El semáforo: Driving Confessions....
Since today's word el semáforo has to do with driving, but doesn't lend itself to a synonym/antonym game, I thought I would discuss a topic that has been on my mind.
Create a sentence in Spanish (with the English translation) letting us know whether you ever text or talk on a cell phone while driving. I spent fourteen hours driving this past weekend and it seems to be a fairly common practice. So what are your thoughts? Is this a moderately safe activity, is it as bad as driving while intoxicated or somewhere in between?
Textar, textear etc do not exist in Spanish, please use the correct Spanish form: Mandar un mensaje, mandar un S M S etc
Please remember to check for corrections and to vote for your favorites.
14 Answers
Por alguna razon, me sentía la necesidad to responder de inmediato a un mensaje de text. No importaba que estuviera manejando o no. La campaña contra texteando y conduciendo, que se relizaba los medios de comunicación,me han convencido por completo. Ahora los mensajes tienen que esperar hasta que llege a mi destinación.
For some reason, I felt the necessity to respond to a text message immediately. It didn't matter if I were driving or not. The anti-texting campaign which the communications media has carried out, has completely convincinced me. Now, the messages wait until I get to my destination!
It has already been shown in tests that blah, blah, blah on a cell-phone while driving is more dangerous than driving drunk.
Texting while driving is only done by total morons. Since there have already been numerous cases of texting-drivers killing innocent bystanders, these idiots should be charged with premeditated murder.
Confessions of a "cautious" driver.
This issue is a sore point for me. It really bothers me to see reckless or distracted drivers. I have always tried to be a careful driver, even taking lessons on defensive driving techniques. The sad thing is that I myself often drive while distracted.
I confess that I texted once. (But just once. Never again! I almost hit someone that time!) However, I talk on the cell phone, eat (even cereal, with milk), tie my shoes, tie my tie, read maps, all that while driving. For some reason it seems that while I am doing it, then it is fine. I keep my eyes on road, mostly, and both hands on the wheel, mostly... I'm doing it 'safely'!
Now, thinking about it objectively, this does not make even the least bit of sense. Driving in itself is a dangerous activity. Lives are at risk, our own, of loved ones, of strangers. I don't want to be or cause a 'statistic'. I'm going to try to be more careful while I'm driving. Thanks for the reminder, Nicole! 
Las confesiones de un conductor "cauteloso".
Este asunto es para mi un punto espinoso. Me molesta mucho ver conductores temerarios o distraídos. Siempre he intentado ser un conductor prudente, hasta asistir a clases sobre técnicas de la conducción defensiva. Lo triste es que aún yo mismo he manejado distraído. 
Confieso que una vez mandé un mensaje de texto. (Pero solo una vez, y nunca jamás, pues en ese caso ¡casi me estrellé contra alguien!) Sin embargo, hablo por teléfono celular, como (hasta cereal con leche), me ato los zapatos, hago el nudo de mi corbata, leo los mapas... todo esto conduciendo! Por alguna razón, mientras yo lo hago así, a mi parece bien. Me mantengo alerta, casi siempre, me mantengo las manos en el volante, casi siempre... ¡Yo lo hago de manera 'segura'! 
Ahora, al pensarlo objetivamente, esto no tiene ni siquiera el mínimo de sentido. Conducir un vehículo es una actividad peligrosa en sí misma. Hay vidas en peligro, a saber, la nuestra, la de nuestros seres queridos, y la de extraños. No quiero ser ni causar una 'estadística'. Me voy a poner la meta de tener más cuidado al manejar mi carro. ¡Gracias por este recordatorio, Nicole!
It is a very dangerous and irresponsible practice to use a mobile while driving (at the same time) and I have no sympathy for those who do.
The usual excuses include "but ..it was an emergency !" which I suspect in 99% of occasions is an exaggeration used to justify this stupid activity. In most cases ...using a mobile phone while driving would be more likely to cause an emergency rather than to prevent one !
Most drivers (incluidng myself I suspect!) would not be capable of making an appropriate response to a sudden and an unexpected crisis occurring in front of them if they were also using a mobile phone at the same time eg a car cutting in front of them as I have observed and experienced happen on motorways in the UK (eg M25)
If people must use Mobile phones for work/social life they have four options the first thre are best : 1 Get someone else to take/make the call while they are driving 2 Pull into a lay-by or Service station /Motorway Services where parking is provided turn off the engine then make the call/call the person back 3 Wait until they get home/to work 4 Use a **hands-free system like BlueTooth kits**
No uso mi celular en mi coche. Si es importante, dejarán un recado. Si es una mala noticia, no quiero saber de todos modos.
I don't use my cell phone in my car. If it's important, they'll leave a message. If it's bad news, I don't want to know, anyway.
In my area there is a law against any use of a hand held cell phone and that includes texting.
Of course, one would be charged with manslaughter if a death occurred as a result of an accident caused by texting.
I am in total agreement of this law and wish that people in areas without such a law, would lobby their representatives to create laws to prevent stupid accidents caused by texting.
Aqui en la provincia de BC (Canadá) se prohibe hablar por teléfono en el coche. (sin bluetooth) Here in BC there is a law against driving and chatting.
I don't text . Period! As for anyone else doing it, just last week a young woman was texting while driving, veered off into the guard rail and recovered right into the lane of a tractor /trailer. She died. Fortunately no innocent bystanders were hurt. I think it is a very stupid thing to do right up there with D W I. I think there is way too much dependency today on being "in touch" all of the time. PersonalIy, I spend less than 20 minutes a month on a cell.
¡Fue indignado cuando vi a un amigo en Facebook durante la conducción!
I was outraged when I saw a friend on Facebook while driving!
Last week when passing a friend on a fairly busy highway, my daughter excitedly said "Look, Jesse is texting while driving!" She was so upset that later that night she brought this up to him. He said "I wasn't texting, I was checking something on Facebook." Hopefully my daughter made him feel sufficiently guilty and HoPeFULlY he will never do this again!!!!!!!
I have already been hit by a drunk driver. After hearing information similar to the link below, I'm sure you can imagine how I feel about texting while driving.
Yo pienso que textar en un celular cuando uno esta manejando es muy peligroso, aunque piensas que eres bueno a textar y manejar. Es como si uno piensa que puede tomar y manejar bien, siempre es peligroso porque sus reacciones no son lo mismo que cuando no esta borracho, y cuando no miras el calle (por estar textando) no sabes lo que pasa. I think that texting on a cell while driving is very dangerous, even if you think you're good at texting while driving. It's like someone thinking they're a good drunk driver, it's still dangerous because their reactions aren't the same as when they aren't drunk, and when you aren't looking at the road (due to texting) you don't know what's going on around you.
No sé cómo mandar mensajes por el teléfono, así que lo tengo desactivado.
I don't know how to do texting by telephone, so I had that feature turned ofll.
Please have a look at
to all posters on this thread, the word , textar etc does not exist in Spanish.
Mandar textos mientras conduces es muy tonto y peligroso. Creo que esta bien hablar por teléfono está bien muchas veces. Pero si alguien no puede hacer dos cosas a la vez, no debe conducir y usar teléfono. :D
Sentido común o poco de sentido común. - Common sense or little common sense.
Yes, I have texted while driving but I try hard to stay out of the line of cars this photo shows.
