While texting is worst, even voice on hands free disrupts attention, in testing by about the same degree as being intoxicated at the common drink-drive limits (80mg/l)...

I generally walk to and from town, and I see around 1 in 5 or thereabouts of drivers talking on a handheld or texting while driving or in stop go traffic as they are interacting with other traffic and no attention devoted to what is going on around them. I even see *both* the driver and front seat passenger texting at times...

huge problem in NH and we have a hands free law... You'll see on police FB pages where they'll warn people about clearing the snow off the roof of your car because it's against the law not to. People always chime in asking when are they going to start ticketing people for texting and driving. My wife got bagged last year, $150 ticket and she still does it and she's a terrible driver...

My 16 yr old acts like it's no big deal. I've warned him I'm parking his car if I see it happening again, his Mom doesn't want to put on the INS plug where it will block incoming texts adn calls because she feels if he speeds or does somthing else they'll use it to jack his ins up. I asked her what if he gets into his first accident and it kills him...

Luckily I think more manufacturers are implementing lockout features while driving; but I tend to agree that drivers in general, are idiots. IDK how many close calls (both wrecks and road rage lol) I've had because someone (not always on their phone) made a dumb decision. Some people have complete disregard for rules or common sense; there's no cure for that

This is where the failsafe tech from auto driving vehicles should come in. All freight vehicles etc should have a system in place that brakes in you are coming up on someone and that holds you in your lane etc. We will probably see a switch over to more automated vehicles in the next 10 years or so and it cant come fast enough. There will be lots of hold outs with older vehicles but they need to be penalized harshly if they use their phone etc.

...or if he survives, but kills or maims other people.

I could tolerate stupid people killing themselves. But this habit recklessly puts other people in danger. Texting while driving results in substantially worse driving than being drunk. You don't notice all the mistakes that you're making, so you tend to believe that everything's A-OK.

It isn't.

A lot of vehicles have that as standard now, I know my car from 2007 has it and the Mercedes I rented on holiday had it too. On my car it is switchable with the cruise control and you can alter the distance it keeps you from other cars, it can operate without the cruise control too and sounds a warning if you get too close to anything, the one time it would be really useful is in the snow, but the snow blocks the radar pulse and so it doesn't work, it does work well in fog however.

The cruise control is a little different than all the other cars I have had in that if you set a speed and are going down hill say it will put on the brakes to keep you at the set speed, all the other cars that I've had that had cruise control it was more like you set a speed and that was the minimum it tried to keep the car at.

The park brake, if you pull it on at speed then it will uses the normal brakes with the ABS to stop you as quickly and as straight as it can and only once your speed is less than 5mph does the park brake come on, so handbrake turns are out the question

The other thing about the Merc I had on rental was that there was no owners handbook, it was all done through the navigation/multimedia screen, the car had internet connection as standard and an iPhone app to help you control it, there was quite a learning curve on the controls of the car, from the engine modes to suspension set up, by the time I handed it back I was getting comfortable with it.

but then car manufacturers are making it a priority to keep everyone connected... I get the passengers can still be connected, but I remember seeing some commercial where you could connect to Facebook through the dash screen...

10 Best Cars With Internet Access
2016 Chevrolet Cruze.
2016 Audi A3.
2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
2016 Chevrolet Spark.
2016 Audi Q5.
2016 Chrysler 200.
2016 GMC Terrain.
2016 Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class.

The more 'bells and whistles' on a vehicle the less SA required by the driver.