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chasfm11 wrote:

Douva wrote: As far as I know, there hasn't been a single study showing that talking on a cell phone is any more distracting than talking to a passenger. Blaming somebody's cell phone has simply replaced blaming somebody's gender or ethnicity as the official road rage battle cry. Thirty years ago, a man might have looked at the driver who almost sideswiped him and responded, "Oh, it figures--it's a woman driver." Now the man looks at the woman who almost sideswiped him and responds, "Oh, it figures--she's on her cell phone." Both are simply knee-jerk responses--a way of boiling down the complexities of any given situation into something tangible on which we can place blame.

Keeping in mind that I'm one who does not advocate laws to address the problem, there is no denying that, for some, it IS a problem.
Two thoughts:
1. I ride my bike on a designated bike path 3 times a week for cardio. Want to know the biggest danger to me while I do that? It is people walking and talking on cell phones. The path is wide enough for people to past me safely in the opposite direction or for me to pass them (when I'm approaching form behind.) I cannot and will not. When I see someone on a cell phone, I ride my bike at least 5 yards off the concrete path to pass them. It appears that many cannot concentrate on even walking a straight line, or following the contour of the path, staying on their own side of it. I cannot imagine those same people behind the wheel of a car with the cellphone in their hand.
2. My unscientific study while driving in my Town is that about 1/3 of the drivers on our major streets are talking on cell phones. I can detect about 1/3 of those almost immediately because the path and speed of their cars gives them away. Since those streets have 3 lanes, I purposefully plan my use of lanes so that I avoid, as much as possible, being in front or beside them. It is nothing for one of them to suddenly swerve half way into another lane. As was pointed out in another post, many have their left arm up with their elbow in such a position that all of their visibility is blocked to their left.

I think that we, as a society, should attach a stigma to those who abuse use of cell phones. I know that there are some who can drive and talk but for the ones who cannot, they need to understand their impact on the drivers around them. The same is true for those who insist on using their cell phones in crowded checkout lines. I've noticed more and more businesses putting up signs admonishing customers to hang up their cell phones when interacting with the business' employees. Social pressure, not laws, is the way to handle this situation. Ignoring the problem is not option because it IS a problem, at least for some. I fully agree that putting on make up and even conversations with others in their car is a problem for some, too. Distracted driving is distracted driving, regardless of the cause.

rm9792 wrote:

RHENRIKSEN wrote:

rm9792 wrote:.

I agree that the conversation is a lot of it; HOWEVER, I frequently have to dodge misbehaving vehicles when I'm on their left side. When I get a closer look, it's almost always a) a woman, and b) she's hold the mobile up to the left side of her face. And gripping it in such a way that her vision is obscured to the left. Or at least she's acting like there's a wall to her left.

That I can go with but I am mostly referring to advocates of hands free devices.