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Not in the least. I was on a highway on-ramp today and the Volkswagen New Beetle in front of me was going excruciatingly slow and NOT accelerating! Wondering what was going on, I take a better look.....she's PLAYING with her phone. Gaaaaaah.
Driving home just now, saw an SAPD officer on his own cell phone. I'd imagine police officers would work much better with a Bluetooth device, wouldn't they? Or do they have other devices to deal with?
What allows laws like this to be created is that AFAIK NO state considers driving a 'right', that being the case they can legislate it any way they please.
Certain safety factors are OK. Seatbelts, thats a personal choice.
I own my car, I paid for it, why would the government need to come in an put something in it that I dont agree with such as a cell phone blocking device. Its mine, not theirs. Just regulate the potential consequences of causing harm to somebody else if you choose to use and educate. This gets deeper then just driving. Schools once taught how to think and make decisions. Now kids are taught what to think. Older generations were on their own, they had to make good choices to survive. Nowadays, you can make any choice, good or bad, gooberment will bail you out. The sacrifice is giving in to them and allow them to make you think they can pass all these laws to make you safe. It's all rubbish.
Start young, teach how to think and make good choices.
To be completely cynical and morbid, who cares if they endanger lives. Human population is always growing, so I think we're doing a perfectly fine job protecting people from the dangers of driving a car, from the dangers of guns, from the dangers of medical illness.
We can't and we shouldn't go around controlling when and where people should use their phone to the point of turning them off when they're driving.
Otherwise at that point, we should also control when and where people urinate and defecate, procreate, when they sleep, and when they eat.
Having a law is okay. After that, if they decide to break the law, that's their fault.
wah wah boo hoo people will die in cell phone related crashes and people will also die from a car that is driving perfectly lawfully. I'm not saying I wouldn't be sad if it was my family member and that I wouldn't be angry, but we can't be totalitarian about our society.
Cars are generally getting safer and safer. That is enough for me.
I'm kind of tired of all the cell-phone etiquette nonsense to be honest with you. I think people are becoming really ridiculous about it, & frankly I think it's just a thing that it's become fashionable or hip for some reason to bash cell phone users. Look at all the posts & comments people make SCREAMING about how they think people are too attached to their phone & we ought to ban them practically everywhere. It isn't just about the noise, they're mad and think it's their business just that people are in their mind too attached to them personally. They take offense even if it doesn't affect them any at all.
Thus, we pick on texting-while-driving etc while ignoring eating, drinking, staring at an attractive woman jogging on the sidewalk, applying make-up, excessive contact with the audio system or maps/GPS etc, referring brats in the backseat who won't behave.
To me, a distraction is a distraction is a distraction. I don't care what the distraction is, all I care about is if another driver is paying attention or if they're choosing to be too engrossed in some other activity & thus aren't paying attention and are weaving into my lane. It matters not if they're too engrossed into their stereo, their phone, their kids, or that hot female jogging near the road wearing a tank-top without a bra while the goodies are jiggling & with shorts 3/4rds of the way above her knees. What matters is they're not paying attention to the road.
I remember in the 90s when I used to wire my portable CD player through my car's cassette player vs getting a proper in-dash CD-based system. The player was bad about skipping so I'd lay it in my lap. I'd swap disks while driving & would pay too much attention to the care of the disks because I didn't want to scratch them (this was before CD burning to say nothing of before MP3 players). I would weave all over the place doing that & darn near wrecked numerous times. I once rammed onto the curb after accelerating at a stop light because a cute girl in another car was flirting with me from the left lane & I tried to look at her & talk to her while driving.
At the time I also had a "bag phone," and never came close to crashing.
I guess what im trying to say is that I cant get pulled over for holding a bottle of water in my hand with one hand on the wheel while using bluetooth but I will get pulled over for holding a cell phone to my ear with one hand on the wheel. My windows are always down and my arm is almost always propped up and I always only have one hand on the wheel and that wont get me pulled over.
The conversation is the distracting part..focusing on your voicemail and such takes your focus away from the road. It sounds like youd like voice activated windshield wipers, shifters, radios, windows, etc. All of these manual functions on a car wont get you pulled over...but even if I just had a cell phone in my hand and was not talking on it, I would still get pulled over.
Some people can drive 100% while talking, unfortunately there is a large number that cant and they are the ones that allow laws like this to be created in the first place.
The verbal conversation is not the issue. Its the actions that happened before the conversation started is the issue. You take your eyes off the road to manually use the functions of the phone. Thus even if you have Bluetooth for conversing, you can still get ticketed for touching the phone.
As to the other functions of the car voice is not required. Most have sensors to do it for me and the technology has existed for over a decade. Headlights have sensors to know if its day or night, windshield has a sensor to know if its raining, cars shifting is mostly automatic and the computer adjusts the throttle for inclines/declines, radio controls are on the steering wheel, window switch is finally in a position where one doesn't have to look for it. All these do not take your eyes off the road.
BTW is most states you can get a reckless driving ticket for too much multitasking while driving. It falls under failure to control your vehicle safely.
The verbal conversation is not the issue. Its the actions that happened before the conversation started is the issue. You take your eyes off the road to manually use the functions of the phone. Thus even if you have Bluetooth for conversing, you can still get ticketed for touching the phone.
As to the other functions of the car voice is not required. Most have sensors to do it for me and the technology has existed for over a decade. Headlights have sensors to know if its day or night, windshield has a sensor to know if its raining, cars shifting is mostly automatic and the computer adjusts the throttle for inclines/declines, radio controls are on the steering wheel, window switch is finally in a position where one doesn't have to look for it. All these do not take your eyes off the road.
BTW is most states you can get a reckless driving ticket for too much multitasking while driving. It falls under failure to control your vehicle safely.
I take my eyes off the road often to check mirrors and blind spots. The difference is that most people that look at their phone to dial or read a text does it way to long. I've seen reports and studies that show anywhere between 3-6 seconds. Driving that long with your peripheral is not good. My phone, right from the unlock screen, all I have to to is speak to it to tell it who to call. I do all this without looking at it. But, I may only take or make one or two calls a month while driving.
Quote:
Originally Posted by plmokn
No but technology could.
If a human officer does not witness it, i can get out of it. Speed cameras and red light cameras are all to easy to get out of.
My phone, right from the unlock screen, all I have to to is speak to it to tell it who to call. I do all this without looking at it. But, I may only take or make one or two calls a month while driving.
My smartphone locks the screen so it can't be unlocked via one hand operation while the car is in motion. As I said, Its 100% Bluetooth paired and there is absolutely no reason/need to touch it (even texts can be turned on to come through via voice, but I don't do any texting while driving).
This was my proposal in another thread concerning the same subject
"Texting while driving is illegal in many states, but without strict enforcement, the law is worthless.
After watching the video, I began to give this mobile phone business some serious thought, and I just may have hit on something.
I am so serious about this, that on Monday, I am going to contact Intel.
They are based in northern California.
Seeing as where enforcement is just about non-existent, there has to be another way to get people too stop using their phones while driving, and walking.
Not much is said about it, but many are hurt and injured every day while using their phone while walking.(especially in large cities where there are many people on the sidewalks.)
As I said, I have given this some thought, and here is what I propose.
First off, a government mandate that ALL mobile devices with a key board be banned from production, and banned from importing to this country.
A government mandated recall of ALL devices with a keyboard.
Government mandates have been around for years, (ie.) seat belts, air bags, crash proof, energy absorbing bumpers on vehicles, just to name a few.
Second, numbers only on All mobile devices, no letters.
We live in a digital world, so let's keep it that way.
Third, and this is the most stringent of them all(and the reason I am going to talk to someone at Intel).
I want to see if Intel, or some company, can come up with a chip that can be placed in all future mobile devices that will work just the opposite of a motion detector.
All motion detectors work on the principal of activating a device, be it a light, elevator door, etc., when ever something comes into the line of sight for the device.
My idea is to have a chip installed in mobile devices that will de-activate the device and lock it when it senses any motion, beyond the motion of picking up the device to use it.
If the device were placed on a car seat, it would sense the motion of the moving vehicle, and lock out of activation.
The same would hold true when walking with the device.
Movement of the body would place the device in lock down mode.
The only times the device would work would be when there is no movement, and this system would also apply to hands free systems already used in many vehicles.
I believe in this age of advanced technology, this chip could be made, and installed in ALL mobile devices.
To say this would cut down on the deaths and injuries by irresponsible users of these devices, would be an understatement.
Some will scream that it is "big brother" once again interfering in our daily lives, but perhaps it is something that needs to be done.
I am sure when safety devices were mandated for vehicles, there were those who screamed in outrage, and I fully expect there will be some of that same screaming with this proposal.
The object would be to stop people from using their mobile devices when it is dangerous to do so.
If it is going to save lives I say let's do it."
Bob.
I like where you're going with this, I'm just concerned of the impact it would have on private businesses. I'd like to see a more legislative approach, perhaps instituting the death penalty for breaking this law. All it'll take is a few high profile executions and people will get the message!
Like you, I think if this approach saves even one life it's worth the cost!
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