Driving drunk is illegal, shouldn't driving with cell phones also be?

well it's dangerous to be thinking of anything other than the road while driving... get a little wrapped up in some daydream or an in-depth brainstorming session for what to do with your experiments next week and you're getting distracted.

what's next, the thought police?

don't get me wrong, i'm just as irritated with cell phone users behind the wheel as the next person, and avoid answering calls while driving at all costs. but do we need a law against anything that doesn't follow common sense too?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NuShrike @ Jun 30 2006, 04:16 PM) [snapback]279287[/snapback]</div>

I swear I remember Astroboy was based on the kid being killed in an auto-car accident. Something that wasn't supposed to go wrong went wrong. Typical of sci-fi and reality too...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Jun 30 2006, 04:24 PM) [snapback]279291[/snapback]</div>

I think that, once something has been demonstrated to be as dangerous as drunk driving, it should be as illegal as drunk driving. And, as someone pointed out here, most laws "banning" cell phone use allow you to use a cell phone with a handsfree set.

If you think that drunk driving should be illegal, I would argue that you must logically support a cell phone ban, since it's been shown that they are just as dangerous.

(I know your point was slightly different, galaxee, but I'm just taking this opportunity to make my point)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Betelgeuse @ Jun 30 2006, 04:41 PM) [snapback]279302[/snapback]</div>

I think the 'just as dangerous' part needs work. Unless there's a large number of cell-related crashes where the driver sideswiped cars on both sides of the road before completely losing it...

 

There are some people who won't stop phoning while driving unless it's illegal. Then they'll do it less.

My wife is the one I have in mind. She works about 70 hours a week and volunteers about another 20. She's a physician, the medical director of a community health center, the director of a Children's Theater Company, the founder of Raising Peacemakers, and very active in the Baha'i community. She has loads of calls to make and little time to make them. She's nearly always on the phone while driving. (When I call her cell phone and hear Verizon's busy beep at the end of the rings, I know she's probably driving.)

I've asked her to stop. I do my best to not call her while she's driving. She often can't take or return calls or pages until she's driving. She knows it's less safe, but feels she doesn't have any other time. The fact that she frequently gets less that 4 hours of sleep a night is another whole safety issue.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mikepaul @ Jun 30 2006, 04:47 PM) [snapback]279307[/snapback]</div>

OK. I guess the one thing that cell phone drivers have going for them is that they do tend to stop talking and pay attention after they hit the first car. However, I'd be quite interested to know how much damage and/or loss of life are caused by drunk drivers on the second, third, or forth accident in a given driving episode. If most of the damage/loss of life is caused by the first accident, then I think my argument would hold.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(theorist @ Jun 30 2006, 04:50 PM) [snapback]279309[/snapback]</div>

So how did she (or her predecessors) function before cell phones existed?

 

I think cell phone use while driving should be illegal. Several studies show that even handsfree is different from talking to a passenger because th eperson on th eothe rline doesn't see when you are in a high concentration situatior, nor do they see when someone pulls out in front of you etc. Alot of people say that it doesn't effect them but the studies also showed that the people who said they are uneffected drove much worse and showed thos epeople the video clips of them driving and they were really surprised. I've never seen someone o na cell phone driving correctly/safely in my life. I also can tell when the driver of avehicle I'm in is driving worse and it's usually with a cell phone. I say make it illegal and move ot hands free or bluetooth.

 

We must not forget that we need to know if the rate of accidents have gove up because of cell phone use or not. It was 1987 when the first cell phones came into Portland Maine. s far as I can tell, the only thing we have learned about cell phone use is that many people are using them while having accidents. Do we poll drivers to see how many were drinking coffee while having accidents? Do we try to find out how many were changing channels on the rsdio? Flipping cds? Probably not... Unless someone can show me how cell phones have raised the accidnt rate then I am reasonably confident these accident prone drivers would simply have been just as distracted by something other than a cell phone.

 

well i suppose we should limit the max volume of car stereos and make aftermarket amps and subs illegal...

we should also outlaw drive-thrus since they facilitate eating in the car.

how i look at the drunk driving vs cell phone use is, the cell phone is something you can stop being "under the influence" of with the snap of your fingers. alcohol is not. alcohol impairs much more than just your reaction time, and when you're drunk you're stuck with it for a while. you can put down the cell phone.

i can't believe i'm arguing for cell phone use in cars... but my whole point is that we can't have our whole lives regulated.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Jun 30 2006, 04:57 PM) [snapback]279316[/snapback]</div>

This is another point that I can make for children,

You should not regulate any more than we need to. But if you regulate distractions then how can you justify not including children?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Betelgeuse @ Jun 30 2006, 04:41 PM) [snapback]279302[/snapback]</div>

Another point for regulating children in cars.

Haven't you noticed that since babies have been regulated to the back seat, the number of deaths from parents forgetting and leaving them in the car has increased? Who thinks that is a great regulation?

Hay Betelgeuse, how about a regulation mandating that you must give your correct name on these chats?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Betelgeuse @ Jun 30 2006, 04:55 PM) [snapback]279311[/snapback]</div>

She did less and slept even less. As long as she has the option to do more she will take on more responsibilities that she then 'needs' to do.

Most of us, with varying frequency, will feel that we 'need' to make or take a call while driving. As a non-drinker I have less sympathy for people 'needing' to drink before they might need to drive.

Of course, if we're banning things that are dangerous, we could ban cars. We wouldn't have to regulate the use of cell phones or alchohol and there would be _no_ deaths from car accidents. I guess we have to consider the benefits as well as the costs of risky behavior? :huh:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Jun 30 2006, 04:57 PM) [snapback]279316[/snapback]</div>

Believe it or not, galaxee, I actually basically agree with you. I've always thought that cell phones were picked on because they were "new" technology and other, less high-tech distractions were ignored because they weren't "scary, new, hi-tech" things. And, when you make the point about our whole lives being regulated, my gut tells me that I agree with you. However, as a fellow scientist, from an objective standpoint, can you at least see my point? If studies have shown that both drunk driving and cell phone driving are equally distracting, and (basically) all of society agrees one of them is bad and should definately be illegal, how can you say that the other shouldn't be illegal?

As to your point about putting down the cell phone while driving, I agree; it's possible to stop "being under the influence" with a snap of the fingers. However, an effect of being "under the influence" is that you're less aware of your surroundings, so it's hard to know when to "snap your fingers."

I agree that we can't regulate everything that impairs our driving ability, but why should we draw the line such that drunk driving clearly is illegal and cell phone driving is not?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(grasshopper @ Jun 30 2006, 05:59 PM) [snapback]279337[/snapback]</div>

Yes. "Where do we draw the line?" is a valid question. I'm just not convinced we should draw it between "drunk driving" and "cell phone driving"

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(grasshopper @ Jun 30 2006, 05:59 PM) [snapback]279337[/snapback]</div>

This seems like a complete non-sequitor (and Hay is for horses ).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Betelgeuse @ Jun 30 2006, 06:22 PM) [snapback]279348[/snapback]</div>

Hay your correct, this is all horse sh@%.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Betelgeuse @ Jun 30 2006, 06:22 PM) [snapback]279348[/snapback]</div>

calm down there, B, there aren't any hard feelings

on this i can see your point, but my agreement ends where we get into the direct comparison of alcohol use to cell phone use.

since my area of specialization is drugs... i see being under the influence of drugs like alcohol as a vastly different situation than an external influence such talking on the phone. so i can see where you're coming from in terms of comparison, but i'm also viewing the situation from a different angle of experience.

overall i can see a homology of some sort, but i don't think they're directly comparable.

chemically impairment that comes from within, that directly affects brain function on a basic level, is going to be inherently more dangerous than an extrinsic distraction.

i'd love to go into this more, and probably will later if there is a good debate to be had, but i'm getting cut off- DH wants me to bring the car over to the shop to tweak the alignment for our big trip tomorrow.

 

Hell what are laws anyway? who needs them? just let everyone do what they want. :blink:

I remember the woman jay walking and the teenaged girl talking on her cellphone and ran a red light because she wasn't paying attention, oh yes back to the woman pushing her baby stroller w/baby inside and 2yr old holding onto the stroller and the teenaged cellphone girl slap ran them over at 50mph in a 45mph zone thus killing the two kids & knocking out the mother. The teen was horrified and scared witnesses caught her at the next light and brought her back to the scene..

So yes ban using cell phones use, unless they use hands free. I personally feel the using a hands free unit is the way to go, it puts both hands back on the wheel instead of one hand holding the phone against the ear or putting the phone on the shoulder and bending the head over which kinda locks the head so one can not look around.... :mellow:


As for Drunk Drivers, say what you will, but when you lose a loved one or a close friend to a drunk driver, And you come looking for condolences. You may just hear them say We feel your pain, then you remember all the flack you raised here and in other conversations regarding DWI's being illegal, you mite also get an I told you so .. <_<

There are plenty of distractions out there today, I kinda wish we still had the 70's mentality going on .

 

zzz

 

I believe that in some states it is illegal to talk on a cell phone while driving. Traffic laws are a state matter.

All these issues raised above, from drunk driving to applying makeup while driving, to cell-phone use while driving to eating while driving, all come down to one basic issue: reckless endangerment of other people's lives. Right now, the cops and the courts seem to have a very slack attitude toward all these things. Since the offender's intention is not to hurt anyone, he's viewed with sympathy.

I say, all forms of reckless endangerment should carry a mandatory jail term and loss of driving privileges. If you ask, what about the poor unfortunate person who then has no way to get to work, or no longer has time in the day to make all his important phone calls, I reply, what about all the people these irresponsible clowns kill every year!

We should also have real driving tests that actually test your ability to control the vehicle you'll be driving. We imagine that every American has a god-given right to operate a motor vehicle, no matter how irresponsible or incompetent he is. And it's just plain dumb to blather on about the threat of terrorism when the real terrorists are Americans behind the wheels of cars.

 

I agree with daniel in leveling significant fines, possibly jail terms and other penalties for any accident involving "distraction while driving".

Cell phones are only one of those distractions: make-up, shaving, doing your hair, reading, talking, looking for CDs, having your dog in your lap (do you folks who do this EVER think of what is going to happen to your precious dog when it flies out the window).

Many states are making more regulations against teen driving: night driving, more than one passenger at anytime are a few that I have heard. These are things the parent should be enforcing not the government.

Do we really want the government to be our parent figure?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Salsawonder @ Jun 30 2006, 09:21 PM) [snapback]279436[/snapback]</div>

my point exactly!

 

I've often wondered what a woman would look like with a eye lash applicator stuck in her eye due to the car infront stopping short & would she learn the lesson? :huh: This is such a true statment I see women all the time putting on make up, eating & driving by the (knee) I've tapped the air horn for those ppl when theres no danger to others a cpl of times. :lol: whopper all over the lap disorder they then hold the wheel with both hands untill they can pull over and pick the food out of thier laps..
Im sure they've are cussed me after they stop..

LOL just find a place to mount one of these babies :
http://www.iowa80.com/iowa80/shop?method=p...ct&prodid=06758