Oh, and I almost forgot…the people I would promptly ticket (with maximum penalty) are the people with the bass boosters in their car would feel the need to demonstrate their ghetto toy down my quiet street. Why are companies allowed to sell those units?
Are there really that many of you that have a problem with someone using a cell phone while they drive? As long as you have a hands-free phone, I can’t see how it’s any more distracting than talking to someone that’s in the car with you. Less distracting, in fact, because you’re not tempted to look at the person you’re speaking to.
I’ve used headsets, and I’d have to say they’re more distracting than talking to the person face to face. When you’re talking to the person, you can just look at them for various visual cues and such (ie: how they’re reacting to what you’re saying, if they see something ahead that you want to hit the brakes for, etc.). If you’re talking on the phone, headset or no headset, you’re using extra brainpower to concentrate on their voice to get audible cues for a lot of stuff you’d normally get visual cues for, and, if you’re like me, you might just focus on nothing while you concentrate on talking to the person.
There are studies which suggest that people who use a cellphone while driving are as likely to have an accident as people who are legally drunk. Whether the phone is hands-free or not makes no difference; the problem is that you are distracted, and are dividing your attention between driving and holding a conversation. The Car Talk guys mention these studies all the time.
Here are some abstracts of peer-reviewed articles related to cell phone use & impaired driving. Some are specifically about hands-free cell phone use, some are not. (I assume these links will work - let me know if they don’t).
I have no dog in the ubiquitous “fast lane” fight, but just my two cents worth. In South Africa, if you are in the fast lane (extreme right in this country), you are legally obliged under the National Road Traffic Regulations to give way to a vehicle behind you who has indicated that he/she wants to pass. Whether that vehicle is illegally exceeding the speed limit or not, you are not allowed to wilfully obstruct the vehicle’s passage and must move to the left lane as soon as safely possible.
Furthermore, the driver who is intending to overtake in this case is legally permitted to signal his/her intention by flashing the headlights of his/her vehicle.
Personal anecdote: A few years back I was watching LSU in a bowl game on TV. I got a phone call. I figured I could take the call and still keep tabs on what was happening on the field (I love LSU football and, well, bowl games only come around once a year). So for 10 minutes or so I chatted about unimportant stuff and watched the game.
After I hung up, I realized that I had no clue what happened in the game during my call. LSU had even scored and it didn’t register. I was sitting there eyes glued to the set, volume on at a moderate level and I could not have told you one thing that happened.
I fimly believe that a phone call diverts one’s attention, regardless if it is using the hands or not. Sure, you may be able to funtion in an automatic-pilot / reactionary manner, but given the attention needed for driving, a phone conversation compromises this. It’s the lack of mental attention that scares me in phone-calling drivers, not the fact that they may be using their hands. Hell, eat a burger or drink a Big Gulp–I don’t care. Fish a CD out of the case. Just *please * hang up.
(Just yesterday I was at a 4-way stop. I waited for the car opposite (Car A) to go through and then started my left turn. Well, the guy behind Car A just continues on through the intersection. I had to brake fairly hard not to get hit. Guy never even saw me. Cruised right on through chatting on the phone. Even if he’s not the greatest driver in the world, dontcha think if he was paying attention to the 4-way stop and not his phone conversation that he would be able to make the appropriate action at the intersection?)
Monospeeders are annoying as hell. Single carriageway road, speed limit 60mph in the UK. The monospeeder does 40. No one can guess at their motivation for this slow driving, but it reliably leads to backed-up traffic and irritation, followed by rash overtaking moves as everyone behind gets frustrated.
The monospeeder is revealed as a truly crass driver when the road gets to a town and the speed limit drops to 30mph; built up area with many pedestrians about. The monospeeder maintains 40. :mad: :mad:
One dangerous move I see fairly frequently is people merging across two lanes of traffic onto a motorway, a manouveur that is subject to a huge blindspot in the mirrors.
You were already started.
Reflectors actually have more visibility from angles than lights do. A combination of both is best.
Incorrect. Many cyclists ride for years without getting killed. The only threat a cyclist faces is ignorant or hostile drivers.
Which is a total overreaction, and is not in fact experienced by most drivers.
No. Its against the law.
Because you were kids, that’s why. Adult cyclists must ride in the street. Many kids do in non-urban environments.
Looks like someone needs to re-watch One Got Fat.
Wow. Just wow.
That fifth link is the most telling of all of them (and directly contradicts Raguleader). The first few links state that talking on a hands-free cellphone causes approximately the same distraction level and cause about the same number of accidents as talking on a regular cellphone (The “only having one hand on the steering wheel” factor doesn’t contribute to accidents? Odd.). The final link states that there was little difference between talking on a hands-free cellphone and simply having someone else in the vehicle talking to you.
If all of this information is accurate, it leads me to conclude that having a passenger in the car talking to you is as likely to cause an accident as talking on a cellphone (handsfree or not). Frightening, isn’t it?
Given that, let’s see a study to determine if carpooling is as likely to cause an accident as cellphone usage is.
I cannot believe this didn’t occur to me, since I am so vehemently opposed to drunk driving. My punishment would be to handcuff you inside your car, pour booze all over the, and throw a lit match on it.
Because I think they are secretly funded by the Audiologists of America and the Miracle Ear.
I think your conclusion is a little erroneous. According to a study which I can’t find (I know, I know), the difference between a conversation with someone on a cell phone and a passenger in the car is that the passenger in the car is aware of the situation. If the roads are slick and suddenly the cars in front of you all come to a halt and you are forced to hit the brakes quickly, the passenger likely will shut the hell up, whereas the cell phone conversationalist is unaware and may continue to talk and provide a certain measure of distraction.
Did you read the five cited summaries? If the information in them is accurate, I think my conclusion is pretty much a given. Note the “if.” It was in my previous post, too. You even quoted it.
As one of my friends once said on the subject: “Never underestimate the informativeness of a passenger’s quivering upper lip”
Or a passenger screaming “Look out for that truck!” Sure back-seat drivers are pests, but sometimes a passenger might tell you something about your surroundings you need to know. No one on a cell phone will. (Unless it’s something they just got off the traffic report, and you could get that off the radio.)
I had to revisit this thread after getting ticked off yet again today:
Ticket drivers who blow their horns just because traffic isn’t moving. There is almost always a good reason, and always some reason, why traffic isn’t moving. Do these honkers think the people in front of them just forgot they meant to go forward? Do they think their horns have a magic property to make all the cars in front of them dissolve, or grow wings and fly, or something? Do they ever think of looking for the reason why traffic isn’t moving? Like, maybe, the traffic light at the end of the block is RED? If they need to relieve their frustrations that badly, roll up the windows and scream obscenities. It works just as well and won’t annoy everyone for blocks around.
- People who dont use turn signals. Last time I checked they come standard on ALL vehicles. USE THEM!!!
- People who illegally park in handicapped spaces. It makes me SO angry to see an able bodied lazy ass person take those places…Someday karma is going to kick them in the ass and show them what it would be like to NEED to park there.
Heh, after a near-incident today where I had to go into the bike lane to avoid a car (fortunately the bike lane was unoccupied) I’d have to say I’d give tickets for people driving their cars in the oncoming lanes.