Damn cell phones

Agree wholeheartedly! Ban the durned things completely; not even the hands free variety should be allowed.

But do it properly - petition your government wherever you are to do it, not the way you're suggesting.

How are you going to feel if you should happen to be driving by my place - and interrupt my call - and the call I was making was calling an ambulance for your child, or mother?

Ken

I'm in NY where they already passed laws against cell phone use, and it does nothing. There's still people all over the place using them.

Please spare me the "emergency" argument though. It's the same type of fear tactic that's lead the USA into our current ridiculous situation. The reality is that everyone is gabbing on their phones about clothes or who went out with who.

Ya, while you're at it, why not ban passengers in vehicles because they too can distract you from driving, with all their talking and carrying on. Hands free cell use is no different than talking to a passenger who is right next to you. Ya there are those who should not ever use a phone while driving, since they can't drive period. But to ban the use is ridiculous. I personally do not like taking a call while driving, I always make the passenger take the call.

So afraid to be alone that they have to be hooked to someone on a phone even in a crowded mall. Pathetic.

I've seen people eating, reading the paper hanging over the steering wheel, watching TV, trying to lite a smoke with the window down and many other things. Cell phones are not the problem, its the driver. I used to eat, talk on the CB radio and shift my manual transmission S10 and still manage to check my blind spot and signal before changing lanes which is a task some people can't even manage without distraction. What we need is stricter testing, I passed easily with one bad eye, if I were writing the rules I wouldn't allow me to pass without lenses (I have learned to compensate just like someone with hearing loss or someone in a wheelchair though)

I know this was a troll post but here's my thoughts on the matter. I'm in NY and there is a ban on hand-held cell phone use while driving. Not only is it not enforced enough but I often see officers breaking that exact law. I disagree with not allowing ANY cell use while moving, but the hands-free only should be more strongly enforced. I know the PD around here are not enforcing speed limits as strictly as they used to, especially the state police, so why not enforce the cell law.

I disagree with civilians installing a cell jammer in their personal vehicle. The ONLY reason the other driver's actions are any of your business are that they POTENTIALLY put you in danger. Cell phones are just the tip of the iceberg on this. What about changing radio stations, changing CDs, adjusting volume level, smoking a butt, talking to passengers, looking at the hot guy or gal walking on the sidewalk. I was nearly backed into by a person not paying attention. We were waiting at a light, road goes uphill to the intersection, person let off the brakes and was rolling back (manual transmission). I had to honk my horn to keep them from hitting me. No cell phone in use by them, just plain inattentivenes. I also saw a woman talking on the cell phone (hand-held) and smoking a cig, while driving a minivan with at least one child in the back. What hand was she using to drive then?

If the government were to ban ANY activity that distracts drivers we'd all be driving 1-seaters with no radio, cell towers would be taken down and every vehicle would be an automatic. I DO talk on the phone while driving sometimes (not often), but I have the hands-free and use it at those times.

My other pet peeve is cell use when doing business, like cashing out after dinner in a restaurant. I work in a restaurant, had a woman standing at the counter waiting to pay, she gave me a dirty look every time I took the next person behind her, she was on the phone conducting other business. Sorry, but if I'm not important enough to get off the phone so you can talk to me, you're not important enough for me to talk to at that time. I usually wait till the customer is done on the phone before helping them. I witnessed a woman eat lunch in our dining room while on the phone the entire time, with her child sitting right there. Every time she asked for something, we took A LONG time to get it for her, it's just RUDE. I hear that in NYC, you can be fined up to $500 for making, taking or continuing a cell call in a reastaurant.

Rant over

Agreed - Some of us do possess the mental ability, dexterity and competence to use a hands free cell phone while driving (about the same as a pilot using their radio headset). Just because there are some morons that don't know their limitations is no excuse to pass blanket laws that we all have to be limited by. Go look up the study that was done on the source of driver distraction- cell phones are low on the list. If you want to handle driver distraction, outlaw CD players and radios in cars. Those still cause more accidents than phones.

I've found that people that are hung up on cell phone usage while driving are usually the people that remember when a cell phone was a status symbol (everyone has them now- they're not "status" anymore) and are more angry about the flaunting of phone than the driving performance issue.

Every law that gets passed takes a little bit of everyone's freedom. If you want to squander yours, that's fine- but don't squander mine.

if it jams the phone and causes a lost signal, wont the typical idiot driver try to redial the number, distracting themselves even more? just a thought.

i want one of them strobes that turns stoplights green :)

or even stupider shit.

ive got a prepaid virgin mobile cell phone i carry with me, but it stays off. if i need to make a call, i wait til i get to where im going, then turn it on, make the call, turn it off.

drivers that are easily distracted probably shouldnt be allowed to carry passengers.

i had a friend years ago that would talk to me while hes driving, looking over at me and gesturing. i had to keep grabbing the "oh shit" handle and telling him to keep his eyes on the road.

so yes, good point. all drivers should be tested for retarded behavior before issuing a license.

Otto decided to join the conversation on 13 Aug 2004 with message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Yeah, instead they'd be fiddling with the thing (redialing, looking at the screen and not the road) trying to figure out what happened... sounds MORE dangerous to me ;-)

SoCalMike opined in news:UabTc.2063$TI1.353@attbi_s52:

no, that's NOT just a thought.That's exactly what would happen!

add to that the down-sides that OTHER guys have already suggested and you can come to only one conclusion:

That is...The poster is, IMO, just another self-righteous idiot that only sees things in black and white.... never considering side effects.

Keep your eyes on the road and not some other woman's bathroom habits...

(sorry, just seemed funny)

Nothing safe like a driver who is pissed off because he just got off from his important cell phone convesation.

Nor is anything safe like a cell phone user who is driving and desperately redialing because he got cut off and wants to get reconnected.

Jeff (...)

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I can top that easy. Back in the '70s I was driving through Riverside, CA at the then speed limit of 55 mph in the right lane on the freeway. To my amazement, a motorcycle passed me on the left with - get this - the driver leaning way back on a banana seat with his hands behind his head, steering with his feet!! I thought to myself "I am going to see this nut die right in front of my eyes". He gradually pulled away and disappeared around a curve. I kept looking for a bloody mess, but I never saw him again and never heard anything on the news.

The absolute dumbest thing I ever saw.

Maybe what we should start doing is make everyone who wants to use the phone while driving pass the driving test while talking on the phone to prove they are coordinated enough and can concentrate on the task at hand.

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Instead of gabbing, they'd be frantically redialing and causing even more of a hazard. Thank God you're not a lawmaker. This kind of brain dead thinking is all too common.