[Ads-l] [Marketing Mail] Re: text stop (OT)

[Cleve Evans]

I'm sorry, I find this really hard to believe. Are you sure this wasn't from The Onion?
And research on this subject shows that the percentage of human beings who would EVER be able to learn how to text and drive safely at the same time to be extremely small. If this were true it would not "raise expected standards of competence" but would simply raise the traffic accident death rate. Allowing texting while driving would be "dumbing down", not vice versa. 
If there is any country where this has become part of the driver's test, I'd bet it's too show people just how dangerous and impossible this is, NOT to encourage them to do it. 

And as regards Denmark in particular, a quote from the website below:

http://www.danishnet.com/travel-denmark/ddriving-car-denmark/

Mobile Phones and Driving
 The use of mobile phones while driving is strictly prohibited while driving. Use of the phone handsfree is permitted. However, the handsfree system must be built in to the car. A headset is not considered to be a handsfree system

Subject:      Re: text stop (OT)
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My wife told me of a news story that in one EU country (Denmark?) they have decided that since so many people will be texting while driving anyways, it will now be a required task on the diving test.

The instructor will text a question requiring a topical information search - a US equivalent might be: 'What is the capitol of South Dakota?' - and the driver must successfully navigate a field of cones while searching for the answer and texting the instructor.

I find the notion of raising expected standards of competence to be a welcome change from the dumbing down we've witnessed for decades.

- GLL

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Just as an aside, this was in the news some months ago.

Joel

=20

      From: James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM>
 To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU=20
 Sent: Monday, January 11, 2016 8:26 AM
 Subject: [ADS-L] text stop
  =20
On I-684 in New York, just north of the Putnam County line, there is a "tex= t stop".

It is an ordinary "rest stop" with, one assumes, attention paid to making u= sre cell-phone service and maybe WiFi is available.

Signs along I-684 warn drivers to stop there if they want to text on their = cell phones.

- Jim Landau

_____________________________________________________________
Netscape.=C2=A0 Just the Net You Need.

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
  

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org