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a petition to stop cell phone users

post #1 of 41
12/5/05 at 2:41am
Thread Starter 
http://www.petitiononline.com/7474355/

a cyclist got run over and now some people want to stop people from yaking on the phone 'stead of pay attention to the road.
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post #2 of 41
12/5/05 at 2:46am
I signed. I've seen too many cellphone users running red lights, stop signs, and almost killing me.
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post #3 of 41
12/5/05 at 2:48am
some states already have laws against cellphone usage while driving. New York comes to mind. Not sure how it will go over in liberal Colorado though.

edit: I've never seen any major issues of cell phone yapping apart from people driving very slowly. I don't want to make a big deal of it in this thread, but, personally, I don't see how it's any different than talking to a passenger. It's just easy to target. You don't see anyone trying to pass the "no putting on makeup while driving" or the "no singing and dancing to the music while driving" or how about the "no more than 1 kid in the car at a time while driving" laws.
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post #4 of 41
12/5/05 at 2:51am
Last study I saw put it on par with drunk driving with average reaction times.
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post #5 of 41
12/5/05 at 2:55am
Yep I wont talk on the road. Theres nothing so important that it cant wait for me to either pull over or get home. Call me crazy, but I kinda like the time I spend in a car. Its pretty much the only me time I get, and I hate having it interupted with a phone.
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post #6 of 41
12/5/05 at 2:58am
Text messaging is entirely different than talking on the phone.

I believe that hands free headsets should be required in the car. But I don't necessarily believe that all cell phone use should be outlawed in cars. Mainly because it will never be outlawed in California because people practically live in their cars here.

-Ed
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post #7 of 41
12/5/05 at 3:03am
I signed.
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post #8 of 41
12/5/05 at 3:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Edwood
Text messaging is entirely different than talking on the phone.

I believe that hands free headsets should be required in the car. But I don't necessarily believe that all cell phone use should be outlawed in cars. Mainly because it will never be outlawed in California because people practically live in their cars here.

-Ed
I agree with Ed.
One should not be texting and driving. Talking and driving is okay with a headset.
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post #9 of 41
12/5/05 at 3:19am
I've had to take serious evasive action to avoid lane-drifting cell babblers more often than I can count.
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post #10 of 41
12/5/05 at 3:30am
well i hate to admit it, but i do talk on the phone while driving from time to time, however i do keep it as short as possible, and only when its somewhat important, but even so, my main focus is the road

however the sad fact is, even if they do put up a law, its enforcing it thats a problem, in NY we have such a law, and yet i still almost get hit on a daily basis in my campus parking lots by kids rambling on about nothing on their cell phones, people drive past cops with their phones in plain sight, with nothing done about it

even worse, the law in NY states that any cell phone use requiring the use of a hand is illegal, ie holding onto your phone to use speakerphone, and still yet, cops don't do anything about it

so no matter how much i agree with you, and the idealogy this stands for, it really won't change much, not unless you can convince the majority of drivers that its an unnecessary distraction and a danger to anyone else on or near the roads worthy of the "inconvinence" of not being able to use your cell phone while driving

anyways, +1 to petition
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post #11 of 41
12/5/05 at 3:43am
A few years ago one of my psychology professors gave a lecture about how stupid it was to be talking on a cell phone and driving at the same time. It just splits the brains concentration to drive safely and reaction time is increased (don't know if it's the same as drunk driving but I would guess it's a good comparison). The brain reacts differently from talking on the cell phone to talking to an actual person in the car, I can't remember exactly why though. Does anyone know which cases/studies I am talking about? Too bad I don't have access to the school's library anymore or I would have looked it up.
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post #12 of 41
12/5/05 at 3:48am
there was a study done in the UK a few months back that determined that people who multi-tasked effectivly had their abilities to complete a single one of those tasks is reduced as much as if that person had smoked pot, just food for thought
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post #13 of 41
12/5/05 at 3:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jefemeister
I don't see how it's any different than talking to a passenger.
It's hugely different. A passenger in the car reacts to environmental conditions (rain storm, brake lights, etc.) and thus knows when to quiet down, stop or whatever. A caller doesn't. Plus you don't have to dial or adjust a headset with a a passenger.

I think this is a a somewhat related class thing (though it's not the whole picture). If cell phones appeared on the scene starting with the poor and moved up, instead of the other way around (I mean c'mon the biz class had them and established the use first), and as much evidence was out there of lower amount of trackable distractions, reaction time, etc. I suspect there would be much more likely to have bans already.

More states are passing laws punishing sleepy drivers with the same laws as drunk drivers. How is this any different?
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post #14 of 41
12/5/05 at 4:05am
I think the main difference between talking on the cell and talking to passengers isn't just that the passengers are in the environment. I think it is that talking on the phone is something we grew up doing in a "home" environment. That is, you didn't need to pay attention to anything but the phone when you talked on it. The pattern has been set by home use of the phone. I think that when you are using a headset/hands free rig, you are breaking that pattern of usage. This is not to say that all people would be better paying attention to driving, but more would be because it isn't the same "cognitive script" that you established talking on the phone at home.

In all reality, we do need to pay more attention while driving than we currently do. Me included.
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post #15 of 41
12/5/05 at 4:08am
Driving and using a cell phone is illegal in Greece too. I dont think that many people keep it though. I have been mad several times on drivers that are talking on cell phones and are driving on the left lane slow.
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