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Posted on 12/25/2005 3:13:57 AM PST by Libloather
Cell phones prove deadly
Contributor in 14 fatalities this year on Toll Road, police say
By Joshua Stowe
South Bend Tribune
Posted on Sun, Dec. 25, 2005
ELKHART – Nick Vilders sees his cell phone as a lifesaver.
The Orland man said he’s placed countless calls to stay awake while driving home after a day’s work as a building maintenance employee on the Indiana Toll Road.
“I have a cell phone, I ain’t gonna lie,” Vilders said.
Police and safety experts say Vilders’ attitude, while common, puts him at risk. They say it’s a mistake to think a person can safely juggle driving and talking on a cell phone, a claim many motorists, Vilders included, just don’t believe.
For First Sgt. Dennis Boehler of the Indiana State Police, the ongoing debate about cell phone safety is far from academic.
Boehler blames distracted drivers for the high number of fatal accidents on the Indiana Toll Road this year.
At least 14 people have died on the Toll Road this year, he said. That’s up from nine deaths last year and just four in 2003, he said.
Boehler said cell phone usage is the root cause of many accidents that police see – both fatal and non-fatal.
“Most accidents are caused by driver error,” he said. “People don’t multitask as well as they think they can.
“People are so busy these days that driving time is wasted time for them,” he said. “They’ve got to get ready for that next meeting,” often by making or taking a call.
Karen Aldana, a spokeswoman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, agreed.
“People casually talking on the phone while they’re driving, that creates a hazard for other drivers,” she said.
Like many motorists one spots in traffic, Vilders can’t do without his cell phone.
“Anymore, you can’t stop people from talking on their cell phone,” he said. “People are gonna do what they’re gonna do.”
Some drivers, such as Scott Mills of Cleveland, swear by hands-free technology.
Mills, who runs a leasing company, was returning from Minneapolis.
Armed with a BlackBerry and a headset clipped to his right ear, the businessman eyed the blustery conditions outside the Toll Road travel plaza where he’d stopped.
“When you’re driving someplace, you need to concentrate,” he said. “Definitely, having a hands-free (device), it’s a big help.”
It took Mills just seconds to demonstrate how he retrieves his BlackBerry from his belt, checks to see who’s calling and thumbs his keypad to accept or decline the call.
The sequence takes his eyes off the road for a brief moment, he said, but allows him to focus better than a typical cell phone would.
“It’s huge,” he said.
Although many motorists can’t refrain from calling, some do. Penny Holderbaun of Elkhart said she never reaches for her cell phone while driving to her job as a travel plaza cashier on the Toll Road.
“I don’t use my cell phone,” she said, even when she’s not on the road.
For those drivers who can’t resist the urge to phone a friend, Boehler said the best alternative is to pull over to a safe spot before calling.
“It’s not necessarily that they need to keep an eye on their own driving,” he said, “but they need to keep track of the vehicles around them.”
Boehler said he sees plenty of cell phone users while patrolling the Toll Road, something he doesn’t like but usually can’t do anything about.
Unless someone’s driving looks unsafe, he said, police can’t issue a ticket. The only thing they can do, he said, is try to warn people of the dangers cell phones pose on the road.
That won’t do much good, Vilders said, just as speed limits don’t slow lead-footed drivers.
“It’s everyday driving anymore,” he said.
Slower traffic keep right. And lose the passive-agressive attitude, it is unbecoming.
Slower traffic keep right is the law of the land in most places. A passive-agressive attitude is unbecoming.
If "woman yakking on a cell phone" has a wreck with a "crazy driving male", who's fault is it? I know who I'm betting on. Merry Chismas!
I see equal distribution of idiots on cell phones. You may see more women on cell phones, I see more males with risky driving such as tailgating, speeding & weaving through lanes, or a road hog. But they are no worse than the people looking for a turn-off or who just have poor judgement and bad reflexes.
Personally I call my husband on my way home from work, one-button speed-dial and talk on speakerphone. No less distracting than checking the spedometer or talking to a passenger.
Crashes are caused mostly by human error and that will continue regardless of cell phone use, and irrespective of gender.
I'm not talking about driving slower than the speed limit, I'm talking about speeding. All lanes have the same speed limit. Deny that.
As a women I agree with you 100%.....but we need to add a women on a cell phone while driving an SUV....same can be said for men too
Immigrant women driving with cell phones are a super menace. They are always terrible compared to American born. Man, do they chatter away in a car or out. Mindless chatter has been given a mega boost by the cell phone industry
It also infuriates me when on the expressway at rushhour during a snowfall doing 70 MPH I see an individual in a big honking SUV (which requires a much greater stopping distance) with his phone stuck in their ear tailgating the vehicle in front of them and then suddenly do a lane change in front of me. I see this every single morning and evening.
Sorry but I'm one of those people who believe that cellphone usage in a moving vehicle should be a ticketable offense......
I was listening to Rush that day and laughed myself silly! I cannot count how many females I see putting makeup on while driving! And the cell phones....! I saw a woman turn back to the back seat and hand someone a cell phone while driving through a stop sign! (I was entering the intersection at that time and laid on the horn.) She had the nerve to look at me with laser eyes! Amazing...!
Look for a full-court press on this - New Hampshire has pending legislation to go the way of New York, banning cell phone use while driving.
NYS's cell phone legislation is a joke. It's not enforced, and is just encouraging people to develop a greater contempt for the law. I agree with the law, BTW. But if they weren't going to bother to enforce it, it never should've been passed.
NYS just bans hand-held use, BTW. Snort.
Cell phone + SUV = deadly combination
It's a quagmire.
I am amazed at how many people do not realize this, let alone those who ignore it. In fact, Pennsylvania now has signs on the Turnpike that say it's the law, yet still people creep along in the fast lane.
The points made about cell phones keeping people alert is valid, though, also. Although pulling over when fatigued is a good idea, we don't always notice when we're getting that way, and calls can keep a person alert through the monotony. I recall from long ago hearing about a study that showed some people are more susceptible to monotony than others, and that truck driving could be a terrible career choice for the former!
I also think that people suffering from ADD benefit, as their minds go wild looking for stimulation and if they have another task, they can (rather "paradoxically") focus more on an important task when they have something else to stop their mind from wandering. It would be interesting to see if this is true for all types of ADD, or just the inattentive subtypes. Hard to do a PET scan while driving, though. :-)
Disclaimer: IANAP
What's that under the tree?
(I also don't own one, and never did, and never will...)
Frankly, not paying attention is the problem.
(Never wanted a cell phone, and only got one when I got kids. I get maybe one or two calls a month on the cell when I'm out, always from my wife, whose family learned to use the phone constantly to harass one another (can't stand that). When I need it, it can be a lifesaver, but normally, I don't.)
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