Do you use your phone while you drive?

cigroller · April 2012

Oy. Still with the phones.

The most distracted driver I saw today was not on the phone. He was trying to read something on the passenger's seat. Recently it was someone actually flipping through a catalog or magazine or something - up on the steering wheel while tooling down an interstate. Then there are kids and dogs and fast food and radios and CD players and bill boards and hot looking drivers and pedestrians and.... And even aside from the directly distracted that there are those people who just literally don't pay any attention at all.

We can all continue to talk about phones if we want. But its sort of like thinking that the titanic was sunk by the tip of the ice berg. Distracted driving is not an invention of the portable information age.

satisficer · April 2012

You wouldn't want your anesthetist or surgeon yammering or texting on their phone while doing your open heart surgery, and you wouldn't want your pilot doing it while your plane is ready for takeoff. Why would you do it while driving an SUV in someone's direction at 60 mph? It can be just as dangerous for you, and can kill you just as dead.

Couple of good bumper stickers; "Just put down the phone and no one will get hurt" and "Honk if you love Jesus. Text me if you want to meet Jesus soon."

meanjoe75fan · April 2012

You wouldn't want your anesthetist or surgeon yammering or texting on their phone while doing your open heart surgery, and you wouldn't want your pilot doing it while your plane is ready for takeoff.

Uh, pretty sure the cockpit crew will acknowledge being cleared for takeoff via 2-way radio communication with tower just before takeoff. Granted, in a FAR-121 airplane, that'll be the non-flying crewmember, but any plane that has a flight crew of one, that'll be the pilot.

(Or are radio communications--CB, aircraft radio, etc--okay, and cell phones not? If so, why?)

Yugo · April 2012

It has been proven that a person cannot talk on the phone and concentrate on driving at the same time. Talking on the phone and driving should be banned and criminal charges be brought for anyone caught doing so. How many people have to be killed before this stupid practice is forbidden.
Just awhile ago a bicyclist was killed by a driver using their phone in my area, if the same driver was intoxicated, it would have been an offense, but being impaired by talking on the phone is okay?

MikeInNH · April 2012

In an airplane...they see FAR FAR FAR less traffic when flying that will need immediate attention.

Bocephus Moonshine · April 2012

I do not talk on a cell phone while I drive, mainly because I have seen people killed by distracted drivers. I couldn't live with myself if I killed someone due to a careless distraction I could have easily prevented.

suze · April 2012

I can't even remember to charge my cell phone....so no, I don't use it while driving.....I'm not really sure WHERE the danged thing is to tell the truth.

cigroller · April 2012

The last time I was driving distracted, the distraction was my very own day dream. I don't know where my phone was. But if it had rung, it would have snapped me out of it.

oblivion · May 2012

I use my phone while driving. Once a call is initiated or answered, I don't feel it's any less safe than having a conversation with a passenger. It's kind of a toss up in a sense because a passenger can look for hazards, but a person is also inclined to turn their head and make eye contact with a passenger once in a while, thus taking their eyes off the road, while if I'm on my phone, I'm always looking straight ahead. It's probably a lot safer than looking at your satnav, seeking a radio station, searching for something in the center console, etc.

I will also text while driving, but only while waiting at lights, not while in motion, and I still frequently glance up.

Obviously a younger, more inexperienced driver has not learned to multitask as well as a more seasoned driver, and doesn't possess the unconscious habits and perhaps 'muscle memory' for driving as much as someone older, though perhaps their reflexes are a little better.

Big Marc · June 2012

got bluetooth in my car it answers the phone for me and hangs up too . i don't call out on it but i will take a call coming in i do try to keep it short

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Do you use your phone while you drive?

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