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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Hang Up And Drive

Hang Up And Drive

by Tim F|  June 30, 20061:13 pm| 82 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics

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Oy.

People who talk on cell phones while driving, even using “hands-free” devices, are as impaired as drunk drivers, researchers said on Thursday.

[…] The researchers used a driving simulation device for their study, published in the summer 2006 issue of Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

They studied 40 volunteers who used a driving simulator four times — while undistracted, using a handheld cell phone, using a hands-free cell phone and while intoxicated to a 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level — the average legal level of impairment in the United States — after drinking vodka and orange juice.

Three study participants rear-ended the simulated car in front of them. All were talking on cellphones and none was drunk, the researchers said.

That last bit was because the drunk drivers were driving on the sidewalk.

Could this kick off a new round of road-safety legislation? States like New York that ban handheld but not hands-free cellphones will have to seriously consider the logic of banning one but not the other. Specifically, they will consider it for the brief time that it takes to imagine convincing people driving through Manhattan to pull over to make a call.

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82Comments

  1. 1.

    srv

    June 30, 2006 at 1:19 pm

    Old news. I thought some states already had hands-free legislation. I guess not.

    Humans don’t multi-task. They just think they do.

  2. 2.

    Crazy C

    June 30, 2006 at 1:27 pm

    ah, alcohol studies – everyone loves the vodka and orange juice.

    the only bad part about working on them was that we were doing it with college students. students who liked to drink.

    It’s amazing how hard it is to convince someone that they can’t take the test because they went over the BAC, and that we weren’t allowed to let them leave until they were sober (bored + semi-intoxicated is not a good mix)

    That last bit was because the drunk drivers were driving on the sidewalk.

    I want to know how the drunk and cellphone using ones did…

  3. 3.

    The Other Steve

    June 30, 2006 at 1:34 pm

    I would agree that hands free is probably as bad as holding it in your hand.

    I can’t drive with a cellphone in my hand because I have a 5-speed, and it’s near impossible to steer, shift and hold the phone. But with an automatic it doesn’t matter so much, yet people are still dangerous.

    BTW, cell phones are not user friendly. I ought to be able to mute the phone without having to press three buttons.

  4. 4.

    Marcus Wellby

    June 30, 2006 at 1:46 pm

    The real issue we have here is a nation just full to the brim with VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE. People these days are so important and vital that they can’t drive, walk, or shop without making important phone calls to other important people.

  5. 5.

    Cyrus

    June 30, 2006 at 1:47 pm

    Maybe I shouldn’t be admitting this, but I talk on a cell phone with a headset now and then while driving. Only on long car trips and/or late at night, though. I figure it can’t be any worse than the risk of actually nodding off. I’ve got in a car accident or two, but never while impaired, and I’d much rather take my chance with a slightly slower reaction time than waking up on the wrong side of the road.

  6. 6.

    Jim Allen

    June 30, 2006 at 1:53 pm

    I don’t see what the problem is. I drive through heavy traffic talking on my cell phone and changing channels on my XM radio with the remote control all the time, and I haven’t been in an accident yet.

    Wish I could say the same for those other idiots on the road, though. You’d be amazed how many accidents I just miss, although I can usually see them in my rear view mirror.

  7. 7.

    Richard 23

    June 30, 2006 at 1:53 pm

    What about stoned drivers with and without drive through food?

    And like the Crazy one said, I wonder how dangerous the drunk and using a cellphone combo would be.

  8. 8.

    Richard 23

    June 30, 2006 at 1:55 pm

    So Jim, are you weaving through traffic driving others off the road while fiddling with your knob and your phone? Maybe that’s why you see all those accidents in your rear view mirror!

  9. 9.

    RSA

    June 30, 2006 at 1:58 pm

    BTW, cell phones are not user friendly. I ought to be able to mute the phone without having to press three buttons.

    I do research on the efficiency of interaction with mobile devices, including cell phones. I’ve contacted half a dozen companies to see about collaboration or tech transfer (original funding was from the NSF), given the results my lab has produced, but there’s been next to no interest. Usability doesn’t sell; flashy cases, reduced size, and hundreds of functions you’ll never use are what it takes.

  10. 10.

    capelza

    June 30, 2006 at 1:58 pm

    Have been rear ended twice in the past year….guess what the driver that did it was doing. One tried to weasel out of it, the other took the hit…she was cool.

    I hate those things. But then driving is something I enjoy. On the infrequent long trips I make, NOT having ringing phones or other distractions is heavenly. Put in some good music and bliss. We finally did get one of those cheap ones and keep it in the glove box for emergencies, but I don’t give the number out, in fact I’m not even sure what the number is.

    I didn’t even have a home phone for 8 years. I still had a job, school, friends, controlled the kids, etc. I don’t understand the need to be CONSTANTLY wired, attached, to others.

  11. 11.

    Jim Allen

    June 30, 2006 at 2:01 pm

    So Jim, are you weaving through traffic driving others off the road while fiddling with your knob and your phone? Maybe that’s why you see all those accidents in your rear view mirror!

    Please — you are confusing me with LarryDarrell&Darrell. I do not “fiddle with my knob”.

  12. 12.

    chopper

    June 30, 2006 at 2:04 pm

    hey, at least they aren’t as bad as this dude…

    holy cats!

    On March 30, Minnesota Timberwolves center Eddie Griffin was drunk and masturbating when he crashed his luxury SUV into a parked Suburban outside a store in Minneapolis, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by the man whose Suburban was hit in the crash.

  13. 13.

    Nikki

    June 30, 2006 at 2:09 pm

    I loathe both driving and my cell phone. Wish I had thought of capelza’s solution (keeping it in the glove compartment without giving out the number). But then I hate talking on the phone period. I do it enough at work, I don’t particularly want to do it when I get home. By now, friends and family are used to it. They know to contact me by email if they want to hear from me.

  14. 14.

    Punchy

    June 30, 2006 at 2:16 pm

    Crap legislation. Just because someone wants to have an heated argument with their spouse over the phone while in Miami rush-hour traffic shouldn’t preclude me from calling a friend to ask for directions to their house.

    It’s called personal responsibility and common sense. You don’t attempt to dial at 70 mph on a two-lane road. You don’t talk for 30 mins at 5:30 in a big city. I honestly believe hands-free is worse b/c it encourages longer conversations, whereas a reg phone keeps calls short, especially if one drives a stick.

  15. 15.

    Cyrus

    June 30, 2006 at 2:20 pm

    Another thing I’ve wondered is, has anyone compared driving with a cell phone to driving with a talkative person in the seat next to you? No one has even suggested laws against that, but it seems that a conversation would be just as distracting regardless of where the person is sitting.

    Now that I think of it, though, a person sitting next to you has as much information as you about road conditions and traffic and stuff, so would often moderate or halt their talk without even thinking about it when the rain picks up or the guy in front of you slams on his brakes or whatever. So maybe not.

  16. 16.

    capelza

    June 30, 2006 at 2:37 pm

    Punchy…how about pulling over and making that short call to get directions?

    Seriously, it wasn’t rush hour traffic when I was hit, TWICE, by driver’s using cell phones. Is it their personal responsibilty and common sense? Hell, yeah, but it’s still MY car to gets clobbered?

  17. 17.

    capelza

    June 30, 2006 at 2:45 pm

    Adding…Cyrus. I am one of those that tells the talkative passenger to stop. I sound like a dictator I guess, but I take driving seriously.

    And in my almost 50 years (this next month :( ) I have been in 5 wrecks ranging from fender bender to catastrophic rollover). Two were cell phone users and two were drunks that hit me. Even split.

    The roll over was a driver who turned around to tell me, sitting the back seat, when I had asked him to slow down, that he had never had a wreck in his….whoops. Didn’t have cell phones then and I’m not sure if he had been drinking. SO that’s a wash except for the not paying attention to the road thing. ;P

    I’m not sympathetic to distractions in cars.

  18. 18.

    Crazy C

    June 30, 2006 at 2:46 pm

    I’d still rather have someone talking on a cellphone than the people you see reading magazines or newspapers while driving…

  19. 19.

    Punchy

    June 30, 2006 at 2:47 pm

    Punchy…how about pulling over and making that short call to get directions?

    Why not outlaw drive-thru windows? I’m guessing scarfing down a Double Cheese why navigating a round-about is pretty dangerous.

    Why not outlaw radio and stereos? I’m pretty sure turning the knob, throwing in a CD, or checking for a song on one’s IPod is a huge distraction.

    Why not outlaw chatty spouses in the passenger seat? Outlaw whiney, crying, vomiting kids in the backseat? Can we then outlaw CB radios for truckers, too?

    Where does it end? There’s any number of things someone can be doing while driving (crossword puzzles, makeup, drinking, changing clothes)…why bastardize the cell phone?

  20. 20.

    capelza

    June 30, 2006 at 2:52 pm

    I don’t have a problem with outlawing most of those anyway…

    The DRIVER should be driving. Nothing else, including applying make-up, cramming a Big Whopper into their mouths or bending over to change the cd in thier player.

    God, am I that big a nerd that when I want to check a map, I pull over????

    And by your thinking, perhaps, we should decriminalise drunk driving, too? It’s just one more “distraction”.

  21. 21.

    The Other Steve

    June 30, 2006 at 2:57 pm

    Where does it end? There’s any number of things someone can be doing while driving (crossword puzzles, makeup, drinking, changing clothes)…why bastardize the cell phone?

    While I’m sympathetic to the argument having seen any number of other disasterous distractions…

    The people with cell phones are REALLY bad and it’s blatantly obvious.

  22. 22.

    The Other Steve

    June 30, 2006 at 2:58 pm

    The thing is, we shouldn’t have to criminalize it. People should be smart enough to realize it’s a problem.

  23. 23.

    Crazy C

    June 30, 2006 at 3:08 pm

    The thing is, we shouldn’t have to criminalize it. People should be smart enough to realize it’s a problem

    Yeah, I agree, but how many times have you seen a warning sign and though “what idiot would do …”?

    we generally learn not to do stupid things because we’ve had a bad experience (for example: I no longer forget to use pot holders when picking up a cast iron pan that’s been sitting on the stove) but it seems like cellphones are immune to that – people just seem to have a bubble of ignorance about their behavior while on the things.

    It’s almost like people keep thinking they’re in a phone booth with the sliding doors…

  24. 24.

    Punchy

    June 30, 2006 at 3:13 pm

    And by your thinking, perhaps, we should decriminalise drunk driving, too? It’s just one more “distraction”.

    That’s not my thinking. Alcohol impairs both one’s driving AND one’s judgement, so that one both drives shitty and doesn’t realize it so. Plus, it impairs the driver for the entirety of the trip. A phone is at best a minor, temporary distraction that one could drop at the slightest possibility of trouble.

    The thing is, we shouldn’t have to criminalize it. People should be smart enough to realize it’s a problem.

    Here’s what I’m for: an additional ticket/fine/misdemeanor charge if you’re in an accident WHILE on the phone. Let’s punish those who cannot drive and talk, but don’t punish the pizza guy who needs to make a 15 second call to confirm an order.

  25. 25.

    yet another jeff

    June 30, 2006 at 3:17 pm

    Of course, next is talking to passengers or listening to the stereo. Maybe we’ll have a new watchdog group…Fathers Unfriendly to Cellphone Cruising..

  26. 26.

    yet another jeff

    June 30, 2006 at 3:22 pm

    That’s what I get for getting distracted between writing and posting…that would have been apt as post #2…

  27. 27.

    Andrew

    June 30, 2006 at 3:25 pm

    Another thing I’ve wondered is, has anyone compared driving with a cell phone to driving with a talkative person in the seat next to you? No one has even suggested laws against that, but it seems that a conversation would be just as distracting regardless of where the person is sitting.

    Yes they have. Talking on a phone is much worse. They theorize that visual attention is taken up trying to visualize the remote participant, whereas visual attention during an in-car conversation is still focused on the local environment.

  28. 28.

    capelza

    June 30, 2006 at 3:28 pm

    Here’s what I’m for: an additional ticket/fine/misdemeanor charge if you’re in an accident WHILE on the phone. Let’s punish those who cannot drive and talk, but don’t punish the pizza guy who needs to make a 15 second call to confirm an order.

    So we wait for the accident to occur first? Or TWICE? (as you can tell, this past year has really soured me on cell phone drivers). Then punish the driver? Meanwhile the person who has had to have their car repaired deals with the ramifications. There are enough bad drivers without giving these guys a pass. Again, if that pizza driver needs to use the cell phone foe 15 seconds…pull the hell over.

    Believe it or not, there were pizza delivery guys before the advent of cell phones. We even got the pizzas to the right address! Unbelievable, I know.

  29. 29.

    Punchy

    June 30, 2006 at 3:40 pm

    So we wait for the accident to occur first?

    uh…yeah. You don’t punish a guy who drives his Civic in a foot of snow–although it’s insanely dangerous–until he actually breaks the law or gets in an accident.

    I’d love to see the gender breakdown of this study, only to confirm my hunch that women, who spend forever on the phone, are disproportionately more likely to cause said accident.

  30. 30.

    CellphoneSavant

    June 30, 2006 at 3:44 pm

    I think it is bad to drive drunk and on a cell phone, but I don’t get why the hands free talking would matter. Isn’t that just like talking to someone in the car with you?

  31. 31.

    Nutcutter

    June 30, 2006 at 3:46 pm

    Why not outlaw drive-thru windows? I’m guessing scarfing down a Double Cheese why navigating a round-about is pretty dangerous.

    Why not outlaw radio and stereos? I’m pretty sure turning the knob, throwing in a CD, or checking for a song on one’s IPod is a huge distraction.

    Why not outlaw chatty spouses in the passenger seat? Outlaw whiney, crying, vomiting kids in the backseat? Can we then outlaw CB radios for truckers, too?

    Where does it end?

    Well, right after you stop with the goofy and irrelevant questions, probably.

    People drive entire trips on the phone. They do not drive entire trips with vomiting in the back seat. Chances are that a vomit will result in a stop, a cleanup, and some care for the vomiter. Not even remotely like talking on a cel phone.

    “Turning a knob” and “throwing in a CD” are relatively momentary distractions. A cel call can be a 20-minute distraction, thereby creating not a momentary hazard, but a hundred hazards over time. The difference should be obvious.

    Truckers have been using CB for decades; is there any evidence that it has compromised safety? And it’s mostly on the highway, not in city traffic. Anyone who drives around in a city and just keeps their eyes open can spot the distracted drivers who are not paying attention. If you drive and don’t look for them, you are asking for trouble these days.

    why bastardize the cell phone?

    Well, you meant “demonize” but the answer should be obvious, it’s by far the most ubiquitous and serious hazard you mentioned. I doubt that 5 percent of drivers are doing or dealing with all those things you mentioned put together. Whereas probably 10% or more are on a cell during a typical trip every time out the door. If I had to guess, and I do, I’d say about 15% of drivers in the big city where I live, or more, are talking on cell phones at some point during a trip. I can see half that many with the naked eye. Then there are those using speakerphones and bluetooth and hands-free devices, that can’t be easily seen.

    Get a clue.

  32. 32.

    capelza

    June 30, 2006 at 3:47 pm

    Well not this woman, but I can tell you that one of the cell phone users that hit me was a woman..she was the cool one. The other was a man, the one who tried to weasel out of it, until I reminded him that I could see him in my rear view mirror, on the fucking phone! Not to mention rearending a car stopped at a red light…

    That’s hilarious…you saying that men can talk and drive better? Pluuuleeezeeeeeee. I’d like to see the study that shows certain men THINK they can drive and talk safer than women.

    Back to the drunk driver. Why punish the ones that can get home without t-boning someone? Just go for the ones that have caused an accident. I use hyperbole, but your logic is wrong. The idea is to stop the wreck before it happens.

  33. 33.

    srv

    June 30, 2006 at 3:51 pm

    I’m not sympathetic to distractions in cars.

    Modern general aviation aircraft panels now come with XM radio, CD, iPod and cell phone jacks. I can’t believe all this stuff is legal. Like flying a plane wasn’t already complicated enough…

    I’ll be getting XM radio though, they provide radar maps.

  34. 34.

    Nutcutter

    June 30, 2006 at 3:55 pm

    Like flying a plane wasn’t already complicated enough…

    Flying cross country is relatively boring. And the actual “flying the plane” part is no more difficult than operating a car out on the highway without traffic. It’s rather pleasant and relaxing work if the conditions are decent.

    Airmanship, on the other hand, can be demanding. But a competant pilot is probably not going to be listening to talk radio when working a heading, time and distance to alternate airport in bad weather problem.

    However, it’s okay if the passengers are.

  35. 35.

    The Other Steve

    June 30, 2006 at 3:59 pm

    Ultimately the secret to safety is to increase the speed limit to 150 mph.

    Anybody driving over 100 mph doesn’t have time to talk on a cell phone, and certainly isn’t going to fall asleep at the wheel.

  36. 36.

    Tax Analyst

    June 30, 2006 at 4:00 pm

    People shouldn’t be doing anything except driving while they are on the road…well, except listening to and singing along with their favorite CD stuff (yeah, I do that)…which you can do if you load it in BEFORE you shift from “Park” to “Drive”. It doesn’t distract me because I know EXACTLY how the songs go, so there is no part of my brain being used to “search” for stuff. If I didn’t know, then it would be a distraction…just like trying to tell what the other party on a cell phone is saying and coming up with a reply. Boy, do I sound like a scold here…

  37. 37.

    capelza

    June 30, 2006 at 4:01 pm

    What I find amazing is that whenever a new technology comes along it all of a sudden becomes indespensible…”They’ll pry my blackberry from my cold dead, car driving fingers ’cause like I can’t function without it!”…as I have said already, people got from point A to point B without them for like ever.

    nutcutter said it best about flying a plane. If I could put my car on autmatic pilot, then I might reconsider. Planes are like boats, they have an automatic pilot. Plotter, etc. One can even safely read a book, eat a sandwich, etc. while driving these forms of transportation. The same can’t be said for a car.

  38. 38.

    Nutcutter

    June 30, 2006 at 4:04 pm

    Ultimately the secret to safety is to increase the speed limit to 150 mph.

    See: Autobahn.

  39. 39.

    Punchy

    June 30, 2006 at 4:08 pm

    Well, right after you stop with the goofy and irrelevant questions, probably.

    Irrelevant, how? Hot coffee in one’s lap won’t cause a major distraction? Bullshit it won’t.

    Kids screaming in the backseat isn’t a distraction? Are you childless?

    Yeah, if you’re making a 20 minute call, perhaps you’re (not you personally) a bonehead. If you’re dialing the number while changing lanes, you’re an idiot. But if I want to make a 1 minute call at a red light to check on something, that ought be my right. Again, punish those that wreck while yapping just like we punish those who wreck after drinking.

    That’s hilarious…you saying that men can talk and drive better? Pluuuleeezeeeeeee.

  40. 40.

    Punchy

    June 30, 2006 at 4:11 pm

    That’s hilarious…you saying that men can talk and drive better? Pluuuleeezeeeeeee.

    Sorry, hit the submit button by mistake. Anyways, I KNEW you’d take this the wrong way. I never implied women were worse drivers–look at what I wrote more carefully. I said that I felt (cannot prove, just an observation) that women tend to have longer phone convos than men, and if talking leads to accidents, than statistically women ought be having more. I offer NO opinions on who’s the better driver.

  41. 41.

    capelza

    June 30, 2006 at 4:11 pm

    That’s hilarious…you saying that men can talk and drive better? Pluuuleeezeeeeeee.

    No it was response to this…

    I’d love to see the gender breakdown of this study, only to confirm my hunch that women, who spend forever on the phone, are disproportionately more likely to cause said accident.

  42. 42.

    capelza

    June 30, 2006 at 4:14 pm

    I couldn’t tell you either, but I think you’ll find a whole lot of men on their cell phones…wheeling and dealing, etc., manly “business” stuff. Maybe it’s where I live , but the men ALL have cell phones and use them all the ime…especially while driving.

    I know my kid is one his all the freaking time. Thank god he’s paying for it.

  43. 43.

    Punchy

    June 30, 2006 at 4:20 pm

    Maybe it’s where I live ,

    I think that’s the crux of the whole issue. I happen to live in a rather rural, college town. I might feel diff if I lived in a heavily urban, densely traffic’ed area. You see buisnessmen on their phones, I see soroirity girls with them glued to their head for half-hours…

  44. 44.

    capelza

    June 30, 2006 at 4:27 pm

    Well, I live in a town with 8000. Commercial fishermen (and boy do they love to yak), cafe and store owners, insurance salesmen, beachfront property developers, construction, etc. No soroity girls here. Thing is, I know all the guys so I know what they do for a living…

  45. 45.

    SeesThroughIt

    June 30, 2006 at 4:33 pm

    What about stoned drivers with and without drive through food?

    According to that one totally awesome commercial, stoned drivers pulling out of the drive-thru are a leading cause of death among telegenically cute children on bikes.

  46. 46.

    jg

    June 30, 2006 at 4:40 pm

    They theorize that visual attention is taken up trying to visualize the remote participant, whereas visual attention during an in-car conversation is still focused on the local environment.

    I agree with that. If I’m on the phone with my girlfriend I can’t watch tv and listen to her. I notice that on the rare occasion I’m actually really listening to her my eyes move off the tv to someplace with less distractions. If I actually watch tv, minutes go by and I miss every word she said. Same while driving. You look away from the road during those times you are trying to make a point or hear one. Its a phenomena called undivided attention I believe.

    Imagine this. You’re driving, a coworker calls and asks for help filling out a spreadsheet. Can you walk them through it, visualizing the layout and such and keep from ramming into the car in front of you that just stopped? Not stopped all of a sudden but normally, like at the red light that you don’t see because its not on the spreadsheet you’re looking at in your head.

  47. 47.

    Punchy

    June 30, 2006 at 4:47 pm

    All were talking on cellphones and none was drunk, the researchers said.

    Apparently the guy in charge of editing the grammer was drunk.

  48. 48.

    YellowJournalism

    June 30, 2006 at 4:52 pm

    Just wanted to mention that there’s a great episode of Mythbusters about this very subject. I think they even took a look at the rate of accidents with other types of distractions, too, like food. Back to lurking.

  49. 49.

    Richard 23

    June 30, 2006 at 5:06 pm

    But YJ, what was the conclusion if any?

  50. 50.

    Jackmormon

    June 30, 2006 at 5:18 pm

    I think the law in France is that if you’re in an accident, and call records prove that you were on the phone when it happened, you automatically become (more?) at fault for the accident.

    It’s one solution.

  51. 51.

    Zifnab

    June 30, 2006 at 5:18 pm

    Yeah, jg, I know how that is. My girlfriend is always telling me to “keep my eyes on the road” when we talk, but its almost inevitable that I end up staring right into her headlights. Unfortunately, this rarely results in a rear-end collison unless we’ve been doing a fair amount of drinking.

  52. 52.

    Perry Como

    June 30, 2006 at 5:42 pm

    The solution is simple. People should use IM in the car instead of cell phones.

  53. 53.

    Nutcutter

    June 30, 2006 at 5:55 pm

    Maybe it’s where I live , but the men ALL have cell phones and use them all the ime…especially while driving.

    I’ve seen guys on the phone while driving construction equipment, dump trucks … even school buses.

    There is no activity you can do with your clothes on that isn’t being done with a celphone stuck to the head, or a hands-free version nearby.

    As for the activities without clothes, I’d imagine that a lot of those are also being done with celphones going, but they don’t represent a hazard to the public so they are out of scope here.

  54. 54.

    Bob In Pacifica

    June 30, 2006 at 7:05 pm

    Phone calls are like oral sex. They should be performed when the car is parked.

  55. 55.

    Vladi G

    June 30, 2006 at 7:09 pm

    I don’t really do either anymore because a) I’m older and wiser (drinking), and b) I drive a stick and can’t talk and drive at the same time. However, when I was younger, stupider, and drove an automatic, I can virtually guarantee that I was a better driver while drunk than while talking on the phone. First, if I was drunk, it was probably about 4:00 in the morning and there were no other cars on the road. Second, when people I know drive drunk (and I’m by no means reccomending it), they tend to make 100% sure they make complete stops at all stops signs, and they damn sure obey the speed limit. Sure, if you dart out in front of me, you’re in trouble, but I am NOT getting pulled over for a moving violation if I’ve had a couple drinks.

    But like I said, I don’t do that anymore anyway.

  56. 56.

    Gary Farber

    June 30, 2006 at 7:35 pm

    “They studied 40 volunteers who used a driving simulator four times—while undistracted, using a handheld cell phone, using a hands-free cell phone and while intoxicated to a 0.08 percent blood-alcohol level….”

    How useful is this when not also measured against people talking to other passengers?

  57. 57.

    tzs

    June 30, 2006 at 7:58 pm

    I’ve used my cellular for short calls (

  58. 58.

    Nutcutter

    June 30, 2006 at 8:57 pm

    Phone calls are like oral sex

    In that case, I really need more anytime minutes.

  59. 59.

    CaseyL

    June 30, 2006 at 10:01 pm

    Rush hour traffic. All lanes full, everyone going the speed limit or more. Except one lane, where cars are crawling along behind someone going maybe 20 mph slower than everyone else. It’s like a rock in a river – only with drivers bailing out of that lane as soon as they can, so it’s more like a white-water rapid in the middle of the freeway.

    And when I pass the car that’s causing the blockage, what do I see?

    The driver yakking on the phone.

    Really. When you see one car going way slower than anyone else, practically oblivious to their surroundings, at least 70% of the time it’s someone on the phone. And rarely are they even in the slow lane – hell, sometimes they’re in the passing lane!

    It’s rude, stupid, and dangerous.

  60. 60.

    Perry Como

    June 30, 2006 at 10:38 pm

    Nutcutter Says:

    Phone calls are like oral sex

    In that case, I really need more anytime minutes.

    You owe me a new keyboard.

  61. 61.

    Nutcutter

    June 30, 2006 at 11:39 pm

    You owe me a new keyboard.

    I’m also paying a lot more attention to that coverage map.

  62. 62.

    KCinDC

    July 1, 2006 at 8:52 am

    What I find amazing is that whenever a new technology comes along it all of a sudden becomes indespensible…”They’ll pry my blackberry from my cold dead, car driving fingers ‘cause like I can’t function without it!”

    Yes, look at how people complain when they’re not able to use their air conditioning, their cars, their indoor plumbing, their antibiotics, …. Can’t they just be satisfied with the technology level that people got along with earlier?

    What I find amazing is that Marcus Wellby still thinks people talking on a cell phones think they’re “VERY IMPORTANT PEOPLE”. This isn’t the ’90s, when only lawyers and businesspeople had cell phones. Most of the cell phone talkers aren’t involved in high-stakes deals or other activities that they consider important — they’re just bored and talking to their friends. If they’re not cashiers doing it while checking you out at the grocery store, or idiots talking in movie theaters, or otherwise talking when they should be doing something else, I don’t understand the hostility. They’re talking to friends — why do you care whether the friends are physically present or not?

  63. 63.

    The Other Steve

    July 1, 2006 at 10:02 am

    I think that’s the crux of the whole issue. I happen to live in a rather rural, college town. I might feel diff if I lived in a heavily urban, densely traffic’ed area. You see buisnessmen on their phones, I see soroirity girls with them glued to their head for half-hours…

    Isn’t this the same thing?

    They’re both negotiating a price for services.

  64. 64.

    capelza

    July 1, 2006 at 11:37 am

    KC in DC

    There is a difference between something like antibiotics and talking on a cell phone because they are bored (especially if they are driving…by the way, some medicines have warning labels on the bottles about NOT operating a vehicle when taking them… :), shouldn’t cell phones as well, then? )

    My point is the that the reaction to many driver’s who think they should be able to use their cell phones while they drive is one that implis that it is critical to their existence. Common sense and responsibility are argued away.

    That and the rush for the latest product, consumer lemmings rushing over a cliff into silliness. Can you honestly compare advances in sanitation, medicine, and transportation to that little device that is, by your own description, a way to avoid being bored?

  65. 65.

    Catsy

    July 1, 2006 at 12:52 pm

    Anecdotal, but our car was totaled two years ago (and two of a split-second’s difference from being killed) by a stupid Bellevue twat who ran a red light because she was talking on her cell phone.

    Count me fully in favor of outlawing the operation of cell phones while a vehicle is in motion, as unsympathetic to those who can’t be arsed to pull over long enough to make a phone call that’s that important.

  66. 66.

    Krista

    July 1, 2006 at 1:12 pm

    That’s always irritated me too — seeing people who just drive with their cell phone constantly glued to their ear. My cell spends most of its time in my glove compartment, with the occasional “Honey, you need anything at the store” 1-minute phone call. One thing that helps is that I’ve programmed a lot of numbers into voice dial, so I don’t have to take my eyes off the road to dial any numbers. I’m torn as to whether or not it needs a law. If we did have a law here against it, I’d feel relieved that the long-talking jackasses will (hopefully) be deterred from their idiocy, but I’d also be royally pissed that they made such a law necessary in the first place.

  67. 67.

    KCinDC

    July 1, 2006 at 1:24 pm

    Is there any evidence that the rate of traffic accidents has increased since the appearance of cell phones? Before passing laws, I would like to see some evidence, not just anecdotes, showing that cell phones are actually the biggest distraction to drivers today. (I certainly don’t understand why CB radio use should be treated any differently from cell phone use.)

    Capelza, I didn’t say that cell phones were only to avoid being bored — I was reacting to the comments that people who use cell phones are somehow wannabe bigshots or wheeler-dealers. I think those comments say more about the commenters than about the cell phone users. And the comments haven’t been restricted to people who phone while driving. Hell, you’re saying people who use cell phones are “consumer lemmings”. Did you feel the same way about the answering machine or the microwave oven or the VCR or the personal computer? Are new technologies only okay (rather than “silly”) if they were introduced before you were a certain age? If so, what year is the cutoff?

  68. 68.

    VidaLoca

    July 1, 2006 at 1:51 pm

    KC,

    Hell, you’re saying people who use cell phones are “consumer lemmings”.

    Well, much more than the microwave oven (but only slightly more than the laptop and about as much as an iPod) they’ve become a fashion accessory — so that does lend some support to the “consumer lemmings” label.

    On the other hand, I think you’re right in arguing that it’s necessary to show proof (rather than just a strong hypothesis) that they’re a hazard to the public when misued rather than just an annoyance to luddites such as myself.

    Laws? I’m not eager to go there. I’ve had enough of the nanny state to last me for a few years.

  69. 69.

    capelza

    July 1, 2006 at 2:02 pm

    There ARE studies that have been done…I looked up a number on line. One, off the top of my head, from Australia, insurance company sponsered I think, that said cell phone use while driving increased the risk of accident 4x. Others say other things.

    All I know, as I have said above, is that TWICE in the past year, I’ve been hit by cell phone users while driving. In 30 years of driving…two drunks and two talkers. Might not be scientific, but I’m convinced.

  70. 70.

    KCinDC

    July 1, 2006 at 2:33 pm

    Capelza, I’m asking for numbers indicating that accident rates have increased since people have started using cell phones. I don’t doubt that someone using a cell phone doesn’t drive as well as someone who’s not using one, just as someone with kids in the car doesn’t drive as well as someone without them, just as someone who doesn’t have the radio on drives better than someone with it on, just as someone who’s not eating drives better than someone who is, just as someone who’s well rested drives better than someone who’s been awake for 12 hours, just as someone who’s had special drivers’ training drives better than someone who hasn’t. That doesn’t mean I want laws passed requiring all drivers to do or not do all those things.

    VidaLoca, wristwatches are fashion accessories as well. That might mean that Rolex wearers are lemmings, but it doesn’t mean that all watch wearers are.

  71. 71.

    capelza

    July 1, 2006 at 2:47 pm

    KC in DC..have you looked for those numbers yourself?

  72. 72.

    G. Hamid

    July 1, 2006 at 3:29 pm

    I’ve got bad news for those of you who think a law will do anything to stop “Driving While Phoning”: Here in NJ it has been the law for a year and DWP continues apace. I know of no one who has been ticketed (know a bunch of DWIs and other ticket recievers) and every third car I see has a driver with a phone glued to their head. All this sort of legislation does is engender a lack of respect for law in general.

    While driving or riding in a motor vehicle is the most dangerous thing most Americans will do in their lifetimes, it is still pretty safe. If you want to be perfectly safe on the road, don’t go on the road.

  73. 73.

    KCinDC

    July 1, 2006 at 8:17 pm

    No, Capelza, I’m just using common sense. Of course common sense is occasionally wrong, so maybe one of those isn’t true after all, but I’d be amazed if they were all false.

    Suppose I did have numbers. Would you be calling for a law outlawing car radios and cup holders or mandating a six-month safety course for all drivers?

  74. 74.

    capelza

    July 1, 2006 at 8:28 pm

    Seriously? It wouldn’t freak me out that much. As I learned, when I went to driving school (I didn’t get my license to I was almost 21 after going to driving school :) )
    “Driving is a privelege, not a right”.

    I’d be bummed if I couldn’t listen to my cds, but the only radio I use in my car is the weather band. I could live with it though, if it came down like that.

  75. 75.

    MrSnrub

    July 3, 2006 at 8:20 am

    NYTimes June 18, 2006

    Playing on a digital screen, and eliciting alarm from a crowd of experts here for a conference on auto telematics, were some of the 82 crashes — and almost 10 times as many near misses — recorded during a yearlong research project by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute in Blacksburg, Va. The goal of the study was to collect the kind of information that does not usually turn up in accident reports, insurance claims or other types of after-the-fact data gathering. It found that driver inattention was the overwhelming cause of the crashes in the study.

    …

    Known as the 100-car study, the project tracked 241 drivers — 60 percent male, 40 percent female — in the Washington metropolitan area for 13 months. The study was co-sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virginia Transportation Research Council.

    Each of the 100 cars was equipped with video cameras, radar antennas, traffic lane trackers, satellite navigation and a sensor system to monitor the drivers, what they saw, their driving environment and the actions they took. The participants volunteered to have the equipment installed in their vehicles.

    Cameras were positioned to record images of the driver’s face, an over-the-shoulder view looking toward the steering wheel, a view of the road ahead and a view to the rear. The radar units, mounted at the license plates, captured distance data while other instruments measured forces on brakes and other car components. The data were stored on a computer in the trunk.

    …

    Dr. Hankey has seen the videos so often that he no longer reacts like first-time viewers, who have been known to tense their muscles or shout advice at onscreen drivers making mistakes. Among the incidents recorded was a middle-aged man who kept gazing down and to the right, apparently sorting through papers in stop-and-go driving — until he slammed into an S.U.V. stopped in front of him.

    In another video segment, a woman eating a hamburger dipped her head forward and below the instrument panel, unaware of traffic in the lane ahead until she hit the car in front of her.

    The incidents in the study include 761 near crashes recorded in nearly two million miles of driving. “A near crash is just like a crash except that somebody did something to avoid it,” Dr. Hankey said.

    …

    In all, in the data collected over 42,300 hours of driving, there were 15 crashes reported to police and 67 crashes that went unreported.

    The study also found that leased cars were driven more carelessly than personally owned vehicles — a situation that Dr. Klauer calls “rental car phenomenon.” She said that drivers using leased cars took more risks than drivers in cars they owned outright.

    In some cases, drivers who had ample warning to take evasive and preventive action failed to do so because they were distracted or drowsy. Analysis of the data found that in nearly 80 percent of actual crashes and 65 percent of near crashes, the driver was inattentive in some way within three seconds beforehand. In rear-end collisions, the drivers were distracted 93 percent of the time.

    …

    One of the distracting activities noted most often was what Dr. Hankey called a “complex multistep, multiglance secondary task,” like pushing buttons on a cellphone or similar device. More than 22 percent of the crashes and near crashes involved that kind of distraction. Young drivers in the study were far more likely to be distracted by such tasks.

    Fatigued drivers were even more dangerous to themselves and others, the study found. Roughly 46 percent of accidents and incidents recorded during the study involved some form of fatigue, with a surprisingly high number occurring during morning commutes.

  76. 76.

    The Other Steve

    July 3, 2006 at 8:44 am

    It’s time we just start revoking drivers licenses.

    Maybe it’s insurance which has caused people to be so stupid? They think that it won’t matter, insurance will pay for their fuckups.

  77. 77.

    BIRDZILLA

    July 4, 2006 at 1:54 pm

    I have heard of pople shaving and applying makeup while driving and they want to blame SUVs and GM,FORD and CHRYSLER/PLYMOUTH for traffic accedents

  78. 78.

    The Other Steve

    July 4, 2006 at 4:04 pm

    I have heard of pople shaving and applying makeup while driving and they want to blame SUVs and GM,FORD and CHRYSLER/PLYMOUTH for traffic accedents

    I’ve heard people say that it was Bill Clinton’s fault that people are shaving and putting on makeup.

  79. 79.

    Krista

    July 4, 2006 at 6:41 pm

    Friend of mine drives with the coffee in one hand, the cell in the other, and steers with her left elbow or her left knee.

    I don’t get lifts with her anymore. But if any of you live in Birmingham, look out: she just moved there.

  80. 80.

    buzz4t

    July 5, 2006 at 12:13 am

    show me a someone who is a bad driver while talking on a cell phone, and I will show you a bad driver even when not talking on the cell phone. People are just bad drivers, its just a matter of degrees. How many people do you see not using turn signals?

  81. 81.

    McNulty

    July 5, 2006 at 12:11 pm

    show me a someone who is a bad driver while talking on a cell phone, and I will show you a bad driver even when not talking on the cell phone. People are just bad drivers, its just a matter of degrees. How many people do you see not using turn signals?

    Bingo! The people getting into accidents because of a cell phone are the same people that, pre-cell phone, would get into accidents because they were eating, or changing the radio station, or simply not paying attention.

    I live and work in the city, and i’ve seen people almost get mowed down by a car or a SEPTA bus because they were yakking on their phone while WALKING down the street and weren’t paying attention and just started crossing the street, apparently so engrossed in their conversation they didn’t notice the big red light right in front of them. It’s pretty much a common sense issue.

    Although, in honor of my fellow alumnus from Roman Catholic here in Philly (Eddie Griffin), allow me to say that driving while watching porn and beating off is a bad idea.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. apostropher says:
    June 30, 2006 at 2:31 pm

    Hang up and drive.

    I’m on record as having a not-quite-rational hatred of cell phones. To be honest, I don’t like any sort of phone, mobile or not, and avoid talking on one as much as I possibly can. But phones that ride around…

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