Texting/talking on Cellphones while driving.

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seabee

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Here in Southern California I see this daily. I even see Cops doing it regularly. Technologies like handsfree and bluetooth have come along way, but are not used as much as the good ol' type in your lap or hold phone while steering with knee and eating cheesburger methods. It is illegal as far as I know but probably a pain to enforce. Should new cars come with a cellular scrambler that blocks a certain radius around cars? Or some technology that prohibits phones to work while the ignition is on? Just something I have been thinking about lately. What do you think?
 
In Oregon, texting/talking is illegal, but it is only if you are holding the phone, and it is a secondary offense. Meaning they won't pull you over for it, but if they catch you doing something else, they tack it on to the ticket. So, imagine a $125 (or more) speeding ticket with a $75 cellphone addendum. Not pretty....
 
First, jamming radio waves is illegal. Second, I'm against laws that infringe against legitimate and lawful actions. I doubt this would be a voluntary device. What I really have a problem with is that hands free devices are legal, but that's not the problem. Again, our legislators have their heads up their asses. It's not the phone in the hand that causes accidents. It's the users mind being preoccupied with something other than driving that causes accidents, but they do nothing about that, or think it's not a problem. Looking for the French fry you dropped, changing a CD, or looking for your sunglasses in the glove box while driving are fine, according to them. Idiots.
 
I've yelled out the window at fellow motorists on several occasions that "you clearly can't do both at the same time, so pick one and get the [expletive deleted] out of the way!".

I'd imagine that the average person would be doing well to walk and chew gum at the same time. This is why crap like cars that park themselves seem like such a great idea to such a broad demographic. It's too bad natural selection has been forced into obsolescence.
 
Do you think the frequency and popularity of texting outweighs other distractions? I see your point against personal freedoms, but in the case of operating a possible killing machine, should mandatory precautions apply limit damages?

BTW where in Seattle are you? I lived in Belltown and Whidbey Island.
 
My son ignored a phone while driving ticket from January. When he pays the $1900 total of fees and fines, he can get his license back. Burbank, CA
 
IF you dial a phone # , text , put the soother back in your babies mouth and you take your eyes off the road ... YOUR ARE DISTRACTED .... Some people cant do 2 things at the same time >>> yeah walk and chew gum at the same time ...
SO i don't care if the phone is being held to your ear .. or using handsfree ... other than 1 or 2 hands on wheel there is no difference ... once the call is initiated ....
Are they going to outlaw hands free operation ... MOST of new cars being built now days are equipped with hands free phone system .... so your telling me customer just spent a couple thousand on there car extra for an option they can't use ???? Pretty soon you cannot have a convo with people in the car with you....
I guess what i am trying to say is TEXTING should NOT be allowed ... BUT Talking ??? a bit to far !
Pretty soon everybody in vehicle will be required to wear a helmet and burn suit ...
 
The I-phone has a new app that disables your phone while you are driving/riding in the car. It works off GPS and as soon as the vehicle is moving it disables texting and calls. I'd be the first person to get that app, but I wouldn't want the government to have anything to do with it.
 
They just introduced the no handheld law here - think it's $195 fine. Problem is, I believe, that they are not going to solve the problem.

The difference is that unlike eating, drinking, smoking, listening to the radio, talking to a passenger in the vehicle, is that the driver can do these things and still remain focused on the task at hand. Even if conversing, the driver can easily interrupt or pause the conversation when the need to arises. When speaking to someone outside of the vehicle, that person has no idea of what the driver is encountering, and will continue to speak, ask questions etc. even if the driver is negotiating a dangerous situation.

I think of it like a computer. We don't "multi-task", we "task-switch". And if we give a higher priority to one task over another, than the "background" task will have a smaller slice of our focus. It's the inability of many people to keep focus on driving as their "foreground" task that will nullify any effect of disallowing hands-held phones, and using hands-free.

Of course, texting, or use of other devices that remove attention for long periods of time makes sense.

Grant
 
My son ignored a phone while driving ticket from January. When he pays the $1900 total of fees and fines, he can get his license back. Burbank, CA
Ouch, that was an expensive lesson. I am lucky if I know where my phone is, so using it while driving is never an issue....
 
That's a cool app She Devil and I bet parents would love it too. Using deterrent laws really never works on a large scale (War on Drugs) because people are going to do what we want to do. You can apply anything as a distraction from driving but the scale of cell phone use and the process of texting on a phone while driving is a big one. Some of my close friends have turned "text addicts" in the last few years and we can't hold a conversation without them constantly fumbling with their phones. My sister-in-law checks her Blackberry at every stop sign and I don't think she even knows she does it. (She hit a dog while texting a few months ago too). The technology is addictive and even I get drawn in when I get those important texts from my buddies like "Fag!", "Sup?", "I'm bored lol", etc..
 
texting and talking on the phone while driving is just an accident waiting to happen. What REALLY pisses me off is when they do it with small children in the car.
 
The main purpose of my cellphone is for emergency commucations and business, but I don't use it when driving (anymore, got 1 ticket late 2009 when talking with one of my business accounts while driving).
Now my phone is usually off after working hours. If somebody calls and leaves me a message, I'll call them back the next day.
My grown kids are constantly checking their phones even when they come over to visit or when we go out to dinner. I don't get it.
One of my stepsons has his phone rigged so he can talk on it through a helmet mike while he's riding his motorcycle. Way too dangerous IMO. I ride too but only carry my cellphone in case of an emergency while riding - no way would I even want to be distracted while on 2 wheels.
 
Case in point,the Toyletta driver that drove himself and his passenger's to the afterlife while cackling on the phone instead of operating the vehicle.My vote,ban them in car's while moving.
 
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgSTKQA2REg"]YouTube- DON'T TEXT AND DRIVE DRAMATIC SHOCKING PSA TEEN PSA NOT FOR THE SQUEMISH[/ame]
 

I bet his mom was calling to tell him to "get outta the damn road", hard to take that one serious, "look both ways before you cross the street" would have prevented that..
 
I will agree that phone use while driving can be a problem and a serious distraction. So can eating, talking, even just daydreaming. It's a full time job when you get right down to it especially in high trafic areas. Then when you consider some people are just naturally poor drivers it can be pretty scarry out there. It's alot more then just using the phone IMO.
 
First, jamming radio waves is illegal. Second, I'm against laws that infringe against legitimate and lawful actions. I doubt this would be a voluntary device. What I really have a problem with is that hands free devices are legal, but that's not the problem. Again, our legislators have their heads up their asses. It's not the phone in the hand that causes accidents. It's the users mind being preoccupied with something other than driving that causes accidents, but they do nothing about that, or think it's not a problem. Looking for the French fry you dropped, changing a CD, or looking for your sunglasses in the glove box while driving are fine, according to them. Idiots.

I agree with part of what you are saying, as it applies to a lot of the instances.

But, I regularly see people take their eyes off the road, to text or look at their phone while dialing. This is the worst case, and anything could happen.

What really ticks me off, is when they are in the left lane doing this, at 20% below the speed limit. I work very hard not to let other idiots upset me, but this is hard to deal with.

The "myGig" in my Challenger will do everything by voice command, there is no need to take your eyes off the road in case of a phone call. But I hardly ever initiate a call, unless it is on a real long trip.
 
The death penalty would be effective.
 
I'd say messing with the sterio causes more accidents then anything else, my nephew crashes every car he gets playing with the sterio.. It's the biggest distraction for me also, I just leave my radio on one station or put the CD in before I start driving....
 
Anti Cell phone laws are just another agenda from moron politicians that don't have two IQ points to rub together and make something worse not better.

Before anyone argues they are unsave I will state a fact. People using GPS devices have been in more accidents that people using cell phones. Yet you can order a new car / truck with a GPS device in it.

Additionally cell phone accidents have gone up since these cell phone laws have been enacted. The reason; people used to hold the phone up in front of them when they "dialed" this way they could see the road. Now they put the phone down by the seat so law enforcement doesn't see them. Now their eyes are off the road.

Don't get me wrong you shouldn't drive at all if your head can't be in the game. If you can't do more than one thing at a time then don't drive period! Cell phone, chew gum, pet your dog or something else, etc.

Chuck
 
The hands-free cell phone law has been in effect in SoCal for awhile now, and it seems that after the initial concerns, nobody pays attention anymore. I've stood in front of my store and counted the number of drivers holding their phones to their ear, and I swear, there are times when it seems at least 3 out of 5 cars have drivers who are using their phone. Whenever I see people driving erratically or substantially slower than the flow of traffic, I try to get by them as quickly as possible. And it is ALWAYS someone talking on their cell phone. The law doesn't do any good if the police don't enforce it.
 
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