Sick and tired of having your life endangered by drivers who are too self-important to put their phones down and pay attention to the road? So are we.
Take a few moments, and let us know what you think. Have you or someone you know, been in a cell-induced accident? Or, do you think this is all a bunch of overblown hooey, perpetuated by drivers who can’t handle a little multitasking?
Let us know what you think! We’ll drop by and peruse your comments from time to time.
Tom and Ray
Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers
Don’t have time to answer now, I’ll sent a text message while I’m driving home.
Actually, to be fair to cell phone talkers, there are plenty of activities that should probably be avoided while driving, as they could be a tad distracting. Just off the top of my head, an (incomplete) list would include:
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Attempting to explain algebra I to a 7th grader
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Sorting your entire CD collection by the birth-date of the drummers
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Reading anything by James Joyce
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Preparing your income tax return (unless using the short form)
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Attempting to explain Finnegans Wake to a 7th grader
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Attempting to catch you kid’s pet rat that is running up you leg
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Repeatedly listening to Subterranean Homesick Blues, attempting to remember all the lyrics
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Attempting to understand any of the lyrics of your kids gangster rap CD
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Attempting to explain who Bob Dylan is to a 7th grader
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Tossing your kids gangster rap CD out the window after they recite the lyrics
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Sticking your head under the passengers side dash trying to locate the source of annoying squeak
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Making PB&J sandwich
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Eating PB&J sandwich
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Attempting to remove kid’s pet rat from under the passengers side dash
This is an incomplete list, but you get the general idea.
Driving with kids in the car is roughly equivalent to 0.7 BAC.
Yes, we were nudged in the rear at a stoplight lightly and thankfully without damage by a lady on a cell phone. I gave her a piece of my mind. Apparently she could not see, brake and talk on her phone. I wonder how good a job she was doing with her phone conversation with all of that steering and braking to do.
Even when they don’t cause accidents, inattentive drivers are a public nuisance. They don’t keep up with traffic and get in everyone else’s way. I don’t cut them any slack.
Then there are those driving well under the speed limit on the motorway just to talk on the phone and still drive. Try passing one of these people with tons of traffic!!!
We all need bumper stickers that say shut up and drive or have a law like NY that doesnt allow you to talk and drive unless its hands free (still somewhat dangerous)
I think we should blame the real problem rather than the scapegoat. It’s not cell phones. It’s not eating. It’s not changing CD’s. It’s crappy driver training. Our driver training system in the USA is attrocious, and it shows by virtue of the vast numbers of moronic drivers out there.
Look at pilots. They can talk on the radio while flying. No one suggests they should put the radio away until they land. I have never read an FAA post-crash report that said “pilot was gabbing on the radio and crashed.” The difference is that pilots are well trained and must prove it in order to get their pilots license.
We have a lot of fun in this country blaming scapegoats in a desperate attempt to fool ourselves into thinking we’re doing something about the problem while not actually having to change things we don’t want to change. Having to actually learn how to drive would take effort. Much easier to scapegoat the phones - that’ll stall it for a few years, right?
Banning cell phones won’t solve anything, and it is 100% possible to talk while NOT driving like an idiot.
Ask the pilots. They do it all the time.
Exactly, that was the point of my earlier sarcasm. Without going into details, most of us found some found some VERY distracting things to do while driving decades before cell phones were invented (not proud of that).
Cells phones, like everything else require some common sense. I spend about 6-700 hours per year driving and I talk on the phone when it’s safe. There is a big difference between talking while driving in city rush hour traffic and driving on a deserted interstate. Trying to regulate specific types of distractions is silly, just enforce the current laws.
I agree with you completely. Driver education does not exist. Here’s the brake, here’s the steering wheel, here’s the radio, see you later. No one is ever trained in emergency handling, how to avoid a collision, what to do with a blowout, how to drive when you’ve been hit from the side the back or sideswiped. The governor of New Jersey was nearly killed when his driver could not control an SUV that was sideswiped at speed. Spinouts and rollovers are not inevitable in those events, but they are if you yank the steering wheel trying to stay on the road. Did anyone ever tell you what do then? I doubt it. There’s no place to practice emergency control and no information about it available. Cell phones are simply a symptom of a completely unrealistic view of driving.
Airplane pilots have a fairly concentrated subject matter to talk about and can do that with hands free equipment, no telephone numbers to look up and are talking to people who are also limiting their subject matter, not to mention that an airliner has a copilot. Both pilot and controllers have no things to discuss beyond aiming the airplane safely. Car driving requires intense concentration all of the time to stay between the lines and to avoid random unexpected events. Auto drivers on cell phones with a variety of things to discuss and airplane pilots on radios, in my view, are not similar enough to make this a valid comparison.
Cell drivers never seem to know whose turn it is to move at a stop sign.
my cellphone died, so i had to pull out my laptop and tell you i was halfway there
Make sure you only type with one hand while driving.
i wish you would of told me that earlier
Just give them a call when it’s their turn.
Hey he lives in CO so better leave it to a resident of CO. It would be safer for us and we have no laws about texting; drinking coffee; eating; etc when driving since the Rep who wanted to pass it didnt get it out of committee last session.
Yup, we don’t have a lot of unnecessary laws in CO (But, I happen to be in chicago at the moment, where there seems to be plenty of laws).
Well Chicago has a Dem for a mayor and the Gov is a Dem? (not sure on that one) so what do you expect?
Wonder how NY got its law?
We might have a few new 'unnecessary ’ laws next session though they tend to die in committee. You do know that we had an accident with a few teenagers not too long ago and they said it was due to one of them texting and driving? Our senator tends to deal with that issue alot so we might see some new laws introduced in January.
Well he isnt in CO so maybe TJ should find you in Chicago? he might be closer to you? We are supposed to be leaving for work in NW WY so we will have to pass on it right now.
Wonder how NY got its law?
LOL, NY does seem to be the silly law capital of the universe. Last time I was there I noticed that the state park where I was hiking actually REQUIRED bicyclists to wear helmets, please.
I was actually working in NY when their silly cell phone law went into effect (I think it was either 2000 or 2001). I do remember that the TV/radio made a big deal over it, then it was completely ignored by almost everyone, including myself. As you implied, these laws are usually introduced as a knee jerk reaction to some incident, I do not remember if there was a specific incident in NY or if it was just a response to general whining.
The good folks over at Morning Edition did a story on this just a few days ago: Laws Limiting Car-Phone Use Tough to Enforce : NPR
New York statistics from 2005 attribute less than 1 percent of traffic accidents to cell-phone use. But nearly one-quarter were noted as “driver inattention or distraction.” Some studies have it as high as 80 percent.
Yakking away, passing you in the right line with kids in the back seat – makes me wonder. Yet, here in MA some of the drivers are horrible enough without cell phones. I personally never do, too distracting, even with the headset.