Because we aren't disconnected enough.

[robleonhart]

Bike riding around here has never been safe. Some of you may remember many years ago where someone ran a red light causing me to swerve out of the way, thus shredding my leg to bits preventing me from walking for a few days. It's been some time since I've ridden my bike as much I have been doing these past few months, I know that technology is making things more dangerous in some cases, I just never imagined the scale of sheer stupidity that it's occurring on. I'll come out of the closet and say that I use my ipod when I ride my bike sometimes, and I'll reach into my pocket to skip around songs. Despite this, I still keep my eyes on what I'm doing. The other day I was riding to the store and I almost crashed into a kid who wasn't looking where he was going because he was TEXTING. He had his cellphone out, was looking at the tiny screen instead of around him, and around where a myriad of things that could've ruined his shit. I yelled to him, "watch out," but instead of heeding my warning he sent the message, closed his phone, put it in his pocket, and then looked up. That's reaction time that could've been better well spent. Don't get me wrong, bike riding on these two busy highways isn't as bad as it might seem, but that's thanks mainly to awareness of one's surroundings. TEXTING could be as dumb as drunk driving.

Well, don't expect me to be surprised when they peel one of these dudes off the pavement. "Hey, Rob, why so down?" "Holy shit, we're missing a moron!"