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.