List of countries that ban cellphone use while driving Interesting list of countries that ban cell phone use while driving. A keepr for the frequent traveller.
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THE paper that shows driving while on a cell phone is worse than drunk driving (Abstract)
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Inside the city limits of Santa Fe, it’s a $60 fine. Then you get court costs bringing it up to $100. Out here in the county, Nada.
Everybody *knows* that cellphone use while driving is distracting. The American attitude is always to keep doing wrong until someone dies.
Someone has to DIE so people would stop being selfish. I’ve seen so many near misses. Even cellphone use when walking on public streets should be banned. I’ve seen pedestrians yapping and walk straight into crosswalks where cars are moving.
I really believe technology will kill the human species.
Remember not to change the radio station or the envromental settings it has been shown that those cause more accidents then cell phones. Any thing th distracts you or takes your eyes off the road will be dangerous, there are some that look at cell phones only because they are anti-cell phones.
David,
I’m a long-distance commuter… 2 hours each way, every day, going on 9 years. I’ve seen people swerve, drive too slow, drive too fast, tailgate, weave, blow through stop signs, and change lanes without looking or signaling.
I’ve also seen other people who HAPPEN to be on a cell phone do the very same things.
Cell phones don’t make bad drivers. Bad drivers make bad drivers.
Enforce the wreckless driving laws, and leave the responsible, good drivers to talk if they wish.
I have yet to see someone driving fully competently while talking on a cellphone.
Tailgating, driving in the bikelanes, camping at green stoplights, and changing/crossing lanes without signaling or looking. They become oblivious of the surrounding world except for the 20 feet in front of the car and the person on the phone.
Yes, yes, people will say “Well you don’t notice the good ones cuz they are driving so well.” Perhaps (doubtful). But it’s usually pretty obvious when they’re talking on the phone cuz either their head is tilted or their arm is sticking out holding the phone up.
C’mon, it’s not rocket science.
In this day and age bad drivers are rule NOT the exception. That’s with or without a phone attached to their ear.
Charlie.
Good point. My answer would be that talking on a cell phone only makes mediocre drivers bad and bad drivers worse still. On the open highway this may be less of a problem, but in traffic you need all your attention on the road.
I too usually drive long distances to get to work and back and have witnessed the same as you. In my opinion, the worse drivers are women in a BIG SUV with a cell phone up their ear and 85 yr olds women driving a Cadillac when they can’t see over the dash. Sexists, but my observation.
Here’s an example where government needs to fix this problem because private industry can’t or won’t.
Cell phones are here to stay and we need to deal with them. Here’s my proposal:
* All new cars must have hands-free connections built-in which are the only legal way to talk and drive. These limit calls to 90 seconds.
* All major roads need to have telephone pull-over spaces every few miles.
* A 20-year long “pull over to talk” campaign like the “buckle up” of yesteryear. (finananced by the cell industry. )
Eventually it will become socially unacceptable to drive while on the cell phone. As the years progress, penalties for talking and driving increase.
But, of course, our lazy, weak and bought-off government will never do something so proactive.
A cellphone conversation is completely different from listening to the radio or adjusting the AC, and anyone that dooesn’t realize that is a complete moron. A conversation is interactive, requiring close attention, processing of information, decision making, formulation of response, emotional input, visualization of discussion and all of those other things that require a significant amount of the brain’s attention.
Look around and almost invariably the driver that is driving too slow, wandering into your lane, missing his exit and changing lanes at the last moment, failing to start or stop in appropriately, that driver is yakking away on the phone, completely unaware of his/her surroundings.
Studies have shown that hands-free phones make little difference, since it’s not dialing the phone that is the problem, it is talking on the phone while driving that is the problem.
GregAllen,
I get it; I can talk, but not too long, is that? What of those using Sprint/Nextel’s PTT … are they monitored, too?
‘All major roads’ needing pull-off areas… in the NE, it’s hard enough to get major roads to have decent sholders to begin with! The PA Tpk authority has recently began a major effort to put a concrete median between East/West and North/South lanes… and you expect funding for cell phone users?
Again I ask: why do you insist on raising penalties for talking? It’s not talking that’s the crime, it is the act of poor driving! If you say ‘double, triple the fines on wreckless driving’ I’m behind you 100%. But to create new laws that target everyone because a few can’t hack it is a misuse of legislature (i.e.: Maryland’s efforts to punnish WalMart).
So what do you propose doing for cars with more than one passenger?? Gags? Everything you said applies to whether the conversation is to a phone or to a passenger.
Gee… I saw some guy reading the paper this very morning. At least twice a month I wittness a woman farding. Once I saw a guy eating a bowl of cereal while on the highway. The point is, there are wreckless driving laws on the books for years for a reason… no more ‘feel good’ legistation that targets a subset of a minority; let the safe drivers talk if they want.