Zoom Vroom

May 6, 2021 4:49 AM

Politician's Zoom Background Can't Hide Fact That He's Actually Driving — Andrew Brenner, a state senator in Ohio, is getting some heat for driving while participating in a Zoom call earlier this week. The Ohio Senate is currently taking up a bill that would create additional penalties for distracted driving and a local newspaper, the Columbus Dispatch, pointed out the irony of the situation. But local media aren’t discussing perhaps the funniest aspect of this whole minor scandal: Brenner turned on a virtual background to make it appear like he was at home in his office. And he failed miserably., Gizmodo, Matt Novak, 5/6/2021.
posted by cenoxo (44 comments total)

What did they expect? I mean, the videoconferencing app is called Zoom.
posted by Servo5678 at 5:01 AM on May 6, 2021 [8 favorites]

What an a$$ hat

(can I say that on mefi?)
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 5:01 AM on May 6, 2021

I'm less scandalized by the senator's disregard for traffic safety, than I am by his sheer stupidity.

Dude. You're wearing a seatbelt. You're obviously looking around to pilot a vehicle. There are traffic sounds. And Zoom backgrounds are meant for whimsy, not as convincing special effects – heck, their obvious fakeness is part of their charm.

How does it cross your brain for even a second that this would fool anyone?
posted by escape from the potato planet at 5:26 AM on May 6, 2021 [28 favorites]

You don’t wear a seatbelt in meetings? I’m always braced for exciting news....
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:30 AM on May 6, 2021 [43 favorites]

Important context: Brenner is of course a Republican, the Ohio legislature is dominated by Republicans, House Bill 283 addressing distracted driving is entirely sponsored by Republicans, and, quoting The Dispatch;

"It would also make holding or using an electronic device while driving a primary offense, which would permit police to pull the driver over. Currently, texting while driving is a secondary offense for drivers over 18, which means police must witness another moving violation before pulling the driver over."

Meaning it's a bill to give the cops even more justification for stopping a driver for "reasons."

Three guesses where these new police powers would be most likely used . . .
posted by soundguy99 at 5:47 AM on May 6, 2021 [23 favorites]

IOKIYAR
posted by nickmark at 5:48 AM on May 6, 2021 [8 favorites]

Footage from inside the car
posted by Lanark at 6:22 AM on May 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

(can I say that on mefi?)

Fuck yeah you can!
posted by InfidelZombie at 6:26 AM on May 6, 2021 [4 favorites]

I appear fairly often in front of the workers compensation board on cases involving accidents and I’d say about 20% of the time the person who is there to get workers comp is driving while testifying. The judges flip out but a lot of the claimants don’t seem to see the problem I’m testifying about an accident while driving.
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 6:35 AM on May 6, 2021 [7 favorites]

I claim to be the earliest victim of a cellphone-distracted vehicular assault in Ireland: whacked off my bike in September 1997, when cellphones and urban cycling were both rare. I have been dining out on the story since, because my fist went through the windscreen not my head. Werner Herzog's From One Second to the Next is a thoughtful 30mins watching for folks who take a couldn't happen to me view of device-driving.
posted by BobTheScientist at 6:39 AM on May 6, 2021 [6 favorites]

(can I say that on mefi?)

You can even sing it.
posted by mbrubeck at 6:51 AM on May 6, 2021 [2 favorites]

Aren't asshats just pants?
posted by trig at 6:55 AM on May 6, 2021 [14 favorites]

What a fool. I have a colleague who regularly drives while zooming, and it bothers me endlessly. I wish I could call the police on him, but I'm not even sure it's illegal. He doesn't look at the camera, ever, his phone sits in the normal holder.
On the other hand, it's better than when we are talking about confidential issues and we can see and hear several people in the background, which is the only alternative from his side to driving while zooming.

He is also has a ticking me-too bomb under his stupid ass which may or may not detonate on my watch and cause me endless trouble. Why are these people always the same? I suspect that they feel important and special when they do stupid stuff, for some reason.
posted by mumimor at 7:11 AM on May 6, 2021 [8 favorites]

The Ohio statehouse is so full of ax-grindy assholes, this surprises me not even a little bit. Sometimes I haaaaate it here, and it's usually while I'm thinking about my local representation. Bob Gibbs can fuck off into the sun.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 7:25 AM on May 6, 2021 [4 favorites]

I see people on Zoom while driving ALL the time. A coworker does it in morning meetings. Someone in play rehearsal last night was doing it and the director was all, "You realize this is our one DANCE rehearsal, right?" I have done online scavenger hunts where someone does this while driving to get items.

It'll probably keep happening until someone bans it.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:27 AM on May 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

Aren't asshats just pants?

This asshat is particularly pants.
posted by flabdablet at 7:35 AM on May 6, 2021 [10 favorites]

I got super baked with my girlfriend last night and we watched bad Zoom backgrounds on YouTube and ended up crying laughing. This is both an argument for legal weed and bad Zoom backgrounds.
posted by East14thTaco at 7:48 AM on May 6, 2021 [8 favorites]

East14thTaco that sounds like an FPP right there. Collect your favourites and share with the class?

... favourite backgrounds. I don't think we've the technology to share weed online yet ...
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:49 AM on May 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

Does he wear his asshat like this or like this?
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 7:55 AM on May 6, 2021

Imagine if he had also been using the cat face filter. Ohio state senator Toonces.
posted by emelenjr at 8:00 AM on May 6, 2021 [12 favorites]

Previously — Seattle state senator apologizes for joining a Zoom hearing while driving, Seattle Times, Mike Linblom, 4/6/2021:

State Sen. Rebecca Saldaña, D-Seattle, has apologized after she participated in a legislative video hearing Tuesday morning while she drove a car to Olympia. Her attempt to multitask was “not in compliance with the law,” she said.

The Legislature passed a distracted-driving law in 2017, following testimony by families of people killed in vehicle crashes. Washington state code forbids several behaviors, among them “watching video on a personal electronic device.”

Saldaña, vice chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, appeared on TVW’s livestream behind the wheel, with a virtual Capitol as background. She fielded a question about clean fuels...

posted by cenoxo at 8:01 AM on May 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

Y'know, there is a Zoom phone in only option. Or turning off the camera. Why aren't people doing that instead of making a big show of being SEEN doing this?
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:05 AM on May 6, 2021 [15 favorites]

Maybe he was just wearing one of these.

And watching a ping-pong game.
posted by chavenet at 9:27 AM on May 6, 2021

I have mixed feelings about this.
So much business that people are using videoconferencing software for could be conducted over the phone. It was ever thus. Voice-only conferencing is deemed Not Acceptable by some employers, because they only grudgingly switched over to a remote-working setup during the pandemic in the first place.
The guy is not shown looking at his phone while driving. As far as I'm concerned, he's fielding a work call while driving someplace.
That said, if cars had been invented only recently, we would absolutely have banned drivers from talking to *anyone* while driving, "sterile cockpit" style, once the bodies started piling up. Except unlike flying, there's no phase during a drive when it would be acceptable for the driver's attention to wander.
When I'm out riding my bike on one of the horrible stroads in my area and my GPS screen goes red, meaning that my radar has detected a car behind me closing in at a dangerous speed, I think to myself "they could be reaching for their phone right now".
posted by tigrrrlily at 9:53 AM on May 6, 2021 [8 favorites]

Why aren't people doing that instead of making a big show of being SEEN doing this?

Because they're incompetent and/or stupid. This chucklehead thought putting a fake office background on would work.
posted by axiom at 9:58 AM on May 6, 2021 [2 favorites]

The guy is not shown looking at his phone while driving. As far as I'm concerned, he's fielding a work call while driving someplace.

All he had to do was not turn on his camera. Instead, he fumbles about switching the background while driving.
posted by nubs at 10:00 AM on May 6, 2021

I watched the video, and can see now that yes, he can be seen glancing at his screen while wearing a seat belt, so presumably in motion. Asshole.
posted by tigrrrlily at 10:12 AM on May 6, 2021

The guy is not shown looking at his phone while driving. As far as I'm concerned, he's fielding a work call while driving someplace.

Also not safe. The only thing any driver should be doing is focusing on driving.
posted by aniola at 10:20 AM on May 6, 2021 [8 favorites]

(This includes bus drivers. There should always be a driver and a separate person who interacts with the passengers.)
posted by aniola at 10:21 AM on May 6, 2021 [2 favorites]

There should always be a driver and a separate person who interacts with the passengers.

Hold very tight please, ting ting
posted by flabdablet at 10:32 AM on May 6, 2021 [3 favorites]

Meaning it's a bill to give the cops even more justification for stopping a driver for "reasons."

Three guesses where these new police powers would be most likely used . . .

Is it okay if one of my guesses is preventing some of the 3,000 people killed and 400,000 injured every year by distracted driving, as long as my other two are structural racism?

Like, policing needs a lot of reform and work, but it's simultaneously equally true that distracted driving is an incredibly dangerous thing for people to be doing.
posted by Superilla at 10:43 AM on May 6, 2021 [5 favorites]

Fair point, although in context the very same Republican-dominated state legislature has been resisting distracted driving bills for years - presumably under the "Mah Freeeeedums!" clause of the constitution - and is only now pushing this bill after a year of BLM protests and wide calls for police reform.
posted by soundguy99 at 11:32 AM on May 6, 2021 [3 favorites]

Of course the bill will pass but he won't be charged because It's OK If You're a Republican.

Oh, and the guy will vote for it.
posted by Billiken at 11:36 AM on May 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

Also not safe. The only thing any driver should be doing is focusing on driving.

As I pointed out at length in the second half of my comment.
posted by tigrrrlily at 11:38 AM on May 6, 2021

How about doing surgery while doing the people's business?
posted by postel's law at 11:44 AM on May 6, 2021

Ask Orlando: Are roadside sign spinners legal, or just distracting?, Orlando Sentinel, David Whitley, 12/6/2019:

...“What’s the deal with people twirling signs and jumping around on the side of the road. It it legal? They are very distracting.” The reader is referring to sign spinners. Perhaps you’ve noticed them on the sidewalks by many of Orlando’s busier roads.

On weekends, the advertising artists are like McDonald's. You can't go more than a mile without spotting one. They’ll spin their signs so fast the lettering blurs, flip them with their feet, toss them into air and do a cartwheel before catching them. Or maybe, like Byam, they’ll just do a little dance while playing a tune. It can indeed be distracting, though...the whole point is to get attention.

"Here in America, our cars are our freedom," John Dick said. "We use them to go shopping, to play, to get to work. It's a great way to reach that audience." He owns GotchaWorks, a Winter Park digital marketing agency. Sign spinning began in Southern California about 20 years ago, and has blossomed into a niche industry....

posted by cenoxo at 1:30 PM on May 6, 2021

[rage-spluttering deleted as not constructive]

If you are driving a motor vehicle which weighs SIGNIFICANTLY MORE THAN 1000 POUNDS and you're getting distracted by someone doing something "flashy" on the sidewalk YOU SHOULD NOT BE DRIVING argh.
posted by Lexica at 4:56 PM on May 6, 2021 [4 favorites]

btw, the stroads video, linked by tigrrlily upthread. Well worth watching.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 6:40 PM on May 6, 2021

I suddenly remembered having to call into a meeting while I was driving just the other day. Know what I did? I parked in a parking lot and then finished my travel after the meeting. It's not that hard.

Talking in a quiet car is actually pretty nice, with the hands-free on the radio (or whatever you call it nowadays). I asked, nobody thought the sound quality was poor. Guess what, when you're driving, not only is it dangerous, but the sound quality sucks and it's annoying everyone else on the call.

People gonna stare at you when you get animated in conversation in your car at Fred Meyer though.
posted by ctmf at 6:42 PM on May 6, 2021 [6 favorites]

When Skype video calls started some years ago, I was a passenger in a car when, for reasons, I had to join the call. It was a business call. The problem was that I I was in a car that had just pulled into the parking lot of a grateful dead concert. We parked, but even after the others got out of the car and I closed the doors and windows, you could see a lot of tie dye and smoke. Also loud music and people twirling. Immediately I was asked where the heck was I. "Oh, in the parking lot of SPAC". Their response was, "OK, let's resume this call tomorrow after noon."

I am with ctmf. Phone call or video or any communication with someone outside my vehicle, I either park or wait until I can park.
posted by AugustWest at 6:45 PM on May 6, 2021 [3 favorites]

Bob Gibbs can fuck off into the sun.
Intriguing ideas, your newsletter, my subscription, etc.
posted by miguelcervantes at 11:00 PM on May 6, 2021

If you are driving a motor vehicle which weighs SIGNIFICANTLY MORE THAN 1000 POUNDS and you're getting distracted by someone doing something "flashy" on the sidewalk YOU SHOULD NOT BE DRIVING argh.

That's a nice ideal world. Sure would be nice if it was realistic.

Given that spinning, tossing, juggling large flourescent-colored signs at the side of the road is an advertising activity specifically designed to distract motorists, perhaps such actions need to be stopped for the sake of everyone's safety?

Hell, billboards in general are intended to distract drivers, umpteenthly so for animated, brightly-lit LED billboards. Yes, drivers need to stay focused on the road, but, if that's the goal, the purposefully-designed-to-distract advertising needs to be eliminated. That, or make the businesses legally liable for the purposeful distraction.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:46 AM on May 7, 2021 [3 favorites]

Important context: Brenner is of course a Republican, the Ohio legislature is dominated by Republicans, House Bill 283 addressing distracted driving is entirely sponsored by Republicans

I mean, this just demonstrates they know full well and agree that, without the threat of jailtime, people will engage in risky behavior.
posted by pwnguin at 9:35 AM on May 7, 2021

I’m a bit confused about the controversy because as far as I know it’s perfectly legal to use your phone hands free while you drive- I mean my steering wheel literally has buttons to answer and hang up a call. I have joined plenty of teams calls from my car and in fact there’s a CarPlay interface for teams on iOS. If you interact with the phone interface while parked I don’t think you’re doing anything illegal. Nor do I think he was trying to hide the fact he was driving with a background- it seems pretty standard for folks to set office backgrounds so they don’t have to worry what their real environment looks like. Besides all this aren’t there like a gazillion YouTube influencer videos of people narrating their toddlers lives while they drive? Not that there is any real wisdom in that.
posted by simra at 8:19 AM on May 8, 2021