I think cell phone use by drivers should be banned

[Kacie Jane]

Using your cell phone and driving has an immediate effect on others.

Not if you can walk and chew gum at the same time.

From the same school of science as "it snowed today so climate change is a hoax".

Sorry that your abilities are limited so that they don't allow you to talk and drive at the same time. I'm grateful that I don't have that limitation.

I'd argue that most people are capable are driving competently while talking on a cell phone, and that people/the media/the government tend to focus on the negative and overstate the problem.

But... if you drive while talking on a cell phone, you are driving distracted, that's just a fact.  You might feel that you're still devoting enough attention to the road -- maybe you are, maybe you aren't -- but you aren't devoting as much as you would if you were not using your phone.

[Molandfreak]

Using your cell phone and driving has an immediate effect on others.

Not if you can walk and chew gum at the same time.

From the same school of science as "it snowed today so climate change is a hoax".

Sorry that your abilities are limited so that they don't allow you to talk and drive at the same time. I'm grateful that I don't have that limitation.

Seriously... When I'm driving out of my local area, or on the freeway, I usually have a headset on. If I don't feel comfortable talking and driving in a certain situation, I don't.

And I can assure Jeremy that if he ever meets me on the road and I am talking on the phone, I will pose no danger to his health or to the structural integrity of his car. Just because others do doesn't mean that I will.

1) since when did Florida ban cell phone use while driving?

2)no comment

3)That's a stereotypical teenage invincibility attitude. "If I do this carefully, I'm practically invincible when I do it." Don't come crying to me when you get into an accident going 70 on the freeway.

[corco]

3)That's a stereotypical teenage invincibility attitude. "If I do this carefully, I'm practically invincible when I do it." Don't come crying to me when you get into an accident going 70 on the freeway.

I dunno, where Elkins may seem invincible, you seem paranoid. My thought is that there are a lot of people out there who are just terrible drivers, even without a device on them, and we don't ban them from the roads. Give a device to those drivers, and they're the reason people advocate for cell phone bans. Assuming Elkins is a good driver, and I'd tend to think he probably is, slightly distracted Elkins on a cell phone is still probably a better driver than a good chunk of the people on the road- not as good a driver as not-distracted Elkins, admittedly, but maybe that's unnecessary.

It seems like an awful lot of folks use cell phones and drive, but you only hear about it when it causes a problem. Yeah, it's better to not talk on a phone than it is to talk on a phone, but it's not this black and white "you talk on a phone and you are guaranteed to kill somebody" sort of thing either.

A lot of times I think it makes me more alert- if I'm driving in the middle of Nevada or somewhere else long and terrible and I for some reason have cell service, I'll talk to folks on the phone. Makes the miles go by and I'm certain I have a higher level of awareness on the phone than I would be have if I were in the half-daydreaming autopilot highway hypnosis mode I'd possibly be in otherwise.

[jeffandnicole]

Do you actually own a cell phone yourself? 

Do you own or use any form of hands-free device (Bluetooth or other)?

If yes to one or both of the above-questions, have you disciplined yourself to either pull over or only make & receive calls while parked (notice: I didn't say stopped)?

Just asking.

Yes, no, yes.

Occupying the driver's hand is only a small part of the problem.  To politely carry on a conversation you must be paying attention to it.  Drivers are excused from paying full attention when talking to a passenger in the car, because the passenger should be able to see when the road demands the driver's full attention.  Someone on the other end of the phone call can't see that, and drivers attempt to compensate by paying more attention to their calls all the time.

Evidence?

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=cell+phone+distraction+conversation&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C27&as_sdtp=

Pretty much every scientific study on the matter supports that conclusion

While I didn't go through every study listed, I did start to notice a common theme: Cell Phones were tested against normal, no distraction driving. 
But were cell phones and/or non-distracted driving tested against:
   crying kids? 
   fighting kids? 
   changing music?
   stuff rolling around? 
   looking at billboards?
   thinking about love life?
   
These studies looked at one distraction and compared it to an optimal condition.  It was almost guaranteed that talking on a cell phone would be more dangerous, due to the study method.  There was one study on the first page of that link which compared talking on a cell phone to talking to a passenger, and noted the conversation often geared towards the traffic, which meant both people were alert.  I don't know about you, but when I'm in the car with other people, rarely do we talk about traffic, especially on a daily basis.   

I'm still wanting to know how all the accidents occurred 30 years ago, when cell phones didn't exist.  Accidents were plentiful back then.  And one could expect the number of accidents to increase, simply based on the additional traffic on the roads.  Or the higher speed limits. Or many other reasons.  And none of this would even factor in cell phones, which should, one would think, increase accidents even more.  But yet, there isn't a huge increase in accidents - accidents have remained relatively stable or decreased.

BTW, here's the data I used: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s1103.pdf

[corco]

Well right, but the point of (some of) those studies wasn't to compare whether talking on cell phones is bad or not, the point was to compare

A) Talking with a headseat
and
B) Handheld phone use
compared against a control group
C) No condition

and in that case, the literature supports that having a headset does little to make you more safe than holding a phone in your hand. I'm not making a value judgment as to whether that is good or bad, simply saying that is what it is.

But yeah, agreed that oral cell phone conversations are one of many distractions, and singling them out as being somehow more evil than a lot of other things is weird.

[Laura]

I'm still wanting to know how all the accidents occurred 30 years ago, when cell phones didn't exist.  Accidents were plentiful back then.  And one could expect the number of accidents to increase, simply based on the additional traffic on the roads.  Or the higher speed limits. Or many other reasons.  And none of this would even factor in cell phones, which should, one would think, increase accidents even more.  But yet, there isn't a huge increase in accidents - accidents have remained relatively stable or decreased.

BTW, here's the data I used: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s1103.pdf

I agree with you 100%. I think the difference is that drivers distracted themselves in other ways in the past. For instance, I play music from my phone through my stereo, which contributes to distracted driving. In the past, I would have been fooling around with CDs and cassettes and the radio. Using my phone while driving is a different distraction.

I admit that I occasionally use my phone while driving, whether I am talking on the phone, taking a picture of a button copy sign, playing music, or looking up something on a map. I believe that most people use their phones occasionally, even if they won't admit it. Answering a quick text "10 min away" or taking a 30 second phone call still counts. I will actually argue that in some situations, it was safer for me to use my phone than not, like when driving late at night alone and I needed conversation to keep me awake until I got to my destination.

[Molandfreak]

It seems like an awful lot of folks use cell phones and drive, but you only hear about it when it causes a problem. Yeah, it's better to not talk on a phone than it is to talk on a phone, but it's not this black and white "you talk on a phone and you are guaranteed to kill somebody" sort of thing either.

Damn it, that isn't what I said at all.

   crying kids? 
   fighting kids? 
   changing music?
   stuff rolling around? 
   looking at billboards?
   thinking about love life?

1 and 2) Any sane person I know would pull over when their kids are roughhousing in the car.
3) Modern cars have this integrated in the steering wheel. I don't have to look to change music, and besides, 1 or 2 seconds is nothing compared to minutes on end in a deep conversation.
4) Depends on the stuff, or why anyone would look at it rolling around in the first place.
5) Vermont has it right. I'll give you that.
6) Ok, you got me there. But your own deep thoughts are controlled by you alone, and there is no party outside the vehicle controlling where they lead. You are the master of your own destiny.

But yeah, agreed that oral cell phone conversations are one of many distractions, and singling them out as being somehow more evil than a lot of other things is weird.

No one is singling out anything. I acknowledge the undeniable fact that other distractions exist. But why in the hell does that mean that we shouldn't treat one source of the problem that has only been common practice the last 15 or so years?

[bugo]

Classic liberal fascism.

LOL

Guys like you and HB think you should be given the freedom to put others at risk.  Look, I've talked on the phone while driving, and it is very dangerous.  I bet you conservafucks wouldn't like the idea of drivers smoking cannabis while driving, which has been SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN to be safer than using the cell phone while driving.

My right to be safe from bodily harm or death trumps your right to yack on the phone while driving a 6000 pound truck.

[1995hoo]

One advantage to laws banning use of mobile phones (whether it's a handheld ban or a total ban) is that, even if the law is difficult to enforce directly, it may constitute compelling evidence of the standard of care in a civil negligence case brought by someone hit by a mobile phone user. A judge would be justified in finding as a matter of law that using a handheld phone is something a reasonable person would not do given the law banning it. This in turn is important because it's easy enough to foresee a jury saying, "Oh, everyone talks on the phone, nothing wrong with that."

In addition, if the law bans using a phone, it gives the civil plaintiff a stronger ground for compelling the defendant to produce his mobile phone records from the time of the accident because they may be relevant to proving the defendant was using a phone. 

[jeffandnicole]

   crying kids? 
   fighting kids? 
   changing music?
   stuff rolling around? 
   looking at billboards?
   thinking about love life?

1 and 2) Any sane person I know would pull over when their kids are roughhousing in the car.
3) Modern cars have this integrated in the steering wheel. I don't have to look to change music, and besides, 1 or 2 seconds is nothing compared to minutes on end in a deep conversation.
4) Depends on the stuff, or why anyone would look at it rolling around in the first place.
5) Vermont has it right. I'll give you that.
6) Ok, you got me there. But your own deep thoughts are controlled by you alone, and there is no party outside the vehicle controlling where they lead. You are the master of your own destiny.

OK, fine, then please tell me how millions of accidents occurred before the age of cell phones.

BTW...#3 is false assumptions.  SOME modern cars have have them, but not all.  And not everyone uses them.  And the average age of cars on the road is about 11 years, so clearly most people would not have these controls.

And I've never known anyone to pull over if their young kids are fighting.

[US 41]

Texting while driving is illegal in Indiana. Now they just need to make phone calls illegal. 

[kkt]

OK, fine, then please tell me how millions of accidents occurred before the age of cell phones.

That cell phone use while driving causes accidents does NOT imply that no accidents can happen any other way.  Of course there are lots of other causes of accidents.  But those other causes of accidents aren't going to stop just because you're on the phone; the cell phone is an additional risk besides all the other things that continue to cause accidents.

[hbelkins]

Guys like you and HB think you should be given the freedom to put others at risk.

Except I'm not putting others at risk, despite what you may think.

[jeffandnicole]

OK, fine, then please tell me how millions of accidents occurred before the age of cell phones.

That cell phone use while driving causes accidents does NOT imply that no accidents can happen any other way.  Of course there are lots of other causes of accidents.  But those other causes of accidents aren't going to stop just because you're on the phone; the cell phone is an additional risk besides all the other things that continue to cause accidents.

The point I was getting at was that even though the cell phone does pose an additional risk, overall, accidents are equal to or down from many years ago when cell phones didn't exist.  So somewhere along the line, other reasons for car accidents have had to go down if cell phones are supposing leading to a lot of crashes.

[hbelkins]

3)That's a stereotypical teenage invincibility attitude.

Except I've been driving longer than you've been alive.

Like I said, if I think it's dangerous, I don't do it. I've told my wife several times, "I'm in heavy traffic/around a bunch of big trucks/on a curvy mountain road/whatever, I will call you back." If I'm driving down the interstate and it's lightly traveled, there's no issue.

We also need to ban smoking, eating, drinking non-alcoholic beverages, changing the radio station, changing the song on the iPod, setting a GPS and everything else that requires you to take one hand off the steering wheel. Same logic applies.

IT'S A DISTRACTION!!!! OMG! BAN IT NOW!!!!!

I have to put up with enough of this crap in my job. It gets real old seeing it plastered all over AA Roads and on Facebook and on m.t.r.

[bugo]

A man in Mena, Arkansas was driving while texting and ran over a little 2 year old girl.  The baby survived (and is adorable, as I got to hang out with her a couple of times) but will have health problems for her whole life.  He pulled over, looked at her in the road, and took off.  He's going to get locked away for a long time.

[bugo]

Guys like you and HB think you should be given the freedom to put others at risk.

Except I'm not putting others at risk, despite what you may think.

Yes, you are.  You are being distracted, even though you might think that you're not, which automatically makes you a worse and more dangerous driver, which increases your chances of getting into an accident and maiming or killing somebody.  Quit pretending that you're Superman and put down the damn phone until you can park the car.  Are your phone calls that important that they can't wait?  Are you just chit chatting or are they important calls?

[bugo]

3)That's a stereotypical teenage invincibility attitude.

Except I've been driving longer than you've been alive.

I'd feel safer riding in a car with Moland not talking on the phone than I would riding in a car with you talking on the phone.

Like I said, if I think it's dangerous, I don't do it. I've told my wife several times, "I'm in heavy traffic/around a bunch of big trucks/on a curvy mountain road/whatever, I will call you back." If I'm driving down the interstate and it's lightly traveled, there's no issue.

We also need to ban smoking, eating, drinking non-alcoholic beverages, changing the radio station, changing the song on the iPod, setting a GPS and everything else that requires you to take one hand off the steering wheel. Same logic applies.

Your eyes don't have to leave the road when you do any of those things because you can do them by feel.  With today's smartphones, it's impossible to answering a phone without looking away from the road.

I have to put up with enough of this crap in my job. It gets real old seeing it plastered all over AA Roads and on Facebook and on m.t.r.

Then quit doing it.

[dlainhart]

Getting drunk in itself has no immediate effect on others. Getting drunk and driving has an immediate effect on others.

I drink alone....yeaaahhhh with nobody else...

Dylan T. Lainhart / Binghamton, N.Y.

[tradephoric]

Bobby Orrock, a registered Republican and a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, proposed legislation that would essentially make all "distracted driving"  a primary offence.  The language of Orrock's bill outlaws driving a vehicle "while engaged in an activity that is not necessary to the operation of the vehicle and that actually impairs his ability to operate the vehicle is guilty of a traffic infraction."

The Fredericksburg website linked the article detailing the proposed bill and had a poll on the bill.  Of those who responded:
http://news.fredericksburg.com/newsdesk/2012/01/24/orrock-sponsors-sweeping-distracted-driving-bill/

34.69% (196 votes):  No way.  Stop looking in my car and mind your own business.
34.69% (196 votes):  Not sure.  Something needs to be done, but this may be too much.
26.19% (148 votes):  Yes.  Distracted driving has  gotten out of control and this sweeping change is needed to ensure our safety.

I personally feel that the proposed bill is a massive overreach.

[Henry]

Guess that would render Bluetooth useless in cars...

[bugo]

Are the handsfree devices truly hands free?  Do you have to push the green button on your phone to answer the call, or does every call go automatically through? 

[Brandon]

Are the handsfree devices truly hands free?  Do you have to push the green button on your phone to answer the call, or does every call go automatically through? 

Is your radio truly handsfree?  Are your climate controls truly handsfree?  It starts to get really asinine here.

[Brandon]

Guys like you and HB think you should be given the freedom to put others at risk.

So basically, what you are saying is that you need to crusade to save us from ourselves.  Thank you, but fuck you.  I do not need saving from myself anymore than anyone else does, busybody.  Go mind your own fucking business (GMYOFB) and leave me to mine.

[1995hoo]

Are the handsfree devices truly hands free?  Do you have to push the green button on your phone to answer the call, or does every call go automatically through? 

Depends on your particular equipment. In my Acura sedan, the handsfree system operates without my touching the phone. I hit a button on the steering wheel to answer the call and to hang up and the call comes over the stereo speakers (muting the radio or pausing the CD/DVD-Audio/tape as appropriate); the caller ID info displays where the odometer usually is. The "answer" button also allows voice-dialing. I still avoid talking on the phone for more than the briefest sort of thing, though. It's distracting.

I have an earpiece for when I drive the other two cars. I've had multiple earpieces and phones over the years and how they've worked has varied. My iPhone doesn't support having the earpiece answer automatically, so I have to tap a little button behind my ear to answer it. On one of my previous phones (not a so-called "smartphone") I could set it so the earpiece would automatically pick up the call without my doing anything.