Yet another DUH! 4685

On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 01:21:13 +0000, Dave Head

Unfortunately it is far more distracting than most other activities, resulting in an extreme increase (300%) in risk.

Less. The main reason being that the people in the car are aware of the situation and know to shut their mouth when the situation requires it. On the phone most drivers think they have to continue yapping so the other party doesn't think they are being disrespected or ignored.

I didn't find any pbuttage in it that said that the aim was to ban cell phones. Could you please reference the exact pbuttage where it said so?

No.

Yes. And if you have even a shred of responsibility and common sense you don't do so even without a law against it.

Your kids have to be buckled in properly. If you do and you have brought them up halfway decent they won't constantly get in trouble. But even if they get in trouble, it is still your responsibility as a driver to pay attention to the road. There is enough time to discipline them when you get home or find a place to park.

Kids belong in the back seat. The back seat is the safest place in the car and was even long before airbags ever came along. And if you are so terminally stupid that you forget your kids in the back seat you deserve to rot in prison for the rest of your life. And you should not have been breeding in the first place.

Where did you get that nonsense from?

There was a study a while ago. The risk indeed increases but only by a tiny fraction of the increase due to cellphone use. One of the reasons of course being that even the stupidest ricer gets bored with fiddling with the radio constantly after a while, whereas cellphoniacs keep yakking for hours and hours.

Not me, that's for sure. I like the convenience of carrying around a phone. And if it rings while driving, the caller leaves voicemail if it is important and I can stop somewhere and call them back.

There are still going to be enough people who have cellphones. And don't tell me a cellphoniac like you would give up his coveted chatterbox just because he can't be on the phone when driving any more. I suspect you'd rather give up driving than your ear drug.

No one is trying to ban the cellphone. It's just like with guns. They are legal but you are not allowed to shoot someone with them. Cellphones are going to stay legal for the foreseeable future but you may not be allowed any more to put others' lives in jeopardy just because you have to gossip with your friends.

Most people I know are in the car only a fraction of the day but away from their landline at home for most of the day. I see people make phonecalls at stores, at work, on the street and even in restaurants. A cellphone ban in cars would have zero impact on the number of cellphones out there, but a significant positive impact on traffic safety.

Chris