And also, if yapdriving (my new word for this phenomenom 
), is so totally safe, why are these studies even occurring, and why are more and more jurisdictions even considering banning yapdriving much less doing it?
Oh yeah, I get it, these studies are all flawed worldwide, the eeeviiil Powers That Be just want to curtail your freedoms, and by golly, you are just such a good driver that you could never have an attention lapse while yapdriving. :rolleyes:
my wife drives me crazy with this. When I come up to a line to order or check out I tell her I’ll call her back, and she gives me crap every time. I keep telling her I think it is rude but she doesn’t seem to get it. Its funny because beyond this she is a very considerate person.
Let me give you an example: As the assistant manager at my store, the staff need to be able to get hold of me if a situation arises and the manager isn’t at the store/can’t resolve the situation (say, it’s in relation to a sale or deal worked out with a customer). If I’m driving and they call me, I can answer the phone, deal with the situation (Which usually just involves something as simple as “Yes, I said I’d throw in a free laptop bag if they took the warranty as well” or “The paperwork for Head Office is in a manila folder sitting on top of the box of spare parts next to the fax machine”), and we can move on with our day.
If I don’t answer my phone while I’m driving, things start to fall apart. Colleague has to leave a message on my voicemail, which I then don’t get until I reach my destination. In the meantime, there’s a frustrated, angry customer who can’t get an answer to a simple question, Head office on the phone wanting to know why the paperwork hasn’t been faxed to them, and several stressed out staff who feel they’ve got no backup to help them with a problem. Then I try and call back, and the store is busy and they can’t answer the phone, which leads to frustration on my part.
Or I could answer the phone in my car with a handsfree kit, and avoid all these unpleasant problems.
I’m sure pretty much everyone else who runs their own business, works in management, is a project/team leader, or has kids can also think of a million different reasons why they might need to talk on a cellphone and drive at the same time.
I’m guessing you think GPS Navigation devices should be banned too, then?
Take a look at Employees Embrace Cell Phone Ban
BRAVO!!!
If God didn’t exist, why do so many people believe in Him?
You forgot to actually read the document, several of those also ban hands free usage.
Then why use one at all? If your phone rings in BlueTooth mode you only hear the ringing in the device, in your ear. If you have to keep the device in your pocket to avoid a serious bitch-slapping by our OP’er, you will both A) Not hear the phone ring and B) Not be in a position to use the phone at all hands-free, which is the point of the device.
I use mine in the car. Considering the fact that when driving at 70 mph I watch women apply eye liner and other make-up, I watch folks read the newspaper, each breakfast, drink beverages and lean over to adjust things on the dashboard, I cannot see using a BlueTooth to be any more annoying and it’s a shitload less dangerous.
Unless, of course, I get clocked in the face for using it. 
Cartooniverse
“Other people are doing stuff that’s worse than what I’m doing” isn’t actually a valid justification for a particular activity, though.
Yes, I agree that responsible and attentive drivers who are carefully using a handsfree phone are probably less dangerous to themselves and those around them than reckless drivers obliviously putting on eyeliner or reading newspapers. But that doesn’t mean than handsfree phones are necessarily a negligible safety risk.
Personally, I wish there were stricter laws and stricter enforcement for inattentive driving in general, whether it involves phone use, reading, eating, putting on makeup, or any other form of excessive multitasking while driving. I think legislatures are starting to lean in this direction, but in the meantime an awful lot of people are getting killed and injured by overconfident people who think that they can handle multiple activities without getting dangerously distracted from their responsibilities as a driver.
And it’s not that I don’t have sympathy for time-stressed drivers, who are spending more time than ever on the road due to longer commutes, more sprawly communities, tougher work schedules, etc. I know that many people feel that they just don’t have time to do stuff they need to do except while they’re driving. But that doesn’t mean it’s safe.
My husband is a Construction Safety Officer, and he has been researching cellphone use (including handsfree sets) while driving for some while now, and he is starting to think that it is part of his due diligence to recommend to his company that they ban cellphone use while driving, including handsfree cellphones.
Those of you who make it sound like a bad thing that you should just drive, and do nothing else - why not? Driving is the most dangerous thing most of us do all day, and we do it a couple times every day. Why wouldn’t you want to make that experience as safe as you possibly can for yourself and those around you? Do you know how many serious accidents were preventable? Damned near all of them. How many people have been crippled or lost body parts (or their lives) due to some other person’s inattention? And yes, eating while driving, driving under the influence of a baby or toddler, and many other distracting things are also bad, but that’s not what we’re discussing in this thread.
Oh, as for why the governments haven’t banned handsfree use while driving yet - because they’re chicken. They’re not going to do that until some trucker in a gas tanker takes out an entire school bus full of kids because he was yakking on a handsfree (no offense intended to truckers - just an example for illustrative purposes). The governments know it’s bad; it takes very little research to find out that handsfree makes no difference. They just haven’t been forced to make that decision yet.
People do that anyway, even if the aren’t talking on a Cellphone. They might be listening to the cricket on their favourite song on the radio, or talking to a passenger, and then realise that their exit is 300m away and they need to change lanes. It’s not confined to cellphone users.
I’ve never noticed anyone doing this on a motorway here.
Never seen that happening here either- if someone looks like they may not have noticed the right-turn arrow after a few seconds, the car behind them will usually blip the horn to let them know anyway.
People do this anyway, without using a Cellphone.
That would have more to do with not following the 2 Second Rule (leaving a decent following distance between the car in front) than using a Cellphone.
I’m glad I don’t live where you are, then- I almost never see the denounced behaviour you have so much venom for around here.
I live in a metro area of ~3 million people and I have never once seen anybody wearing one of these outside of my office.
Martini Enfield, enough with this “People do this anyway” bullshit, the thread is about cellphones/handsfree devices. People do all kinds of shit “anyway”. That’s not the fucking point and you know it. :rolleyes:
I actually see this shit everyday on the freeways here and it happens everywhere.
When I see some dipshit fucking up in traffic, I make a point to look at the driver, and many times I see them on a handset, or wearing a handsfree device. It’s easy to see.
Sure, eating, putting on makeup, whatever causes inattention, but the fucking thread is about cellphones.
If you don’t notice this shit, then perhaps you should pay more attention or hang up and fucking drive. This is a real issue, and it’s damned irritating to hear people shine it on.
That is my experience, too, in a city of a million people. When I see someone doing something extra specially bad while driving, chances are excellent that they are talking on a cellphone while trying to drive. You don’t have to read the studies to know how it is; you can see it in the other drivers. The way they gradually slow down and don’t keep up with the flow of traffic, the way they start up at the lights much slower than other people, the way they weave back and forth in their lanes, the way they make last minute decisions almost missing turns, etc. - these are classic signs of someone whose attention is not on their driving.
If this is not your experience, lucky you. It is klaatu’s, and it is mine. It makes me feel terrible to know that I can be the best driver in the world, and I can still get taken out by somebody else who thinks it’s more important to know what to make for dinner than it is to drive safely.
featherlou, right on. I guess we should both move though, because apparently this only happens in Albuquerque and Calgary.
Email me your cell number and we can discuss this some more. A good time for me is around 5:00 pm Mountain Time. Not doing anything then except tooling down the freeway during rush hour. I’m up for a nice leisurely conversation. 
But is is the point- you insist that the only reason people are doing these things is because they’re on the phone (handsfree or otherwise). I disagree with your assertion, and posit that people are undertaking these activities anyway, regardless of the presence of a cellphone- in otherwords, the mere usage of a cellphone does not automatically make
Evidently not, as I’ve already pointed out I’ve never experienced it on the motorways here or in NZ.
So, if you’re looking at the driver of the other car, you’re not watching the road- which means you’re just as bad as them, if not worse.
Also, you say “Many times”- not “Every Time”, which further lends weight to the idea that perhaps some people are just bad drivers, regardless of whether or not they have a cellphone.
I never said it wasn’t.
Or maybe I live somewhere that it isn’t an issue? We don’t all live in the USA, and our experiences of any given event may differ greatly for cultural or other reasons. If it’s an issue where you are, that’s terrible, and I’m glad I don’t live there. But it’s not an issue where I am, and I’ll thank you to remember that before flying off the handle.
That should be “… the mere presence of a cellphone does not automatically make someone a bad driver”.
Mutters about lack of edit function in posts…
Martini, I really enjoy your posts in the gun threads and am not personally attacking you here, I just don’t think you and many others in this thread notice how often these yapdrivers screw other drivers over.
Also, when I glance at some moron talking and driving as I pass them, that isn’t taking my attention away. And I never insisted cellphones were the only reason.
But I am not lying when I say that in the last few years, 90% of the fuckups I see on the roads are yapdriving. I literally SEE these people yacking away, and not paying attention.
The mere prescence doesn’t make them a bad driver, but the second they start talking while driving, they become an inattentive driver, which will quite often lead to bad driving. Just because they aren’t always causing wrecks doesn’t mean they aren’t inconsiderate, rude, unsafe assholes.
I’m so self-important that I’ve gone the other way. I don’t even answer my phone 90% of the time. If I really want to talk to somebody, I call them back.
Being too available = not cool
Being unavailable, hard to reach = cool
That reminds me of that Drew Carey joke: “My dick is so big it doesn’t return Speilberg’s calls.”