Driving and Cell Phones/PDA's

[rm9792]

Why do so many people think the hand holding something is the issue? It is the conversation, period. Someone on a call is not the same as a passenger beside you. A passenger is easier to hear, can see if they need to stop talking for a few seconds or a minute, can read your body language and facial expressions and change the conversation as needed. A caller can't be heard easily, doesn't stop talking when needed, cant see you so requires more in depth verbalization(deeper thinking, ergo distraction) on your part to explain some things, etc. Many many people drive all the time with only one hand on the wheel especially in a stick shift. It is not the object in your hand, it is the distraction of holding a long distance conversation. As someone mentioned ealier the right hand is constantly in use shifting, changing the radio, holding a burger, picking up your Starbucks, silencing your radar, adjusting the rear view mirror, or any of a dozen other normal activities, some necessary some not. "Hands free" is a sales gimmick and red herring to me. I agree with Chas though that this is an evil that shouldn't be regulated (and can't be policed) and doesn't need to be. All regulation would do is enrich city coffers and further clog our courts without changing a thing in the real world.

[bdickens]

I am of the opinion that when you are driving, that is what you should be doing: driving.

[RHenriksen]

Why do so many people think the hand holding something is the issue? It is the conversation, period.

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.

[rm9792]

.

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.

[Purplehood]

.

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.

I don't get the gist of your statement. Are you saying that it is better to have a hand-held phone while driving or are you contending that one or the other makes no difference?

I know one thing. If a sudden emergency occurs while driving, I know that my first impulse will not be an urge to put my phone away or make any special movement simply because I have the phone in my hand. I will simply do what I do in real-life, and ignore the caller and still have both hands on the wheel.

[Abraham]

Last week, on a two lane highway, at highway speed, I encountered two cars driving next to each other. In effect, they formed a blockage.

After a couple of miles of enduring their blockage, the car on the left finally turned off allowing me to pass whereupon I saw the guy on the right deeply engrossed in a cell phone call. It seemed reasonable to conclude he'd used the guy on his left as his speed guide so he could better concentrate on his call...

Yes, there are other reasons for driver distractions i.e., one may have to adjust his rear view mirror or admonish his misbehaving children, etc., but the ones that most commonly stands out now and seems most to interfere with other drivers in one manner or another is the yap yap yapping of cell phone drivers.

So, the anecdotal evidence mounts up - driving cell phone users are an increasing annoyance at the very least and lethal at worst.

What to do?

[Charles L. Cotton]

Last week, on a two lane highway, at highway speed, I encountered two cars driving next to each other. In effect, they formed a blockage.

After a couple of miles of enduring their blockage, the car on the left finally turned off allowing me to pass whereupon I saw the guy on the right deeply engrossed in a cell phone call. It seemed reasonable to conclude he'd used the guy on his left as his speed guide so he could better concentrate on his call...

Yes, there are other reasons for driver distractions i.e., one may have to adjust his rear view mirror or admonish his misbehaving children, etc., but the ones that most commonly stands out now and seems most to interfere with other drivers in one manner or another is the yap yap yapping of cell phone drivers.

So, the anecdotal evidence mounts up - driving cell phone users are an increasing annoyance at the very least and lethal at worst.

What to do?

It seems to me the problem you faced was a "left lane bandit" not an inattentive cell phone user. There's no reason be suspect the person using the phone was using the car to his left as a pace car.

Chas.

[Commander Cody]

I drive a Mazda Miata with a five speed manual transmission. I’m not coordinated enough to drive and talk on a cell phone. I pull over to the side of the road for conversations. I have no problem with others that talk while driving except when they are driving way less than the speed limit. When people know their limitations they are no problem. Texting… I don’t know.

[74novaman]

Ill just leave this here.

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/ ... iving-bans

Texting while driving bans shown to increase accident rates. hhm.

[bdickens]

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.

[74novaman]

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.

Perhaps, but it very clearly didn't REDUCE accidents, which would be the whole point of anti texting legislation, correct?

[rm9792]

.

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.

I don't get the gist of your statement. Are you saying that it is better to have a hand-held phone while driving or are you contending that one or the other makes no difference?

I know one thing. If a sudden emergency occurs while driving, I know that my first impulse will not be an urge to put my phone away or make any special movement simply because I have the phone in my hand. I will simply do what I do in real-life, and ignore the caller and still have both hands on the wheel.

I believe the primary cause of the distraction is the actual conversation, but do agree that having your hand up to your head does block movement and vision thereby furthering the problem.

[idrathernot]

You all need to quit worrying about it so much. In 5-15 years cars will be driving themselves.

[lonewolf]

Some of the technology is already there. Wire guided steering on electric forklifts for very narrow aisle application with sensors that make the equipment slow down and then stop at the end of the aisle. All the operator has to do is select (solid state controls) forward or reverse. Throw in there that fact that the electric forklift companies were on the ball with DC/AC conversion, making them more efficient by orders of magnitude. That technology is now being applied to quite a number of hybrid vehicles, which use DC storage and then convert to AC. More bang for the buck.

Cars driving themselves totally? Not for many years, but use of some of this technology or varied applications of it has already begun. Some high enders already let you know when you are sleeping/drifting out of lane/or there are objects too close for proper stopping distance. Now you can look at screen and see what's behind you, or there are sensors that will tell you if you're backing into your mailbox......it just keeps going.....

[idrathernot]

There's actually quite a bit more technology out there than small scale industrial solutions. Lexus has a car out that can park itself, Mercedes has radar-guided cruise control, and DARPA has a slew of fully functional autonomous vehicles. Those scenes from Minority Report aren't that far away. link.