Posted on 01/14/2009 5:17:04 AM PST by shortstop
Whatever, clueless. Conversations require constant focus, not simple random thoughts...driving safely also requires constant focus. The fact remains that you cannot do both, drive safely and focus on some other task at the same time...can’t be done...which is why cell phone users now equal drunk drivers in causing accidents.
Yep. Most people also don’t give a hoot to what’s going on behind them.
For example, here in Texas most people don’t know that stopping dead to let someone out of a parking lot is against the law. Why, because they are stoping on a public right of way and you don’t block a public right of way. Unfortunately they believe this is being polite. Not... They don’t realize all the traffice jams and possible accidents they are causing behind them. Not everything goes on in front of them. That’s why we can never get through lights around here; because people don’t know how to merge in traffic. I have to be fair here because some of the Texas roads; the feeders are not that far apart and if you don’t know where your turn off is you miss it. Residential roads in Houston are very unimportant. They always have been.
Lonsberry is insane.
‘Yep. Most people also don’t give a hoot to what’s going on behind them.’
First Rule of Italian Auto Racing:
What is behind me does not matter.
I used to think that way but I have come to realize that most
of those D/A’s would be D/A’s cellphones or not.
Mike
But, cell phones are probably as distracting as talking to someone else or listening to the radio. Someone on another thread said they never talked on their cell phone again when they realized they could not remember the last ten minutes of their drive. I can listen to the radio and suddenly think, "Where was I going?"
“... but gabbing on the thing just for the sake of gabbing is dangerous.”
And gabbing is what most of it is. Nearly everyone I hear yakking on their cell phones in the super market - men and women - are discussing what they are buying. Should they get this, should they get that etc.
Cajoling their kids to accept that the latest frankenfood cereal is sold out and they will have to make do with last month’s flavor concept. (raising thoughtless entitled children is a whole other story)
How did people ever shop for food in the dark ages - like the 1980s and a lot of the 1990s?
Actually, they are right — if you are talking on the phone while driving, even if it is a hands-free, your concentration is split and your reaction time will be slower. Ideally, if you get a call while driving, pull over at the nearest stop and call the person back if it is so important.
900 mhz jammers sales are doing very well thank you.
"People talk on the cell phone all the time while driving. Even in states that outlaw it, talking on the cell while driving is common and safe."Poor logic. Your conclusion doesn't follow from your statement. The simple absence of an event is not proof of its non-existence. People who talk on cell phones are at least as likely to cause an accident as those who drive drunk. That at least has been proven ad nauseam.
That is proven by the fact that cars aren't piled into one another or into bridge abutments all over the place.
Phones have not had an impact on traffic accidents or deaths"Patently false statement. The data say otherwise.
"We have laws that define safe driving."Not so. We have laws which form the basis for safe driving, but you can still follow every law to the letter and drive unsafely.
And this is America -- the land of the free.It still is, you are perfectly "free" to walk and talk on your cell phone. You are perfectly "free" to ride a bus and talk on your telephone. No one is violating your "freedom," what they are doing is adding restrictions to a privelege you choose out of "freedom" to indulge in. There is a vast difference between the two concepts.
At least it used to be."
They’ll have to stop me first.....
I'm sick of responsible people sitting on their hands allowing it to happen.
Ah hah! The nugget of probable motive in this whole charade. Lord forgive me, but I hate nannystaters.
Good one! I hope to reduce my patriotic payments as much as possible!
bttt
Why not ban talking to the person riding with you ... because we have already established that conversation is dangerous. To make it easier, why don't we simply pass laws against talking of any kind while in vehicle!
Every time there is a thread dealing with proposed bans, whether it be food or otherwise, there are always those here that will reveal how 'conservative' they are and jump on the nannystate bandwagon. It is really discouraging.
Might as well ban radios from cars too, and install one of those “Clockwork Orange” contraptions that holds your eyes open and keeps your head faced toward the road.
Did you mean to address your comments to the person who posted those points? I think you did.
Technically it IS.
The charge is Driving While Impaired. Cellphone drivers ARE impaired, driving with one hand on the wheel, their mind in a conversation with someone who is not in the vehicle (even a passenger can say "look out!")...
A person who is drinking a soda or whatever is still done with it long before the phone driver is "done".
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