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Comment by nothrabannosir | Hacker News Reader

> this is a problem so big that even people walking cross roads with their faces glued to their phones.

I see this comparison a lot, and I just want to clarify: when you are distracted as a pedestrian, you're risking your life. When you are distracted as a driver, you're risking other people's lives.

Getting behind a wheel drunk is considerably more dangerous to society than going home on foot. Phone use equivalently so.

I have far more patience with people risking their own lives, rather than those of others.

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> I see this comparison a lot, and I just want to clarify: when you are distracted as a pedestrian, you're risking your life. When you are distracted as a driver, you're risking other people's lives.

You are letting distracted pedestrians off too lightly. They are not just risking their own lives; they are risking the lives of motorists, cyclists, and other pedestrians by potentially forcing motorists and cyclists into erratic evasive maneuvers to avoid them. Ditto for drunk pedestrians. We should not be giving them a pass just because drunk/distracted drivers are more dangerous.

True. It's not good. But I'd argue we should also not include them in the same category, because they dilute the severity of the matter.

Sorry to be cruel, but I'm passionate about drunk and distracted driving. Less so about drunk pedestrians. I'd really like to focus our efforts and not get distracted.

Let's start a separate conversation about texting pedestrians. I'll join. But please let's keep this one about just this one thing: people putting others' lives at a significant risk on a daily basis. It's a different ballgame.

If one effort is to get people to think how their actions impact themselves and everyone else, and there are consequences (life threatening or some form of punishment). Then why limit that to just driving.

Also, if the issue is an attitude of "no fucks given", then they seem just as severe to me because then they might take their "no fucks" on to the road.

I agree with this sentiment.

Oh come one. Motorists are driving dangerous killing machines around, distracted pedestrians are just walking.

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