Hang up and drive!

The BBQ Pit
21

I have a hard time believing that ANYONE, you included, is so important you really need a phone in your car.

Okay, Gov. and someone’s on death row about to get the big old jolt… THAT I can see.

The rest? A lawyer that might milk a bit more money? A real estate agent hoping to get that extra percent? I’m sorry, but even a soccer mom, and the game is running 15 minutes over…

Is your call so important that you are willing to risk your life, my life, your child’s life to get it?

I don’t get it. I’ve NEVER had a call that important.

I doubt you have, or will, either.

There is no valid reason for anyone to be talking on the phone while driving. I don’t care how important you THINK you are, you are not.

NO ONE is.

Get a grip. Welcome to the fact that the world doesn’t revolve around you.

I know it hurts and yet there it is.

Your business isn’t as important as our safety.

Bite down hard, pisher. Your life is no more pressing than mine, or the guy in the car next to you. Drive the car without hitting or killing anyone. That should be challenge enough.

And I want it pointed out that I didn’t use one blue word in that whole rant/post.

22

I remembered hearing that the odds of having an accident increase 10 minutes AFTER hanging up a cell phone call. I personally use one everyday in the car and feel safer using it than I do talking to Mrs. Cynical1 in the car. When she’s sitting right next to me I tend to look at her. When I use the phone I am looking at the road. BTW - I use the speakerphone most of the time but not always.

And since you’ll ask, here’s the cite:
http://www.healthcentral.com/drdean/deanfulltexttopics.cfm?id=10717

23

I gotta agree with ObviousGuy. I see people EVERYWHERE, the grocery store, the mall, restaurants. It’s insane.
I think people talk on them constantly because they have most likely paid for their 200 or so monthly minutes (or gotten X-number of free minutes) and daggone it, they’re going to use up their 200 minutes. Wouldn’t want to feel like they were getting cheated or something.

The worst was last year at my niece’s high school play. Some obnoxious guy’s phone kept ringing and he would actually answer it and have a conversation! Someone finally came and told him to go out to the lobby or turn it off. This year in the program, there was a LARGE notation…NO CELL PHONES! Thank God!

I have also seen people in the grocery store yakking into a cell phone. “So honey, what do you want, Cheerios or Corn Flakes? Coke or Sprite? Oh, look, tuna fish is on sale, should I get a couple cans?” Do they realize how stupid they look???

24

The other day I noticed nice looking brunette walking into the grocery, yakking into a cell phone wedged against her shoulder. She looked like a cuter version of Marty Feldman as a hunchback (Walk this way…) I got to hear all about how her friend Caroline didn’t score last weekend.

Whatever, I went back to my shopping list. Half an hour later up at the cash register, there’s the same babe. Still yakking with the phone wedged against the same shoulder. Not only is it obnoxious, but I gotta think that she’s going to have one whopper of a crick in her neck pretty soon. Is there some new disability from that, Cell Phone Neck? That ought to go right along with the brain cancer.

On a different note, I did hear an interesting conversation once. I have an older scanner in the truck, and I use it every day to pick up the chatter from the traffic 'copters to the news station. Once in awhile I’ll scan the bands to see if there is anything new and useful out there. Last week just as I was pulling into the lot at work, the scanner happened to stop on a phone conversation. I normally don’t listen to private conversations, so I reached for the Scan button. Just then the words registered. Some guy was talking to his lawyer (pardon my language) about a case they just won. He was saying that they needed to make arrangements to collect the TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY MILLION DOLLARS they just won. OK, so I’m evil, I listened for a minute. What finally convinced me it wasn’t a couple of jokers was when the lawyer (oops, excuse me) said they shouldn’t be talking about so much money on the cell phone.

I scanned the news for a week after that, but it apparently wasn’t a big enough deal to make the papers. You would think that if even General Motors had to choke up a couple hundred large, it would make the news. I still have no idea who or what that was.

25

I talk plenty on the cell phone while I’m driving and no amount of your whining is going to change that. Go play in traffic, pizza driver boy, you bother me.

26

Pizza driver boy? You’re not talking to me, are you? I thought not.

Well, as fate would have it, I observed no accidents due to cell phones today, but I did see two near misses. In both cases, the drivers were by all appearances too wrapped up in whatever they were talking about on their cell phones to notice that the traffic light they were rapidly approaching had turned red. Luckily their brakes weren’t worn out yet (just give it time, driving like that).

They’ve got to go! I mean the phones, although outlawing the drivers would probably help as well. I’ll shout it once more loud: Hang up and drive, motherfuckers!

27

Okay a few points on cell phones.

When I am holding that phone up to my ear I am focused on my cell, not my car. In fact I will not talk on the phone if my hands free is not connected. If talking to people while operating a motor vehicle is such a concern then I think we should ban people from driving with other passengers all together.

Look at so many of the minivans with kids…kids screaming in back and mom or dad is desparately trying to get them to shut up. Their heads are turning and they are focused on their anger instead of the road. So kids in cars should be banned. I see this a lot in my city. I steer clear of minvans as much as possible.

How about the people that eat while they are driving, those that couldn’t hear an emergency vehicle if it drove over them cause their stereos are louder than a Motley Crue concert or those that are simply idiot drivers? No one is safe, practicing defensive driving is your best defense.

Hands free phones are so much safer. I use it frequently and if I feel I am uncomfortable with the driving situation I explain this to the person on the other line…“gimme a sec here, some asshole is riding my ass” or whatever.

As I pointed out in another thread, I am a techchick. My client relies upon me to be in communication at all times. Since I am rarely in one place for too long except at night, having my phone is essential to catching up with my client and my engineers when I have a problem I can’t resolve easily. I also use it in the office during problem solving. Sure beats placing the caller on hold and having to run downstairs to my server room and back up again.

If my talking on the phone is so offensive while I am shopping, then ignore me. I am a small business person and my lively-hood depends on my cell phone, so much so I have one number service for the benefit of my client. Sides, I would rather see a person talking on a cell phone than screaming at their kids in a store…at least they aren’t disrupting a large part of the store.

I am not stupid enough that I would leave my cell on during a movie or at a theater but I will have it on during a sporting event…again for my client. I always tell my client that I will not be available for such and such time if I know in advance.

I have used cell phones for over 6 years now, a technical marvel that has allowed me to become independant with my work/career, no more sitting in the same office for 8 hours. Also, the drive in a car(assuming you are safe about it) is a large waste of time as far as I am concerned and having a cell phone helps free your time for other things you need to get done be they personal or professional.

So, to those that are bothered by my cell phone use and the fact that I actually do my best to drive as safely as possible while being independant from the corporate world, screw you. Having my cell is important to my life even if it’s not for you…walk a mile in a person’s shoes.

28

I have to add, I don’t do personal calls on purpose while in the grocery store. 97% of my cell phone calls are business related. If I am in the store and a personal call comes through, I ask the caller if I can call them back later.

< oh and using the hands free option while in a store is hilarious…when they can’t see the cord from the phone to your ear you get some priceless looks from people! >

29

Yeah, so all you other fuckers, get off the road. You’re in my way.

Have we seen the stats yet on how much talking to other passengers in the car increases the accident rate?

30

To be honest, after further consideration, I’ve come to regard hands-free units as being akin to talking to another person in the car. That’s something I do quite often, and so I find no fault with it.

What you do with your cell phone outside the automobile, whether it is in a public place or not, is your business. I do not give a damn.

And I’m still raging over people using their hand held units behind the wheel. I maintain that it’s blatantly unsafe and should be regulated.

31

But what if it were shown that it increases the rate of accidents by five times, like cell phones do? As a hypothetical, since I haven’t seen any stats yet.

32

OK, so if you now believe that talking is ok, and the problem is using one hand to hold the phone, do you believe that stick shifts should be illegal? How about glove compartments, radios, and sexy legs in the passenger seat? Should there be a law requiring that both hands be on the wheel at both times?

I’m guessing you don’t own a cell phone, and this is some cliquish reaction: those cell-owners are not part of my group, so they must be dangerous! Call my congressman! Call the lawyers! Call the SDMB!

33

JBirdman12 wrote

I think that people who want to regulate me should be regulated.

34

And I think I’d like to kick you in the neck.

35

Harsh. I don’t know what to say. Will you kick my teeth in if I don’t drive/park/vote/dress the way you like?

36

EEESSSHHHH…I have to admit, I have talked on my cell phone in the car, without hands free. I don’t like to do it tho and limit it to very few times, for very short times. You know why? 'Cause I personally have noticed that I don’t pay attention to my driving when I’m on the phone. Not judging everyone else, like Techchick, just relaying a personal experience. But! Have you ever been driving a familiar road (like the drive home) and get to your destination to realize that YOU HAVE NO RECOLLECTION OF THE DRIVE!!! Now that scares the shit out of me. No radio, no cell phone, no other person in car, just your own thoughts and you can’t pay attention to the road? I have to be VERY careful of what distractions I add to my driving. I don’t like it worth a damn when this happens to me.

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