I’ve always tried to stay in gear, at least until there’s a car stopped behind me. I do get lazy though, usually when outside of the city…”there’s so little traffic, what could happen?”. Thanks for the reminder on exactly what *could* happen.
And for the bigger point, call it old man syndrome (I’m only 37, but still), but WTF with texting while driving? I’d love to hear the rationalization for how this could possibly be considered feasible by those who do it. But it’s only going to get worse, sadly, as car companies build more and more distractions into their vehicles.
Here in the D.C. area, there is a big firestorm ongoing about city bus and train drivers texting while operating their vehicles. It’s illegal, and they get fired, but it keeps happening. Thanks to the internet, passengers catch them, post it, and the transit agency can’t ignore it. But everyone’s dismayed that it keeps happening.