Should all cities ban cell phones while driving?

Bob_Skurka · May 5, 2006

( No other legal actity in a car seems to have this same effect on people, and what's really bad is they have no idea of what's going on.)
Actually if you look at the insurance actuarial tables for accidents, you will see that people who eat in their cars, put on their makeup, read, feed their children, or talk all have much higher accident rates than people who don't do those things. Even people who use "hands free" cell phones have high accident rates.

The reality is you should sit down, shut up and drive. And if you drive slow in the left lane, yield right like the law says you should!

turnkey4099 · May 5, 2006

( ( No other legal actity in a car seems to have this same effect on people, and what's really bad is they have no idea of what's going on.)
Actually if you look at the insurance actuarial tables for accidents, you will see that people who eat in their cars, put on their makeup, read, feed their children, or talk all have much higher accident rates than people who don't do those things. Even people who use "hands free" cell phones have high accident rates.

The reality is you should sit down, shut up and drive. And if you drive slow in the left lane, yield right like the law says you should! )

It isn't the use of the phone per se, either handheld or hand free. It is the mere act of conducting an extended conversation (extended = more than a few seconds) that is the distraction. Equating a CP conversation with tuning a radio is apples and oranges. One takes a few seconds the other doesn't. While both are distractions, the CP is by far a bigger one.

Harry K

AndyM · May 5, 2006

... anxiously awaiting the next random question from Terry43 

It might be more fun to guess what the next question will be! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

In all seriousness, I get annoyed at distracted cell phone users who don't know their surroundings while they are on the phone. They miss stop signs and traffic lights, they unknowingly weave between lanes, and they speed up and slow down to the point where it disrupts the traffic around them.

I'm not sure if passing more laws is the right answer, but it wouldn't bother me any if the use of cell phones were banned while driving. People were able to get by okay before cell phones, so they should be able to refrain from talking long enough to pay attention while driving.

AndyM · May 5, 2006

How can some people be such pigs? My drive to/from work each day, I must see this happen 5-10 times. When I finish a can of soda, I don't just throw my can out the window. 

The cigarette butts out the car window really annoy me, but the soda cans and McDonalds bags annoy me worse! The ditch in front of my house gets filled with beer bottles and fast food containers in no time flat from people who throw things out their car windows as they drive by. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Bob_Skurka · May 5, 2006

(
It isn't the use of the phone per se, either handheld or hand free. It is the mere act of conducting an extended conversation (extended = more than a few seconds) that is the distraction. Equating a CP conversation with tuning a radio is apples and oranges. One takes a few seconds the other doesn't. While both are distractions, the CP is by far a bigger one )

Harry, you get no arguement from me that tuning a radio is less of a distraction than talking on a cell phone, but then again I never suggested they were comparable.

But you are wrong about the duration of the call as being an implied cause of an accident. The data that I was shown indicates that a high percentage of the accidents occur during that acts of dialing the phone or terminating the call. And those accident rates are not significantly different than when people take their eyes off the road to turn around to feed their toddler in the rear seat, or to reach down to grab that last french fry out of the bottom of the bag next to them.

billbill1 · May 5, 2006

You can't imagine how many beer cans and soda cans get thrown in my ditch!! Not by me either, I guess people don't want an open container in their car till they open up the next beer. I do think cell phones should be banned while driving but I doubt it will ever happen.

Soundguy · May 5, 2006

As long as people use handsfree items.. I don't see a problem with talking and driving... If you ban talking on a hands free cell phone while driving.. you might as well ban 'talking' while driving.. if that's the case.. you don't need a car with more than 1 seat.

I for one.. don't need or want the government to pass legislation to cover every single part of my life... Pretty soon we won't have any unencumberd rights or liberties left.

"Those who trade freedom for security soon have neither... " as said best by the great Ben franklin

Soundguy

Anders · May 5, 2006

These countries already have various restrictions about talking in the phone while driving.

Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherland, Austria, Portugal, Spain, Denmark and Norway. I'm sure I have forgotten some countries.

Portugal has taken it even one step further and banned all talking in the phone while driving. Handsfree or not. This goes only for the driver of course.

Not sure about it, but I think the fine for talking while driving (handsfree is legal) is somewhere around 200 usd in Norway.

It's not a police-priority to fine people for these things. Very few are caught and all the time you can see people driving around holding one of their hands next to the head.

The solution?

- Tell the caller that you will call back once you have stopped your car?

- Don't hang up when finished. Let the person in the other end hang up. (But what if that's a driver too?)

I don't know. Guess it's a question of convinience versus how many deaths / damages caused by drivers not focused on the important things while driving.

JohnBoy45 · May 5, 2006

Hi, Here is some more information on cellphones in your state. I got this from a policeman.

http://tinyurl.com/zlxq9

flwiii · May 5, 2006

Just drive down Interstate 17 between Phoenix and Black Canyon City. There are several good burns up the middle divider from tossed cigarettes that started the brush on fire.