Some people are very serious about milk and pizza.
Whenever I talk on a cell phone, after I end the conversation I have little or no memory of the last X miles I’ve driven.
Also, whenever I see someone driving erratically, like too fast or too slow, 9 times out of 10 they’re on a cell phone.
If your conversations are that unimportant, then why do you need to have them at all? If you want to ask somebody about milk, make the call before you start driving.
OK then, IMHO there is no additional law needed specifically mentioning cellphones.
You’re assuming that I’m making the calls. Usually, I’m getting them.
Just an observation but those who use a cell phone while driving and don’t seem to find a problem with it offer the same excuses drunk drivers use.
Exactly. Everybody thinks they’re a special case. I’d bet that those who think they’re driving and yakking with no problem at all are completely oblivious to their own weaving, erratic braking, line straddling, etc.
A cop called it “riding the dots”, relying on the sound of the Bott’s Dots to keep drivers in their lanes. I see it all the time, and the (skillful :rolleyes:) driver is often on the phone.
So, if you get a ticket for using your cell while driving, simply explain to the judge that you’re much more skillful than everybody else, and shouldn’t be subject to the law.
When I get an important call, I answer with my bluetooth (which IDs the caller) and tell the caller I’ll call back after I stop. Other calls go to voice mail.
I’ve seen two rear-enders where someone on a cell slammed into a car waiting to make a left turn.
Try this, next you’re riding with someone who’s on the phone, hands-free or not, say something short, like “did you see that”. My bet is that the answer will be “huh?”.
Peace,
mangeorge
I believe in the UK there isn’t. Just everyone knows that using a phone whilst driving is an offence that breaks the “due care and attention” rules.
At least it used to be that way. I’m not totally up to date on such matters, being no longer a resident of the UK.
It’s the same thing, actually, once the connection is made.
The way my radio is set up, I don’t need to take my eyes off the road to change stations. And it requires a lot less concentration than keeping up any kind of meaningful conversation. People only call my cellphone by mistake, because of an emergency, or for business reasons.
Then again, I’ve been known to go “not now… Mom, not. Now… MOM!” when my mother keeps talking to me while I park.
Sure it is. But that’s why I don’t just make the call before I start driving. My headset is set to auto-answer, and saying “OK” takes no more time or concentration than saying “I’ll call you back” and less concentration than not answering at all. I’m not going to say that it’s exactly the same as if I weren’t speaking at all, or even that it’s the same as if I were speaking to someone in the car- because I don’t know. But that’s my point. I’ve never seen any breakdown of different types of conversation. There’s the 10 second “when will you be home” or "pick up X ", there are people who just chat while on long drives to stay alert, and there are salesmen taking orders while they are driving. There’s no reason to believe they all have the same affect. I mean, eating while driving is a distraction, but no one would assume that eating french fries has the same effect as eating a meal requiring a knife and fork ( and yes, I have seen someone using a knife and fork while driving)
It is specifically illegal to use a cellphone while driving in the UK. The law was introduced a few years ago.
The law was changed in 2003. Cite. Basically, the standard police statement of “Well, my Lord, he ran into the car in front” was deemed no longer sufficient.
I don’t have a cite for this, but I remember hearing that while talking on a cellphone and driving, most people tend to look only straight ahead, whereas, someone who is not on the phone is constantly scanning back and forth and checking things out (even though you’re not really aware of it.) My husband was driving and talking and we pulled up to a RED light. He stopped, then started to take off again. Luckily no one was coming; sort of a wake-up call. He wasn’t even having a very important convo, but it was enough to make a red light process as a stop sign.
It couldn’t be any simpler - if you are driving and have the extra load of having to maintain a conversation, you are not applying yourself as much to driving. What could possibly be so important that you put lives at risk just to talk on the 'phone?
Paul and Quartz, thanks for the law update!
Weirdly here in Sweden, often the poster boy of the nanny state and the home of Volvo and the three point seatbelt, it isn’t illegal. Every summer the newspapers remind you not to drive around Europe on your holidays yapping on the phone as you’re likely to get in trouble.
It is true that several other things can be distracting. But the thing is, for a minute or so, you can be hyper-vigilant. And in any case, such things as changing the station take a brief time. However die-hard cell yammerers will talk for hours.
I suppose then that a brief call to the SO telling them there is traffic and you’ll be late isn’t all that dangerous. Or a cab driver answering a call. But you can’t be hyper-vigilant for hours or even tens of minutes. Long term talking is dangerous.
Honestly, I have been riding with die-hard cell yammerers, and they zone out. They don’t realize it, either.
Yeah, that’s what I meant in my clumsy post (#28) up there.
If talking on the cell phone while driving is like driving while intoxicated, like some have said in this thread, why haven’t the number of car accidents skyrocketed between, say, 1980 and today, when hundreds of millions of people have cellphones, and millions per day drive while talking on their phone?
If the same number of drunk drivers started driving every day, the number of car accidents would skyrocket.
In fact, I checked some car accident statistics a while back (from the CDC, I believe) and accidents have slowly but steadily decreased over the past 20 years. Of course, a lot of that can be due to better cars, better roads, more public awareness and avoidance of drunk driving, etc, but nevertheless, I expected to see a bump in car accident rates somewhere in the late nineties, because that is when cellphone usage in the US started to pick up. I did not notice any such uptick in car accidents.
Talking on the phone, statistically, does not increase the number of car accidents. We can talk theory all we want, but if it was that bad, it would be reflected in the annual number of car accidents.