Movement to ban text messaging while behind the wheel gathers steam

[Zanza]

I don't find holding a phone against my head to be very distracting.

Dialing is pretty distracting though in my experience. And if you drive manual, you need both hands. That's why good cars have voice control for the mobile phone. Just tell the car who you want to call and it dials itself.

If you're in a car, driving. And you're talking to a passenger sitting next to you, that passenger is aware of your surroundings. If she can see by the driving conditions outside (slippery ice, perhaps), or by the fact that yuo're not paying attention to her cause some idiiot driver in front of you is swerving in between lanes, she is going to stop talking.

Doesn't match my experience. If I really need to concentrate on driving, the other person notices that you are not listening to them.

If you drive over ice at 120 kph with one hand, that's just plain retarded and you don't need a mobile phone to crash a car then.

[garbon]

Dialing is pretty distracting though in my experience. And if you drive manual, you need both hands. That's why good cars have voice control for the mobile phone. Just tell the car who you want to call and it dials itself.

I dial the number before I start to drive or I'm dialing a number already in my history so I just scroll.

[derspiess]

Now we're finding out the hands-free thing doesn't really help.

I've heard that & think it's BS, at least in my case.  I don't feel the slightest bit distracted if I'm talking on my headset while driving.  My primary focus is on the road, and I can multitask.

Now that I've actually started using the voice dialing feature on my phone, the only button I ever have to push is on my headset.  My eyes never have to leave the road unless I'm getting an incoming call & I want to see who it is.

[Josephus]

Doesn't match my experience. If I really need to concentrate on driving, the other person notices that you are not listening to them.

That's probably more a comment on your overly-perceptive friends, then, who are able to tell over the phone that you're concentrating on your driving. I wish telemarketers were as perceptive as your friends and could tell I wasn't interested in what they were trying to sell me.

[KRonn]

I've seen people blowing through a red light while on the phone. Or people who are so engrossed in phone conversations that they don't see the light turn green. Or who are lagging way behind in traffic because they're on the phone; see that all the time. I think that probably most people can phone and drive ok, but the huge numbers of people who phone and drive, and the small percentage who are too distracted, still must make it a lot of people distracted. That said, I'm not sure I want to see laws banning phoning and driving, as we have laws against distracted driving. But I've begun to fear the phone users, because I have no idea if they're paying attention or are one who is distracted.

[Jaron]

Stupid people crash cars while on the phone because they put their focus on the wrong thing.

This isn't news to us.

I rarely talk on the phone while I drive, mainly because I have no one to talk to, but my focus is on my driving. I've never crashed, hit anything except animals, and I talk and text whenever I want.

[Josephus]

I've driven home drunk a couple times, never hit anyone, to the best of my knowledge.

Ergo: We should legalize drunk driving.

Oy, you liberterians take the cake sometimes. There's nothing wrong with getting idiots to stop texting while they drive. Texting is not something you do while driving, anymore than trimming your goatee. And if the law also prevents people from talking on  a phone while driving, all the better too. Face it, no one's going to jail for it; but it might prevent a few major collisions.

All you "i can drive very well whilst wiping my ass" types, keep this in mind. You might be a brilliant one armed driver. but I might not be. And I'm driving, drunk, behind you texting my ex-wife.

[Jaron]

The only thing wrong with it as garbon already pointed out is that it DOES NOT WORK.

People do it anyways.

[ulmont]

I've driven home drunk a couple times, never hit anyone, to the best of my knowledge.

Ergo: We should legalize drunk driving.

Actually, we should.  If you hit someone driving recklessly (including drunk, texting, or what have you), then you go to jail and have to pay compensation.  Otherwise, no harm done.

[garbon]

The only thing wrong with it as garbon already pointed out is that it DOES NOT WORK.

People do it anyways.

Yeah adding laws that will rarely be enforced...yay!

[Josephus]

The only thing wrong with it as garbon already pointed out is that it DOES NOT WORK.

People do it anyways.

40 years ago no one wore seatbelts.

The gov't in most places, at least here, passed a law.

Today more people wear seat belts than don't.

People will continue texting for sure. People still speed.

People still kill. People still rape.

People still download kiddie porn.


It's a wonder why we even have laws.

[Caliga]

I rarely talk on the phone while I drive, mainly because I have no one to talk to, but my focus is on my driving. I've never crashed, hit anything except animals, and I talk and text whenever I want.

[lustindarkness]

I emailed a pic and posted on facebook during afternoon rush hour.

BTW, I hate the term rush hour when we are going so damn slow. 

[DontSayBanana]

I emailed a pic and posted on facebook during afternoon rush hour.

BTW, I hate the term rush hour when we are going so damn slow. 

Little-known fact: "rush" hour is simply describing the woozy feeling you get because of your skyrocketing blood pressure during a 90-minute standstill.

[garbon]

40 years ago no one wore seatbelts.

The gov't in most places, at least here, passed a law.

Today more people wear seat belts than don't.

People will continue texting for sure. People still speed.

People still kill. People still rape.

People still download kiddie porn.


It's a wonder why we even have laws.

Are laws the best way to spur social change?