I Hate Distracted Drivers.

There's almost nothing that annoys me more than a bad driver, and anyone that has ever ridden in a vehicle with me can confirm that. People that are slow to react, or indecisive, or just flat out can't control their vehicle irritate me. What's worse than a bad driver, is a bad driver that's only driving badly because they're distracted by a cell phone. I'll admit it... I've got a bad case of road rage, but if I see that it's a young woman driving the offending car, or an older person I'm generally understanding about the fact that they aren't as comfortable behind the wheel as everyone else. I get it. Driving can be a scary thing for a lot of people, but when I see someone driving badly AND they're talking on a cell phone, I lose my shit. Here's some asshole on the interstate swerving around, accelerating and braking randomly, and cutting people off because they can't drive, talk, AND check their mirrors or use a turn signal and I'm not supposed to get annoyed by this and react? I drive the same roads every single morning so I know where highway patrol likes to hide. What I find eases some of my hatred towards these distracted drivers is making them unaware of how fast they're going and then backing off just in time for them to get clocked at about 15mph over the speed limit. I just pass them like they aren't moving and then slow down (without braking) and allow them to catch up, and I continue to do that until they're comfortably going 80+, and then I back off and drop down to the speed limit just before we get to the radars. about 50% of the time the two police cars sitting there are unmanned and just there to deter speeders, and 25% of the time they're manned by lazy donut dunkers, but every now and then I get the satisfaction of seeing those blue lights flicker and take off after the distracted driver. I know it's a dick move, but I've been pulled over on that same interstate several times myself and always gotten off with a warning, so I assume they're getting the same. It's just my little way of getting back at them for endangering my life with their bad driving habits. People just forget from time to time that they're driving around in something that could easily take a life if not kept under control properly and they need to be reminded.
Texting on the other hand is something that I absolutely CANNOT tolerate. I believe that if you catch someone texting and driving you should be legally allowed to cut them off, drag them from their vehicle, and beat them just enough to break a rib, as long as you call them an ambulance and tell them why you beat them. Obviously this will never be legal, but you have to admit that it would be a lot of fun and very satisfying. Two of the most important aspects of driving are sight, and control of the wheel, and if you're looking down and texting you're taking both of those things out of the equation and risking your own life, but more importantly, the lives of the other drivers around you. I'm not trying to sound like I'm some saint and I've never done it, but when I do I at least wait for a stop sign/light to do it and I keep the messages short. Generally I just type "driving" and expect the person on the other end to understand and leave me alone until I've gotten out of my vehicle, and you know what? It works perfectly. I'm able to let the person know that I'm not ignoring them, and I still maintain my focus on driving.
The last issue that I want to address are driving impaired. That means driving drunk or high, but it also means driving while tired. Everyone knows that it's wrong to drive while under the influence, but a lot of people forget that your reaction time is reduced when driving tired as well. Now how about if you're a bad driver, driving home from a bar late at night? Can you see how that would be a recipe for disaster? It's obviously not safe, but people do it all of the time without giving it a second thought. Fortunately it's happening later at night in most cases so they're less likely to run into other drivers during their drive, but what if they were leaving a concert with thousands of others?
In 2008 and 2009 there were about 33,000 people KILLED in car accidents in America alone. That's over 90 deaths per day. 90 lives lost because of vehicular accidents, many of which could have been avoided if the drivers had been more alert. Thankfully the number of deaths on America's highways every year has been decreasing due to increased vehicle safety, but they could always be lower.
Those are just the death stats, which I admit I used to try and grab your attention and make you more aware of your actions. Now imagine how many accidents there are every day that don't result in death, but injury instead. Even if there isn't a physical injury, many people are mentally scarred by the event.
It's okay to disconnect once in a while. Get in your car and enjoy the ride rather than worrying so much about keeping in contact with everyone around you. I'm sure those people would rather have you arrive at your destination safely than get your "lol ur my bff" text. Let's face the facts guys. There's nothing that you need to say in a text or phone call that is more important than your life. If you don't have enough friends to find a designated driver, you can always get a taxi, and if you can't afford one you probably can't afford to drink anyways. There's no excuses for driving distracted, so lets all make a conscious effort to not be a statistic.
Drive safe America.