Using Your Cell Phone While Driving

Jadey28 · #1 02-13-2004, 03:26 PM

aephi alum's "hit and run" thread made me think of this...

I cannot stand when people are talking on their cell phones and are driving. It's one thing to call someone because you are lost or running late. I can understand that. But to have a full conversation on your cell phone while you are driving is just insane. Most people I know can't watch TV and talk on the phone at the same time because it's a distraction. Yet, they think driving and talking on the phone is perfectly acceptable.

I don't know any statistics, but I am sure that a nice percentage of automobile accidents are caused by people talking on their phones. And you have to love when people are yapping on the phone when it's snowing outside. AGHHHHH

Opinions?

rainbowbrightCS · #2 02-13-2004, 03:36 PM

I use an ear piece or that radio thing so I can use both hands. I hate it when people are driving and can not turn there car/truck/suv becuase of the phone and then almost hit you and they get mad at you!

People are stupid.

WCUgirl · #3 02-13-2004, 03:38 PM

While I hate it when I get cut off or almost in an accident by someone who is usually on their cell phone, I am guilty of driving down the road while having a full conversation. What's worse is when you see someone driving, talking on the phone AND smoking. How do they do that?

Rudey · #4 02-13-2004, 03:39 PM

Actually the idea of banning people from cell phones is ridiculous. The money could go towards something that saves more lives in a cost-benefit analysis. In fact, talking to people in your car, playing with the radio, etc. all distract you.

-Rudey

rainbowbrightCS · #5 02-13-2004, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rudey
Actually the idea of banning people from cell phones is ridiculous. The money could go towards something that saves more lives in a cost-benefit analysis. In fact, talking to people in your car, playing with the radio, etc. all distract you.

-Rudey

I am with you. If they ban people talking on phones (some states even with an ear piece) they might as well say no radio or passengers are allow.

ZTAngel · #6 02-13-2004, 03:46 PM

Anything you do in your car besides keeping your hands at the 10-and-2 position and your head straight looking out the windshield is a distraction. Singing along to your radio, changing the station, having a conversation with a passenger, drinking a cup of coffee are all distractions. The cell phone is just one more distraction. I'll read in papers about an accident and how it may have been caused by a person who was distracted by a cell phone conversation; you never hear the media report that there was an accident caused by someone distracted from changing radio stations or putting on their lipstick but I'm sure it happens frequently. I'm sure all of us have changed radio stations or adjusted the volume and realized that we're steering our cars off the road a bit. It happens and it's not just from cell phone.

ETA:
Are there states that have made driving and talking on your cell phone illegal? I've heard that there are a few.

alsparky · #7 02-13-2004, 03:57 PM

I don't use my cell phone without my earpiece unless it is an absolute emergency! It's not the talking that is so much the problem as having one hand on the wheel and fidgeting with the phone with the other.

ZTAngel, I know that you cannot use a cellphone in NY State without a headset or some sort of hands-free device. And I know that some counties in PA also don't allow cell phone use without a headset.

I use an earbud that my dad got free at a trade show four years ago and I love it!!!

Allison

Rudey · #8 02-13-2004, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by alsparky
I don't use my cell phone without my earpiece unless it is an absolute emergency! It's not the talking that is so much the problem as having one hand on the wheel and fidgeting with the phone with the other.

ZTAngel, I know that you cannot use a cellphone in NY State without a headset or some sort of hands-free device. And I know that some counties in PA also don't allow cell phone use without a headset.

I use an earbud that my dad got free at a trade show four years ago and I love it!!!

Allison

I use an ear piece normally. People think I talk to myself. I'm cool like that. Basically this law says it's ok to drive and talk but not ok to drive and talk with one hand. Thus one handed driving should be banned they're saying. Mmmmkay

-Rudey

xok85xo · #9 02-13-2004, 04:54 PM

I Know that hand held cell phones while driving are banned in the entire state of new york, and santa fe, new mexico. They recently passed a ban for the entire state of New Jersey (previously it was banned by individual towns) however, they can't pull you over specifically for talking on the phone. If they pull you over for something else, and you are talking on the phone - then you can get cited for it.

mattpike · #10 02-13-2004, 05:11 PM

heres talent. talking on the cell phone, smoking a cigarette, changing the radio station, and drinking a keystone, all while driving your car. ive seen it with my own two eyes

cash78mere · #11 02-13-2004, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ZTAngel

Are there states that have made driving and talking on your cell phone illegal? I've heard that there are a few.

in new york it is illegal to drive without an earpiece. and you cannot physically dial while driving, you are supposed to pull over. i think it's a great law but not enforced enough

queequek · #12 02-13-2004, 08:04 PM

Uh-uh

Talking to your cell-phone while driving is a big NO-NO for me.

aephi alum · #13 02-13-2004, 08:34 PM

As a couple of people have said, it is illegal in NY to talk on a cell phone while driving unless you have a hands-free device. There is an exception if you are calling 911. Some lawmakers are trying to pass a similar law in CT, which I think is a great idea.

The NY law is routinely ignored. All the time, I see people with a hand-held cell phone in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, trying to steer with their wrists or knees or whatever.

I do sometimes talk on my cell while driving, but always with either the hands-free unit installed in my car or with my earpiece. To me it's no more distracting than talking to someone else in the car. If I need to dial, I will pull over or ask a passenger to dial.

BTW, I didn't see if the person who hit me was using her cell phone, but I did see her holding a cigarette in one hand, which was nowhere near the steering wheel.

Mz Destiny · #14 02-13-2004, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Rudey
I use an ear piece normally. People think I talk to myself.

Same here. Happens all of the time. Especially in the supermarket. People kinda get out of my way because they think I'm talking to myself! lol

I have T-Mobile, and all of their phones come with an earpiece. If only more people would just use them!

texas*princess · #15 02-13-2004, 09:52 PM

I wish I had access to a study that my Business Comm. prof told us about.. he said a study showed that of all the accidents that happened that remotely involved cell phones, most of them were accidents that occured following the conversation and not during the cell phone conversation. They think this is because people tend to think more about the conversation after it was over.

If people talking on the phone bothers you, move to Dallas. I've seen people using laptop computers and driving.