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Total Cell Phone Ban While Driving?

I'm 100% opposed to banning cell phones while driving. That's what they're for! Why do you think the cell phone was ever brought to market? Specifically for the convenience of having a phone to use ANYWHERE...even while driving.

I'll never support a ban on using cell phones while driving. That's what they're made for.
They were originally designed to go in your car, yes. That's because they couldn't be taken anywhere else because they had terrible battery life! They are not specifically "made for" only car use now, nor have they been for 20 years. This is not a reason to not ban their use in cars.
 
i spend my breaks eating. and not gabbing on the phone in the breakroom like a dink. and if you start comparing every situation to my blatant bias against drug users, you're going to get a lot of threads closed. dont poke the bear.
"Do not point out my hypocrisy, I am an unreasonable person!"
 
im a hypocrite for not liking drug users? as ive never been one, thats not hypocritical. bringing up arguments from past threads, which is totally pointless.

you failed.
It's not pointless at all. You've spewed all manner of vitriol against drug users, even calling for their deaths--even for pot smokers, when weed usage is responsible for very few deaths. Meanwhile, cell phone usage in cars has been responsible for many deaths and ruined lives, yet you oppose regulating it and engage in it yourself.
 
It has been known and proven since the early days of cell phones that they are incredibly distracting while driving - and it is NOT the phone or the conversation and hands free is WORSE than hand-held.

My partner and I researched this more than 2 years ago and developed a solution that totally eliminates cell phone distraction. This technology and device are now Patented. However NO ONE wants to know about it!!

The phone companies don't want to admit that there is a problem with using the phones in the car, and the safety organizations are dedicated to banning phone use, and don't want to know about a solution.

It is very frustrating for us as many lives can be saved and all the issues can be resolved so easily and no one will even consider a solution.

You can see a video and read the detailed research white paper at Link Removed

If anyone out there is capable of getting this to the right people, please PM me.
 
It's not pointless at all. You've spewed all manner of vitriol against drug users, even calling for their deaths--even for pot smokers, when weed usage is responsible for very few deaths. Meanwhile, cell phone usage in cars has been responsible for many deaths and ruined lives, yet you oppose regulating it and engage in it yourself.

I have seen a very compelling study about driving while high, as opposed to drunk and texting while driving. I forget where I saw it and will look for it, but the calm demeanor and slow driving won out in a big way. Alcohol makes people excited and angry, and texting takes eyes off the road. Weed does neither.
 
...anyone who thinks they can drive with a phone held to their ear (or, even worse, in their hand whilst texting) without posing a greater risk to other people than they do with their hands free is simply deluded. With a phone in your hand, you have less control over the vehicle than you do without. It's that simple and in an emergency that could be the causal factor in a fatality. To believe otherwise is kind of like believing you're fine after a few beers because you feel sober - that's not only stupid, it's also totally selfish and irresponsible.

Totally agree. I've been rear ended while stopped by a cell user going 35 mph who didn't even hit the brakes, and had many near misses where people who thought they were just fine to use their phone almost hit me. Several of these times my son was in the car with me. Nothing makes me angrier than these occasions. If he ever got hurt by one of these irresponsible sociopaths, I'd be very tempted to inflict serious bodily harm.
 
It's not pointless at all. You've spewed all manner of vitriol against drug users, even calling for their deaths--even for pot smokers, when weed usage is responsible for very few deaths. Meanwhile, cell phone usage in cars has been responsible for many deaths and ruined lives, yet you oppose regulating it and engage in it yourself.

fact. substance abuse has inflicted bodily harm on me personally.

fact. ive never once had an accident while responding "ok" to a text message. most of which i do at a stop sign or red light just in case. which is just as distracting as changing cd's, flipping channels, adjusting the air, or looking around too much because you are trying to find an address.

my personal bias against something this thread does not regard should not mean my opinion and experience are invalid.

regarding their regulation: they can try. they wont get very far. very hard to catch and harder to prove. again, the issue is user error, not the technology. if you cant cook and talk on the phone at the same time, dont. if you cant look at your watch without driving your car off the road, dont. i had a sign language teacher that could talk to a person and sign with both hands to both sides of the class at the same time. 2 different conversations, 2 methods of speaking, one without her dominant hand. multitasking. if you cant do it, dont try.

so if you cant look at your GPS without running into a pole, you dont need one. if changing cds causes a 10 car pile up, we shouldnt sure pioneer sound systems. if you cant operate your phone or ipod while driving, thats your business.
 
That's part of the issue - a lot of people don't realize that they land in the camp that can't use a phone and drive at the same time, and that's where the danger comes from.

The difference is that one side believes banning cell phones will somehow lift this danger, and the other side believes banning them won't stop idiots from using them and that the ban will only punish those drivers who can operate a vehicle and use a phone at the same time.
 
banning use does not mean they will stop right away. It does mean that there is some accountability. If someone gets caught, they pay a fine. Then they get caught again, and the fine goes up...and so on

It took me 5 seat belt tickets, to learn, when that law passed... but I did eventually change that habit
 
Look, just because someone is stupid enough to yak away on their phone and run into the back of another vehicle (which seems to happen rather frequently gauging from the responses in this thread) doesn't mean that I am going to. Infact, I would like to think that a good percentage of people, hopefully a majority, are capable of making an informed decision as to whether or not it is safe to answer their phone while driving.

What makes this a difficult situation is the fact that stupid people talking on the phone are both a danger to themselves and others, and we do need to take certain measures to protect other people from their stupidity. Unfortunately, I don't believe that other people should be penalised for the stupidity of a few either.

Personally, I don't agree with a law against talking on the phone while driving (it has been illegal here as long as I can remember) as most people should be intelligent enough to only answer the phone when it is within their ability to do so, and the ones who are not, will likely do it anyway, legal or not. Like I said, it has been illegal here for years, probably 10 at least, if not more, and still I see people on their phone whilst driving every day. For half of them it has been illegal since they got their license, but they still do it.

So basically, what the law does is make a bit of money for the government when they happen to catch somebody, and I'd be betting prevents about 2 accidents a year if you're lucky because nobody pays attention to the legality of it anyway.

And the people who get fined are probably the smart ones, because they are driving on an open road where the police see them and pull them over, rather than in busy traffic where there is no way the police would notice, or be able to get to them to pull them over anyway.


Once again, you're expecting people to be smart about operating a vehicle. I'm expecting them to not care if I live or die because of their actions so I keep my distance. The law should be considering the middle of those two viewpoints, but it generally weighs towards the "Most of these people can't drive to begin with" side so that's what happens. Wanna talk on your phone, pull over just like I do. If you're gonna drive, please focus on it for your sake, my sake, and all those other numbskulls as well.

Peace,
Greg

My phone rings, I assess the situation. Do I know where my phone is or will I have to look for it? What are the driving condition like? Traffic? Visibility? If everything is clear, I pick up the phone, turn the radio down, get in a comfortable position where I can steer with one hand, and answer the phone. I then tell the person on the other end that I am driving so they know to be brief, and also that if I were to drop the phone at any time chances are I need all my "mental bandwidth" and I'll get back to them later.

If I am in a situation where I don't believe I can safely answer my phone, I will either ignore it, or pull over if possible.

Do you want to know the ridiculous part? In You can pull over to the side of the road, and you STILL GET THE SAME FINE. Because you are in a car, with the keys in the ignition, you are legally driving. You can even switch the car off and take the keys out and you can still be fined last I checked, because the keys are on your person and you are in the car, therefore you are legally considered to be the driver and can still be fined.

It is the same with drink driving, I know someone who was sleeping in his car and was fined for drink driving because he had the keys on him, and as such had the potential to drive while drunk. Not sure what the legislation is like in the US, hopefully not as ****ed up as ours is.
 
Look, just because someone is stupid enough to yak away on their phone and run into the back of another vehicle (which seems to happen rather frequently gauging from the responses in this thread) doesn't mean that I am going to. Infact, I would like to think that a good percentage of people, hopefully a majority, are capable of making an informed decision as to whether or not it is safe to answer their phone while driving.

What makes this a difficult situation is the fact that stupid people talking on the phone are both a danger to themselves and others, and we do need to take certain measures to protect other people from their stupidity. Unfortunately, I don't believe that other people should be penalised for the stupidity of a few either.

The only issue with this, is that everyone thinks they are a good driver, and it's always someone else that's reckless and idiotic.

The thing is, someone else can be reckless and idiotic and end up hurting you. Laws like this are to try and minimise the chance of that happening.


i spend my breaks eating. and not gabbing on the phone in the breakroom like a dink. and if you start comparing every situation to my blatant bias against drug users, you're going to get a lot of threads closed. dont poke the bear.

Hey, less likely to hurt someone by being that dink.

I'm not, I'm just comparing this situation and pointing out something that I'm pretty sure is on the button . . .
 
As far as hands free is concerned, I don't consider that should be banned but through experience I definitely agree with the ban for hand held devices here.

OT slightly, I remember a chap here whom took delivery of a sports car (TVR I believe) years back. He was a very capable driver and had competed in Rallies many times. Alas within a few hours that afternoon the car lay in pieces across a hillside and he was decapitated in the process.

Jus' saying, as good as anyone considers themselves to be, pride doesn't just come before a fall, it can make it happen.
 
Simo98 said:
Look, just because someone is stupid enough to yak away on their phone and run into the back of another vehicle (which seems to happen rather frequently gauging from the responses in this thread) doesn't mean that I am going to. Infact, I would like to think that a good percentage of people, hopefully a majority, are capable of making an informed decision as to whether or not it is safe to answer their phone while driving.

To be honest, posts like yours and sonic assassin's are stating to convince me that a significant percentage of people are *not* capable of making that decision.
 
The only issue with this, is that everyone thinks they are a good driver, and it's always someone else that's reckless and idiotic.

That's how it works, isn't it :D

The thing is, someone else can be reckless and idiotic and end up hurting you. Laws like this are to try and minimise the chance of that happening

People who are reckless and idiotic will recklessly and idiotically disobey the law, and quite likely cause just as many accidents. Meanwhile, people who are not reckless and idiotic will be penalised, and still get run over or crashed into by reckless idiots.


To be honest, posts like yours and sonic assassin's are stating to convince me that a significant percentage of people are *not* capable of making that decision.

Unfortunately, you are probably right.


I've can think of two occasions where I have answered my phone while driving. There was a third, but I answered it in the process of pulling off to the side of the road, but I guess that counts too. Point is, while I very rarely answer my phone while in the car, and would only do so when it is within my capability to do so safely, I think I should be able to do so without having to worry about breaking the law.

If you want to do anything, make the punishment for causing an accident while on the phone more severe. You accept that you are trusted to only use your phone when it is safe to do so, and if you use your phone in an unsafe situation where you cause a crash or hit a pedestrian or whatever, you have to accept the consequences of that. But don't punish people before they have done anything wrong. Stronger consequences for rash decisions involving mobile phones and driving would probably be a bigger deterrent anyway.

I am fairly sure I have eaten "Subway" while driving at least 10 times in the past year or so. To be honest, I think it's probably more dangerous. I'm going to be a lot more hesitant about dropping my lunch than I am about dropping my phone.


While mobile phones are a distraction, and obviously removing them altogether would make a slight difference in preventing accidents and suchlike, so would removing CD players, so would not allowing passengers, so would forcing everyone to drive an automatic (maybe), and so would attaching peoples hands to the steering wheel. Simply having talking on the phone while driving illegal however, is going to do nothing, or at the most make a very negligible difference to phone related accidents, and a big difference to how much time police waste ticketing people for talking on their phone. Like I said, it's been illegal here for at least 10 years, and people still do it, probably more now than they ever did.


Besides, how do you expect people to get better at talking and driving if you don't give them a chance to practise :p
 
I don't know, but I would think it would also depend on the type of call. How much you have to deduce, how angry the other person is making you, etc...
I could see the guy getting a call that his wife just checked into a hotel with another man, not seeing or giving a damn about anything else going on around him.

Haha, i don't think it would matter if he is driving or pulled over to the side of the road. He will be on the road eventually with those thoughts in his head...
 
I have to admit here that I do enjoy being a turd to people talking on their phones while driving. I love rolling up beside them, and rattling the pipes on my harley. I do have mufflers, but sometimes it is enough to get a dirty look or a finger

So you think people should not use their cell phone while driving while thinking its okay to startle someone who is supposedly distracted already?

Way to make the roads even safer. Seems like youre asking someone to hit you.
 
Haha, i don't think it would matter if he is driving or pulled over to the side of the road. He will be on the road eventually with those thoughts in his head...

Hopefully, he will have calmed down. Anyway, that's just an example; it's more about using your mind for other things besides driving. Someone asks you something that takes a lot of thought or calculations... I'm sure you get the point.
 

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