Is it common sense or an infringement of freedom ?
It is not common sense. They should ban ALL cell phone use while driving. It’s the conversation that’s distracting the driver, not the use of the hand to hold the thing.
There’s no reason why it can’t be both.
On your own private road, well isolated from any possibility of injuring anyone else, it’s an infringement of freedom for no good reason. You can be a danger to yourself as much as you like.
On any road where I might be passing by implicitly expecting you not to be a danger to me, some agreed-upon safety rules are sensible to prevent you from infringing on my freedom to not have pieces of your crumpled-up car in my face. But it’s still an infringement on your freedom – just a sensible one.
Can I still carry on a conversation with my passenger?
Are those the only choices?
Or could it perhaps be a reasoned decision based on research and experimentation? That link was the result of 3 seconds of hard work on Google.
Yes, because research suggests that is far less distracting than a cellphone conversation.
NM.
Define “use”. I use the GPS on my phone when I’m driving a lot. Also I plug it into the car radio and play music off it.
The GPS actually gives me more attention for the road. I don’t have to squint at strange street signs, nor divide my attention between going over directions and driving.
+10
Or they could just ticket people driving irresponsibly. I mean the symptoms of driving irresponsibly, namely, speeding, swerving, or otherwise being a hazard to others.
Except that the first visible evidence of the fact that someone is distracted bya cell phone conversation is when they crash into something/someone they would have seen and avoided in plenty of time if they weren’t so distracted having a conversation that could definitely wait until they aren’t moving a couple of thousands of pounds of steel very fast.
Really?
You don’t think guys driving a rig yakking on the phone with one hand while executing 90 degree turns through city streets is even slightly reckless ?
Here in Australia they do. They pull those people over and book them for using the phone that is causing them to wander all over the road or drive well under the limit in the fast lane etc.
The police ticketing people for cellphone use hardly prevents them from ticketing people for all these other offenses also. You could use the same argument against ticketing people for DWI - just ticket them for weaving, etc. But in both cases the cops aren’t everywhere and won’t see much of the dangerous behavior, and keeping people from DWT or DWI might make mean that they aren’t distracted or drunk the next time they have to react quickly.
This. I no longer permit myself to use the cell phone while driving (unless I’m stuck in traffic and crawling along at sub-walking speeds) because of an incident in which I found myself nearly driving into oncoming traffic while using my hands-free phone. I was lucky not to cause an accident, and though there were no cops around to give me a ticket, I richly deserved one.
There is research that indicates tha even using hands free mobile phones is at least as detrimental to driving ability as 80mgs of alchohol in the blood.
You would be surprised at the extent of impairment, and texting whilst driving is even worse, it has led to fatalities in the UK on several occasions
Not to mention there is no right to drive on public roads. It is privilege predicated on meeting certain requirements. If you want to drunk dial while driving in reverse and swerving from one side of your private road to the other, that is your business. The public at large, via our elected representatives, have the authority to dictate how any individual makes use of roads that are built and maintained on the public purse.
Now see this logic is incredibly obtuse. I agree texting, and drunk driving should be legally banned with fines and loss of license.
However use of the public roads is necessary to earn a living. You’re essentially saying “be our bitches if you want to feed your family”.
Fuck that right up the ass with a prostate shredding cactus soaked in lemon juice.
We ban lots of things because they’re dangerous, but we don’t have to use such short sighted, authoritarian, logic.
Studies have shown using a cell phone while driving is as bad as drunk driving.
The roads are public. I agree that it doesn’t make sense for the public to impose silly rules for no reason, but that’s because silly rules don’t make sense.
It is simply a fact that we don’t have to grant people the right to drive on the public roads if they refuse to abide by the rules. We take away this right all the time. There are plenty of people who manage to make a living without being able to drive. Is it harder if you don’t have a license to drive? Yes. The solution is, follow the rules. And in return, we won’t impose stupid rules, because hey, we have to drive too, so what’s in it for us?