Feds: Ban all portable electronic devices in cars!

cydl wrote:

The Viking wrote:

cydl wrote: The best part is how will it be enforced? We supposedly have a law in place now about using cell phones/texting but that doesn't seem to stop anyone. I just saw an article somewhere the other day (don't remember where - sorry) that it's virtually unenforceable. Maybe the next step is to require some device like OnStar so that they can listen in to what we're doing in the car. Or maybe a camera. Makes me want to get an old 1960's beater from a salvage yard - no flight recorder, no computer, no worries!

Not only unenforcable but it has made driving less safe. People are still texting but now they are making sure they hold it lower than eye level and many times on their lap so people don't see it and they won't get a ticket. So now with the new law people are taking their eyes off the road for longer. People don't think when they make these laws.

Call me a Luddite, but what ever happened to just waiting until you get home to be on the phone? Okay, I'll settle for pulling over in a parking lot! What is so all-fired important that folks have to be talking on the phone while they're driving?

Luddite, it is a different time and a different world. There didn't use to be people stuck in traffic 2-3 hours a day either.

The Viking wrote: There didn't use to be people stuck in traffic 2-3 hours a day either.

I don't think anyone has a problem with someone using their phone while they're sitting, stuck in traffic. It's the drivers weaving through traffic at 70 miles an hour while texting that people wish would hurry up and kill themselves already. But people that oblivious and entitled aren't going to be stopped by a law anyway.

Viking, that's the nicest thing anyone has said to me all day. Bless you! tongue:

AV, true enough! I hate to see someone weaving all over the lane(s) like they're drunk. Drives me nuts!

THE SOCIALISTIC AMERICA

Hands-Free Phones are Just as Risky as Handsets, Research Says
Don't drive and…do basically anything with your cell phone .

You may be aware of the dangers of driving and texting, using mobile apps, or talking with a handset. But did you know that just talking--even on a hands-free device, such as a Bluetooth headset--is too distracting for most drivers?

New research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety suggests that talking on a phone, whether you're using a handset or a hands-free device, is just too distracting.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/246284/h ... _says.html


The MythBusters reveal whether talking on a cell phone while behind the wheel is as dangerous driving drunk. Season 3 Episode 20 (2005)

[youtube:3rtdc2wr][/youtube:3rtdc2wr]

CONCLUSION --> talking on a cell phone is worse than drunk driving

It doesn't do any good to pass new laws if you don't enforce the old ones. Every day I see people driving distracted by phones, food, pets and kids weaving all over the place. People speed and weaving in and out of traffic cuttingeople off. Put more patrolmen on the road and issue tickets to anyone who is not driving well. That's how you save lives.

I've been in several cities where the ban on "cellphones while driving (unless hands-free)" was in place. They never get enforced. A cop will pull up next to people who have the ubiquitous cellphone-to-the-ear, and they don't do anything. The only time it ever comes up was if there was an accident and it can be shown that one of the people involved was on the cellphone when it happened. They'll tack on the extra $250 as an afterthought. But primary enforcement?...Never....

AspenValley wrote: Yacking on a cellphone while driving is really, really dumb.

But so is this proposal.

I doubt it will pass, though.

Agreed on both counts. Of particular importance would be the ability to call for emergency help when needed.

Wily Fox aka Angela wrote: Hands-Free Phones are Just as Risky as Handsets, Research Says
Don't drive and…do basically anything with your cell phone .

You may be aware of the dangers of driving and texting, using mobile apps, or talking with a handset. But did you know that just talking--even on a hands-free device, such as a Bluetooth headset--is too distracting for most drivers?

New research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety suggests that talking on a phone, whether you're using a handset or a hands-free device, is just too distracting.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/246284/h ... _says.html


The MythBusters reveal whether talking on a cell phone while behind the wheel is as dangerous driving drunk. Season 3 Episode 20 (2005)

[youtube:3gzfvo2u]

[/youtube:3gzfvo2u]

CONCLUSION --> talking on a cell phone is worse than drunk driving

What I do realize is that whenever I get into traffic, I stop talking and have let my wife know that I need to concentrate. Defensive driving takes a lot of awareness of everything that is happening around you, anticipating what someone might do, plus a constant plotting of escape routes.

I just don't see how hands-free talking is any more dangerous than having smokes, food/drink, a yacky passenger or kids/ a wandering pet, or anything else that could cause the driver to be distracted. The law wouldn't bother me since I hate talikng on the phone for any reason, but it's just not enforceable given 90% or more own cell phones and so many seem to be addicted to them.