🚀 go-pugleaf

In co.general Bri <noone@noplace.com> wrote:
> The real problem is when you must use your eyes and hands for something
> other
> than driving.  This means dialing or holding the telephone to your ear.  

Shall we also make it illegal to turn on the defroster, flip down the
sun visor, shift gears, and other necessary operations which also
take your hand away from driving the car, or will you limit it 
to unnecessary things like using the phone, adjusting the radio
or your seat or the steering wheel, scratching yourself, etc?

If
> you are
> going to outlaw talking on the telephone while driving you might as well
> outlaw
> talking period.  I do not believe that outlawing talking in the car is
> enforcable.

> If you do not have to dial and you do not have to hold the telephone, then
> it is
> no different then having a conversation with a passenger.

> I would like to see whatever studies Dan references.  I am talking about
> common
> sense and my experience and I could care less about any studies.  

Yes, I'm sure your guesses are much more reliable than any study.
Who does the National Highway Transportation Association think they're
fooling when they claim "situational awareness" is the real cause
of increased crashes while using a cellphone?

> No study
> needs to
> be done to determine that using a cell phone in the car is dangerous.  Just
> start
> marking on a book how2 many people drive like idiots when attempting to dial

> and/or holding the telephone to their ear.  Then notice the increase in
> driving
> ability when they hangup.  If you are a cell phone - driver, pay attention
> to yourself.

Actually, that would be a study... albeit a poor one.

Using your reasoning, I conclude that SUVs cause people to
drive poorly as well because I've certainly seen more SUV drivers
acting like idiots than drivers of other vehicles.


> My experience is that people that hold the phone to their ear and have to
> look
> down to dial are not paying  attention to the road.  However, I might agree
> that
> having a conversion on a  handfree cell phone is as distracting as having a
> conversation with the person next to you (assuming you never look at the
> passenger).

The NHTSA claims that dialing is as disctracting as operating the
stereo, and keep in mind that dialing is NOT an act limited to
handheld phones just as voice-operated dialing is not limited
to handsfree phones.

-DanD

-- 
#  Dan Duncan (kd4igw)  spambait@frottage.com  http://pcisys.net/~dand
# Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead.
# 		Benjamin Franklin
#