How are your driving habits?

Posted on 8 February 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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20 Responses to How are your driving habits?

  1. Supertradmom says:
    8 February 2010 at 2:33 am

    I admit I do not have or use a cell-phone. I wish our state and all states would outlaw usage while driving. We had a scary moment yesterday when someone was talking on a cell and not looking….while driving.

  2. trespinos says:
    8 February 2010 at 3:42 am

    While traveling at freeway speed on Rte. 85 toward the San Francisco Walk For Life last month, I looked down from our bus window into the shiny SUV to our right. The young lady driving it had her message phone cradled into the bottom of the steering wheel and her thumbs were moving at a dizzying pace, texting into the ether. I feared then and I fear now for her longevity.

  3. kat says:
    8 February 2010 at 6:01 am

    lol
    I saw this recently in an email or something. It needs to be a bumper sticker!

  4. Gabriella says:
    8 February 2010 at 6:14 am

    Ahahahahah! Lovely …
    Here in Italy statistics for accidents that have caused deaths are: in the first place – drunken driving, in the second – talking on the phone while driving! :(

  5. MargaretMN says:
    8 February 2010 at 8:05 am

    I for one hope they don’t outlaw cell phone usage while driving. A bunch of times a cell phone has saved me time when an appointment was cancelled or I was lost. With a hands free system of course. It seems incredibly stupid to try to drive while holding one up to your ear or texting while driving, yet people seem to do it all the time. Eventually maybe all cars will have blue tooth hands free set ups.

  6. Thomas G. says:
    8 February 2010 at 8:06 am

    Cute cartoon. It’s a sobering thought, though, that texters-while-driving put others at risk, not just themselves. You can be the most conscientious, careful driver in the world, but that gets you nothing when the texter behind you ploughs into the back of your car at high speed at a stop light. We’re all in this together.

  7. FrCharles says:
    8 February 2010 at 8:39 am

    My prayer for getting in the car: St. Joseph, by your diligent care you safely brought the holy family back and forth to Egypt, and saved the child Jesus from the danger which threatened his life. By your prayers bring me safely on this journey today, and safely home again later. Pray for me, St. Joseph my patron, for safe travel, in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord.

  8. Thomas G. says:
    8 February 2010 at 9:23 am

    FrCharles – a beautiful prayer. I’ve always instinctively prayed to St. Joseph for safety in travel, but it never occurred to me that the flight to Egypt and back makes Joseph the perfect patron of safe journeys. Thanks!

  9. irishgirl says:
    8 February 2010 at 11:00 am

    I pray to St. Raphael the Archangel when I travel, as well as to Our Lord, Our Lady, St. Joseph, and some other angels and Saints.

    I get so mad when I see idiot drivers with a steering wheel in one hand and a cell phone in the other. It’s especially dangerous in the winter….darn fools…

    I like the above cartoon, Fr. Z! It’s a modern-day version of a magnet that one of my sisters had in her first car: “Drive Carefully-your car may not be the ONLY thing that’s recalled by the Maker!”

    Nice prayer, FrCharles…

  10. JohnE says:
    8 February 2010 at 11:20 am

    I’m still a hold-out — no cell phone. However, I do listen to podcasts on my Zune while I’m driving and have occasionally read articles on my iPod Touch while stopped at read lights. I have been very tempted to continue reading after the light turns green, but have managed to refrain from doing that so far.

  11. albizzi says:
    8 February 2010 at 12:32 pm

    Talking on one’s mobile phone while driving is stricly forbidden by the law in France.
    One takes the risk to be strongly fined, although it is difficult to be caught.
    Anyway I consider it as a sin not only for trespassing the law but also for endangering my own life and, more serious, that of other people

  12. kat says:
    8 February 2010 at 1:21 pm

    Not defending talking or texting…but eating a fast food hamburger, shaving, putting on make-up, and a whole slew of other things cause people to be distracted drivers too. Distracted driving is distracted driving. I think we have enough laws for that, and don’t need one for every type of distraction one can come up with.

  13. Agnes says:
    8 February 2010 at 1:42 pm

    Funny how laws need to be made to enforce common sense. In MN, a new texting law is on the books. If you text and drive, you will be pulled over and ticketed.

    Duh.

  14. Supertradmom says:
    8 February 2010 at 5:08 pm

    OK, maybe an adult only commentary on what not to do in a car while driving-the famous Mr. Bean getting dressed in a Mini while driving-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb2D8wX1fa8

    texting was not invented yet…

  15. Bill in Texas says:
    8 February 2010 at 5:17 pm

    A number of studies have shown that talking on a cell phone while driving — even with a hands-free device — is every bit as distracting and dangerous as texting. I was nearly t-boned several months ago by a woman who was on her cell phone and drove through a stop sign — after looking directly at me during her approach to the intersection. Fortunately, I was driving defensively, saw the cell phone up to her ear, and anticipated what was very likely to happen — as it turned out, it did happen (except for the collision, which I managed to avoid). The woman never stopped.

    Hang up and drive, folks. No conversation is that important, and if it is, it’s worth pulling over in a safe place well off the road to have it.

  16. Supertradmom says:
    8 February 2010 at 5:20 pm

    Ok, I must share this. Two girls on the way to my son’s college last year were putting on their make-up while driving. I could not believe it. They were in two different cars, doing the whole mascara bit, lipstick, eye-liner, etc. I was amazed. And, in the winter…

  17. Frank H says:
    8 February 2010 at 7:15 pm

    I have seen drivers on I-71 between Columbus and Cincinnati reading the paper unfolded on their steering wheel.

  18. Vetdoctor says:
    10 February 2010 at 7:31 pm

    “occasionally read articles on my iPod Touch while stopped at read lights.”

    I have to ask..”read light” typo or intentional?

  19. The Cobbler says:
    10 February 2010 at 7:46 pm

    You’d think by now the progressive flavor of modernism would have died out, considering technology looks to be doing anything but saving us…