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Automotive News & Views Should cell phone drivers be singled out?
3688 messages, Last post on Oct 27, 2009 at 11:39 AM
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...drivers who need to talk on the phone simply pull off the road and do so? Yes, this also applies to eating sammiches, reading the paper, applying makeup, changing a diaper, petting dogs etc. Whatever. This all started, I think, when cupholders became an accepted part of interior design. The implication is that drivers are such good multitaskers that they can do several things while traveling at 80 per or negotiating heavy traffic. You can't convince me it's a mere coincidence that improvements in airbag technology coincide with an increase in multitasking drivers. Yeah, I hear ya -- Why pick on cell phone users? What about all the other multitasking bumblers? It's simple -- you have to begin somewhere, and cell phone users are such conspicuously incompetent mobile irritants that they have it coming. The next time you're in a line of traffic on an interstate and can't figure out why one lane is speeding up/slowing down/speeding up/slowing down etcetc, just pass everyone and then pause to observe the lead car. Guaranteed it's an obsessive gabber trying to dial numbers on a phone keypad not much bigger than my thumbnail. Even worse is the gabber at the head of the line when the left turn arrow turns green. GO, idjit! And don't get all passive aggressive when you get the horn.
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Replying to: snakeweasel (Oct 16, 2006 5:05 pm) NOPE, just a long memory of all the yahoos that made me miss a left turn light because they were talking on the phone and not paying attention to the lights. Or sitting at a stop sign in a cell phone fog letting several of their turns go by, making me wait for them. Some times honking does not get their attention as they have an ear plug. What amazes me is how far behind CA is on this subject. Many places beat them to the punch. usually CA is at the leading edge of making new restrictive laws.
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Replying to: saabgirl (Oct 16, 2006 5:57 pm) Or someone putting on makeup, or shaving or reading a book, or yelling at their kids, or reading a map or.....point is its not always cell phone users. |
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Replying to: gagrice (Oct 16, 2006 6:21 pm) |
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don't forget, a cell phone to the ear is one of the few distractions you could observe as you drive by. Many distractions would be below the window line, and you wouldn't be able to see them. And as for the Mythbusters, they should do the same test, only force the non-drunk driver to eat a full Big Mac combo, taking care not to drip on the upholstery. Or drive in an unfamiliar area, and find his destination on a paper map, or use his car's navigation system without voice commands, while driving. All things I regularly see people do. I bet we would find that many of them would be as impaired as a drunk person too. |
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Replying to: snakeweasel (Oct 16, 2006 5:02 pm)
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Replying to: saabgirl (Oct 16, 2006 5:57 pm) Airbags may save lives but they don't prevent accidents. The accident rate per 100 million vehicle mile travelled has continued to decrease during the cell phone age. Would the rate have gone down further? Maybe.
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Replying to: phinneas519 (Oct 16, 2006 8:30 pm) |
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Replying to: snakeweasel (Oct 16, 2006 5:02 pm) I highly recommend the box set. Lots of stuff gets set on fire or blown up. It seems like cell phone usage is just the target-du-jour. I wonder if significantly fewer people are now dying in car accidents since most states passed seat belt laws... the hot issue some 5 years ago.
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