I'll be happy when the make your own pizza shop opens.

I understand that aspect of it. I've seen the studies where people react much more slowly talking on cell phones versus talking to someone sitting next to them. But, there's a more a immediate, physical danger too. For example, an ex-girlfriend of mine use to gab on a cell phone while driving around town with a stick shift. Immediately annoying, in any case, which is why she's an ex. So every time she wanted to shift, the cell phone went between the shoulder and ear. And forget about using the turn signal at the same time. I drove as often as possible.

Errr - hands free kit anyone? ... (I'm presuming that America is the same as the UK as in talking on a mobile/cell phone is illegal while driving but using a hands-free kit is fine (as its basically the same as talking to someone in the car).

These days you can even dial using voice so it needn't interupt driving at all.

PS> Do American phones have texting ability? (ie. send text messages to other people ala email) - I know they didn't when I worked over there, but I wondered if it'd been integrated yet (it happened as a happy accident in the UK and has turned into a multi-million pound industry).

As for adults, that's pretty much been rejected. But recently, there have been studies suggesting that kids younger than 8 or 10 could be at risk. I'm not sure how much they would have to use one to have an effect (if any), but my daughter uses it to talk to her grandparents (cell phone is our long distance plan). Problem is, they need 30-40 years to study a lifespan to determine the effect, so who knows what the answer is.

Ah, the good old days...before cell phones. I used to pride myself on being able to drive and roll a joint at the same time in high school.

It was more knee driving for me.

;) :D

It's been mostly rejected on a theoretical level, but there aren't any long range studies yet, because cell phones haven't been around long enough to do any.

See, cell phones are more dangerous than weed and knee driving.

Plus, I'm sure the accident rate drops substantially at <20 MPH.

Touche!

Good thing I gave up both!

Or you are really a Jedi and just don't know it.

Only certain states (New York) is it illegal to drive while not using a hands free kit.

We do have text messaging as well.

I have a cell phone and I think it does serve a purpose. There are still a couple of things that irritate me about them.

1. People seem to look at them as a necessity which they are not, they are a convince. There is a big difference there.
2. I don’t have a “small dick complex” the problem I have is with the 21 year old kid almost killing me because he was on his phone. Or when I’m at the movie’s and peoples cell phones ring which happens at least 3 times a show. Or when my plane lands and you hear 100 people rush to get to their phone just so they can inform the people waiting for them at the gate that the plane landed. Duh. Or when I’m at a bar or restaurant and someone is using their Nextel so everyone in the place can hear their conversation. Or….I can keep going

Cellphones have evolved to be at best a basic necessity, however they are way overused. Explain to me why a 13 year old kid needs a phone? I had to beg to get a phone in my bedroom when I was 14 and that was a distraction enough, forget it if I had a cellphone.


End rant

Doesn't seem to matter:

http://www.nsc.org/library/shelf/inincell.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0129080944.htm

And that's the way it was and we liked it!

Not so. AFAIK, the vast majority of states do not outlaw driving while talking on a cell phone, regardless of whether it is hands-free or not. When NY passed that law a couple of years ago, it made big news. I'm not sure if any other states have gone along with that, but it's not a law in Florida and I don't hear any noise about it becoming an issue.

Just like it *IS* possible to be drunk and pay attention while driving.

A Comparison of the Cell Phone Driver and the Drunk Driver Abstract:
We used a high-fidelity driving simulator to compare the performance of cell-phone drivers with drivers who were legally intoxicated from ethanol. When drivers were conversing on either a hand-held or hands-free cell-phone, their braking reactions were delayed and they were involved in more traffic accidents than when they were not conversing on the cell phone. By contrast, when drivers were legally intoxicated they exhibited a more aggressive driving style, following closer to the vehicle immediately in front of them and applying more force while braking. When controlling for driving conditions and time on task, cell-phone drivers exhibited greater impairment than intoxicated drivers. The results have implications for legislation addressing driver distraction caused by cell phone conversations

Damn Straight!

utterly and completely wrong.

Utterly and completely right.

I do it all the time.

If one person can do it, then it *is* possible.

Hey. :mad:

Lol. While I personally detest (and do not have) cell phones, I understand the need for them...
Just not when you are fucking driving

You know I was thinking of you and you alone when I posted that ;)

99% of Americans have no talent for driving a motor vehicle, let alone driving it SAFELY.

Add in the inherint IDIOCY of doing ANYTHING beyond driving the vehicle and you have simply made life for everyone that much more dangerous.

Motor vehicles are lethal weapons when no operated in a safe and secure manner, and some are even then.

Do everyone a favor, stop talking shit with your buddy, stop putting on makeup, stop talking on your phones, stop playing with the fucking radio, and stop making excuses for why you all want to feel special and not have to be responsible while driving a 2 ton killing machine.

fucking cell phones....

mobile phone twats.

I agree that most people are bad when driving and on the cell phone, but then again, in LA, there is so much traffic during rush hour that you aren't going fast enough to really worry about much.

However, I think it would be dumb to allow cell phones, because I'm sure more then one person has killed someone while adjusting the radio or just not looking.

That's actually extremely convenient. One of the best uses of a cell phone, especially when you live in a city where delayed flights are the norm. That way the person waiting for you can go to the newsstand or coffee shop and not get bored out of their mind just waiting at the gate. When you call them, then they can go to the gate.

We're looking at doing something similar as well. At the moment, our current plan is to drop the landline and get a third line on our (shared) cellphone plan since we want to keep our number. That should cut our monthly phone bill down a large chunk - I'm looking at just under $50 per month from Verizon JUST for the priviledge of having a phone at the house since the only thing I use it for is for dialing into my ISP. Some of the money saved will go toward us getting broadband - which will have to be cable modem since DSL, other than Speakeasy, apparently needs active phonelines. At least that's the way I've heard it. But that still leaves us a big chunk of change that we're saving. Can't stand Verizon.

But then is that an argument of "cell phone are stupid" (which seemed to have been the tone of some at the start of this thread which, in my opinion, led to panerd calling out some people) or "some people are assholes"?

Not for most people. I think this is almost like the I'm OK to drive even though I've had 10 beers in an hour sydrome. People in that situation THINK they can do it, when meanwhile they're in 3 lanes, causing accidents all around them, oblivious to everything.

Bah! I don't want a cellphone. Someone might try to call me if I did. Bring back the Pony express!

Yep, one of the many useful ways cell phones make our lives more efficient.

The bottom line is, at least in this country, work days seem to be getting longer, vacations - if they occur at all - are getting shorter, and people need all of the extra "down" time they can to rest, do things they enjoy, and be with their families (2 and 3 shouldn't be mutually exclusive :) ). If I can cut 20 minutes out of my work day by being attached to my cell phone, that's 20 minutes earlier I can get home to see my kids. As it is, during a regular work week, I see them for about 30 minutes in the morning and MAYBE an hour at night before they go to sleep. I need that efficiency.

Possible, but in many cases...I mean the idiot quotient is so high out their already...

I have no problem doing this riding home for work (usually anyway), but that's on a US highway with not a lot of traffic - a straight shot. I think when you're in an environment with more cars, more intersections, starting and stopping...well, you're just adding more variables to the equation, making things harder.

I'm on pretty much the same page that Ksyrup just posted -- minus the ability to be reachable by cell pretty much anywhere, I could forget about trips like the one coming up next week. Instead, because our primary client can reach me if he needs me, I get to take my son to WDW for his spring break (again). No cell, no near-instant access, no way I can leave for 6 days in the middle of their most important ad campaign of the year.

And without those kind of pleasures, those benefits of "being the boss", my desire to do what I do for a living drops noticeably.

Because she has her cell, instead of worrying about my wife as she travels back and forth 4-5 hours several times a week for the past two months to visit her father in the hospital, I've got a certain degree of comfort with it. Not complete comfort, but better than without it. Less worry = better focus on other responsibilities = keeping our business running a lot more effectively and efficiently in spite of being shorthand for the better part of 60 days during our most critical season.

And that doesn't even start to cover the reality that I see a lot more stupid things done on the road that don't appear to involve cell phones than those that do (reference my soccer-moms-in-SUV's rant from at least one other thread).

Sorry folks, but I think whoever it was pointed out the "little dick syndrome" earlier in the thread is a lot closer to the truth than some whinyassmotherfuckers here are comfortable admitting.

Agreed. Bad drivers are bad drivers, and therefore more likely to find something, ANYTHING to distract them.

The local paper has a "traffic doctor" who answers questions about bad roads, bad drivers, bad signage at certain intersections, etc. His latest crusade is against elbow drivers. Here's what was in one of his most recent columns:

"I encountered a new low in driver attention in traffic this morning," John Ter Louw wrote Thursday. "The lady in the white Camry was flossing her teeth while driving!"

She was southbound on Thomasville Road, between Bannerman and Kerry Forest. Going about 50, he said. Appeared to be using her forearm or (no, not again) her elbow on the wheel.

This elbow driving has to stop.

It's sick. I watched this morning sitting at a light and at least a third of the cars going by contained people talking on the phone at 9:00 am.

And it seems a fair bet that at least a third of them were working, possibly more.
I got zero problem with that, better than driving like a bat out of hell to get somewhere.

So as a driver, you are saying that you're perfectly willing to significantly reduce the concentration of a large percentage of fellow drivers? Interesting.

If this chick had a cell phone, none of this would have happened...



KETTERING, Ohio (AP) -- A woman rushing to a hospital to give birth hit a few stops along the way -- first at a gas station where she delivered the baby herself, then when confused police ordered her out of the car at gunpoint.

Debbie Coleman, whose 3- and 4-year-old daughters were asleep in the back seat, pulled over at a gas station just after midnight Tuesday.

"I asked if she needed help, and she just leaned back in the seat, hollered a little, and I looked down and there was the baby's head," said station co-owner Lloyd Goff, who was alerted to the emergency at pump No. 7 by a customer.

Goff said Coleman "threw her leg over the steering wheel, groaned once, and the rest of the baby came out.

"She caught that baby, put it to her chest, gave me a look, like, 'I gotta go,' closed the door, put the van in gear and away she went."

A customer at the gas station in suburban Dayton tried to give police a heads-up about Coleman's situation, but a mix-up involving the license plate number had them thinking the van was stolen.

As officers went looking for her, Coleman headed for the hospital, naked below the waist and with the baby boy in her arm. His umbilical cord was still attached.

"I kept pulling over, making sure (the baby) was all right, breathing," she said.

Meanwhile, police had straightened out the license plate issue. But another caller mistakenly reported someone trying to throw a baby from a van.

Coleman said she noticed several cruisers following her before one cut her off. With guns drawn, officers ordered her out of the van with her hands up.

"I opened the door and said, 'I just had a baby' and just let them see everything," she said.

Officers sent Coleman on and let the hospital know she was coming.

Coleman was discharged Wednesday. Her 6-pound, 8-ounce son, Richard Lee Coleman Jr., remained in intensive care.

I've seen enough incidents caused by being in too big a hurry to feel like this is any more dangerous. I've got next to no confidence in the other drivers on the road anyway, so it's not like this gives me any additional concern.

I drove in Atlanta traffic before the widespread use of cell phones, I've driven in it since they became prevalent. I see no real difference in the overall number of incidents nor the severity of incidents. Apparently, if people are going to be distracted (or whatever) enough to be hazardous on the road, they're going to do that whether they're on the phone or not.

They sent her on? Not one of the officers could get in the van and drive her to the hospital? Call an ambulance out? They had her continue driving with a baby in her arms?

If that's true, I've got to wonder if Ohio is importing Sherriff's Deputies from Atlanta...

It's possible to drive drunk and drive well, too.
I do it all the time. :rolleyes:

Working? On their way to work? You can't wait 5 minutes to check your messages?

I'm willing to bet the majority of them may have been "working" but there was zero reason for it. It's like why does a dog lick his ass...cuz he can.

Why do you check your messages on your way to work...cuz you can.

Or maybe I'm just bitter because they are important people and I am not.

Or running late for some reason. Or redirecting something in the office so things are on track when you get there. Or checking msgs to see if there's something that should re-route you. Or rcvg a call from work rerouting you for some purpose. Or any of dozen other things. [/quote]


Nothing personal, but I think you may have hit on something here.

A bit of a side note, but this is what strikes and disturbs me perhaps the most about the cell phone plague. Many cell phone users have rapidly pushed such usage to their top priority in terms of activities, such that almost everything else is secondary. Driving, common courtesy, interaction with others, etc. They talk loudly in places they shouldn't (restaurants, stores, etc.), they ignore or barely acknowledge people who are trying to serve them (clerks, waiters, etc.), they lack awareness of personal space (obliviously standing in the middle of store aisles, bumping into people, etc.). All because they can. Why is this acceptable?

They are illegal. I believe they would all fall under inattentive driving . . .

If something impairs your ability to drive then yes, it should be illegal. That is the whole thing on Drunk driving.. is that it impairs your ability to drive a vehicle safely.

So a friend and I are at a ballgame a couple of years ago. A guy down the row is talking loudly on his cell. Now being drunk and heckling at the game is rude, being drunk and talking loudly on a cell about nothing at all related to a ballgame is heresy. So this friend gets out his bifold wallet, flips it down and starts yelling "BUY, BUY, BUY! SELL, SELL, SELL!" into his wallet until the guy hangs up. Good stuff.

{rant} I mean, geez. This is like the group of a couple of guys who drags their girlfriends along to the game who sit there and gossip the entire fucking ballgame. It's baseball. If you're going to pay for a ticket, sit there and watch the game, cheer for the game, talk about the game, talk about baseball, whatever. I don't go into that movie you're watching and talk through it. If you're dragging guys to the game who don't like baseball just because they want to get drunk at the game, seame thing. If you have a girlfriend who loves baseball, bless you, sir, you have something good going on. {end rant}

SI

Or the f*ckwads who sit behind home plate, whip out the cell phone and wave into the camera to their buddies on the other end.

When Joe Buck's broadcasting Cards games for the local STL station he likes to make fun of the idiots in the FIRST ROW BEHIND HOME PLATE who spend literally almost the entire game on their cell phone and waving to either the camera or to people in the !@#$% stadium.

Edit: ACK! You beat me to it, rkmsuf

They make fun of them up in Boston too.

Speaking of behind home plate, to this day I still see morons rolling their arms like the lady at the 1986 World Series.

This point of view may have already been represented, so please accept my apologies if I skimmed over it...

I don't believe the problem is cellphones. I think the problem is irresponsible people behaving recklessly. Each individual should have enough respect for everyone else to not talk on the cellphone if it impairs their ability to drive properly. If I can drive properly AND talk on a cellphone, I should not be punished because some other fools can't handle it.

I don't know if it is a parenting issue, but somewhere along the way they were not taught how to properly respect the vehicle they are driving and its ability to take away the life of others on or near the road. That's not my problem. It's their problem.