Copyright date on the manual is 1998-- handsfree mike, gel cell- so it is portable. My wife, in that unique way women have with words, calls it "your lovely matching handbag..."
Posted on 06/17/2005 9:04:22 PM PDT by CHARLITE
The lesson is, unless it's a real emergency, stay off the phone while driving! Why is that such a hard concept for so many to get? I first wrote about this problem in a March 2001 column titled, "Get Off The Phone," and things have gotten a lot worse since then. It seems that at least half of all drivers I see are on a cellphone these days, while sometimes drinking coffee or doing other things at the very same time.
The study was done over a period of one year and kept track of 100 cars and drivers. Cellphones and other wireless devices contributed to more crashes, near-crashes and other incidents than did other distractions, the government study found. The vast majority of the dangerous occurrences (including the crashes) happened while drivers were on the phone listening and talking rather than dialing a phone number. See, it's not always about keeping one's hands on the steering wheel; it's really about devoting one's attention to driving the car.
Talking while driving, especially if one is engaged in lively conversation, puts your head in a different place and diverts your attention from the road. The report sited the next biggest distraction after cellphone talking and listening, was what they called "passenger-related" issues, including talking to a fellow passenger and dealing with children in the back seat.
People are on the phone while shopping, while walking, while driving, while working, while barbequing, while babysitting, while bathing, while ….well, you name it! In fact, about the only two activities I can think of where it's impossible to be on the phone are sleeping and swimming under water, and I'm not altogether sure of the last one. If there isn't already some sort of devise for phoning under water, then there will be soon.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
It's hard because the people engaged in the activity are delusional.
Another report posted here at FR concluded that "Incompetence is Bliss" and these losers are convinced that they can successfuly divide their attention between discussing a TV program on the phone and controlling 2500 pounds of steel and plastic hurtling along the freeway in heavy traffic (and usually following too closely, erratic speed changes and wandering along the lane).
You'd think getting into an accident would give them a clue.
Some guy talking on a cell phone nearly hit us two days ago--had to slam on the brakes to avoid a collision. He never knew we were even there, much less how close he came to causing an accident. Just kept on talking & driving down the road.
I don't have the need to go away from my workstation to talk to others often, but when I do, my rule is: pick up that cell phone if it rings, and I'm outta there, even if it happens in mid sentence.
A few months ago I saw a BMW that was bent upward, from front to back, so that the front and rear bumpers were within 18" of touching each other. It must have slid on its side before hitting a pole or tree about smack in the middle of the roof. Needless to say it was marked ex cellphone user. The cell user cars are almost always completely demolished.
The report on driver distractions by the Joint State Government Commission, a bipartisan legislative research group, was completed in December. It found that 3.5 percent of crashes reported to police statewide during 1999 and 2000 were at least partially attributed to distractions. Only a tiny fraction -- 0.4 percent -- was specifically tied to cell phones.
http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20020306cell0306bnp3.asp
Twits.
The guy who almost hit us did a stop n' go at a stop sign, didn't look when he stopped because he was obviously engrossed in a telephone conversation, and made a left turn in front of us. We had right of way--thru traffic w/ no stop sign.
Happens to me all the time on the 101 in the San Fernando Valley, which I drive every day. I'm always watching cell phone drivers, and they never have a clue where they are.......not even what lane they're in, or who is around them. They simply are lost in their own space. I'm amazed that the study seemed to show only a very small % of accidents being caused by cell phone users.
Maybe it's because those of us who don't talk on the phone and drive at the same time, are skillful enough drivers to do these people favor after favor of which they're all oblivious. We avoid having accidents with them, and they never know how close they came to smash-ups.
Char
Copyright date on the manual is 1998-- handsfree mike, gel cell- so it is portable. My wife, in that unique way women have with words, calls it "your lovely matching handbag..."
Not to worry, they can't either. They try it anyway.
What the heck do they talk about anyway?
Cell phones aside, almost got creamed once by a woman who was driving and reading a magazine at the same time. I kid you not.
Some woman on a cell blew right threw a stop sign at 35 miles an hour about 20 feet from my car. I could tell by how fast she was going as I approached the intersection that she wasn't going to stop, so I did, even though I had no stop sign. If I hadn't she would have clocked me a good one right in my driver door. You can also forget about a turn signal from any of these idiots, since they can't work the lever with one hand on the wheel, and one on the phone.
I'm amazed that the study seemed to show only a very small % of accidents being caused by cell phone users.
Well, the study was done 1999-2000--lots fewer cell phone users then, clunky suitcase phones & generally before the mega-minutes plans. And, just guessing--might have involved substantial financial underwriting by some big cell phone companies?
Luckily for the idiots that almost hit all of us, none of us were talking on a cell phone.
Not only are people that drive and yak on cell phones a pain in the ass,the same goes for the ones who bring them to work and stay on them constantly.We have an epedemic of that where I work.The truck drivers had to sign a paper stating they understood that cell phones were banned while driving our trucks.Do you think they paid that any mind.Hell no.We've had a driver turn his truck over while on a cell phone.These are cement mixers now,with a full 10 yard load.It took four wreckers and a $4000 bill to pull it upright.Of course the driver denied it and kept his job.Half the time we get complaints from the customers that they can't get our drivers off their cell phones long enough to get their mud off the truck while they're waiting to unload.
talking with another passenger
disciplining unruly children in the car
eating?
I'm as down on distracted drivers as the next guy, but in the absence of any evidence that talking on a cell phone is worse than many other distractions that drivers (voluntarily) cope with, why focus on cell phones?
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