# Speed and cell phone laws - Self-Inflicted Drag on Productivity **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 4, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-and-cell-phone-laws-self-inflicted-drag-on-productivity/813588 "2018-05-04T17:01:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-and-cell-phone-laws-self-inflicted-drag-on-productivity/813588/41 "2018-05-08T17:09:13Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > A gown man of 180lbs would only be .024 BAC if he had 2 regular beers in an hour. ls that a Freudian… [slip](http://ww3.haverford.edu/psychology/ddavis/p109g/fslip.jpg)? Cell phones might not have been _designed_ for use in automobiles, but IIRC the first models were about the size of a briefcase and needed a hefty power supply. Automobile installation made the most sense if not being outright mandatory. Still doesn’t make their use while driving okay. I remember when cell service was being introduced in the Bay Area and people were concerned about distracted driving. “Oh, no!” the early providers said, “That won’t happen; we’ll put reminders in our ads to pull over and stop before making or receiving a call.” Six months later they were advertising, “Now, there’s an antenna in the [Caldecott tunnel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldecott_Tunnel)!” Thing is, there’s no place to pull over in the tunnel. Mealy-mouthed liars. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-and-cell-phone-laws-self-inflicted-drag-on-productivity/813588/42 "2018-05-08T19:47:02Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Heh. > > Who was that guy about ten, fifteen years ago, who was asking why he shouldn’t be allowed to play with his Heathkit breadboard circuits on an airliner? [Here](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=448415) is the 2007 thread in question, showing its OP, who was banned in 2008. For what it’s worth, I think the funniest response was #29. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-and-cell-phone-laws-self-inflicted-drag-on-productivity/813588/43 "2018-05-09T08:18:58Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Either way, the highest a grown man of 180lbs BAC will get is .024 which is nothing to be concerned about for most people. So the debate question is what does it matter when/where the alcohol has been consumed? Many people who drink are notoriously bad about knowing when they’ve had too much. In a bar, at least, there is someone who can theoretically cut someone off. Not so in a car, whether or not the person drank before driving or not. If everyone was responsible enough to stop after 2 beers there would be a lot less DUI, right? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-and-cell-phone-laws-self-inflicted-drag-on-productivity/813588/44 "2018-05-09T08:22:17Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > I do partly take the OP’s point in highway speed though. The idea of trying to save gas with speed limits is idiotic. The way to save gas is tax the crap out of it. If you’re not willing to do that, just forget it. The 55mph national limit was a very stupid idea. And famously in Germany there are segments of the highways with no limit for cars. So it’s not a ‘let’s be like Europe thing’ either to have tight speed limits. Since I had the privilege of driving long distances when the 55 mph limit was in effect, I’m an expert. 🙂 A lot of it was about looking like the government was doing something during the gas crisis. And it was smarter than enforcing odd/even days when you could fill your tank, which created long lines from panic buying. High taxes and mpg requirements sure work better than speed limits. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-and-cell-phone-laws-self-inflicted-drag-on-productivity/813588/45 "2018-05-10T10:30:33Z")
The Double Nickel was based on a lie. The lie was that it lowered highway fatality rates. What actually happened is when gas prices skyrocketed in 1973/74 people drove a lot less. Pretty hard to get in a fatal auto accident when you are sitting at home. But a false conclusion was reached by the Feds. This resulted in the government spending billions on enforcement programs and citizens spending billions on radar detectors, scanners, CB radios, higher insurance premiums, and lawyers trying to get around it. The national speed limit was immensly unpopular with individuals and state governments but cogress simply would not obey the electorate until 1995. All based on a lie. Almost every year since it’s demise highway fatality rates have gone down. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2018, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-and-cell-phone-laws-self-inflicted-drag-on-productivity/813588/46 "2018-05-10T13:36:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The productivity argument is a non-starter. Just as people drive poorly when they’re using a cell phone, I think it’s likely they converse poorly when they’re driving. You have an important business call to make? Pull over and devote your full attention to it. People aren’t good at multi-tasking. > > Even if you could make some routine phone calls, I think overall the minutes of extra productivity gained by making phone calls while driving would be cancelled out by the days and weeks of productivity lost by a single car accident. It would be a ‘non starter’ if used to justify any behavior whatsoever. But that wasn’t the point I was making and I think pretty obviously not. Rather I was distinguishing between things which have a genuine positive side (like getting where you are going faster or communicating) with things that don’t unless it’s a silly discussion (being drunk). A formula you basically accept in the second paragraph: you ‘think’ the overall minutes of extra productive time would be cancelled out by car accidents. An opinion IOW about a trade off plus and minus. I don’t see any tradeoff, again except in lawyerly ‘an argument could be made’ silliness, in driving while impaired by substances, there’s no genuine upside. Therefore the analogies which try to say any form of cell phone use in cars, keeping in mind how many times I made it clear _hands off_ phones, should be banned because drunk driving is banned are dumb analogies. That was my point. I didn’t say people can’t have the opinion that hands free cell phone use in cars should be banned or the national speed limit should be 50 to really reduce accidents and save fuel. They just should admit it’s a judgement call about a trade off. It’s not something ‘provable’ by reference to drunk driving. And they should also consider whether a _hands free_ cell phone ban would be enforceable which IMO it very obviously wouldn’t be. Just as a matter of priority law enforcement should concentrate on people _texting_ (even reading them) with phones while driving, then phone in one hand, see if those laws can really be enforced, and worry at the earliest about hands free after achieving largely stamping out those behaviors. Again, we likewise already know a 55 NSL is not enforceable, even if one ‘thinks’ it’s the right point in the trade off between getting places sooner and safer/more fuel efficiently. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speed-and-cell-phone-laws-self-inflicted-drag-on-productivity/813588.md?page=2)