Do you support banning the use of phones while driving?

They’re never gonna be able to ban everything that can be a distraction. Sort of like anything can be a weapon, ANYTHING can distract you while driving. Purse, phone, water bottle falling onto the floor, the radio, finding a CD, changing your ipod, talking to your passenger…but so often I see people on cell phones driving like complete idiots, and I think “OK, do one or the other. Get off the phone and drive like a moron, or stay on your phone and pull over.”

I admit, I’m guilty of texting and driving, but I’m a pro ;) Jk. I try not to, but its more of a habit now than anything. I’m trying to cut back because it is dangerous.

I think they’re perfectly safe with a handsfree headset. I don’t support a ban.

Sure, some people can’t drive and talk but they should own up and take some responsibility.

I think it’s too difficult to monitor, especially when many cities have more pressing issues to deal with. And I completely agree with your stance. Yesterday while driving to work, I saw a guy reading the newspaper while driving down the interstate. I’ll take the bimbo blond chatting on her phone over some moron READING THE PAPER any day. The only thing I think needs to be addressed is texting while driving. In such a situation, you not only get distracted, you aren’t even looking at the road. A ban wouldn’t change or solve anything.

That is a great argument. I will use it the next time I get a DUI.

Blutooth is great. You can still be distracted, but you have 2 hands on the wheel.
Even with blutooth though there can be problems. I took my grandson to Disneyland and was driving home. I was talking to my daughter via blutooth. It was late. I told her that my GPS must be acting up because it kept telling me to turn around. When I finally paid attention I was 20 miles past my exit, heading towards the Mexican boarder!
Oops. Another day of intense cell phone talking proves it’s a distraction.

People talking on cell phones are (according to accident statistics) about as dangerous as drunk drivers. I haven’t seen any statistics on accidents caused by people trying to grab their Chapstick.

Whenever I come up on a car in the fast lane going 10 mph below the speed limit, I know they are on the phone. Come on!

I support getting the phone out of people’s hands. If they have an earbud, or the phone is on their lap, no problem. But, people with the phone to their ear are just too distracted to drive properly.

Personally I try not to use my cellphone while driving unless i have my handsfree set. You’re right in that there are so many other distractions, but in the, what… 6 years I’ve been driving I’ve been rear-ended in the city by three people talking on their phones.

Don’t let me get into texting while driving. At least people are looking, even if their perception of driving is not all there.

In 2004, I was hit head on by a woman talking on or dialing her cell phone. Ruined my back, and destroyed my favorite car (my beloved 1982 Subaru).
Friday, I was nearly hit by a woman trying to do her make-up in the sun visor mirror, on a freeway interchange. She moved straight into my lane, before jumping back.
Absolutely, banning this is necessary.

My friend says he can text and drive safely b/c he doesn’t need to look at the keys when he texts, and only uses one hand to do so. It’s true i’ve seen him do it, do you think this is a legal maneuver?

Nope

YES, texting while driving is the equivalent of say reading a newspaper while driving. Its one thing if you’re talking on a wireless headset with voice recognition dialing so you never actually have to take your eyes and focus off the road but I really think it should be restricted. Its one of those things though where a nationwide law would not be put into effect until so many people have died or been maimed in car accidents that they can’t ignore it as being and “oops my bad” situation anymore

No. There are plenty of things that can distract a driver I think I’ve said that here before. I happen to be great at multi-tasking. The most distracting thing while I’m driving is my own mind, and I’d like to see them try to regulate that.

I don’t think banning cell phone usage would make a difference. Honestly if I saw a cop and I was texting I would just lower my phone, he would pass and I would continue. The majority of people will do this! But I do agree it’s a great distraction

Yes, definitely. It has nothing to do with the mechanics of managing to handle a phone while driving, it has to do with the distraction caused by the conversation. It is nothing like dropping something onto the car floor.

I support not only banning them, but having all people who get caught using one while driving, not just lose their licence, but be banned by all carriers from owning or operating a phone for six or twelve months. That would make the mindless and inconsiderate little phone addicts sit up and take notice.

Why not ban falling purses so drivers don’t have to chase their chapstick on the floor of the car?

Good thing you pointed this out. I had completely forgotten the necessity of applying chapstick while driving.

I also support the banning of breathing for anyone that has sinus problems. It can get distracting while driving. WHO’S WITH ME? ~

@SheWasAll_ very correct, I concur

I STRONGLY support the ban. Anytime another driver almost kills me on the road by doing something stupid, I find the driver’s on a cell phone.

If they make the fine $10,000 I’m sure you’ll see compliance.

If someone gets in an accident while using a phone the fine should tripple. After an accident they can prove with the records of you were using the phone or texting.

@Judi :: It should be like a DUI. Big fines and a loss of license for a while. And you should have to fill out a SR-LOL too.

Study: Texting while driving increases crash risk 23-fold

I agree.

Completely support it. Pull over if you need to talk to someone, otherwise just wait.
this is just an ad, but makes a good point.

Damn! I was in a supermarket when a lady crashed into me with her shopping cart. Why? She was on the cell phone!!!

No. But texting should be. You have to take your eyes off the road and focus on something close to your face.

yes, absolutely. by using the phone you are diverting your attention from driving and this risk the lives of those around you. or at least use a hands free kit, you irresponsibles

The easy solution is putting a 6 inch spike on the steering wheel of every car. That would focus the mind.

No way. Distracted driving is bad but still more goverment intrusion into our daily lives is far more reprehensible. I might support a law that brings an additional charge if an accident or violation can be proven as a result of distracted driving. Why isn’t the gratifying activity of driving itself enough for people?

Only texting; but monitoring/enforcing that is nigh-impossible. :[

Yes, I support it. Scientific studies show that talking on a cell phone is much more distracting than other things. Texting is even worse.

It is not the same at all as talking to someone in the car.

“June 29, 2006—Three years after the preliminary results first were presented at a scientific meeting and drew wide attention, University of Utah psychologists have published a study showing that motorists who talk on handheld or hands-free cellular phones are as impaired as drunken drivers. University of Utah

“We found that people are as impaired when they drive and talk on a cell phone as they are when they drive intoxicated at the legal blood-alcohol limit” of 0.08 percent, which is the minimum level that defines illegal drunken driving in most U.S. states, says study co-author Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology. “If legislators really want to address driver distraction, then they should consider outlawing cell phone use while driving.”

You’re right about the reaching for an object, but that would include reaching for your phone. Here is data from a Virginia Technical Institute study done just this year in road driving conditions.

Dialing Cell Phone
2.8 times as high as non‐distracted driving

Talking/Listening to Cell Phone
1.3 times as high as non‐distracted driving

Reaching for object (i.e. electronic device and other)
1.4 times as high as non‐distracted driving

Iowa is trying to push something like that. I think it’d be a good idea if we require headsets. Like Judi said, at least you’d have 2 hands on the wheel. To me, it’s no more distracting than talking to someone in the car with you. Now texting is a whole other issue. Throw the book at any driver caught doing that.

For the record, no one seems to be paying attention to the law in California.

@jbfletcherfan Actually, it is. Much more distracting. Also, hands-free does not help that much. See this article.

Excerpt:

“The bottom line of their study is this: If you’re using a hands-free device with a cell phone, you’re four and a half times more likely to be in a serious accident than if you’re not talking on the phone at all.

In fact, that “virtual” conversation is considerably more distracting than talking with a passenger, their study shows.

“Cell-phone conversations consume significantly more attention than passenger conversations, resulting in more incidents and crashes during simulated driving,  Rose and Hunton concluded. “More working memory is consumed by cell-phone conversations relative to passenger conversations, and fewer resources are available for the driving task.”

The two professors specialize in studying the effects of technology on learning and awareness. Their article summarizing their research findings, “Cellular Telephones and Driving Performance: The Effects of Attentional Demands on Motor Vehicle Crash Risk,” appeared in the October 2005 issue of the journal Risk Analysis. No outside funding was received for the study, they note.”

Katie Courick ways in on the texting while driving debate at 2.30 in the video.

Enjoy

http://autotunethenews.com/

“personally I think this law will be aimed at teens.”

Actually, the worst offenders are folks who seem to be any age from 25 to 50, who are attempting to multitask while on their way to work or running errands. In my experience, most of the folks who have been so wrapped up in their cell conversations that they seem oblivious to other drivers are not teens.

With that said, if I catch my teen aged daughter on the phone while driving, whether talking, listening, reading or texting, she knows I get the car keys.

I actually saw a guy on the on ramp to an LA freeway who was on the phone, eating, had his computer propped on his steering wheel and reading something off the back of what looked like an asprin or Tylenol box.
I wonder if he’s still alive?

His car is slowly filling up with water…

@Judi I don’t think people will even pay attention to the law. I don’t think people would care >:(

Hahah so I concur

GA @PnL

Yes. I’m all for it. They should ban text messaging too. I have no idea why talking on the phone is banned and not texting. Texting is 10x worse than talking on the phone in my opinion. You have to take your eyes off the road and what you’re looking at to check what you’re busy typing. It’s ridiculous. These lawmakers seem pretty incompetent.

I support it entirely. And, for all you who think a hands-free device is safe, they have proved that it is talking that is the distraction.

@XOIIO With that logic, they should ban any type of talking in vehicles at all.

@Facade That’s not true. Broken record here. Please read my post above. Studies show talking on a cell phone is much more dangerous than talking to a passenger.

@facade, What is the problem with that?

@PnL I SECOND THAT

Here’s a video they are planning to show in schools in Wales to teach the dangers of texting and driving.
YouTube link
(Warning despite the fact it is aimed at school children, it is incredibly violent. There’s no cheap black screen just before the crash that you usually get in these sort of public service anouncements)

Not if it’s hands free. Otherwise, no. It’s already the law here in the great state of California.

Its already banned in 16 states. In California it is a $50 fine for the first offense and a $100 fine for each additional offense.

When you approach this from a scientific risk assessment perspective, the odds of being in a fatal crash on any given instance of texting while driving works out to about one chance in 14.5 million, or about the same as winning the California Lottery. The odds are considerably less for talking on the phone.

Nonetheless, an estimated 3,000 people die each year in cell-phone related car accidents (2,000 from texting). However, these numbers are inflated because they count everyone who dies, regardless if the cell phone user is the driver, a passenger or a pedestrian. For example, if a non-phone-using driver plows into a full car where one of the passengers is using a cell phone, and they all die, all the deaths are counted as “cell-phone related.” When you adjust to count only cell phone-using drivers who kill themselves or someone else, the number of cell phone-related deaths drops to about 800.

So, the number of deaths does not suggest any great epidemic of death and carnage sweeping the country due to cell phone use. In fact, all vehicle deaths were down 9% in 2008 at a time when cell phone use, particularly texting (thanks to Twitter) was climbing to all-time highs. There is no spike in accidents after 9:PM or on weekends when most people’s free minutes kick in, or any of the other things we would expect from what we know about patterns of cell phone use.

Nonetheless, there is a surprising number of people are convinced that it is a highly dangerous activity, and that anyone who does it should be taken out and shot. And I’m not kidding. They were ready to lynch me simply for trying to present them with risk assessment facts that contradicted their firmly held conviction.

Apparently, people who use cell phones while driving tend to drive like idiots and jerks, so cell phone users tend to become a lightning rod for anyone who has pent up rage over all the near misses and instances of traffic rudeness visited upon them by the millions of idiots and jerks who apparently clog the nation’s roadways. One particularly vehement woman was rear-ended by a man who was picking his nose. She was of the opinion that anyone who doesn’t drive eyes-front, both hands on the wheel, and 100% attention on the roadway was lower than toenail dirt and ought to be put to death.

The studies like the Utah study that @Marina cites above suggest that using a cell phone poses a danger equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.08%, suggesting that cell phone use is on a par with drinking and driving. But, while 0.08% blood-alcohol level isn’t really very drunk. Driving while actually drunk is more around 0.16% or higher. When you adjust the risk formula for the number of people who text and drive versus the number who drink and drive (which we know from surveys) if people who used cell phones were really as impaired as drunk drivers, we would expect to see something like 285,000 cell phone-related fatalities a year, but we only see around 2,000 to 3,000.

So these simulator studies are flawed. Very likely its that when you use a cell phone your attention can snap back to the roadway when something comes into your field of vision, whereas with alcohol, you are more or less committed for the whole ride. Also, if you hold the phone up high enough, the road is still in view.

Some take an extremely dogmatic stance, no doubt drilled into them by their Driver’s Ed instructors, that it is one’s civic duty to devote absolutely all of one’s attention to the task of driving, and that anything less should be treated as a crime. And this should apply, regardless of whether the probability of a mishap it high or a low.

In my view, the problem with this line of reasoning is that in 20/20 hind sight you can always find some distraction, or lapse of attention, or thing he should have done but didn’t, so that all you end up doing is adding a layer of criminality and penalty to accidents that are going to occur anyway. The eyes-front, 100% attention is far too onerous a straight jacket to impose for what are likely to be meager benefits.

On the other hand, the 800 to 3,000 or so cell phone-related deaths that occur each year can easily be prevented if you simply defer your call. Even if you don’t save one life, you are being courteous to your fellow drivers. And if, for some reason, you should be so unlucky as to accidentally kill someone, at least you know will know that it wasn’t because you were doing something you could have very easily put off. (And for which people will be howling for your blood because of it.)

@MontyZuma Thank you :] hahaha what a good answer

I support building driving compartments in auto where dirvers are physically separated from the passengers. All safety precautions should be taken.

The regulations to ban one object, and not another, is the prevalence of the item When more people are being killed because they eat tic-tacs, they will be banned. In the meantime, the culprit is cell phones.

@YARNLADY I support building driving compartments in auto where dirvers are physically separated from the passengers.

I am not quite sure I understand that. Please elaborate.

I would like to see a seperate compartment where the driver sits, similar to the front seat in a Taxi. There can be no conversations between the driver and the passengers.

Perhaps the driver should be strapped to the hood of the car like an Aztec sacrifice.

@YARNLADY I’m not sure I’d go quite that far, but I certainly would support banning all use of phones while driving, whether talking or texting, hands-free or not. I’m not sure I even approve of a passenger using a phone in a car; it’s still going to be distracting to many drivers. I live in California where non-hands-free use of phones is prohibited, but I still often see people holding their phones and talking on them – the law is simply not enforced. Not surprising that people ignore the law, as the penalty is negligible.

I knew @DarkScribe would have the right answer :-)

There have been too many times I’ve nearly been hit, both as a motorist and a pedestrian. I would totally support a ban.

I just watched this terribly tragic PSA on teens who text while driving. Warning, it’s quite graphic!
http://www.parentdish.com/2009/08/25/will-bloody-texting-psa-get-the-message-to-teens/?icid=main

@casheroo that was the same as the clip I linked to. Nasty, isn’t it. Apparantly they are going to show this (the unedited 30 minute version) in schools here in the UK.

@casheroo @Lightlyseared That’s pretty intense. But to be honest, it’s the truth of what can happen. I interned in a prison and we had a 19 year old girl come in with manslaughter charges for killing her 18 year old (and 8 months pregnant) passenger because she was texting behind the wheel. Why sugarcoat the consequences?

Officer: Do you know why i pulled you over?

Motorist: Uh, no sir?

O: I pulled you over for texting while driving.

M: Um, officer, i wasnt doing that.

O: You were sir, i saw you, license and registration please.

M: I swear i wasnt, here, let me show you.

O: Put down the phone and step out of the car sir.

M I was using a GPS map program, look!

O: Drop the phone, turn around and put your hands on the car sir.

M: No really, its nothing short of a miracle, it shows my location at all times. I never get lost. It gives me step by step directions to anywhere i need to go!

O: You were texting sir, drop the phone and turn around.

M: Officer, i swear i…..

O: Club club club.

M: Ow ow ow.

@Noel_S_Leitmotiv
only in america and maybe soviet russia

In soviet russia, car drives you!

In Soviet Russia the cars, like everything else are shit.

That’s why in years past the Soviet Olympic cycling teams had to ride Masi (Italian) bicycles because no one in the whole of Russia knew how to make a viable product as far as bicycles are concerned.

If you’re worried where your next meal is coming from you hardly have anything left over with which to concern yourself over workmanship.

Isn’t socialism awesome?

@Noel_S_Leitmotiv Aside from being an off-topic ideological rant, your remark about socialism is a complete _non sequitur. The Soviet economy wasn’t socialist, it was communist. Russia hasn’t been communist for 18 years, and it still can’t make cars or bicycles. So much for capitalism

@Noel_S_Leitmotiv
who beat the amurkans to space? that’s right, the soviets. /thread

Making a distiction between socialism and communism is like making a distinction between a viral and bacterial infection..

Any other problems Monty? When i discovered how much of a nanny the Fluther establishment was i didn’t know if i should laugh or cry.

Ill laugh, because it doesnt seem to be keeping you in check.

Thanks for the 411, interesting @ragingloli

@Noel_S_Leitmotiv
fyi, american cars are just as shit as soviet cars, except when they are engineered by europeans, like some ford models.

I know what you mean.

I’m pissed i cant buy this:

http://www.ford.co.uk/Cars/NewFocusRS

That might seduce me away from Honda, because they wont let me buy this:

http://www.honda.co.uk/cars/civictyper/

All of this said i dont agree that American produced cars are as bed as Soviet ones.

@Noel_S_Leitmotiv Your knee-jerk ideological response ignores the fact that there are huge differences between socialism and communism. In socialism you have a market economy, democratic governance, and private property; in communism you have a centrally planned economy, no markets, no private property and a totalitarian form of government. It also ignores the fact that capitalism hasn’t really much improved things in Russia.

Fine, yet you make no allowance for my point of view . This wouldn’t usually be a problem were it not for your radical perspective.

Actually, in true communism, aka Marxism, the state is supposed to wither away. So far, that hasn’t happened anywhere that I know of.

@mistered Like reading the paper and getting extremely emotional about what you’re reading.