Do you think peoples driving would improve.....(rest in details)

It’s an interesting idea. Let’s see how the collective does on brain-storming this topic without immediately dismissing it.

What would happen if the driver was in an accident or even witnessed one? Would it be possible to make a call if the car was still running but maybe in Park mode? Could it be set so that the country’s emergency number could still be called, as in, “Help! I’m being followed by some maniac.”

I like the idea. The people would have to stop the car to use a cell phone for talking or texting.

Of course! Accidents would go way down. The only problem I can see, is how can the car distinguish between the driver’s cell phone and the passenger’s cell phone?

Yes, great idea. However, that only solves one part of the attention deficit area.
There are still radios, women putting on makeup, crazy children in the backseat and stupid dogs bouncing all over the car. lol

We can only control what we can control. Disabling the phones would go a long way toward decreasing accidents.

@Dutchess_III I totally agree,with distracted drivers being one of the top reasons for so many auto accidents.

Hands free, that is all.

@ucme Hands free is as dangerous. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130612092949.htm

Your attention is not on the task of driving. It doesn’t matter if it is in your hand. If you are using your attention for anything else than driving, you are a distracted driver and more prone to accidents.

It would probably work initially. But there would quickly develop a healthy business in defeating or disarming the device.

@cazzie Well, i’m not, but your point is duly noted.

I talk on my cell phone all the time on my way into work in the morning. BECAUSE I TAKE THE BUS!

Shout, shout, let it all out
These are the things I can do without
Come on, i’m talkin to you so come on…

Nope!

Actually, I’m pretty sure…no, I know distracted driving is the number 1 cause whether it be cell phone use or just not fucking paying attention, idiot. Or just being stupid. We had some monsooon rains today. My daughter was coming back from Topeka and called me from Wichita. Tons of people off the road because they’re doing 75 on cruise control in this rain. Stupid.

Well, such a device would probably greatly increase the value of used cars.

Maybe it could be a magnetic field from the driver’s seat to the roof of the vehicle, activated by weight and speed, much like the seat-belt dinger.
I’m all for it!

No, because I know plenty of people who drive like shit without a cellphone even being in the car. Also, some places have hands-free laws.

I am with @Coloma in that that wouldn’t go far enough. You would have to ban books, newspapers, passengers, radios, food, children, flying insects. In addition, you would have to erect barriers along all roadsides to prevent viewing scenery, and have a kill-switch so that if anyone is stopped alongside the road or there is an accident, all cars within a 5-mile radius automatically lock up. In addition, you would have to stop precipitation and ban road construction, as well as potholes, manholes, sewer grates, crosswalks, traffic lights, and intersections.

This list compiled based on the things I’ve seen snarl traffic just in Seattle… and just within the last week. If you just want to ban cellphones while driving then traffic safety isn’t your concern; you are merely anti-cellphone.

Lastly, cellphone jammers violate FCC regulations and Federal laws. Are cellphones enough of a pet peeve to you that you would risk federal prison time to make people hang up?

Anti-cellphone! I have never heard such a thing before! That was funny, @jerv!

Sorry for yelling folks, I just wanted to make sure you all heard me from sitting up on my ‘high horse.’ giggle

We ban other things when they are a bad enough risk to safe driving. Tests have compared talking on a cell phone to the equivalent of drunk driving. We’ve learned to frown on drinking and driving… I’m sure we can accept a no-cell phone rule as well as we use seat belts now. I’m not anti-cell phone. I’m anti-seeing my kid run down because there are idiots on the road, talking on phones while they drive.

Using your phone while riding a horse is highly irresponsible, rein that shit in.

@cazzie If you wish to ban hands-free use of cellphones, then you must also ban talking in vehicles. To say one is okay and the other is not is to utterly invalidate the argument that cellphones are distracting. While that argument may hold true if the phone forced you to drive one-handed, hands-free cellphones are no worse than talking to the passengers. Your earlier link to an article about hands-free being just as risky is a strong argument to banning all vehicles that have more than one seat.

Ban carpooling and passengers.
Ban all multi-occupant vehicles.
Ban other drivers too; only one person on the road in any given area at a time.
Ban pedestrians.
Ban car stereos.
Enclose all roads to block out all scenery including the sky.
Ban road noise and engine nose; all cars must be no louder than 20 decibels (about the level of a whisper)

Not banning every item in that list proves that your concern isn’t the driver is too distracted to be safe and thus are just singling out something that you don’t like. Trust me, if you ever hit the roads in Seattle, you’d know that you don’t need a cellphone to drive like a moron, and that banning them wouldn’t reduce the accident rate because the real issue isn’t cellphones, but rather stupidity.

How about putting the blame where it belongs and support my push for anti-stupidity laws.

DON’T DUMB AND DRIVE!

@jerv You are using hyperbole. It’s not constructive.

@jerv I read once that when you have a passenger in the car with you, they are co-driving. They’re keeping an eye out on things too. If you guys are having a conversation and something pops up that demands the driver’s attention, the passenger stops talking. You don’t have that advantage when you’re talking on a cell phone, hands-free or not.

@cazzie As are you by telling only part of the story.

According to the CAA, cellphones rank eighth of eight. The things I list above that you claim are hyperbole are all ranked higher.

Outside object/person/event — 29.9%
Adjusting radio/CD — 11.4%
Other vehicle occupants — 10.9%
Something moving in the car — 4.3%
Using another object/device — 2.9%
Adjusting car’s climate controls — 2.8%
Eating/drinking — 1.7%
Cellular phones — 1.5%

And they are not the only ones that rank cellphones lower than other distractions. Here’s another one, and Arizona Dept of Public Safety shows cellphones lower than you would guess from your own hyperbole.

“Nearly 200,000 traffic stops were reviewed during the five-month period, DPS said, and out of more than 10,000 total crashes, 1,160 were related to distracted driving.

Of those wrecks attributed to distracted driving, DPS found that:

■ 255 wrecks were caused by outside distractions outside the vehicle, a broad category that includes other drivers and sign spinners.

■ 130 collisions were caused when drivers were reaching for an object in their vehicle.

■ 127 wrecks were attributed to cell-phone use, which includes making and receiving phone calls and text messages.”

I can see the point behind banning texting, but that would also call for a ban on GPS units and car radios.I’ve also seem a couple of lists that put “daydreaming” well above even texting.

So, still hyperbole?

@Dutchess_III If you are a WRC race driver, yes. Otherwise, that’s false often enough that I would not bring it up.

@jerv The CAA also writes:

While you’re driving:
Allow phone calls to go to voicemail
Do not text, surf the web or read emails
Do not eat, drink or groom
Do not smoke
Stop at safe locations (rest stops or commuter lots) to make and receive calls
Keep two hands on the wheel for better control and less fatigue
Keep your eyes and mind on the road

@cazzie True, but you are singling out one thing and blowing it out of proportion whereas I am aiming to achieve consistency by eliminating things that are even more distracting.

Also, the “Keep two hands on the wheel” is impossible for those who drive stick. Are you in favor of banning manual transmissions as well?

@jerv hell no, if it doesn’t have a stick, it isn’t worth driving.

@cazzie So, some distractions are permissible but others aren’t?

I prefer three pedals myself; I’m just looking for ideological consistency.

@jerv I’m not a fan of banning things, but if some asshole is talking on their phone and runs over my kid I want them seriously punished for their completely asshole behaviour,

Shifting is part of driving. Talking on the cell phone is not essential for the operation of the vehicle.

@cazzie And what of all the other things like radios, GPS, and passengers?

So you’ve never had a passenger point something out to you @jerv.

As I said earlier, I use hands free & remain in complete control of my concentration.
If you’re fucking dumb & that easily distracted, then it’s you that’s the problem.

@Dutchess_III Nothing of note. Things like garage sales, free stuff on the side of the road and things like that that I deem unimportant to the task at hand, yes, but not anything that poses a hazard like traffic coming from a side street or a car in what would be a blind spot for most vehicles.

In fact, far and away the biggest distraction I face is undoubtedly movement in the corner of my eye as the result of having a passenger in the first place. The only thing that even comes close is the cups/cans a particular nameless person habitually leaves rolling around the footwell. (My car is too old to have cupholders, and too small to add any.)

Then again, I tend to be a little intense when I’m driving anyway, so I will allow for the possibility that I am in the minority in that I spend my entire time behind the wheel fully aware that I am in a metal box surrounded by larger, sturdier metal boxes driven by people who treat the driver’s seat as a recliner in their living room rather than the control center for a potentially lethal projectile and don’t understand that life has no “do overs” or reset button; if you crash, you may die and/or kill others.

Driving is zenlike; when driving, just drive.

I’m with you on that @jerv. I am fully aware of the danger I, and the people around me, are in, and that I am responsible for those in my car and those around me. I don’t talk on the phone. On rare occasions I may eat, but something like French fries that don’t take too much attention.