Don't Text & Drive



H/T BF

>>  Posted by Blazing Cat Fur at 11:32 AM |  21 comments  |  link to this post |  send email  | 
Osumashi Kinyobe  – (2:16 PM)  

Why would you text while operating a multi-ton vehicle powered with combustible fuel on a busy highway?

truepeers  – (2:35 PM)  

OK, it's a good question - why would someone so obsessed with communications have so little regard for the public good, let alone his own life? But it's a kind of behaviour that is all-too-common today. People are so addicted to their communications that they can't see beyond the immediate urge to reflect on the larger purpose of communication.

Driving isn't the only dangerous form of transportation. Yesterday a man took a skytrain ride from Burnaby to downtown Vancouver wielding a sword (about 20 minutes). I have been scouring the internet for information. NO one says anything about him except that the man was acting "irrationally" and has mental health issues. There must have been many witnesses and yet none, apparently, tried to stop the train using the emergency equipment. All you can glean from the tweets that are still available is people joking about a guy with a "samurai" sword.

From the availabe video it's clear that the swordsman did not have a samurai sword. It's the wrong shape. The man is clearly south Asian and wears a turban that looks more Islamic than Sikh to my eyes. And yet no one talks about this, at least I can find no evidence in the huge communications net. ONe naturally assumes people are silenced by a widespread fear of saying something "racist".

rabbit  – (2:59 PM)  

Might not have been texting.

Might have been blind drunk. While texting.

The Phantom  – (2:59 PM)  

Texting and driving. Oh yeah.

In Phoenix I kept seeing cars flipped over in the median of the highway every week or so. Clear, dry, sunny, car flipped on its roof. Then I saw one on Ray Rd.. in Ahwatukee. This minivan went off the road for no apparent reason, given no rubber marks or debris on the road. Into the landscaping on the road side, took out a fire hydrant, ended lying on the driver's side.

Consequently, I ditched the rental (Chevy Impala, total dog don't buy one) and purchased a 1986 Ford F-350. Crew cab, diesel, dually, with tree killer rack on the front. Racing seats, five point harnesses. Tentative plans for a tail gunner and a chin turret.

If I'm going to get in an accident with some texting/cell phone yaking moron in a freakin' minivan, I'm going to WIN.

Blazing Cat Fur  – (3:29 PM)  

Beats me Osumashi, I have witnessed similar acts of wanton wrecklessness on Toronto streets, though with less unfortunate consequences to date.

It could be SJS Trupeers, Sudden Jihad Syndrome, I have seen one article about the incident with very little information, a police report should be available which will likely assist in determining his "asian" background.

Melykin  – (3:43 PM)  

The driving video is crazy. It is a wonder no one was killed.


There is a clear video of the Vancouver guy with the sword here:

http://goo.gl/7bFvy

At the end they also show the sword(s) clearly. You can hear the man shouting, but I can't quite make out what he is saying. I picked up the words "government" and "Jedi". He seems to be batSh*t crazy. They are not giving his name. He has a beard and a black turban. I'm not up on the differences between turbans, but because this is Vancouver, he is more likely to be a Sikh than a Muslim. Must be off his meds or something. I hope they don't let him out any time soon.

Blazing Cat Fur  – (3:46 PM)  

I suspect more crazy than anything else Melykin, thanks.

truepeers  – (3:55 PM)  

AFAIK, BCF, the police aren't naming him yet.

Blazing Cat Fur  – (3:56 PM)  

Hmmm I wonder why.

truepeers  – (4:01 PM)  

Thanks for the link, Melykin, much clearer; it looks like they took a Sikh Kirpan off the guy, as well as the sword.

The Phantom  – (4:06 PM)  

Bet y'all a donut Sword Guy is a Sikh. Looks like one, the sheath on that sword looks like the ornamental ones you see in the Indian stores.

Why does it take 20 cops, SWAT, rubber bullets, tasers and two hours to capture one guy off his meds? Then they finally tackle the guy anyway, which they could have done at any time. Or a couple of guys on the bus could have taken the sword off him and kicked his ass in the first place. Swords don't work well inside buses.

We SO need to cut these bastards pay.

been around the block  – (4:08 PM)  

It took 20 police officers to subdue the guy with the sword?

In the old days, two at the max. One to jump the guy, the other to disarm and handcuff him.

I hope he gets more than a psychological evaluation; I'd like to see him get some jail time. He's obviously a public menace.

The Phantom  – (4:17 PM)  

babt, I'd very much like to see this guy's KEEPERS get some jail time. You know, like his psychiatrist, mental health case worker, social worker, whatever IMBECILE discharged him from hospital last time, all the frickin' government paid minders that are SUPPOSED to be looking after him.

I guarantee you, if he's been mentally ill for a while his family will have been turning inside out to get him in a hospital, and will have been thwarted by lots and lots of government goofs purportedly looking out for his "welfare" as they like to put it.

So I'd like to see all of those clowns hauled up on the carpet to defend their decisions and take some responsibility for the outcome thereof. The bastards!

been around the block  – (5:14 PM)  

I'm with you, Phantom.

Aren't "the frickin' government paid minders ... SUPPOSED to be looking after us?

Aren't they supposed to be "looking out for our 'welfare,' for crying out loud?

Everything's upside down and inside out. We've been invaded by aliens and they're not from Mars.

Blazing Cat Fur  – (5:17 PM)  

I think Vincent Li okayed this.

The Phantom  – (5:50 PM)  

babt asks the very insightful question: "Aren't "the frickin' government paid minders ... SUPPOSED to be looking after us? Aren't they supposed to be "looking out for our 'welfare,' for crying out loud?"

In point of fact, no. They aren't. Oddly, for a socialist policy, the "community" (meaning you and I) are considered to have no rights or interests in the matter. The ill person's family has no rights or interests either, under current (Liberal) policy.

The purpose of the mental health establishment is to safe guard the -patient's- rights and interests -only-. Conveniently, that is interpreted to mean returning the patient to the community as soon as possible, and to "normalize" the patient as much as possible.

What that looks like in practice is, a guy freaks out. This is annoying the cops. They take him to the psych hospital. The hospital staff clean FreakyMan up, give him lots of medications which actually work quite well, and he gets better. Or enough better that he knows not to pee on a cop car. Then they -release him-, meaning they boot his ass out the front door with a prescription for meds.

He then sells the prescription, or looses it, or gets robbed, or by a miracle gets it filled and takes his pills... until he runs out.

Now he's off his meds, and he freaks out again.

Rinse, repeat.

He can't be committed permanently by his family or friends no matter how fracked he gets, how busted up he gets, or how close to death he is from malnutrition, exposure, infections, blah blah blah, because that is an INFRINGEMENT OF HIS PERSONAL FREEDOM.

See, Liberals believe in collective rights... unless its inconvenient. Then they believe in individual rights.

Texting while driving of course is the opposite extreme. Because of a few morons, the Liberal government feels quite happy to force -everyone- to buy a costly hands-free device for the car, and order the cops to arrest and fine anyone with his hand on the side of his head while driving.

This law is working so well at improving traffic safety that I drive a larger vehicle in Ontario than I do in Arizona.

We have rights when quite convenient for the regime, otherwise not.

Blazing Cat Fur  – (5:56 PM)  

This is true, as usual well intentioned patients rights legislation went to hell in a handbasket in a hurry.

been around the block  – (5:12 PM)  

I hope the guy who watched this zig-zagger called the cops.

On the 401 a few years ago, my husband and I were travelling behind a driver doing similar things, weaving in and out, on the shoulder then "correcting" over the middle line. We called the OPP.

Maybe the guy was drunk. Maybe he was tired. Maybe he was diabetic and his insulin was low. Whatever. We gave the location of where the weird driver was, along with his license number.

We don't know what happened -- but maybe we saved a life, maybe even that of the driver.

Blazing Cat Fur  – (6:23 PM)  

Yup I hae seen cell phone users, computer users you name it behaving bizarrely on the roads you did the right thing BatB.

been around the block  – (1:12 AM)  

I hope the guy who watched this zig-zagger called the cops.

On the 401 a few years ago, my husband and I were travelling behind a driver doing similar things, weaving in and out, on the shoulder then "correcting" over the middle line. We called the OPP.

Maybe the guy was drunk. Maybe he was tired. Maybe he was diabetic and his insulin was low. Whatever. We gave the location of where the weird driver was, along with his license number.

We don't know what happened -- but maybe we saved a life, maybe even that of the driver.

The Phantom  – (1:12 AM)  

babt asks the very insightful question: "Aren't "the frickin' government paid minders ... SUPPOSED to be looking after us? Aren't they supposed to be "looking out for our 'welfare,' for crying out loud?"

In point of fact, no. They aren't. Oddly, for a socialist policy, the "community" (meaning you and I) are considered to have no rights or interests in the matter. The ill person's family has no rights or interests either, under current (Liberal) policy.

The purpose of the mental health establishment is to safe guard the -patient's- rights and interests -only-. Conveniently, that is interpreted to mean returning the patient to the community as soon as possible, and to "normalize" the patient as much as possible.

What that looks like in practice is, a guy freaks out. This is annoying the cops. They take him to the psych hospital. The hospital staff clean FreakyMan up, give him lots of medications which actually work quite well, and he gets better. Or enough better that he knows not to pee on a cop car. Then they -release him-, meaning they boot his ass out the front door with a prescription for meds.

He then sells the prescription, or looses it, or gets robbed, or by a miracle gets it filled and takes his pills... until he runs out.

Now he's off his meds, and he freaks out again.

Rinse, repeat.

He can't be committed permanently by his family or friends no matter how fracked he gets, how busted up he gets, or how close to death he is from malnutrition, exposure, infections, blah blah blah, because that is an INFRINGEMENT OF HIS PERSONAL FREEDOM.

See, Liberals believe in collective rights... unless its inconvenient. Then they believe in individual rights.

Texting while driving of course is the opposite extreme. Because of a few morons, the Liberal government feels quite happy to force -everyone- to buy a costly hands-free device for the car, and order the cops to arrest and fine anyone with his hand on the side of his head while driving.

This law is working so well at improving traffic safety that I drive a larger vehicle in Ontario than I do in Arizona.

We have rights when quite convenient for the regime, otherwise not.

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