004\/07\/28\/pay-attention-to-the-road-you-idiots\/","title":{"rendered":"Pay attention to the road, you idiots"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:10505,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.cnn.com\\\/2004\\\/LAW\\\/07\\\/27\\\/dvd.traffic.death.ap\\\/index.html&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20041204200104\\\/http:\\\/\\\/www.cnn.com:80\\\/2004\\\/LAW\\\/07\\\/27\\\/dvd.traffic.death.ap\\\/index.html&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-11 05:43:15&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:502}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-11 05:43:15&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:502},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:10506,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/news.bbc.co.uk\\\/1\\\/hi\\\/uk\\\/1885775.stm&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20090206020723\\\/http:\\\/\\\/news.bbc.co.uk:80\\\/1\\\/hi\\\/uk\\\/1885775.stm&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-11 05:43:19&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-11 05:43:19&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:10507,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.cbc.ca\\\/news\\\/background\\\/cellphones&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.cbc.ca\\\/news\\\/background\\\/cellphones&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:10508,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/slashdot.org\\\/article.pl?sid=04\\\/07\\\/27\\\/2046247&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/slashdot.org\\\/article.pl?sid=04\\\/07\\\/27\\\/2046247&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>Years ago, while driving around Anchorage, I glanced to my right and saw a couple guys driving around with a portable DVD player sitting on the dashboard of their car, quite happily watching a movie as they motored around town. Very unamused by their obvious disregard to the safety of themselves and those around them, I made sure to move a lane over so that I wasn&#8217;t next to them, and then spent the next few minutes ranting to whoever I was in the passenger seat about the idiodicy of trying to drive and watch a DVD at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>Well, with the boom in fancy car toys over the last few years, including things like in-car DVD players, the inevitable has finally happened: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2004\/LAW\/07\/27\/dvd.traffic.death.ap\/index.html\" title=\"Trial examines role of dashboard electronics\">two people in Alaska were killed by a driver watching a movie<\/a> on a dash-mounted DVD player.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n  In what may be the first trial of its kind in the nation, prosecutors have accused the pickup truck&#8217;s driver of second-degree murder for watching a movie instead of the road when he crashed head-on into the Jeep.<\/p>\n<p>  The pickup&#8217;s driver, Erwin J. Petterson Jr., denies using the DVD player as he drove north on October 12, 2002 and contends he was only listening to music from a compact disc, said his attorney, Chuck Robinson.<\/p>\n<p>  &#91;&#8230;&#93;<\/p>\n<p>  After the crash, Petterson and his passenger, roommate Jonathan Douglas, were transported to an Anchorage hospital. Within hours, Douglas called his ex-wife and told her he was not sure how the collision occurred because he was &#8220;spacing out on a movie they were watching,&#8221; according to prosecutors. The woman is scheduled to testify.<\/p>\n<p>  David Weiser, 34, the son of the slain couple, said only two people know what happened in the cab of the truck. But equipping a truck with entertainment options that can be used while driving goes beyond a momentary distraction of putting on makeup or using a cell phone, he said.<\/p>\n<p>  &#8220;This takes forethought, this takes methodical steps,&#8221; David Weiser said. \\&#8221;You have to go to the store, plop over money, install it, and install it so it can be used without a brake employed.<\/p>\n<p>  &#8220;I view it as no different than walking into a bar, having five beers within an hour and getting behind the wheel,&#8221; said Weiser, who quit an eight-year career as a loan originator in Boston to attend the trial.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It&#8217;s very simple, people. If you&#8217;re driving a car, then <strong><em>drive the damn car<\/em><\/strong>. Don&#8217;t jabber on a phone (I don&#8217;t care how many times you tell me it doesn&#8217;t affect your driving &#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk\/1\/hi\/uk\/1885775.stm\" title=\"Mobiles worse than drunk driving\">studies<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/background\/cellphones\/\" title=\"Driving and Dialing\">show<\/a> that cell phone usage while driving is <em>at least<\/em> as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol, and if I know that you&#8217;re calling me from a cell phone while on the road, <em>I will hang up on you<\/em>), don&#8217;t watch a damn movie, and for God&#8217;s sake, <em>pay attention<\/em> to driving!<\/p>\n<p>(via <a href=\"http:\/\/slashdot.org\/article.pl?sid=04\/07\/27\/2046247\" title=\"\/.: DVD-Watching Driver Charged With Murder\">\/.<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><strong>iTunes:<\/strong> &#8220;Entrada and Shootout&#8221; by Goldenthal, Elliot from the album <em>Heat<\/em> (1995, 1:45).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Years ago, while driving around Anchorage, I glanced to my right and saw a couple guys driving around with a portable DVD player sitting on the dashboard of their car, quite happily watching a movie as they motored around town. Well, the inevitable has finally happened: two people in Alaska were killed by a driver watching a movie on a dash-mounted DVD player.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2028],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-2706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-links","tag-film"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2706\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}