I do not feel that I am distracted using a bluetooth headset nor do I make a habit of making calls while driving. Basically I use it to receive calls and will occasionally make a call using voice-dial. It is much more distracting to have a conversation with a passenger.
What is more distracting, kids in the backseat playing ?He?s on my side,? a mother-in-law assisting you with driving advise (both of which include visual distraction) or a conversation with no visual involvement?
Visual distraction is far more dangerous and talking to a passenger involves visual distraction. Of course, not using hands-free is dangerous because it takes one hand off the wheel.
Maybe the ultimate outcome of this will be regulations for cars to have a sealed driver pod with no visual or aural access to the passenger compartment. Hmmm, I might like that.
While I agree there are instances when cell phone use in a moving vehicle is reasonable (the phone is ‘hands free’/it’s an emergency/the caller is an emergency-responder or physician, etc.) for the most part I SUPPORT a ban on cell-phone use while driving. I drive a school bus in a county that has urbal/suburban & rural areas. I will tell you that each & every time I’ve had a close-call in an auto vs bus incident, it was with someone who was ON THEIR CELL PHONE! Primary problems were excessive speed and weaving into the oncoming lane (this, despite the fact that it’s hard to miss a large vehicle weighing 20,000 lbs & painted yellow heading your way). Cell-phone useage is also the NUMBER ONE CAUSE of drivers blowing thru my stop-arm when I’m unloading kids (see above comment abt large yellow vehicle & add flashing red lights). So, for all those who are opposed to a cell-phone ban, ask yourselves this question: It’s 6:30 am on a dark winter morning & your child has just started across the road to get on the school bus. Suddenly, there’s a speeding car bearing down on your kid. Is that driver yakking on their celly or not? THAT CALL is up to you.
I’m not sure who I’m more worried about, the people driving and walking near this doctor who’s driving while on the phone, or the patients the doctor’s making decisions about while driving. I don’t care how good somebody thinks he is at multitasking, when he’s doing two things like this, both of which require full attention, he’s not doing a very good job at either one, and other people are at risk.
C’mon, doc, you must have read the research studies which said accident rates are higher while driving on the phone and there is NO difference in accident rates whether the phone is hands free or handheld. You are making more mistakes than you think, which you’d realize if you could get feedback from other people driving near you. Don’t you notice boneheads out there driving who are on the phone? I see it all the time.
But I also suggest you examine what you’re doing to yourself. You need to delegate more and assign yourself some down time. This notion of being responsible 24/7 burns doctors out and makes them sick and does not to lead to optimal care.
As Tom & Ray’s bumper sticker sez: HANG UP AND DRIVE.
I don’t understand, why can’t you ask the kids to be quiet? Are you raising unruly rug rats or well-mannered young adults? Who is in charge, you or the children?
Regarding the in-laws, I have a running joke with mine. I tell them that if someone would make a car with more than one set of controls, I would buy one just for them. However, until that day comes, only one person can drive my car at a time. Besides, as a former professional driver, I almost never give my in-laws a reason to complain about my driving.
I’ve been talking since before I started driving and I’m not too bad at either. Maybe I could go for the ban on handheld phones, but there are far more greater distractions to driving than talking on the phone. The radio for one. And kids in the back seat…you’re always wondering what they’re up to. I often see women applying make-up, men using electric shavers, people of both genders reading the newspaper and I’ve even seen folks brushing their teeth, all while driving! And let’s not forget the customers of drive-through windows who eat entire meals while doing 70 on the turnpike.
But here’s the one I hear nobody talking against and I just don’t understand it. GPS navigation systems. Come on, they put a TV screen in front of the driver with maps and other info…and we’re worried about cell phones? If I had one of those gizmos, I would most certainly wreck the car because I like looking at maps. I could see myself trying to navigate around Your Fair City as a tourist, studying the TOM TOM or the Magellan and then SMASH. I just collided into Click, or was it Clack? Let us keep our cell phones and if that 12-year old runs somebody over, sue her parents, who should be setting some rules for her anyway. But keep those navigation gadgets away from us. They could be dangerous. Oh yeah, is listening to Car Talk while driving a distraction? I hope not, 'cause I would be in big trouble.
At a crosswalk in Rome (Italy) I witnessed a young lady, driving a small fiat while talking on a cell phone and lighting a cigarette (look, Ma - No hands!), rear-end a Mercedes Benz waiting for the light to change. Her car was a mess. Two passers-by pushed her off to the side of the road while she continued her cell conversation. Maybe smoking should be banned in cars, too?
I think that the distraction of talking on the phone is dangerous while you?re driving. That being said, so is all the other crazy things that I see people doing in their cars. If phone use is going to be illegal, then so should putting on make-up, eating a sloppy burger, READING, yes, I?ve actually seen people reading behind the wheel.
Maybe rather than a specific ban on phones, what we need is a total ban on stupidity.
First of all, it’s not just women who drive irresponsibly while yapping on their phones. Not by a long shot.
In California, the illegalization of handheld phone use while driving reduced the number of offenders drastically, but not completely. And most people are still yappin’ in some form or fashion. Everyone should have to pull over (in a safe place, not blocking traffic!!) to make or receive a call or text message.
Cell phones should be considered a safety feature not a distraction. Teenagers who have little experience driving or dealing with bad weather conditions are obviously ill equiped to both drive and use a cell phone, particularly a handheld phone. To ban the use of a cell phone while driving makes no sense unless we also ban talk radio programs and talking with passengers in general. While Tom or Ray may not want their wives speaking to them while driving I enjoy and am more alert when my wife is in the car, talking with me. Capnlucerne should get a grip.
No. First of all, a ban is not going to work; there are too many of us out there. Remember prohibition?
CDC claims that when using a cell phone, even handsfree, you’re as impaired as if your drunk. I don’t buy that, but even if it were true…If I’m drunk when I get into the car, I’m probably still drunk an hour later, driving or not. Cell phone, I’m “impaired” only while talking. Second, there’s no upside to driving while drunk. Cell phone usage has many upsides (texting? not so much).
Most folks are more relaxed and better at driving after a few pops, not so much on the phone. let’s lay off a few cops and help out our state budgets and our nerves.
Definitely turn them off! I have gotten hit in the rear all because of some sap looking down at his cell phone to see who it is. It cost him plenty. As far as emergency goes, pull off the road or you could cause an emergency! I have a sign on my rear bumper…“HANG UP AND DRIVE!”
I have a gerneral problem with the government lately trying to encroach on the liberties of it’s citizens. While I agree that some people shouldn’t be talking on a cell phone while driving, I don’t want to have the government tell me that I cannot. I am curious at what point does it all end? If we continue to let these people try to create a nanny state, we will all be wearing bubble wrap, with 2 helmets on just to get the Sunday Paper.
What about additional penalties? Not necessary, drivers found negligent already face those penalties whether it is because they were on a cell phone or shaving their legs. Distracted driving is already covered by exiting laws.
I’m curious how this “study” was done about talking on cell phones having casued as many accidents as drunk driving, I somehow doubt that very much, if that were the case, we’d see reports in the news about it.
These studies can be twisted any way they want, I’ve heard of studies that report that talking to a passenger in the seat next to you is just as dangerous as talking on the cell phone. So car pooling is out of the question then? This has nothing to do with the cell phone as much as it has to do with the skill of the driver, or lack thereof. Just leave it alone, if it wre truly an issue, I’d see the expressway littered with car accidnets every day, and at this point I don’t.
How do you enforce it anyway, My microsoft SYNC in my Fusion allows me to just talk in the air, how does anyone else looking at me not know that I am not just talking to myself?
The human brain can only handle so much. Driving is a lot more multi dementional then people like to credit it for. Even if your hands aren’t involved the brain is. It’s just impossible to carry on an involved conversation while driving. It’s not the same as a conversation with a passanger. A passanger can control the conversation because they can see what’s going on on the road, they are also a second set of eyes. I don’t care what you tell yourself, you just can’t be 100% and talk on the phone at the same time. And no conversation is worth killing for.
I strongly believe this is a problem that needs attention, but I also believe that banning phone use is not the answer. It is too late to put that genie back into the bottle. There is an expectation of accessibility that people have that in many cases necessitates we use our phones almost anywhere. I’m not saying I like that, but it is the world we live in now. I do think that there might be certain cases that might warrant a ban. Drivers under 18 for example (of course I would support a ban on that group ever using a cell phone in public). Another option would be on high risk vehicles. On three occasions recently I have encountered school bus drivers talking on their cell phones. One was a lady I called; after a few minutes of conversation she informed me that she was currently on her route. I immediately ended the call. I think for the rest of us, we need an intense learning process to keep calls short and necessary. The vast majority of car cell phone use is people just yackin’. The other part of that would be what was mentioned earlier in this thread: the use of the reckless/careless driving laws. Law enforcement could have a campaign to be watching for this and stopping people. Maybe starting with a period of warnings, moving to a citation to attend some classes or something, finally ending with fines and points on the license. Whatever the answer is, I do not think an all out ban will work, in fact it will probably make it worse as people will be trying to hide the fact that they are talking rather than concentrating on driving.
Put it any way you like, it is the distraction of punching up numbers, looking at the screen, and looking for thing between the seats or in a purse when it goes off.
Too many cops see phones on the floor of a vehicle involved in an accident, but it is rarely reported because there is no law violated. The Highway Traffic Admin should introduce an across the board prohibition for operators of any motor vehicle from operating cell phones while the vehicle is in motion. PERIOD Truckers use CBs but you don’t dial them, they are on all the time. Emergency vehicles use radios but they also are on all the time (Push to talk) But cell phones in the hands of drivers in moving vehicles are lethal because they are not concentrating on the road.
I have had similar experiences, but would go one step further. Every state should have a law banning DWD - driving while distracted. The law would make DWD a primary driving offense and would cover such things as cell phone use, eating, reading, watching TV, putting on makeup, shaving, writing, using a computer, etc., etc., ad nauseum, while driving.
I’m back after reading many of the responses to this question. It seems there are many who are struggling in the canyons and alleys of personal belief, need, and want. As I suggested before ALL behaviors while behind the wheel need to be controlled with the guiding fact that you are responsible for everything that happens around your car. I cannot begin to rattle off how many drivers I see in a shift not driving attentively. It doesn’t matter to me what the distraction is, they are all bad. Cell phones are just a bit of an easier target than DWI, putting on make up, or reading. If I catch you doing these things on my turf I contact the Patrol with your plate number. I do what I can to make my communities a little bit safer for everybody.
So please, ban or not, drive with due regard for the safety of others, remember you are part of our society and obliged to act responsibly, and don’t make me have to tell your kids you died because you HAD to order pizza while driving and you took four other people with you.