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Phones, traffic linked

People use cell phones while driving mainly because of pure selfishness. Their time and concerns are more important than anyone or anything else, including the safety of those around them. Unfortunately courtesy and common sense are getting to be in short supply. Somehow mankind survived and even thrived before the advent of cell phones, surely we can get along without talking on them while we maneuver a couple tons of steel loaded with highly volatile fuel at high speeds around other tons of steel loaded with more highly volatile fuel going at high speeds.

Cell phone drivers and many users tipify the " The world revolves around me" attitude. I do not want to hear your personal life dramas and cell phones record calls you do not answer.

People use cell phones while driving because of convenience. Talking while driving is a great way to make more efficient use of the time. If I spend twenty minutes talking while driving, I've saved twenty minutes over the forty minutes it would take to drive then talk once I arrive. That's a huge savings compared to the 19 second delay from driving very slightly slower. Let's see a study on that benefit to society.

If everyone talked on their phones while driving then everyone would enjoy that time savings and their lives would be better.

How does talking on a hands free cell while driving differ from talking to other people in the car? I doubt it's very different. If so it would make any cell phone driving legislation, as well as the bumber stickers, very unfair.

Other studies have shown that driving while holding and talking on a cell is no more impairing than driving while eating a hot dog. Should we legislate and make bumper stickers against that? Whine at any driver who does it? I hope not. We need to accommodate other drivers and their needs, even if it slows us down by one second per minute.

No Worries,

Actually, the most recent study conducted at the University of Utah (iirc) showed that talking on a cell phone was as likely, or more so, to cause an accident than being over the .08 BAC required for a DUI conviction.

I admit I do it if I'm expecting a call from my kid, for example. Then again, I also tailgate the heck out of the person in front of me if s/he is on the phone and not keeping up w/ traffic. How is that for rational behavior?!?!?

I have lost count the number of times I have seen someone being rear ended by someone talking on the cell phone. I think that it should be illegal to talk on the cell phone whilst driving. Unless it is a hands free set. Modern technology has made driving easier, but you still need two hands to control a vehicle, especially in traffic. That includes eating a hot dog or drinking a soda etc. When a driver participates in other activities whilst driving he or she places others at risk. If you don't believe me, just try getting a vehicle out of a skid with one hand.

Just hang up the phone and drive. Why don't they pass a law like they did in Washington DC get caught driving get a fine of $100.00 first offense 2nd $200.00 3rd $300.00. Every State should be doing it.

I admit I rear-ended someone just because in reaching for my cellphone, it fell to the ground and I bent to get it, rolling gently into the car ahead of me. I was devastated.
The scariest driver I ever saw was traveling while smoking with her left hand out the window, and talking on her cell with her right. Really scary!
I hope they do outlaw talking & driving -- I've seen what can happen when I let myself be distracted by my cellphone while driving, and I've seen how dangerous others can be -- yikes!
Please, let's hang up & just drive! Losing your life, or costing someone else theirs isn't worth 20 minutes saved somewhere else -- what if you don't make it there?!

There may be a place drivers don't ever talk on cellphones, but it's not in America.

Legislation will never pass making them illegal because then it would also have to be illegal to drive and eat a Big Mac or Whopper, etc, and some very large companies' lobbyists ain'ta gonna let that happen.
Shaving, putting on makeup, tying a tie, all are just as risky.

Bluetooth and other hands-free devices help, and voice dialing technology is getting better fast.

I had one of the first car cellphones, around 1982, and cops would pull up beside me and watch if I was talking. Never did get pulled over, though I heard of others challenged.
We did report a lot of speeding and dangerous drivers; maybe more good done than harm?

I carry a club in my car for the express purpose of beating to a pulp, anyone who hits me because they were distracted by talking on a cell phone while driving.

No Worries,
Your time is not worth anyone's life. Get a clue.

I avoid talking on my cell phone on the freeway because I am one of the vast minority of drivers who drive the speed limit, 65. YES, I DRIVE IN THE RIGHT-HAND LANE. The maniacs who are driving 85+ have 3 other lanes to go around me.

I don't talk on my cell phone because I don't want everyone jumping to the conclusion that I am going "slow" because I'm on my phone. I am driving safely. Whether I am on my phone or not has nothing to do with my speed. I will go 65 regardless. It is safer and better on gas mileage at the same time.

So all of you road-raged drivers who tailgate me and harrass me to move over- I'm already in the right-hand lane, I will not speed up for you, and by the way- get off YOUR phone. Go endanger someone else's life- not mine- and save your precious 19 seconds of time.

This article is flawed in that it doesn't define what speed the supposed "slow people" on their cell phones are driving. If they are driving 65, the fault should be with everyone else who is breaking the law by speeding.

No worries,
Seems that the "world revolves around you". Seems like you meant we need to accomodate you. How about the talk time savings vs. the loss of life. How equitable is that?

Our lives would be a lot better without cell phones in general, not just driving. We're reachable for work all the time, half the calls we take or make aren't wanted. They're only good for emergencies. Oh and they're making us think of personal conversations in terms of task efficiency. That's no good either.