Cell phones while driving..!

buckeyefarmer · Nov 21, 2009

There are lots of things that distract drivers, conversations on cell phones is one of them, but so are putting on makeup, shaving, messing with the kids in the back seat, changing your CD, messing with the MP3 player, messing with the radio, messing with the AC controls, reading, looking at the GPS, etc. etc. etc. I see these things every day by drivers. Hands free is not any better, it's the conversation that makes it more of a distraction, not the act of holding a phone. Sure, there are accidents when people are on the phone, but it boils down to individual driving ability.

Western · Nov 21, 2009

I once stopped a woman for changing clothes in rush hour traffic! Her driving was actually ok, sorta. It was the males near her that caused the problems.

When my daughter started driving I told her "NO TEXTING WHILE DRIVING" as I guess most parents would, she said " I WONT DAD, I'M A GOOD DRIVER!" ..3 days later while answering a text she drove over a curb which cost ME $900. Thankfully she was fine but scared.

In DPS school, it was said that it takes 8 years for the average person to become "proficient" at driving.

RobertN · Nov 21, 2009

Calif made laws requiring hands free cell phone, ie speaker phone or bluetooth device.

All kinds of people are on the phone at any thim you get on the road. Even the Governers wife gaot caught, with pictures ciculating all over the web.

I think it is dangerous to use a cell phone while driving; I see it all the time. Slowing down, speeding up, hitting the brakes, weaving.

You really got to look at all the stuff that cars have now. The cell phone, tape/cd/mp3 players. GPS's. 9.27E9(9.27 bazillion!) buttons, knobs, screens ect. Add all that together, AND a cell phone... disaster waiting to happen.

If I do not have my bluetoothearpice, I will not take a call while driving. I'll pull over if it is something really really important.

The one that really really gets me, is I see highway patrol ans sheriff officers on the cell phone here and there.....

kidr · Nov 21, 2009

This is interesting because I am a super defensive driver. I drive as if everyone on the road is out to kill me. I do alot of observing ,and evaluating drivers around me. I noticed that people playing with radios and such will lose concentration for a couple of seconds.People on phones get a faraway look in their eyes and stare but don't see and will drive for a long time like that. It's like they're hypnotized or something.
People on phones are kamikazis in my book and I get away from them even if I have to break the law and speed for while. While I'm on a rant , I wish police would ticket for tailgating, which I think is the major cause of auto fatalities. I don't have stats to back that up, just my belief. I have seen people with newspapers draped over their steering wheels in 70 mph traffic.I have seen people drinking coffee shuffling papers and who knows what else on the same highway. I guess they're such "good drivers" that it's boring and they need something to occupy their minds.

JB4310 · Nov 21, 2009

RobertN said:
The one that really really gets me, is I see highway patrol ans sheriff officers on the cell phone here and there.....

Here they are exempt I think, but not only are they on the phones more than teenage girls they're also on their computers constantly.

Whenever I see a cop they are looking at their monitors, I really don't know how they drive like that. Sometime when I'm doing something wrong like talking on the phone speeding or not wearing seat belt and I spot a cop close to me I think to myself uh oh I'm in trouble, when I sheepishly look over at him he's looking at his computer.

Some of you keep equating good driving skills with being safe to talk on the phone while driving. I don't, I'm practically a stunt driver and I get easily distracted when involved in a two way conversation on the phone. Not so much if just talking to the wife or kids but more so with a new customer trying to have an intelligent conversation or diagnosing a problem.

archerm3 · Nov 21, 2009

But of course, EVERYONE on TBN is a good driver..

Good driving skills means have the good judgement to determine whether a side task (such as dialing in your desired heater setting, or reading a highway sign) is distracting oneself from keep the rolling metal under good control AND good courtesy. Difference between motor skills and judgement skills, both are required, everyone boasts about their motor skills, many ignore the judgement skills.

archerm3 · Nov 21, 2009

Western said:
I

In DPS school, it was said that it takes 8 years for the average person to become "proficient" at driving.

My nonprofessional opinion and experience would tend to agree with that time period...

But is there a difference between proficient, and good? That is another question.

archerm3 · Nov 21, 2009

kidr said:
This is interesting because I am a super defensive driver. I drive as if everyone on the road is out to kill me. I do alot of observing ,and evaluating drivers around me. I noticed that people playing with radios and such will lose concentration for a couple of seconds.People on phones get a faraway look in their eyes and stare but don't see and will drive for a long time like that. It's like they're hypnotized or something.
People on phones are kamikazis in my book and I get away from them even if I have to break the law and speed for while. While I'm on a rant , I wish police would ticket for tailgating, which I think is the major cause of auto fatalities. I don't have stats to back that up, just my belief. I have seen people with newspapers draped over their steering wheels in 70 mph traffic.I have seen people drinking coffee shuffling papers and who knows what else on the same highway. I guess they're such "good drivers" that it's boring and they need something to occupy their minds.

Don't they teach in the defensive driving course, that in order to "get away" from a kamikaze driver, is to stop and let them drive away from you?

Steve C · Nov 21, 2009

Last week end I was driving south on US23 near Brighton Michigan. This is an expressway with 2 lanes southbound and 2 lanes northbound. Thraffic was a little heavy for what ever reason, it was around 3 in the afternoon, clear and dry. I was towing a small trailer with my 1 ton truck, doing about 70 with the cruise control set, staying in the right lane and only moving to the left lane for passing. I was approaching an on ramp on a slight up grade and there was a semi truck directly in front of me and he was loosing speed. I checked my mirror to move over to pass, and when I glanced back at the semi, there was a Jeep station wagon coming off the on ramp about to run into the side of it at a high rate of speed. I couldn't believe my eyes, How could you not see the truck if you were getting on the road. I quickly moved to the left lane and hit the brakes thinking the truck driver was going to have to take evasive action and swerve left if by chance he happened to see the idiot in the jeep, although he was probably in the truckers blind spot on the right hand side. The trucker probably never saw the guy because he remained in the right lane.
Just before impact, the Jeep violently careened to the right hand shoulder of the road and almost hit the guard rail, then shot back accross the road just clearing the rear end of the truck and almost hit the guard rail on the left side of the road. All this time his brake lights never came on. I followed him for a couple of miles and he was constantly crossing the center line and running off the right shoulder of the road all the while slowing down and speeding up.
I was about to call 911 and report a drunk driver when he slowed down to about 45 and I shot past him.

When I went by I noticed he had the drivers seat cranked back at about a 45 degree angle. He was leaning to the right far enough that his head was centered in the car. He was holding a cell phone in his right hand almost like he was leaning on his elbow on the passenger seat, and he was staring up at the headliner with a far away look on his face, and steering with his left hand and his jaws were just flapping. I don't know who he was talking to but whoever it was sure had 110% of that guys attention. That guy had no clue that he was surrounded by traffic. He never saw me when I went by.

If you ask him he will probably tell you the he is real good at multi-tasking and the phone doesn't bother him when he is driving. My observation draws a different conclusion.