Just go on any street and count the number of driver’s talking and texting.
Just another law that won’t be enforced and used instead to collect revenue when it’s convenient for them
If they want it to be effective they need to make cell phones unusable when the car is in motion. Of course the FCC won’t let anything interfere with their money, or rather making money off the airways
Dialling’s the worst bit.
Then there are the laws enacted at county and municipality levels that are stricter than the state law. New Mexico in particular does this, and I’m sure other states as well.
In Albuquerque and Santa Fe, it’s illegal to use a cell phone while driving (except hands-free, of course). Where I live, you can hold the phone and talk while driving, but you can’t text.
As a side note, if there were a nationwide total ban on all cell phone use while driving, how exactly would it be enforced?
I can imagine if a police officer sees you holding a phone to your ear while driving, that would be an automatic ticket like not wearing a seat belt. But with hands-free use, are cops just going to pull people over who appear to be talking to no one? What if you’re singing along with a song or just plain talking to yourself or to a child the officer can’t see?
What if you ARE using a bluetooth earpiece, but there are other people in the car you might be talking to? Are you going to get pulled over for a roadside interrogation?
From the chart,
Some of it is after the event. When at the scene of an accident they check your phone to see if you used it just before the event. If you did, it is promoted from accident to attempted murder.
Adding to that, a passenger is more likely to scream “hey hey HEY, stay in your own LANE, you MORON!” if necessity presents.
I won’t bother to answer your other objections, as these would rapidly degenerate into a “is so is not” scenario. However, In approximately sixty three years of rather heavy driving, I’ve never put a scratch an a car, either belonging to me or to someone else. Except for that unfortunate incident in 1948 when I was a learner. Probably cost at least $25 to fix that fender dent.
I think that one of the things that may be in play - very likely some folks have more trouble doing two things at once than others have. A relatively common phenomom is a driver who can’t talk to a passenger without taking eyes off the road and looking directly at his passenger. I have a friend who just can’t talk to anyone in the car without doing that. Scares the heck out of me.
I wonder how they figured out that little factoid.
Not babies or children. My brother and I fought or screamed constantly when we road in the car and my parents were always distracted by it, far, far more than your average cell phone user is distracted, especially one with a hands-free device.
If the concern here was rational and it was for safety, it would also be illegal to transport children under a certain age in a car, unless separated from the driver by a soundproof barrier. Babies aren’t going to tell you when you are straying from your lane. They also aren’t going to wait until you are finished passing that 18-wheeler to start crying.
Oh yeah, dogs can’t scream either, so they should also be banned in cars. This would result in more veterinarians making house calls.
Murder, really? Attempted murder as in honest to god intent to kill someone?
Perhaps you mean some reckless endagerment charge?
Even then if some douche hits me, maybe I don’t some spook trying to search my phone. Fault isn’t always quickly assessable, so you’re effectigely advocating accident victims get their privacy violated. Further some accidents no one is at fault. Deer are suicidal, tires blow out, etc.
Also some mobiles (mine for example) only show when a call was placed, not when it ended. Meaning a call that lasted a minute, and was taken 45 minutes ago is indistinguishable from one that started 45 minutes ago and lasted till just now.
Also, how do you account for a phone not being soul bound to it’s owner? I’ve loaned my phone to a passenger before. How do you know that call wasn’t placed by someone else in the car? (aside from the obviose example of someone being alone in the car).
Also, if nothing else, call history can easily be selectively deleted, which if word gets out people will charged with murder will happen a lot.
Also cops don’t just materialize at an accident. Some jag off was setting in parking lot talking on a cell, needed to clarify a shopping list. They hang up, turn car on, pull into traffic and get t-boned. Officer, 10 minutes later, sees they were talking on phone about the time of the accident. Attempted murder charge?
Sure, you could make a case either way but how would you judge which case is strongest? evidence perhaps? scientific studies? neurological research?
Or anecdote and personal beliefs?
Care to guess what conclusions the former approach leads us to?
So you too have found an increase in brain work-load leads to distraction and an increased accident risk?
It isn’t necessarily a skill that is easy to pick up and certainly isn’t linked to intelligence.
Perhaps you are one of a small number of people who experience no distraction by holding a phone conversation. Good for you. But how about the millions who can’t and never will.
And how do you intend to simulate the brain work-load of driving and phoning? Encourage people to practice it in a live traffic environment until they are crashing less often?
I suspect you have been lucky and have never had cause to find out just how much it affects you. I sincerely hope you never do, even though that means you get to spout the “I’m different” line until then.
Possibly. I know it’s bumped up to something quite serious.
I’m not advocating anything. I’m simply telling you what the SOP is here.
I don’t account for anything. All I know is that I was in a minor accident a while back, and the police checked the drivers’ phones as part of the procedure. Neither turned out to be a a problem, but I’m sure the set of policing skills and training is not ignorant of such possibilities.
I’ll let you know if I ever fall foul of it - not likely, because I don’t use my phone when driving. I used to before it became illegal, and I honestly think I had a couple of near misses because if it.
Right. Just like talking to passengers, listening to the radio, watching the traffic and driving. All distractions we learn to cope with.
Under Anglo-American law, second-degree murder does not necessarily require intent to kill. Under some standards, you need only intend the conduct which results in death, if death was a reasonably foreseeable result. You can’t have an attempted murder charge without actual intent to kill, though.
It is of interest to note that the morning after the news about the NTSB recommendation, here in Washington State a number of state legislatures stated to reporters that ther was zero chance of this being enacted here. And since Washington State is rather fond of nannyism, I think this speaks volumes about the overreaching of the NTSB.
Yeah, how dare they publish a non-binding recommendation, those fuckers.
Yes, dogs. I should have added them to my list. Let’s not forget about mute people as well as deaf people. They are unable to hear honking sounds, nor speak to you regarding a danger. Also the feeble-minded are very unhelpful in traffic situations.
So, if we are going to ban talking on cellphones, we must also ban talking to pets, small children, blind, deaf and/or dumb people, plus the plain feeble-minded. If it saves just one life.
How would you enforce such a thing? Easy. Any of the above mentioned people must wear bright orange bumper stickers on their foreheads when riding in cars so an officer can easily see if a driver is conversing with that person.
You aren’t against vehicle safety, are you?
When I listen to CDs in my car, I often lose a section when I am negotiating a stressful merge. It is clear what takes priority. I have told my wife to stop talking for a second if I am trying to deal with a complex situation. That is a lot harder to do on the phone, where you have been conditioned to pay attention to the other person, who might start prompting you if you stop talking. Sure most times you get away with it, but what about those times when a split-second reaction can make the difference between crash and no crash.
About 15 years ago I had a long call with a company I was interested in working for going north on 101 from San Luis Obispo. When I finished the call, I realized I had driven 20 miles in heavy traffic with no memory of doing so. That is when I gave up talking on a cellphone when driving except in extreme emergencies. If any of us are really so important that we have to talk on the road, we can get a driver.
If folks really want to reduce the fatatality rate on highways, they would:
Reduce the speed limit to 35 mph, like it was in WWII. We lived thru that. And noboby really needs to go faster, right?
Mandate that everyone in a vehicle wear heavy duty helmets. If it saves ONE life, it’s worth it.
Ration gasoline for cars to 4 gallons per week, just like in WWII. This would have the side effect of forcing most folks into public transportation, just like the environmentalists want. No downside here.
If those few easy rules were enforced, I’ll wager that the annual highway death rate woiuld drop from 50,000 or so down to less than a thousand. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
Is this what’s called a whoosh?
It depends whether you actually believe it.
No, if you’ve read the studies you would know that talking on the phone is very specifically* not *like any of those things.
it is a different beast altogether, the nature of a two-way remote conversation has a very different effect on concentration levels than those other examples.
Would any evidence convince you of this?