I know that talking on a cellphone is now a leading cause of death on the highways. Supposedly talking to a disembodied voice and driving is too much for a person to handle.
Yet in the Seventies, CB Radio exploded in use. Millions of these were sold and used on the roads of the US. But I don’t remember a similar bloodbath back then – and the Seventies were a great decade for scare stories. Police and firemen also use these, and I don’t remember any incidents involving radio communications and emergency personnel.
Why were CB Radios relatively safer than cellphones are today (if they were safer, that is)?
Is there something about picking up a microphone to talk that is less distracting than talking on a phone?
When you use a CB, you’re generally not having a lengthy back-and-forth conversation. You’re also generally not fiddling with the microphone or the radio settings. Either way, there’s less distraction with a CB than with a cellphone.
In addition, CB radios were a flash in the pan. Maybe 6 to 7 years of high use and then were gone. Cell phones exploded from just a few people talking to every 19 year old chatting and (worse) texting while driving at 73 mph. Or even worse, sitting at a red light (turned green) for 19 seconds while smiling at a Very Necessary picture of their dog becoming potty trained. You didn’t have that with CB radio.
Don’t get me wrong. I am opposed to these laws. They can easily be addressed with general distracted driving laws. But don’t pretend that texting and cellphones haven’t created a new class of dumbass on the roads unlike anything we saw with CB radio.
Also was part of the CB craze as a kid in the 1970s.
One major difference between mobile phones and CB IMO is protocol and content:
CB: half duplex (i.e. use of a PTT key) encourages exchanges that are relatively short and to the point.
Mobile phone: full duplex allows for senseless chatter and talking over each other.
CB: you are talking in public, which excludes a lot of emotionally taxing subjects and some instances of acting out.
Mobile phone: you talk in private; anything goes.
In addition to the issues that other people have mentioned, driving was more dangerous in general in the 1970s, so any increase due to distraction from CB radios was a part of a larger background than the increase due to cell phones is today.
You’d think it would have a multiplying effect, since accidents from distracted driving would cause many more fatalities with 1970’s safety equipment versus 2010’s. But, hey, it was back before many states had particularly strong DUI laws either, so obviously they weren’t too worried about it. Although it was also the days of the 55 MPH limit. I think much of the CB craze was driven by the unbelievable boredom doing a long road trip at 55 MPH entailed.
Also note that a lot of places have exempted CB radios from their handheld device bans, which could make something like this handy: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/edd5/
CB is a shared service. the time you could talk is limited by others also using their radios.
CB requires some motivation, putting a radio in your car. so a fraction of people did this.
also sociology and psychology issues may have changed. times were slower then. in more recent times with better and faster electronics people connected to their electronics in a different way. video gaming became fast and engaging. portable audio allowed total control of your entertainment at all times; i.e. not settling for not having what you want all the time. cell phones mean instant and total contact; yet ironically when people used portable radios decades ago (mostly ham radio) they were laughed at for always being able to be in touch, what could be so important. so now people are more wrapped up in an electronic cocoon of getting what you want and there’s no reason to stop just because you’re driving a car. this more self centeredness (also likely due to social crowding and higher world population) also leads to other distracted driving problems of grooming and eatting.
Interesting point. That may explain why CBs didn’t cause as much of a problem as cell phones do. But I strongly suspect that the truth is that CBs actually DO cause just as much problems as cell phones but back in the 1970s we didn’t have enough detailed evidence to document the fact.
But if you’re right that short impersonal conversations are less dangerous than rambling emotional ones, then the use of a hands-free ear piece should make no difference. Therefore it’s illogical for the state to make cell phones illegal but allow you an exception for hands-free ear pieces.
Rambling emotional conversation with hand-held cell phone: ILLEGAL
Short impersonal conversation with hand-held CB radio: LEGAL
Rambling emotional conversation with cell phone hands-free: LEGAL
At least, that’s the law here in Oregon.
It seems obvious to me that the laws aren’t written based on what’s dangerous and what isn’t. The laws are written based on what they can get passed through committee without it being voted down by someone who’s afraid of alienating their constituents and decreasing their chances of being reelected. That’s why truck drivers talking on CBs are exempt from the law. The law makers were afraid of alienating the trucking industry.
One other difference is that you listen to a CB hands free, raise the mic to talk for ten seconds then go back to hands free. A phone ties up an arm and an ear for the entire conversation. With a phone you’re doing this while all your driving duties are happening, while with a CB, you’re likely to think “eh… better finish making this turn before lifting the mic and talking.”
Think of this, if it weren’t for the wind noise, you could have an hour long CB conversation while driving a motorcycle. A cell phone, not so much.
No one has mentioned the single biggest difference between (road) CB use and cellphones: RANGE (and therefore, “accessibility”).
With a cell phone, you connect to the entire “phone grid” and so you have access to talk to “anybody” you would want to.
CB’s were pretty much “walkie talkies”: (as you drove) you could never know who you might be able to get a hold of. As you approached a known town, you could connect to people who you knew in the area, but that was it. Otherwise, you were just “broadcasting” to the airwaves and seeing if anyone was out there, and whatever discussion then arose from essentially strangers.
Also, at least for me, CB’s where mostly used on highways, looking out for Smokey. IMHO, a little distraction on an Interstate, is not as bad as in town.
CBs were never really that big. Maybe 1 in 100 people had them in their cards. So even if it was a problem it was never a really big problem. Now the vast majority of people driving have a cell phone on them.
When having a conversion on a CB, the other person assumes you are driving so they don’t expect you to answer immediately, at a normal conversational pace. On a phone the expectation is that the other person is just talking to you and not engaging in some other task. If they pause a long time before replying, you get annoyed. You don’t want to annoy the other person so you divert more attention to the conversation, maybe more than you safely should.
Wow, memories. My dad was Mountain Maniac, my mom was Lady Flame, and the would both be pushing the double nickles while dodging bears to get to lost wages.
But I never once remember them using the CB in town, only when we were on the interstate.
That’s a very good point. As a kid I remember using the CB to talk to family members when we were all going on vacation together and traveling within distance of each other. We would use the CB to coordinate stops and the like. Your uncle from half way across the country didn’t call you just to bullshit on the CB radio.
Truckers use CB, and trucker culture became very glorified in country-western music in the 1970’s. Cites: Convoy by C. W. McCall; The Ballad of Teddy Bear by Red Sovine, e.g.
From what I’ve seen, eating a bowl of cereal while driving should also be outlawed. Or applying mascara. Or juggling a cigarette and a Big Gulp while steering with your elbows.
