# cell phone drivers **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 28, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-drivers/583522 "2011-05-28T03:21:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-drivers/583522/41 "2011-05-31T17:35:52Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > I walk my beagles in the park everyday. > [@gonzomax](#): > > Crossing the road is a bitch. Did they whistle and leer at her? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-drivers/583522/42 "2011-05-31T18:42:36Z")
[Cell Phone Radiation 'Possibly Carcinogenic,' Experts Say | HuffPost Life](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/20/cell-phone-radiation_n_864799.html) Another reason not to spend too much time on a cell phone. Nordberg is a girl beagle, Winston a boy. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-drivers/583522/43 "2011-05-31T19:40:28Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > I thought I was fine at it too, until one sunny afternoon when I pulled up to a stop sign at a busy, higher speed intersection, cross traffic doing about 45mph. > I looked right and saw no one coming, looked left and saw my hand with a phone in it, and pulled out RIGHT in front of an oncoming car about 70 feet away from me. > > If she hadn’t been a good driver with good brakes, I probably would have lost the use of my life. That was nine years ago, and I have NEVER talked on the phone while driving since then. > > . > > . Best post/user name combo of the week. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-drivers/583522/44 "2011-05-31T19:41:24Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > You wouldn’t even passengers to make call? My wife often makes calls when we’re out and about (if I’m driving). I think passengers making calls will just have to be a casualty of actually trying to improve the safety of everyone on our roads. Sorry. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-drivers/583522/45 "2011-05-31T19:42:42Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > You wouldn’t even passengers to make call? My wife often makes calls when we’re out and about (if I’m driving). > [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > And what if you’re locked in the trunk??! I think you should be able to call out then. Then you’d be truly oot and aboot in a boot. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-drivers/583522/46 "2011-05-31T20:49:38Z")
Can I also add that I’m getting sick and tired of pedestrians wandering into traffic while on their phones too? As a pedestrian, I’ve pulled three people back to the curb who were stepping out to Darwin themselves, and as a driver and cyclist, I’m sick of making emergency maneuvers to avoid fuckwits who step out because their distracted pea brains misread a tiny gap in traffic as the changing of the lights. I’m not anti-cellphone, but why the fuck can’t we have enough discipline to be able to use them judiciously? It seems that people blather on with empty-headed babble because they can’t be left alone with their own thoughts or something. Most of the conversations I overhear aren’t worth the oxygen. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2011, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-drivers/583522/47 "2011-06-01T16:15:23Z")
We were making a left turn on a green light yesterday evening, and a truck with a guy talking on his cellphone came driving up to the light; I was thinking, “Is this guy even going to pause for his red light before making a right turn?” but instead he didn’t pause before running straight through his red light. If Jim and I had been going straight instead of turning, we would have been right in front of him. He saw us as he was halfway through the intersection, and I assume he saw me yelling at him, “YOU HAVE A RED LIGHT!” He did look marginally sheepish. ETA: I agree with you, **Swallowed**. People walking and talking (or texting) are also creating problems. I call the ones who just stop dead in the middle of the sidewalk or mall “Textblockers.” ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-drivers/583522/48 "2011-06-02T06:47:18Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I think passengers making calls will just have to be a casualty of actually trying to improve the safety of everyone on our roads. Sorry. 🙂 You could make the law, but its not gonna be obeyed. Cops are still giving seat belt tickets out, even though most of the provinces went belted years ago. Beyond a certain point, laws reach a glass ceiling in terms of effectiveness and enforcement. Basically the law is only supposed to be used against 2 to 5 percent of the scofflaws out there, while the remainder percentage are law abiding when parliament passes a law. IF the law is not self policing, its a waste of time. Declan ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-drivers/583522/49 "2011-06-02T06:52:07Z")
Detroit area is having a seat belt enforcement campaign. They are stopping non belted drivers and giving them 65 dollar tickets. I saw 5 cars pulled over at once near Belle Isle yesterday. Yet seat belt compliance in Michigan is well over 90 percent. I would settle for that on cell phones. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-drivers/583522/50 "2011-06-02T17:03:40Z")
> [@Declan](#): > > You could make the law, but its not gonna be obeyed. Cops are still giving seat belt tickets out, even though most of the provinces went belted years ago. > > Beyond a certain point, laws reach a glass ceiling in terms of effectiveness and enforcement. Basically the law is only supposed to be used against 2 to 5 percent of the scofflaws out there, while the remainder percentage are law abiding when parliament passes a law. > > IF the law is not self policing, its a waste of time. > > Declan I think you have misunderstood me - my plan was for all cars to be manufactured with non-removable cellphone signal blockers, because depending on people to obey the laws and not use their cellphones while driving is turning out to be the least obeyed law ever. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cell-phone-drivers/583522.md?page=2)