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Chris Jacob
I'd recommend not using cellphones while driving, period.
But I know the exact same people that really NEEDS to stop using their cellphones while driving will never respect such a recommendation or even a law if it existed, so AT LEAST people should user speaker systems... not headsets, but speakers.
It'd be closer to having someone on the passenger seat talking to you.
Another comment nailed it though: the problem with all the car crashes isn't the cellphone or whatever... it's just lack of common sense from drivers.
People just don't realize anymore the dangers of driving, and how they are dragging around tons of metal in high speed which requires very little to kill people around.
And this will never change unless the entire society drastically changes on so many levels that- well, I think we are closer to creating a system that enables cars to crash without killing it's passangers inside than changing the mindset of it's users.
Do empirical evidence and double blind studies mean anything anymore?
June 29, 2006 -- Three years after the preliminary results first were presented at a scientific meeting and drew wide attention, University of Utah psychologists have published a study showing that motorists who talk on handheld or hands-free cellular phones are as impaired as drunken drivers. [www.unews.utah.edu]
Using a driving simulator under four different conditions: with no distractions, using a handheld cell phone, talking on a hands-free cell phone, and while intoxicated to the 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level, 40 participants followed a simulated pace car that braked intermittently.
Researchers found that the drivers on cell phones drove more slowly, braked more slowly and were more likely to crash. In fact, the three participants who collided into the pace car were chatting away. None of the drunken drivers crashed. [news.cnet.com]
The studies just go on and on, this is not climate change, this is settled science.
Anecdotal evidence is for kids.
I remember the same trash talk about seat belts...
I also think that cellphones use should be banned, period. Studies have shown time and time again that it's not the idea of holding the phone that's the issue.... it's the driver paying attention to the conversation instead of the road.
I also think that car manufacturers should stop this stupid sh*t with making cars that have all these "safety features" designed to prevent you from backing up into something.... or to apply the brakes if you're about to smash into something. Sure.... let's create cars where ignorant people can become more ignorant because they think that they can just press the gas pedal and use the steering wheel, and their car will brake automatically for them. Airbags.... electronic traction control.... 4 wheel drive..... panic flashing brake lights..... i can understand those. they're designed to protect the occupant, and warn those around the vehicle. The idea of stopping one's vehicle is something that the occupant should have the mental capacity to do on their own if they see something in the road that's quite close to them.
@ElementalDragon: Get used to vehicle automation, in the future it will be illegal to pilot your own vehicle. Assuming of course, that you will be able to buy the gas, which you won't.
@Gary_7vn: just pisses me off. And we wonder why people are becoming more and more idiotic. At the rate it's going.... i can easily see Idiocracy becoming a reality. The only reason i'd like vehicle automation is because... well.... i can't stand driving. it's boring. But only if driving for a long time. If i'm just driving down to the store, or back and forth to work... hell, even back and forth to the dealership where i bought my car, which is an hour away... i don't mind. But if it's something out of state..... i don't want to have to be conscious for the vast majority of that.
You're right. Let's ban cellphones in cars...and also radios. Or at the very least make it a law that people can't change the station unless they have pulled over. And why don't we lower the speed limit to 30 MPH everywhere while we're at it. Oh, an raise the driving age to 25 so that everyone gets that nice break on their car insurance. We should also make it a crime to drive while the least bit intoxicated. If you have a BAC of more than .0% then it should be a DUI, as well as installing breathalyzers into all new vehicles to enforce this law. And maybe, just maybe, we could avoid traffic accidents all together if you have to file a travel plan with the police before you are aloud to leave your garage.
@SkippyTheMarine: Talking on a cell phone while driving equates to being drunk, that is a scientific fact and has nothing to do with the gubbmint taking away your freedoms.
I regularly drive on the Belt Parkway in both bumper-to-bumper traffic and while going 70 mph in a 50 zone while talking on the phone with a headset. I also talk on the phone while doing 90 in the left lane on the Jersey Turnpike.
At the same time, I leave stopping distance, regularly check my mirrors, and keep a close eye on the cars immediately around me in case they decide to cut me off.
If you can't handle doing two things at once, you shouldn't be driving on busy highways at rush hour.
My car/truck has bluetooth which makes it really nice. There is a microphone in the steering wheel and it uses the car's speaker system. It's also voice controlled.
I makes it very easy.
With that said, you should avoid all telephone use while driving.
@Shamoononon: I shave my legs.: Mine too Shamoononon! It came standard on my Vue. But to be honest, I really don't like it. Have you ever thought: what exactly prevents whoever from listening in on your cabin at all times (except when you're on a call)? I mean, I know the Onstar people wouldn't do that to me, but with all this talk about Verizon and AT&T whoring themselves out to the NSA, I wouldn't doubt Onstar is doing the same thing. It really pisses me off because I feel like I even need to watch what I say in my truck now...
@TheSonOfKrypton: and what about the microphone and webcam on your computer, Microsoft and Apple are plotting with the FED's . The google also monitors you online so does the ISP.The camera's in the buildings and the roads. The fed-ex trucks trailing you. Lastly what about your fancy cellphone, it does have a speaker phone.
@trs: Eh. Perhaps you're right. But I'd rather the ability to listen in to my private conversations (whether its the NSA or your unfriendly neighborhood hacker) were not their in the first place.
@sp00nix: Eh....SUV...whatever. lol. It's funny how many people get on me for calling SUV's trucks. I used to have a Ford Explorer and people always got on me for calling it a truck as well....lol
@sp00nix: I don't think there's really an "in between" buddy. I think you're right. Something is either a truck or an SUV or a car or a van or a station wagon etc....
@TheSonOfKrypton: I'm not saying there is, but an explorer is more capable of truck things, like off roading, hauling ext. then a vue is. The most that would spill in a View is a cup of apple juice.
@sp00nix: Eh, you're right. But still, my Vue can smoke my old Explorer I'll tell you that. That 3.6 L V6 don't play boy..... Nuh uh.....Damnit. I just go a boner thinking about that sexy engine.
@Denver80203: So if you passenger is reading a magazine they should not be able to talk to you since they can no longer see what you're dealing with on the road? Really?
@spankyshay: Sorry I didn't ask the question you asked yourself and then answered for yourself to in a sarcastic form.
Hypothetical posturing doesn't make a difference in my reasoning or logic.
I'm quite certain any number of you can come up with whimsical examples that excuse you into dangerous behavior.
Statistics and studies speak for themselves. And frankly I don't give a FUCK if you are the superhuman who can drive and talk on the phone. Most people can't, law doesn't make exceptions for you're special powers.
@Denver80203: The simple fact is stupid people will do stupid things.
The government shouldn't create a law for every circumstance where people are able to make a decision where they hurt themselves or others.
I think eating McDonalds cheeseburgers or sipping hot ass Starbucks coffee is super dangerous when driving but where do you draw the line from a legislative standpoint?
@spankyshay: Sure lets open up drinking while driving while we're at it. It's less threatening.
I draw the line when you put me and my family at risk. Eat 50 of those cheeseburgers if you want. Unless you trip and fall on me I feel just fine with that.
@spankyshay: Well unless you're talking to your cheeseburger about whatever it is that can't wait until you get out of the car or the cheese burger is bitching at you about that burrito you had last night than I suppose It's OK.
Again, just keep coming up with examples that have nothing to do with the issue. Rolling up you windows, changing the radio station, using the blinker.
All these are things too hard for most of you to grasp. How do I know this? Because you don't get that a person on the phone is fighting for you attention.. ASKING you to listen, wanting to know why you are not paying attention to THEM.
The cheeseburger, the windows and the radio can wait. Does this even begin to register? I doubt it if you're still clawing for a reason.
If you think that the majority of the people talking on the phone while drive to other people talking on the phone while driving are actually safe, you're not worth the arguement.
But please, make up more fun examples that avoid the subject.. it's great to watch you think of ANYTHING but what the issue is. What about reading the speedometer.. that's a good one.
@spankyshay: There are no studies on cheeseburger eating, there are many on cell phone use. If you are impaired on a cell phone, you can rip the heads off random carloads of people, 50k people a year die in road accidents, many of them CAUSED by cell phone use, but hey, you're right, nuthin to get excited about.
12/15/09
Now, texting while driving... that's just courting Darwin.
12/15/09
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But I know the exact same people that really NEEDS to stop using their cellphones while driving will never respect such a recommendation or even a law if it existed, so AT LEAST people should user speaker systems... not headsets, but speakers.
It'd be closer to having someone on the passenger seat talking to you.
Another comment nailed it though: the problem with all the car crashes isn't the cellphone or whatever... it's just lack of common sense from drivers.
People just don't realize anymore the dangers of driving, and how they are dragging around tons of metal in high speed which requires very little to kill people around.
And this will never change unless the entire society drastically changes on so many levels that- well, I think we are closer to creating a system that enables cars to crash without killing it's passangers inside than changing the mindset of it's users.
12/14/09
June 29, 2006 -- Three years after the preliminary results first were presented at a scientific meeting and drew wide attention, University of Utah psychologists have published a study showing that motorists who talk on handheld or hands-free cellular phones are as impaired as drunken drivers.
[www.unews.utah.edu]
Using a driving simulator under four different conditions: with no distractions, using a handheld cell phone, talking on a hands-free cell phone, and while intoxicated to the 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level, 40 participants followed a simulated pace car that braked intermittently.
Researchers found that the drivers on cell phones drove more slowly, braked more slowly and were more likely to crash. In fact, the three participants who collided into the pace car were chatting away. None of the drunken drivers crashed.
[news.cnet.com]
The studies just go on and on, this is not climate change, this is settled science.
Anecdotal evidence is for kids.
I remember the same trash talk about seat belts...
12/14/09
I also think that car manufacturers should stop this stupid sh*t with making cars that have all these "safety features" designed to prevent you from backing up into something.... or to apply the brakes if you're about to smash into something. Sure.... let's create cars where ignorant people can become more ignorant because they think that they can just press the gas pedal and use the steering wheel, and their car will brake automatically for them. Airbags.... electronic traction control.... 4 wheel drive..... panic flashing brake lights..... i can understand those. they're designed to protect the occupant, and warn those around the vehicle. The idea of stopping one's vehicle is something that the occupant should have the mental capacity to do on their own if they see something in the road that's quite close to them.
12/14/09
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12/14/09
I regularly drive on the Belt Parkway in both bumper-to-bumper traffic and while going 70 mph in a 50 zone while talking on the phone with a headset. I also talk on the phone while doing 90 in the left lane on the Jersey Turnpike.
At the same time, I leave stopping distance, regularly check my mirrors, and keep a close eye on the cars immediately around me in case they decide to cut me off.
If you can't handle doing two things at once, you shouldn't be driving on busy highways at rush hour.
12/14/09
I makes it very easy.
With that said, you should avoid all telephone use while driving.
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That was easy.
Next
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12/14/09
Hypothetical posturing doesn't make a difference in my reasoning or logic.
I'm quite certain any number of you can come up with whimsical examples that excuse you into dangerous behavior.
Statistics and studies speak for themselves. And frankly I don't give a FUCK if you are the superhuman who can drive and talk on the phone. Most people can't, law doesn't make exceptions for you're special powers.
12/14/09
The government shouldn't create a law for every circumstance where people are able to make a decision where they hurt themselves or others.
I think eating McDonalds cheeseburgers or sipping hot ass Starbucks coffee is super dangerous when driving but where do you draw the line from a legislative standpoint?
12/14/09
I draw the line when you put me and my family at risk. Eat 50 of those cheeseburgers if you want. Unless you trip and fall on me I feel just fine with that.
12/14/09
I'm sure you are just so irate right now that you didn't read my post correctly...
12/14/09
Again, just keep coming up with examples that have nothing to do with the issue. Rolling up you windows, changing the radio station, using the blinker.
All these are things too hard for most of you to grasp. How do I know this? Because you don't get that a person on the phone is fighting for you attention.. ASKING you to listen, wanting to know why you are not paying attention to THEM.
The cheeseburger, the windows and the radio can wait. Does this even begin to register? I doubt it if you're still clawing for a reason.
If you think that the majority of the people talking on the phone while drive to other people talking on the phone while driving are actually safe, you're not worth the arguement.
But please, make up more fun examples that avoid the subject.. it's great to watch you think of ANYTHING but what the issue is. What about reading the speedometer.. that's a good one.
12/14/09
12/14/09
Now terribilism... stop the world!
12/14/09
12/14/09
Reverse psychology, people, don't fall for it.
12/14/09