NTSB Urges Ban of Cell Phone Use While Driving

it should.

 

No, I paid 30k for a Barcelona Red Bluetooth headset! It works fine, and the phone never leaves my holster, when I remember to bring it in at 5 am!

 

IMO, there are more cons than pros with such a ban. The police/lawyer/judge collusion racket would love it, of course.

And what about text/talking pedestrians?

 

I have a question for everybody --- Was ANYONE else taught that "driving is a full-time job" ??? That fact was pounded into our heads back when we were 15-16 years old !! When the old box-type car phones came out - I couldn't believe that THEY were allowed to be used while driving -- Who do you think lobbied to get THAT allowed? (rhetorical question). IMO - ALL of these distractions to driving s/b banned - Yes, enforcement is a problem, but even the car makers are being pressured to equip their vehicles so it can't be done - it's in the works right now. As said - Now, if you're in an accident, the cell phone/texting record is one of the first things that gets checked. Change IS in the wind and it's about darn time!

 

As several people have already pointed out, having your hands off the wheel is only half the problem. Having your attention off the road is the other half. Maybe you think that you can drive just as well while holding a conversation, but you can't. As Natalie said above, it's a question of brain bandwidth. Your reaction time is going to be a little bit slower if your brain is doing something other than paying full attention to the road. As tv4fish says above, driving is a full time job, and while driving, you should be doing nothing but driving.

I have a hands-free Bluetooth earpiece that I use at home. I like it. But if the phone rings while I'm driving, I'll look for a safe place to pull over and stop, then open the phone and see who called, and decide whether to call them back while parked, or continue on my way and call them back when I get home.

A car is a deadly weapon. It is irresponsible to take chances with it. The probability of an accident if small if you're careful, but the consequences could be that you kill someone. How'd you like to look into a mother's eyes, knowing that you just murdered her child because you were talking on the phone, thus increasing your reaction time by a small but critical interval?

 

I like what you said about enforcing the law. See my earlier comment re enforcement.

Your thought above seems to have merit. But consider this: Is it lawful for someone in a vehicle other than the driver to use the telephone or to text? Perhaps a return to the old days, when the ignition caused a terrible noise in a radio. Engineer an electronic noise in the frequency of cell phones that comes on at 20 mph .... forcing drivers to pull of the road to talk. On-Star can do such wonderful things, could it not detect cell phone use and unflict an electronic noise when moving?

There are many destractions while driving. I joked that attractive women being a detraction .... but seriously, eating while driving? spilling a soda while driving? Disciplining children in the rear seat? Changing a CD in the player? Searching for the XM channel that is playing Christmas music? Trying to get an insect to fly out the window? and so on.

We all agree detractions are dangerous! But it may come down to self discipline. I know this .... if government demands it, it will be costly; there will be loopholes for a myriad of reasons; attorneys will make a fortune; uinion business will be exempt; a new federal agency will be created to administer the program ... and so on.

I want to be positive ... but we need realistic expectations.

 

I fully support this - there have been all sorts of studies about the dangers of distracted driving and on the news when talking about this story they stated that there were over 3,000 deaths attributed to distracted driving last year.

I think that they need to do a better job of splitting the issue - talking on the phone is a distraction but I do not think that it even comes close to texting which is just so much more dangerous. I'd go so far as to say that texting should be treated and prosecuted the same way that drunk driving is. Or even better - implement public canings like what they do in places like Singapore.

As for the phone, I'd be just fine with a total ban because studies have shown that the conversation takes away from a driver's ability to drive safely, but at the very least they need to ensure that drivers are using hands free devices. One of the things that I laugh at are those drivers who you can see have turned on the speaker phone feature but are then holding it in their hand as they drive (in states where there are laws requiring handsfree phones)- I guess that the idea of handsfree is too much some some people to grasp.

On top of all of the deaths and injuries chalked up to distracted driving there has to be a huge hit to productivity - distracted drivers cause congestion - how many hours of lost productivity does that add up to and how much gas consumption and pollution are a side effect?

 

While 7% of the US population in the strictest sense has ADHD, up to 60% are functionally ADHD in our wired, multi-tasking overkill society.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbcaMAAK-4s]3d Driving with ADHD - Trapezoid Communications - YouTube[/ame]

 

I have mixed feeling on this. I do talk on the phone while driving using a hands free device. Side note the hands free in my 06 just plain sucks and I have resorted to another device. The large percentage of time I talk on the phone is while I'm sailing along in traffic at a few miles an hour at best. Being able to talk on the phone and listening to podcasts make the commute almost bearable.

But I do see people here in LA talking on the phone without a hand free device all the time. Some of them shouldn't be allowed to drive let alone drive and talk on the dang phone.

 

I concur with strongly restricting cell phone use while driving. Eating while driving is an equal distraction. Drop food into your lap and the first thing you do is look down . . . .

 

It is ABOUT TIME!
So far this year I had 4 close calls and almost got hit by a car going into the super market. Everyone of these drivers was talking on a cell phone at the time.

I think they should put in some sort of blocking device in cars. Than enable phone use when the car is stopped. Something like they have in the navigation systems.

 

Watch the law won't apply to police and politicians or anyone else connected....

 

I don't think anyone argues that talking, texting, eating, looking for CDs etc while driving is NOT dangerous. The question is whether an across the board ban is the right solution.

I am of the opinion that it is not.

Everyday, when I go to pick up my teenagers at the high school, I see kids talking on their phones who walk out in front of cars, or cross where they shouldn't be crossing and so on.

I also see a lot of parents talking on their phones in the school zone (illegal here in our city) as they try to find their kids (the HS has over 4000 students, and during rush hour it's a huge log jam).

Banning all cellphone use might sound like a simple and good solution, but in practice I think it would just create a different set of problems, some of which may be even harder to resolve or undo.

Hands-free technology helps somewhat but is not the panacea. It too can be misused or abused just like anything else.

In the end, I believe education and awareness are key - because you can't legislate common sense or outlaw stupidity. Nor should you try to.

 

Such as?

Tom

 

I busted up a tire, rim, and alignment once when a cup of soda went flying across my car. I looked over and swung with a hand....guess where the car went? Right in that direction and up the curb. Just glad no one was there and no one was hurt.

 

What was driving like before cell phones?

 

Personally... I had a CB... 10-4 Good Buddy.