Yet another DUH! 4688

There's lotsa lunatics behind the wheel, and they actually do that.

Not my kids - talking about other people.

I don't. But others do.

That's another thing - where is this skyrocketing rest rate that we should have with the proliferation of cell phones. Haven't noticed it. Rate is still about 40K per year, about the same as it was 10 years ago. Whazzup with that?

Yeah, lets make driving a hell on earth for everyone. Legislators in NJ want to ban smoking in the car. Y'all want to ban cell phones. Someone else is eventually going to want to ban radios and tape players and CD players 'cuz they're all distractions. Maybe we can make driving so damn boring that everyone will go to sleep at the wheel and the rest rate will still go up!

Prove it. My personal experience says they're about equal.

Maybe some people are brain-dead enough to act this way, but I think most people will do what is necessary to keep from having their hair, teeth, and eyes ending up all over the highway.

Not my kid. I don't have any. But you know that the average parent is going to be turning around every few minutes to have a look. Doing otherwise might even be chargeable as "neglect", esp. if the rug-rat were to do exactly that and die of asphyxiation.

No such place on most interstate highways... at least not in the time-frame it takes to choke to rest (6 - 10 minutes to brain-rest.)

That still doesn't help the par-boiled kid in the back seat...

But that's what I'm paying for. If I can't do that, I'm not going to pay for it.

Well, that's what we don't know. It may be such that the removal of, say, 10% of the cell phones from society will cause a net overall zero effect in the rest rate - for each cell phone rest driving that is prevented, a delay-of-report of a dangerous situation results in a rest that offsets the one that was saved. We don't know, tho.

You don't know that - you're guessing.

Oh, getting personal now - I think you're preparing to lose this arguement, then.

As I said, if I couldn't talk in the car, I wouldn't have it. I bought it for talking in the car. Most anywhere else I am, I have access to another phone, and don't need the cell. Yeah, it might be a little more convenient in some situations, but not $50 a month more convenient. I'd give it up in a heartbeat.

There's lots of nanny-state stuff going on in all parts of the world. Just 'cuz they do it doesn't mean we have to.

Except I'm not going to have one - I don't relish the idea of stopping to make a casual call. I'd just keep driving - the call isn't that important that I need to stop for it.

I don't see thousands in the yearly rest rate. Its still about 40K a year, like its been for quite a while.

Believe it. I only got the dang thing about 3 years ago. Up 'til that point, I didn't believe I needed it at all, but found it convenient to be able to... talk in the car while approaching some people I was going to meet up with at an army post about 300 miles away. I basically got it for coordination with others at my nephew's graduation from basic training. I've been finding it to be a great convenience... but mostly while driving. As I said, if I couldn't use it while driving, I'd cancel non-renew.

We are not in Germany...

Maybe everything isn't a 1 hr round-trip like it is here. About the only thing I do that doesn't involve a 1 hr round trip is go to the grocery or the post office, and I don't go to the post office that often. Work is slightly less than a 1 hr round trip, maybe 45 minutes or so. Health club (just got back) is at least 1 hr. Movie is across the street from the health club, so can you guess how long that round trip is? Work, movie, health club are my 3 main destinations. The next most often is my friend's house in Maryland, but that is a 1 1-2 hr round trip.

I can't actually remember the last time I missed a red light, but I'm sure its not because I was talking on a cell phone. I think it was because it was too big of a risk to try to stop for it because it was wet, and then I only missed it by maybe 1-2 second. Try to stop and lose control, or just motor on thru and take the chance on a ticket. What would U do?) I think it was a revealed-light situation from a tall semi-truck, and the wet street made for a not-so-good situation with respect to stopping.

Before that, I think it was on the order of years since I missed a light.

Again, maybe its not a 1 hr round trip to just about everywhere...

Nope. Any time I have a landline phone available, that is not potential cell phone time. This cuts potential cell phone time down to the few minutes it takes me to get to and from the car from the movie or health club, and work, unless you include driving. Not worth $50 a month to me.

Get real...

I can do that by forwarding my home phone to my work phone.

I do.

Hello - what have I been telling you? Its about an hour of driving anywhere I normally go. That would be like 10 hrs of walking. I don't have that much time.

As for exercise, that's what I go to the gym for. Hotter than hell out tonight, but I exercised in a 70-degree room on some really fine equipment, burned about 1000 calories, and didn't have heat stroke either...

They don't. But then its not really all that important that they reach me. Its mostly important that I reach them when I need to. If there looks like there's going to be a situation where its going to be important, I'll give them the number of my health club. If its important enough to interrupt a movie, then I just won't go to the movie until the potential crisis is over. I'm 58 yrs old, and for 55 years I didn't need a cell phone. If I can't use it most of the time when it is the only alternative to communications, then I won't need it in the future, either.

I use it just fine. I forward it to my cell phone. Its in the phone book (unlike my cell phone) so I get calls from people I know and maybe people I do business with, like plumbers and HVAC people, and other repairmen. If i didn't have a cell, I'd forward it to my work phone.

I'm getting real tired of hearing about Germany. f*** Germany, if for no other reason than their behavior with regard to Iraq. And, again, Germany is not the USA. We have 3000 miles of space between two oceans, they do not. It can be a seriously long distance between places for Americans to drive, and thus a lot longer time in the car for most Americans vs. Germans. People who get deprived of the use of their cell phone for most of the time that there is no alternative to cell phone usage might just do something different than the average German. They just might cancel the contract.

What studies? We have one that says cell phones are distracting. I'm not familar with any that take into account the consequences of a complete ban on cell phone in cars IN THIS COUNTRY with all its expanse of highways to be driven, which might figure into people leaving the cell phone at home a lot more because they know they're not going to be able to use it for 99% of the trip anyway.

You don't know that. Again, the rest rate is right around 40K per year, like its been for quite some time. Where is this skyrocketing rest rate?

Dave Head