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Cellphones and Driving

AuthorMessage
hoppy.
In The Murder Scene
hoppy.
Age: 30
Gender: Female
Posts: 24331
February 24th, 2007 at 03:52pm
It's a new law in some states that if your
Between the ages of 16-18 you can't text or talk on the phone while driving
In others you can only use a headset to talk your cellphone if your of any age

I don't drive yet...
but what's your opinion on the matter?
Do you think it's unfair?
Or safe?
druscilla.
Bleeding on the Floor
druscilla.
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 1671
February 24th, 2007 at 04:09pm
I think you should have to use a headset.
My mom told me that talking on a cell phone and driving makes you react the same way you would if you were drunk.
And watching some of the cell phone toting idiots drive, I can see how.
S713
Joining The Black Parade
S713
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 225
February 24th, 2007 at 05:51pm
More accidents are caused by cellphones, then by drugs or drunk driving combined.
hoppy.
In The Murder Scene
hoppy.
Age: 30
Gender: Female
Posts: 24331
February 24th, 2007 at 05:52pm
LVFD:
More accidents are caused by cellphones, then by drugs or drunk driving combined.


Yes
konton.
Always Born a Crime
konton.
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Posts: 5642
February 24th, 2007 at 08:43pm
That happened to my mom.
She was driving while talking to her cell and she bumped her car. She got a pretty nasty bruise on her leg.
And the guy she was talking to on her cell also bumped his car a few minutes later.
PunkerThanThou
Thinking Happy Thoughts
PunkerThanThou
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 596
February 24th, 2007 at 10:22pm
It's funny to watch the amount of people on their cell phones while driving. Might as well be talking on your cell to the person in front of you whom you're going to crash into. I'm wicked surprised they haven't banned it in Boston yet, we're known for infamous crazy driving...I wish people would put the cell phones down for once.
RAVE on my grave
Bleeding on the Floor
RAVE on my grave
Age: -
Gender: Female
Posts: 1466
February 25th, 2007 at 06:15am
I think it should be for all ages, why only 16-18?
Cigarettes And Suicide
Bleeding on the Floor
Cigarettes And Suicide
Age: 37
Gender: Female
Posts: 1725
February 25th, 2007 at 06:30am
Talking on a headset while driving has been proven repeatedly to be just as unsafe as talking on a regular cell.
The amount of morons I've seen almost cause accidents, or blatantly not concentrating because their conversations are more important than watching what you're doing, amazes and disgusts me.

Seriously, how freakin' hard is it to pull over to the side of the road, answer a call and either chat, or say, 'I'm sorry, I'm driving at the moment, can I call you back later?'
It takes five seconds that could potentially save yours or someone else's life.

Age restrictions shouldn't apply - talking/using any kind of cell phone while your car is in motion should be made illegal, no matter how old you are. You're driving a CAR. Which is a dangerous, potentially fatal weapon.
And what kind of moron would be TEXTING somebody while trying to navigate peak-hour traffic? Are these people insane? Or just so self-absorbed that they're willing to kill or maim themselves or others? Believe me - the person you're calling, or trying to call you, will still be on the other end of a phone call when you arrive at your destination. No matter how 'good' of a driver you think you are, if you're concentrating on having a conversation on your phone while driving, you may not be so lucky.
I have never answered a call while operating a vehicle. I've even gone so far as to put my phone on silent so the annoying ringtones don't distract me - because I'll admit, you hear your phone blaring from your handbag and you're tempted to reach over and see who's calling. May as well put a frigging gun to your head - just pull over on the shoulder when it's safe and answer a call!

Use. Your. Brains. God gave you perfectly fuctional ones for a good reason.
S713
Joining The Black Parade
S713
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 225
February 25th, 2007 at 11:52am
Wild Eyed Joker:
I think it should be for all ages, why only 16-18?


Because they think adults can handle it. (Yeah.. OK.)
Or maybe because the people making the law want to still be able to drive and use them... Smiley
xMari_Malicex
Motor Baby
xMari_Malicex
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 775
February 25th, 2007 at 03:18pm
I've seen a woman drive while on her cellphone, and doing her makeup. Crazy.

Anyway, it should be a law made for everyone. In Chicago, it's illegal to talk on a cellphone while driving..you have to have a headset.
Oxycontin Genocide.
Banned
Oxycontin Genocide.
Age: 29
Gender: Male
Posts: 2955
February 25th, 2007 at 05:33pm
I don't see driving while talking on a cellphone is bad.

Most probably the accidents are caused because they're not paying attention on the road. It's very easy to watch the road and talk at the same time. It's the idiots who can't multitask that get into the bad accidents.
don't aim to please.
Banned
don't aim to please.
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 1543
February 25th, 2007 at 07:04pm
It's not that necessary. Put your cell phone down for a while...you'll live. I don't even have one and I'm fine.
strat-guy91
Killjoy
strat-guy91
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 20
February 25th, 2007 at 08:59pm
Some people are too dumb to multitask. That's all I say.
yep
Ghost in the Snow
yep
Age: 54
Gender: -
Posts: 64734
February 25th, 2007 at 10:36pm
Try using handsfree/headset...
druscilla.
Bleeding on the Floor
druscilla.
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 1671
February 25th, 2007 at 10:53pm
"We found that people are as impaired when they drive and talk on a cell phone as they are when they drive intoxicated at the legal blood-alcohol limit" of 0.08 percent, which is the minimum level that defines illegal drunken driving in most U.S. states, says study co-author Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology.
-http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/06/cell_phones_distaction.html
Cigarettes And Suicide
Bleeding on the Floor
Cigarettes And Suicide
Age: 37
Gender: Female
Posts: 1725
February 25th, 2007 at 11:04pm
LVFD:
Because they think adults can handle it. (Yeah.. OK.)
Or maybe because the people making the law want to still be able to drive and use them... Smiley

Which is ridiculous. When you think about it, a 20-year-old isn't that different from a 16-year-old, and laws place too much emphasis on age, rather than the amount of driving experience. Instead of saying 'only 18+ can talk on a cell', why not say 'only people who have held their licence for 5 years or more can talk on a cell'?
It makes far more sense to me that way - what happens if you don't obtain your licence until you're 21? Not every single person in the world goes out and gets their licence when they're 16, and as such eperience, rather than simply age, has to be taken into account.

Oxycontin Genocide:
I don't see driving while talking on a cellphone is bad.

Most probably the accidents are caused because they're not paying attention on the road. It's very easy to watch the road and talk at the same time. It's the idiots who can't multitask that get into the bad accidents.


And it's always the dumb idiots who can't multitask that think they're capable of doing things like talking on a phone while driving, and cause accidents.

It's not a simple matter of just talking while driving. I can talk to one of my passengers, but the conversation is generally meaningless small-talk, and I'm concentrating more on my driving than what we're discussing. If you're talking on a mobile, you're conscious of the conversation more than driving because you often can't hear your caller that well on a cell, and if you're using a handset you have one less hand with which to control the vehicle. For instance, say you drop the phone into your lap while driving, or it falls under your seat. You're automatically going to reach down to pick it up, and those few seconds of lapsed concentration can be fatal.
It's been repeatedly proven in several studies that talking on a cell, whether hands-free or otherwise, has a similar effect on your reflexes as drink driving - so why isn't it recognised as being that dangerous?

In my opinion, it's simply stupidity to put your life, and the lives of others, at risk because of simple selfishness. As I and others have said, just put the damn phone away and have your phoen convos while you're not driving. It's so much safer, and our lives are not something we should leave to chance or a sense of 'but everybody else does it, I'm totally capable'.
druscilla.
Bleeding on the Floor
druscilla.
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 1671
February 25th, 2007 at 11:09pm
I talk on the cell phone when I drive.
And not always on a handset.
Some days I'm better at it than others.
But I always talk on it during low-stress driving.
I live in the middle of nowhere, so there are long stretches of highway with not many people on the road.
I would never do it in in a situation I didn't feel I could handle.
Cigarettes And Suicide
Bleeding on the Floor
Cigarettes And Suicide
Age: 37
Gender: Female
Posts: 1725
February 25th, 2007 at 11:09pm
druscilla_way:
"We found that people are as impaired when they drive and talk on a cell phone as they are when they drive intoxicated at the legal blood-alcohol limit" of 0.08 percent, which is the minimum level that defines illegal drunken driving in most U.S. states, says study co-author Frank Drews, an assistant professor of psychology.
-http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/06/cell_phones_distaction.html


And in Australia, the law deems that people on a provisional or learner licence have to be at 0.000 BAC, those on their open licence (21+ or three years on your P's) can legally drive at a maximum of 0.05 (even 0.051 carries possible jail time, and mandatory licence suspension for a lengthy period, for drink-driving) - So that would mean that in Australia, talking on a cell should be considered far worse than blowing 0.05+ when you get pulled over. (In which case I don't know why the laws don't reflect such knowledge - the equation is really basic as far as I'm concerned.)
Do you guys see how dangerous it is now? Don't play with your life. For the love of God.
chillpill
Always Born a Crime
chillpill
Age: -
Gender: Female
Posts: 5640
February 26th, 2007 at 03:47pm
I was in a car accident with my friend, her mother, & my mother on February 7th.
We were rear-ended by a 17-year-old girl on the interstate. She wasn't paying any attention. You know why?

Because she was on her cellphone talking with her friend.

After this experience I am entirely for any law that keeps people (of any age) from using their cell phones while driving. [Not saying that I was not for it before the accident.]

& I don't see why some laws only are towards a certain age group. Anyone can just be jabbering away on their cell-phone & not be paying attention. It doesn't matter whether they're 16 or 60.
don't aim to please.
Banned
don't aim to please.
Age: 33
Gender: Female
Posts: 1543
February 26th, 2007 at 09:13pm
I'm pretty anti-technology...browsing the internet for my fav sites is about as tech-savvy as I'm gonna get. I say...down with cell phones!!! Haha....I'm mad cuz I don't have one...