Hang up and drive

[RB TexLa]

Poll question: Hang up and drive

California joins three other states and DC in requiring both hands free while talking on a phone driving.



http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/09/calif_joins_the.html

[DainBramaged]

1. If you can't use an earphone, you should get hit by a meteor

[gkdmaths]

3. last I heard,

earphones were just as bad.

I dont even own a cell phone and love it!

Im such a rebel!

[LibDemAlways]

2. I'm in California and all for it. Somebody in my area

could make a mint running a clinic that teaches people how to drive without a cell phone in their hand. That's a lost art around here.

[HockeyMom]

4. I live in Suffolk County, NY, first in country to start this

Yes, it made a lot of people buy those adapters. Somewhere, somehow, somebody is making money from this.

No, it did not stop people from putting on mascara, reading a newspaper, eating chinese take out, etc., etc., etc., while driving.

[spag68]

7. Cell phones

I live in Westbury and travel a lot. I have not seen anyone pulled over for a cell phone. OTOH I had a cop threaten to gice me a ticket for going too slow while turning into my driveway and not signaling.

[spag68]

9. cell phones

I live in Westbury, travel a lot, and have never seen anyone ticketed for cell phone use. OTOH I had a cop threaten me with a ticket for going to slow and not signaling as I pulled into my driveway.

[Warren DeMontague]

5. Yeah, but what they really need to ban is driving like a shithead.

The fact that many people who do are on cellphones at the time aint a coincidence; however, I would add to that law penalties for anyone who drives a monster SUV truck with oversized tires in a menacing, assaultive manner and anyone who deliberately tries to "spook" bicycle riders with their car or truck, something which happens WAY TOO OFTEN where I live.

Hell, I pretty much won't ride on the road, anymore, because people are such blatant assholes.

[MercutioATC]

6. As soon as they ban listening to the radio or talking in cars...

...and eating or drinking while driving, I'll be all for it.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

8. Every State Should Ban Them. It Is An Extremely Dangerous Practice.

But I'm not convinced hands free is genuinely safe either. But I know it at least has to be safer than the alternative. There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not amazed at how dangerous these cell phone talkers drive. They are so easy to pick out on the road. I'll admit, I talk on the phone too sometimes when I'm driving, but I know I shouldn't. I know I'm not paying attention as much as I should, so shame on me as well. But as far as the laws against it goes, they are sound laws.

[TahitiNut]

11. "Hands free" apparently lets folks gesture and wave their hands more.

No shit. I've seen people on their cell phone, drving big honkin' SUVs in four lanes of heavy traffic, with the cell phone in the right hand and gesturing with the left hand. (Look, Ma! No hands on the wheel!) Freaking, barking insane! Too freaking stupid to drive!

[6000eliot]

10. Get off the fucking phone and watch the road!

[Lorax]

12. All talking on cell phones while driving should be banned,

including hands free. There are too many people out there just not paying attention and cell phones are a big reason. Of course that dosn't resolve the issue of people reading, putting on makeup, or whatever else they are doing. But it's a start. What I'd really like to know is who are all these people talking to? And why do they have to talk to them every second of the day? I don't get it but I just don't have that much to say to anyone I guess.

[SheilaT]

13. The issue really is,

as several others have indicated, the fact that the kind of attention being paid while on a Cell phone is very different from the attention paid to ordinary in-car conversations, or listening to a radio.

I'm a cell phone owner/user. On occasion I use it in my car. I've also been known to tell someone I'll call back because I'm in my car.

Some people multi-task well. Others do not. That said, most people have no business being on a phone while driving. I've persuaded one of my sons (the one with Asperger's) that he should NEVER use his cell phone while driving. My husband should never use his cell phone while driving, because he is, quite frankly, not that good at doing more than one thing at a time, and I'll yell at him for making calls while driving, which has at least some small effect.

I just wish more people would self-monitor their behavior.

[longship]

14. Must be hands free. Good idea.

I have a couple of hands free sets. I guess I'll put them in my cars.

[Dem2theMax]

15. In California, am for it and can hardly wait for it to go into effect.

I cannot count the number of near misses I have witnessed while on the road. And every one of those near misses involved some self-absorbed idiot gabbing away on their cell phone.

[elocs]

16. How about...

tuning the radio, putting in a cd, eating, holding a drink between your legs that won't fit in the holder, smoking, yelling at the kids in the backseat, farding (or with a "t"), yada, yada, yada. The third "yada" is actully the most important. It's like the barefoot boy with shoes on stood sitting in the grass. I'm more a proponent of hands free driving since it is much more sporting. Anybody can drive with their hands on the steering wheel. What are knees for?

[RC]

17. Knees and tilt wheels...

Yeah, that's the ticket.

[Jack Rabbit]

18. I'm in California and . . .

People talking on cell phones while driving replaced assholes who drive pickups like they were Jaguars as my pet peeve a long time ago.

[Berry Cool]

19. I have seen people driving with the phone in one hand

and gesturing wildly with the other to illustrate what they are talking about to a person who cannot see their gestures.

No hand on the wheel at all.

If they use a headset, that just means they'll use BOTH hands to gesture wildly at a person who cannot see their gestures.

People need to stop talking on the phone while driving. They also need to stop eating while driving, reading while driving, opening up their mail and reading it while driving, yelling at their kids while driving, etc.

And yes, they do need to be more careful about talking to a passenger while driving. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a driver miss an exit or forget what stops they were going to make in what order because they were too busy talking to me as they flew past their intended destinations. ("I don't mean to interrupt you, but I thought you said we were going to stop at...")

[DireStrike]

20. I don't really know if it helps.

Seems one of the more distracting aspects of using a cell phone is having a conversation with somebody who isn't in the car.

[focusfan]

21. I hate cell phones

I have seen a lot of wrecks and near misses because of cell phones.I wonder who will write tickets to the cops here in KY seems like almost every cop I see on the road has a cell phone stuck in his ear,not to mention everyone else that can`t drive without one.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

22. I live in NY on its been on the books now for several years and people

still don't follow the law when it comes to this. If someone is driving irradically, its' usually from talking on the cell...it is in my humble opinion very dangerous.

[FILAM23]

23. It is a start

but even hands free is distracting, especially for those
that must talk with their hands.