ok well I agree with pretty much everybody and will take this into account next time I’m driving… Talking on the cell phones is certainly detrimental to your driving ability. To what degree though? Is it as bad as say a drunk driver?
Todderbob has a cite. I’ve read another recent study by a major university about driving while using a cellphone. In that study, the researchers found that talking on a cellphone without using one’s hands is also detrimental, but talking to a passenger is not. Unfortunately, I do not remember which university did this study.
I suppose my talking on the phone, drinking a cup of coffee, and eating a donut while using my gps in an unfamiliar area is just totally wrong then?
oh, and listening to the radio.
Todderbob’s link says “Cell phones as dangerous as drunk driving” which is bullshit.
How do you guys explain this graph of deaths from car accidents per year?
Why hasn’t the number of deaths increased in the past 10-15 years, since so many people are talking on their phones?
Since some of you agree that “cell phones as dangerous as drunk driving”, what do you guys think would happen to car fatality rates if as many millions of people started driving drunk every day, as started talking on their phones while driving in the past 10-15 years?
Do you have any proof of this?
Perhaps not all accidents which involve cellphones are fatal.
People tend to talk on their cellphones for less duration than someone who drives drunk.
While the average cellphone-talker might talk on a cellphone for 3-5 minutes (per infraction), the average drunk driver might drive drunk for 10-20 minutes (per infraction).
That said, I’m not certain I believe cellphone talking is as dangerous as drunk driving, but it still could be as detrimental to your driving abilities. Your argument, however, entirely fails to convince me that it definitely isn’t.
There’s no blood test for cell phone talking. There are only phone records and confession. We know what witness testimony is worth. Human nature dictates that a lot of people who get into wrecks because of cell phone use lie about it. I know that some people who come close deny that it was because they were on the phone.
I propose that, due to modern safety improvements, accident rates would have decreased dramatically but for cell phone use while driving.
I’ve already cited two bad fender-benders I’ve personally witnessed caused by cell phone use.
I also have a funny cell-while-driving story, but I’ve yakked too much already.
Well, for one, the fact that stats show that fatal car crashes have not increased after cell phones have become widespread.
I agree that one metric we are missing is whether the total number of car crashes (fatal and non-fatal) has increased since cell phones have become widespread. I have not been able to find such stats. If anyone finds them, I’ll be happy to change my mind on this, if the stats show an increase in car accidents.
Agreed, but still:
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Some people may make more than one phone call per trip, so the time on the phone doubles or triples. I’m not sure what the overall average phone minutes per trip are, but let’s say it’s 5 minutes for those trips that do involve a phone call.
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At 5 minutes per trip for millions of trips a day, if talking on the phone was as incapacitating as being drunk, we would still see a noticeable increase in car accidents.
Just imagine if millions of drunk rivers where given the controls of cars for 5 minutes each, every day. We would definitely see an increase in car accidents.
If I understand you, you are saying that you think that in theory cellphone talking could be as detrimental to one’s driving abilities while at the same time not being as dangerous as drunk driving. Can you elaborate a bit on this, i.e. some ways that this may be true?
In this line of thinking (if I understand you correctly), Mythbusters also found that driving while talking on the phone was as impairing as being drunk, but, as one of them said, if you are talking on the phone and suddenly get in a difficult situation, you can drop your phone and instantly get your faculties back and maybe swerve to avoid danger, but if you are drunk, then if you suddenly get in a difficult situation, you can’t just “switch off” the drunkenness and regain your faculties, which means that, overall, you may be able to avoid more accidents if you have been talking on the cellphone than if you have been drunk, even though you are equally impaired *while *talking.
If you look at the aggregate number of car accidents, you don’t need to depend on whether people lie about talking on the phone. You just need to know that in 1990 very few people in the US had cellphones and in 2009 hundreds of millions do.
If talking on the phone while driving were as bad ad drunk driving, we would have seen some increase in car accidents, even if the average call does not last the entire trip (like drunkenness does) and even if there have been some safety improvements in cars and roads.
I think anti-lock brakes, and most other modern safety improvements in cars, happened before 1990, that is, before cell phones took off, so I don’t see how safety improvements since 1990 could null out the effects of millions of effective drunk drivers suddenly hitting the streets.
You summed up part of it, there.
While you can ignore, entirely, a phone call if you get into a difficult situation, you cannot ignore intoxication, no matter how hard you try.
There are some other points, I was going to make, but I can’t seem to remember them now. Something to do with 3AM.
Exactly. I once went 25 miles, right through San Luis Obispo on 101 without remembering it, talking on a cellphone. After that I made all calls short, and don’t use it at all (unless it is really necessary, with a headset) now.
Before the ban I saw lots of cars driving too slowly in the slow lane with tons of space in front of them weaving into the breakdown lane. Cellphone every time - except for a few people putting on makeup.
But I suppose those talking on cellphones are too distracted to notice how other people drive on them.
If you stop listening to the radio to concentrate on the road, no one is yelling at you to answer them - plus you’re probably not talking. If I have to change the radio (or a CD) I can wait until the coast is clear - unlike answering a phone. Looking for a station is distracting, which is why they can be programmed into buttons.
The problem here is that if you aren’t paying attention then you might not notice the developing dangerous situation until it’s too late.
The point about there not being an increase in fatalities proves nothing. For all we know there could have been a big drop off in drink driving related crashes and a moderate increase in distraction related crashes. The end result is a slight drop in fatalities.
Ok, here is my point. Driving mainly requires sight. You can be deaf but still drive. You can’t be blind and drive. Talking on the cellphone requires hearing. You can be blind, but still talk on the cell phone. With normal cellphones, you can’t be deaf but still talk on the cellphone.
I understand that it must have something to do with focus and concentration, but how does talking on the cellphone impair your driving capabilities. Logically speaking, it shouldn’t really have much of an effect, right? Something I’m missing here? 
Well, for me it’s the same with typing. If I’m talking with someone on the phone, any phone, I make a lot more mistakes. Also, I type a lot slower.
Yeah sure… You have millions of people added to the road that are effectively “drunk drivers” and the result will be only a “*moderate *increase in distraction related crashes”? :dubious:
Maybe this has something to do with the fact that both talking and typing involve the language centers of the brain? 
Do your mistakes drastically reduce when you talk to someone in the room as opposed to someone on the phone?
Driving for the most part does not involve the language part of the brain, that is, the language processing needs during routine driving are negligible compared to typing.
Where did I say someone was yelling at me? or that I was searching for a station? My controls are all on my steering wheel, my eyes are always on the road. I know where my coffee sits and I can grab it without looking for it. I know where my mouth is and can eat without looking at my food, I can mentally tune out the radio while listening to someone on the phone, my attention to my gps is only required when it gives me a new direction.
The only point I was making is that some of us can actually do more than one thing at a time and it does NOT distract from our driving skills.
I haven’t hit anyone since I was 20, that’s over 30 years of safe driving.
@Polerius: This is probably the study that I was thinking of: http://unews.utah.edu/p/?r=062206-1
I think it’s already been said, but the law can’t apply only to those who can’t do both safely, given that that it is in fact true thay some can.
I’ve been driving for 50 years, doing lots of bad stuff, and never hit anybody. I ascribe that to luck and to other people’s skill.
Maybe so, but the distraction feels the same. In either case, I have to shut out the chitchat to do the task correctly.
Are you sure that typing only involves the brain’ language center?
I can type pretty good when talking to someone who’s in the room. I have to pause my response some, but I can still converse. The talk suffers more that the task, I think. Same when I’m driving and talking with a passenger and driving.