http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32584570/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/
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Cops, lawmakers send message: Dnt txt & drive
Movement to ban text messaging while behind the wheel gathers steam
Risk research only now emerging
It might seem obvious that using a cell phone would be a distraction for a driver, but only recently has a large body of research emerged to demonstrate it. There is even less research examining the specific risk of typing out text messages.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded that in 2002 that a quarter-million accidents and 955 deaths could be attributed to drivers' use of cell phones, either texting or talking. That research was finally obtained by safety activists last month under the Freedom of Information Act — after it had sat on the shelf for years, The New York Times reported, because of concerns that publishing it might appear to be an act of political lobbying.
I sometimes write emails at red lights. :ph34r:
Quote from: Caliga on September 03, 2009, 09:48:06 AM
I sometimes write emails at red lights. :ph34r:
Do you stop, at least?
errr... yes. :huh:
As long as blowjobs ain't banned while driving.
About time, IMO.
The other day I actually saw in the lane beside me, on the highway, a young girl with a book on her steering wheel. :mad:
My state might be collapsing but we already did this. :yawn:
P.S. Bans don't really work that well. I still see people holding their cell phones in their hands in the car, even though it is illegal.
We had that for five years or so. Talking on the phone is also only permitted with a hands free set.
Quote from: Zanza on September 03, 2009, 11:04:56 AM
We had that for five years or so. Talking on the phone is also only permitted with a hands free set.
Now we're finding out the hands-free thing doesn't really help.
Quote from: MadImmortalMan on September 03, 2009, 11:22:12 AMNow we're finding out the hands-free thing doesn't really help.
It's much better though. You don't have to look at the phone and can dial by voice. While it is of course still distracting, it is not more distracting than talking to a passenger IMHO.
I don't find holding a phone against my head to be very distracting.
Quote from: Zanza on September 03, 2009, 11:28:18 AM
Quote from: MadImmortalMan on September 03, 2009, 11:22:12 AMNow we're finding out the hands-free thing doesn't really help.
It's much better though. You don't have to look at the phone and can dial by voice. While it is of course still distracting, it is not more distracting than talking to a passenger IMHO.
Actually it is.
Here's why.
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.
Someone on the other end of a phone, has no idea what your driving conditions are like and will keep yapping even if you're about to smack into a 10-ton truck.
Of course, if you go with that, you might think that one should always have a passenger as two sets of eyes are better than one. :x
Also, when I'm driving and something bad is going down, I say "Let me call you back, tough driving" and many people I know do the same.
Well, we all know you are perfect, Garbon. :)
But by the time any other driver, other than you, says: "Let me call you back, tough driving"; that driver could have slid over a patch of ice, been unable to steer properly, sliding at 120 Km/H with one hand, and smacked into the back of a truck; while the person on the other end is saying, "So really, I was thinking about asking her out but her breas...hello? You still listening? What was that noise? Sounded like a steering wheel crashing though ribs. Hello?"
Drop the phone then. :o
Besides, I'm hardly perfect. I do have one totaled car to my record.
Quote from: garbon on September 03, 2009, 12:00:03 PM
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.
QuoteIf 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. ;)
Quote from: Zanza on September 03, 2009, 01:08:43 PM
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. ^_^
Quote from: MadImmortalMan on September 03, 2009, 11:22:12 AM
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.
Quote from: Zanza on September 03, 2009, 01:08:43 PM
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.
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.
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.
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.
The only thing wrong with it as garbon already pointed out is that it DOES NOT WORK.
People do it anyways.
Quote from: Josephus on September 03, 2009, 02:42:28 PM
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.
Quote from: Jaron on September 03, 2009, 02:44:13 PM
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!
Quote from: Jaron on September 03, 2009, 02:44:13 PM
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.
Quote from: Jaron on September 03, 2009, 02:26:08 PMI 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.
:lol:
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. <_<
Quote from: lustindarkness on September 03, 2009, 06:51:57 PM
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. :contract:
Quote from: Josephus on September 03, 2009, 05:12:10 PM
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?