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Cell Phones and Driving "Please Read"

At least in NE it's illegal for teens to be on phone while driving...not that it stops them. Also against base policy to use w/o hands-free on base - still see tons of violators. Hate to say it, but some people will do what they please - no matter what the rule/law states. Just got to hope/pray nothing ever happens to your family/friends w/all the "mighter than law" people on the road.
 
While there are some people that can handle yaking on the phone and driviing, it's clear that some cannot. I have had several near misses when the driver has been using a cellphone to either talk or text and it really burns me up because most of the times they are oblivious to was has just happened. Followed one guy that was a delivery person for a local fast food resturant and spoke to him and his manager about his near miss, I only hope it sunk in!
 
for some reason people can't talk and drive at the same time... I don't understand why, when you have people in the car with you, you talk and drive but put a cell phone to your ear and it drains all the I.Q. out of you :)


The reason is, when you talk on a phone, besides listening to the voice you are also visualizing. Watch a person talk on a phone. Their eyes are not always focused on anything. They are looking away, wandering around or even closed at times. They are thinking of what is being said and forming mental pictures and thoughts. This happens less when driving but the more you talk while driving the more likely it becomes.
So do not skydive while talking on a cell phone.:D
This does not happen often face to face as you have the person right in front of you to interact with, although with less stimulating dialog it can sneak up on you.:coffee
 
I am torn on this issue. While I have had very close situations with driver's obviously on cell phones, I have also had 2 instances where a driver was staring at the GPS unit (that I see in most vehicles now). Cell phones are a clear distraction from the task at hand and they are an easy target if you have one up to your ear, but the same goes (in my opinion) for Bluetooth devices, CB's, sat nav's, fighting childern in the back seat.... Has anyone else been bumped into in a store by someone squawking into a bluetooth headset? So, is there an extra fine for the mother who turned around to get a grip on a youngster and drifts in to me, just like being distracted on a cell phone? Distracted is distracted, isn't it?

I have observed police (state and local) talking on cell phones while on duty, in a patrol car as well as typing on the computers they carry, weaving lanes. I argue they are not any better than I am at "multi-tasking" on the highway, at speed. Do they get a pass?

This has good intentions but it will mutate into a money generator, similar to seat belt laws and helmet laws. Even the red light cameras that were supposed to make us safer:
Public Safety For Sale Contact A Florida Legislator : Liberty Underground
No decrease in "angle accidents in intersections" and a marked increase in rear end collisions (think about that on a MC), all while while generating revenue.

Again in my opinion, while there are dire consequences, especially for folks on MC's, until an "accident" happens, have you harmed anyone? To me the penalty should be applied when an event happens: meaning your carelessness has injured someone else. If you smack a tree because you are on a cell phone, I could care less. To me, a $1000 fine says that you can still talk on a cell phone if you have the $$$. If you really want it to stop, make it a real penalty: $1,000,000 fine, 5 years in prison and you lose the priviledge to drive forever and enforce it. The point is that you could really reduce it if that was the intent. Apply that fine to drinking and driving and see what happens. To me you can drive drunk, blind folded and talking on a cell phone. The moment you injure someone else, you are on the hook.
 
I'm with you TBone!! I've been driving almost as long as you... and riding motorcycles even longer. You can't legislate stupidity.
 
Head on a swivel folks. The horse is out of the barn. Cell phones, gps, in dash navigation systems, in-dash tv's front and rear, eating, late for work, foreigners in the country who have no license, no insurance who are driving the streets. You should see the video's they're showing down here on the evening news of people running red-lights in major intersections in the tampa, fl area. Your jaw will literally drop to the floor. And they're fussing because the local govt is putting in traffic light camera systems. Head on a swivel.
 
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