Cell phone talkers as bad as drunk drivers

oftenreading

PJinIL said:

I love technology, but I don't believe technology is a solution to non-technological problems. I work in IT on a college campus, and sometimes people will want us to block access for some folks, but not others. One time, I did set up a block on someone's access to Facebook and they asked me what happened because his office mate can still FB. I let them know their boss requested a block. Boss comes back to me pissed off. I calmly reminded her of the conversation I had with her that she's going down a slippery slope and best manage the employee, not around the employee. She re-instated permissions and continues to complain about person being on FB all the time. Ugh.

The correlation to the disabling of cell phones while driving? Technical solutions will not fix a human problem. People just need to do what's right, and realize the rules they follow are there to protect them, too. We're going to end up wrapped in a world of virtual bubble wrap where people will assume they can do what they want until something beeps at them. Like walk of a cliff while playing Pokemon Go.  

I'm all for safety measures, like ground fault circuit breakers and baby gates at the top of stairs, barbed wire fences around power stations, etc. Identity protection online, two-factor authentication, password security questions. But if someone can get behind the wheel and drive, they shouldn't NEED something in place to keep them from using their phone. It is all creating a false sense of security, imo.

Maybe cell phone users should have to check a box on their phone that says, "Yes, I'm operating my phone while driving. If I run over a kid, a kid's pet, or a kid's grandma, I'll volunteer my body to science within the next 2 weeks because it's worth it."

I appreciate your response. The angle about the article that interested me was that drivers would voluntarily agree to accept this cell blocker, whatever format it was, in order to get lower premiums on their car insurance. Assuming you are responsible and are not going to be texting and driving anyway, it may be worth it to get cheaper insurance but I would want to know all the implications.

brianlux

hedonist said:

I just think that if you're driving, then fucking drive!  You're in control of a heavy machine capable of incredible damage and worse.

We have a narrow street behind my work, and too many times have I seen people driving while actually look down at their phones.

Idjits.

This!

jeffbr

Washington State just enacted a new E-DUI law which went into effect 3 weeks ago. Distracted driving due to the use of electronics is basically being treated the same way a DUI is. If you hold your phone in your hands (even while stopped at a light) and a cop sees you, you're busted. The ticket will also go on your record and insurance companies are treating it as a moving violation, so rates will go up as a result. I don't fiddle with my phone while driving, so this will have no negative impact on me. I'm glad the idiots who text while driving will now be slapped around a bit.
New E-DUI Law Allows Police to Pull You Over for Holding Electronic Device in Washington State

HughFreakingDillon

It is staggering the amount of people I see texting while driving when I'm waiting for the bus in the morning. I have often thought of tossing something at their car (that inflicts no damage) but it wakes them up to stop. But I'd probably end up pissing off the wrong person.

I have even actually seen someone reading a book, and another person reading the fucking newspaper while driving. it is beyond maddening. 

brianlux

jeffbr said:

Washington State just enacted a new E-DUI law which went into effect 3 weeks ago. Distracted driving due to the use of electronics is basically being treated the same way a DUI is. If you hold your phone in your hands (even while stopped at a light) and a cop sees you, you're busted. The ticket will also go on your record and insurance companies are treating it as a moving violation, so rates will go up as a result. I don't fiddle with my phone while driving, so this will have no negative impact on me. I'm glad the idiots who text while driving will now be slapped around a bit.
New E-DUI Law Allows Police to Pull You Over for Holding Electronic Device in Washington State

I hope it works up your way, Jeff.  I'm told that here in California texting and talking of cell phones is so common that people are rarely stopped (I can believe it) and if there are stopped, they can say something like, "I was just getting it off the dash and out of my way," and get away with it.  It's hard to go anywhere down here and not see someone on their cell phone.

mace1229

HughFreakingDillon said:

It is staggering the amount of people I see texting while driving when I'm waiting for the bus in the morning. I have often thought of tossing something at their car (that inflicts no damage) but it wakes them up to stop. But I'd probably end up pissing off the wrong person.

I have even actually seen someone reading a book, and another person reading the fucking newspaper while driving. it is beyond maddening. 

Scary, but a little impressed. I have a hard enough time reading the paper at the breakfast table. I hate reading half a story then flipping to B9 to finish, while all the other sections fall out.

SmallestOceans

I mean it kinda makes sense. When you're talking on the phone you're mind is occupied somewhere else. When you're drunk you are still present, just impaired. You could definitely make an argument that talking/texting on a phone is worse than drunk driving. Both are bad.

Just be present at the wheel, it's not that difficult.

brianlux

SmallestOceans said:

I mean it kinda makes sense. When you're talking on the phone you're mind is occupied somewhere else. When you're drunk you are still present, just impaired. You could definitely make an argument that talking/texting on a phone is worse than drunk driving. Both are bad.

Just be present at the wheel, it's not that difficult.

...and this! 

MayDay10

The talking isnt so bad, as it is the looking at the phone, navigating, dialing, texting, browsing, etc.

It needs to stop right now

HesCalledDyer

Cell phone use while driving:
I will NEVER understand what's so god damned important that it can't wait 5-10 minutes until you get to your destination or pull off in the nearest parking lot to respond. 

tbergs

Guilty as charged. Do it way too often. Either trying to get my playlist or podcast going or reading news blurbs when stuck in traffic jams. 

Go Beavers

MayDay10 said:

The talking isnt so bad, as it is the looking at the phone, navigating, dialing, texting, browsing, etc.

It needs to stop right now

The talking part is bad and studies suggest it's similar to driving drunk at .08. It's because having a conversation uses up the part of the brain dedicated to vision. You create scenes in your head during conversations. When you talk with someone in the car, they usually cooperate with your driving and what's going on around you. Notice that people often stop talking when you're driving in a stressful traffic situation. When you're talking to someone outside the car on the phone, they don't know the drivers surroundings, and the driver is still attempting to listen and respond no matter what is going on around them. This is why I can't track novels on audio when driving. They often have a lot of words dedicated to describing the scene in the book, but my brain is paying attention to the road. My wife will say "you don't even know what's going on, do you?"  

OnWis97

HesCalledDyer said:

Cell phone use while driving:
I will NEVER understand what's so god damned important that it can't wait 5-10 minutes until you get to your destination or pull off in the nearest parking lot to respond. 

I think it's more of a function of how ingrained driving is in our lives/culture.  We do so much of it that we rarely appreciate just how dangerous it is and it's almost impossible to always be at our highest attention and in the best frame of mind to react.  None of this is a defense for cell phone use while driving.  But I think that's the mindset that  leads to it...we simply take it as too routine when it's the most dangerous thing most of us do nearly every day of the year.

HughFreakingDillon

I got a Baconator last night in the drive through. Stopped in a parking lot to chow. 

you need to have all your concentration on a Baconater. Otherwise it's just a fucking waste. 

brianlux

I ran a find minute errand in town yesterday and witnessed three drivers using cell phones.
I'm thinking about some of these options:

blueandwhite

Go Beavers said:

Jason P wrote:

I'll take drunks over texters any day.

When I answer a call on my phone while driving, I swear it takes away 50% of my driving awareness. I try not to do it unless its an emergency.

Driving loaded is a piece of cake. Just keep your hand in the 12 o'clock position with the pinky / index "devil horns" and keep the road paving lines between them. (i kid, i kid).

I've taken probably 2 calls when driving a long time ago, and I can tell that my perception of what's around me is like being in a tunnel. I don't know how others don't notice this.

Great roads make for terrible drivers.

In North America the majority of roads are wide and straight which allows drivers to divert their attention away from what they are doing without any real consequences. Many people don't focus on the road because the majority of the time they don't feel a need to. 

OnWis97

blueandwhite said:

Go Beavers said:

Jason P wrote:

I'll take drunks over texters any day.

When I answer a call on my phone while driving, I swear it takes away 50% of my driving awareness. I try not to do it unless its an emergency.

Driving loaded is a piece of cake. Just keep your hand in the 12 o'clock position with the pinky / index "devil horns" and keep the road paving lines between them. (i kid, i kid).

I've taken probably 2 calls when driving a long time ago, and I can tell that my perception of what's around me is like being in a tunnel. I don't know how others don't notice this.

Great roads make for terrible drivers.

In North America the majority of roads are wide and straight which allows drivers to divert their attention away from what they are doing without any real consequences. Many people don't focus on the road because the majority of the time they don't feel a need to. 

Yep.  Designed for speed...speed much higher than the posted limit. Speed kills.  And people think they can essentially drive them on autopilot. 

PJ_Soul

I don't really get how hands free is any different than having a conversation with someone in the car with you.
(using or even holding a cell phone while driving is already illegal where I am. They have cell phone traps now, just like speed traps).

PJinIL

PJ_Soul said:

I don't really get how hands free is any different than having a conversation with someone in the car with you.
(using or even holding a cell phone while driving is already illegal where I am. They have cell phone traps now, just like speed traps).

I do think hands free helps with the visuals of driving. But even hands free when it's busy traffic or something, the person on the phone can't see what is going on and will continue talking at you no matter what is in your surroundings. I stopped talking the other day because there was confusion/congestion at an intersection with some pedestrians and the person on the phone was like "hello? are you there?" Had to apologize and explained I had to pay attention to what was in front of me. They were a little annoyed, but oh well. Hands-free does take a bit more concentration than a passenger convo, especially if reception isn't great. Still helluva lot better than holding the phone up to your ear!

Be it make-up application or eating or screwing with the radio or hands free talking, they're all distractions at some level, but the priority still has to be on the road. Someone else mentioned newspaper or book reading while driving. I've seen that too, and thought about blowing the horn as a 'wake-up, a-hole', but never do because I'd feel horrible if they got startled and wrecked. But, in that plan, I always wait till I'm passed them so they don't wreck me

JC29856

peek-a-boo!