Last night as I was pumping gas I called someone on my cell phone, when I noticed the attendant and someone she was talking to giving me a nasty look.
When I went to go in to pay for my gas, she kindly told me that talking on cellphones at the gas pump was forbidden, and that I could have blown the entire station up.
I kind of snickered, and left, thinking this is an urban legend. But she also told me there was a sign at the pump telling me not to use my cell phone (sorry forgot to check).
I’ve heard this all before, but it really stinks of an Urban Legend that has gained so much credibility that now govenment officials and gas station managers have bought into it.
I have not heard ONE REPORT of a gas station getting blown to Kingdom Come with cellphone.
Did I mention that the attendant and her friend were standing outside the store giving me a nasty look… WHILE SMOKING CIGARETTES?
According to the Cellular Telephone Industry Association (CITA), there are no documented cases of a cellular phone causing an explosion at a gas station. Representatives from the Shell Oil Company, staff from the American Petroleum Institute and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ Explosives and Arson lab have all stated that they have no record of any wireless device-caused explosions, and that the prospect is extremely remote.
Exxon recently began placing warning stickers on fuel dispensers that advise motorists to turn off cellular phones while fueling. Exxon’s own statement begins by stating that Exxon has not experienced any problems with the use of cellular phones at any of its service stations, but is posting warnings in light of statements made by some phone manufacturers and advisories in several foreign countries on wireless phone use during refueling. Again, note statutory requirement in United Kingdom.
Manufacturers’ recommendations that phones not be used during fueling are based upon theoretical worst case scenarios that have not been documented in real life. The chance that a mobile phone would spark is remote in itself. Even more remote is the chance that the spark, if it occurred, would ignite a fire during the fueling of a vehicle.
One possible source of this misinformation is laziness on the part of wireless device manufacturers. In order to standardize the manuals of their wireless phones, they have incorporated language that is required by law in the UK that warns against using ANY electrical device near gas stations. It is required for manuals of any electrical device in the UK and is not a reflection on the safety of cellular phones.
There are rumors of an incident in Indonesia originating from an Internet story which has not been confirmed even by other Indonesian news reporters.
My personal question is, why are we so worried about the batteries in the cell phones, and not the HUGE batteries we keep in our cars?
This is the way things are going to be, unless it isn’t.
Confirmation of presence of cell phone/gas pump legend in another country: I drove up to France last week and saw a “no cell phones” sign (you know, an icon of a phone with a slash through it) right next to the “no smoking” sign on a gas pump at an Elf station.
The only way you could cause a gas station to blow up is if you put a bomb down inside the underground tanks. Filling stations are big open parking lots. There is simply no place for fumes to build up.
More importantly, worrying about the consequences of a cell phone spark is laughable. Every single car’s starter makes sparks about a million times bigger than a cell phone ever could, and they make them everytime you start your car.
I for one welcome our new insect overlords… - K. Brockman