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Old 10-01-2006, 11:23 AM   #21
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Same here, lots of close calls with people on cell phones.

It is scary to see inexperienced teenage drivers on the phone. They have so much to learn yet about driving anyways, why add this distraction? Hello, parents?? Where are you?? These are your babies...they need your guidance.

The cartalk guys are so right, pull over then make your phone call!!

Pedestrians beware--A lady in a car was on her cell and we were all leaving the grocery store, walking across the crosswalk. Instead of stopping at the crosswalk, with stop signs by the way, she drove around an older gentleman with a walker, didn't slow down much, I could not believe my eyes. All the time on the phone.
I find it very upsetting when it happens that a chitchatter causes a near accident and I have passengers or when my little boy is in the car with me. Someone's conversation is not more important than another person's safety.

I think that a hefty fine like the one for not wearing seat belts here in MI is in order. I believe its a matter of public safety, I want my child and my family and your family safe from these folks driving around chattering and texting--careless driving involves innocent bystanders, pedestrians and other drivers.

I would like it to be a law too, federal, state, whatever it takes. Maybe you can't legislate common sense but fines work wonders--people here wear their belts to avoid $70 plus tickets, I'll bet they'd put the phones up too.
Sorry off soapbox now.
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Old 10-01-2006, 12:33 PM   #22
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Here in SB just a couple weeks ago a young girl was reaching for her cell
phone and killed a local man walking his dog it was on a small winding road,
she kept going ,but then turned herself in later ,manslaughter because of the
cell phone ,both lives are ruined ,one forever.distracted driving is againts the law at least here in California ,time to enforce it.

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Old 10-01-2006, 01:00 PM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by capt mark
Handsfree does'nt matter. It's still distraction, whether taking dictation eating a donut,or simply daydreaming. Driving well is a fulltime job which takes a lot of situational awareness, especially with the all of the diverse drivers out there who think driving is a right instead of a privledge.
Disagree. Handsfree makes a huge difference. Smokers, people who read, people who text, people who put on makeup while driving are bigger problems than safe drivers using handsfree.
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Old 10-01-2006, 02:56 PM   #24
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I don't see how handsfree can be any different than talking to another person in the car. I guess it's just a matter of making the driving the priority when you are behind the wheel, not the listening and talking. You can always ask the person you're conversing with to repeat, but paying attention to what's going on around you and having both hands on the wheel is the most important part.

I should say the vast majority of kids I see driving around town are doing just fine, it's the few that I have had interactions with that catch my attention! Parents should be concerned about this, and kids should too.

If they are not mature enough to realize how serious an accident can be, both to them and to whoever they hit, then they are not mature enough to drive. That goes for someone who's 16 or 36. For the 16 year old, there should be parents involved to step in, but if it's a 36 year old driving a semi-truck, then I guess we need a cop to step in.

So while I do not approve of the government legislating every aspect of our lives, in some cases, where otherwise full-grown adults who should know better insist on doing things that are dangerous to the people around them, I guess that's what the system is for.
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Old 10-01-2006, 04:28 PM   #25
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While towing Goliath back to storage today, I nearly made the sun set permanently on a young cell user's empire. The driver looked up in time to see the Pearly Gates, in the form of a large pickup truck and trailer bearing down on him with the horn blaring and all 8 wheels locked. He got out of the way (barely), I wouldn't have wanted to put a sheet of paper between the front bumper of the truck and his driver's door.
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Old 10-01-2006, 04:40 PM   #26
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The cell phone "mania" is an unbelieveable challenge to the concept of defensive driving - but you should still try to get eye contact with the drivers around you - or positive signs from them that at least "suggest" that they know you're there. Failing that, or getting a "glassed-over stare," you can only assume that they don't have a clue that you exist! Drive accordingly! As for the "deer in the headlights" or "brain dead" situation----just pray that you make the right last second move - or that you have good brakes.
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Old 10-01-2006, 04:42 PM   #27
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Why do you think that it is against the law in Germany to use a cell phone while operating a motor vehicle. If you want to your cell phone there you must be parked with your engine off. Fines for using a cell phone while operating your vehicle are similar to drunken driving fines. My policy for the folks I supervise is that they may not use a cell phone while their service vehicles are in motion. First offense is a write up in their personnel file. Second offense is termination. I too have numerous stories about people using cell phones while driving endangering me and others.
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Old 10-01-2006, 07:13 PM   #28
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I just did 30+ hours of driving, half of that towing an unfamiliar trailer with suspect tires, much of it in foggy mountains at night. I was stranded for an hour as 2 helicopters lifted the victims of a car that hit the rear of a bus & then burned; 2 miles later traffic went back to one lane because a semi had lost a load of drywall; 3 hours ago I was the 5th vehicle past an accident scene that involved a semi, a car facing the wrong way in the ditch & a compact that was upside down & pancaked in the right lane; one hour ago about a dozen vehicles had to avoid a semi that was stubbornly going 50 mph in the left lane for some reason and was NOT going to move over; and I can't tell you how many times I myself lost focus for a second or two while messing around with the dog or looking for sunflower seeds or reaching for a map or trying to avoid a coyote.

Life turns on a dime. How many of those motorists around you are high, hungover, driving on a suspended license, looking for a fight, exhausted, lost, inexperienced, driving a time bomb of a crappy vehicle or just plain not very smart?

I do everything I can to swing the odds in my favor to save me from myself, save me from everyone else & vice versa. A cell phone, in my hands or yours, does me no favors.
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Old 10-01-2006, 08:10 PM   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PWRSTRK
Disagree. Handsfree makes a huge difference. Smokers, people who read, people who text, people who put on makeup while driving are bigger problems than safe drivers using handsfree.
Can't find the link, but a study showed that handsfree made at best a marginal difference. IIRC the words were statistically insignificant. People in general need to quit all the crap they are doing and pay attention to driving. Problem is we have made the roads so safe that people no longer have to think to drive...

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Old 10-02-2006, 11:34 AM   #30
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No matter which side of this issue you stand on, there ARE the idiots out there and I thought you may enjoy this link.

http://www.cartalk.com/content/timek...-cellphone.gif
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Old 10-02-2006, 11:46 AM   #31
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Quote:
Originally Posted by summerkid
or trying to avoid a coyote.
Never try to avoid anything small enough you can hit it without consequence. I'd rather bump off a coyote than end up in the ditch with my trailer. Besides, since they got my cat, I owe them one
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Old 10-02-2006, 11:59 AM   #32
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I'm told that Georgia passed a law that went into effect 7/1/06 that makes it illegal to use a cell phone and drive unless you are using hands free. However, I think I am the only one in metro-Atlanta who does. Even with my Blue Tooth, which I only use to answer calls, not make them, talking on the cell phone is more distracting than talking to someone in the car with me. Funny how that is.
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Old 10-02-2006, 12:27 PM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Minnie's Mate
...talking on the cell phone is more distracting than talking to someone in the car with me. Funny how that is.
Its because a person in the car with you can see what you can see. They, too, are aware of the driving situation you are in, and can see when you're "busy", and when you're not...something comes up, they stop talking. They unconsciously fit conversation in between the driving "happenings".
The person on the other end of a cell phone can't see whats going on in the car, and just yaks away. We have rules of etiquette that we stick to unconsciouly, which force us to pay more attention to the conversation than we should. It wouldn't be polite to say "stop, gotta drive". so we don't. well, I do...I just drop the phone.
I've seen those road test examples, and I don't think they're realistic, for that reason. they "force" someone to maintain a conversation while negotiating a course. and the person on the other end has the driver doing heavy math equations, while the course people are hurling obstacles into the road...If it was me, I just wouldn't do it. drop the phone. I mean that litterally. the whole point is that you shouldn't attempt to do both things at once. 1 thing has priority at all times.
as for the "flying" stuff that firefly mentioned...I've thought about that, too, and its different than driving. yeah, we have to talk and fly...but we don't have to be moving at high speed within a few inches of someone else. its ok if we drift off course or altitude for a bit, while we're fumbling with a map or talking to a controller. we don't do that on short final in heavy weather, though. AND we're all brought up with the mantra "aviate, navigate, communicate...in that order!!!" (at least, I hope we are). talk "when able". never otherwise. Heck, I learned to fly in an airplane that had no radios. People (pilots, too!) often hear that, and say, "is that even legal?? ".
Anyway, the rags are full of anecdotes about pilots who have suffered the same fate, because they felt compelled to chat with some controller about their issue, rather than act on it. or entire crews that had their noses burried in guages, without someone looking out the F$%#ing window. So we're not immune to the same syndrome "up there", either.
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Old 10-02-2006, 12:53 PM   #34
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When I was in the Air Force I got to ride back seat in several formation flights (T-38s). We were going around 300 MPH and had only a few feet of seperation with the next plane. The lead plane was the only one on the radio and his messages were very short. Things like turning, leveling etc were the only communications.
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Old 10-02-2006, 01:00 PM   #35
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Yeah, if you think about the fact that we are zipping along within feet of each other at 55-80mph, it's amazing we don't have more accidents as it is. Throw in something distracting that takes a hand off the wheel and mind off the road, and it's obvious how dangerous that is.

I do talk on the phone while driving, but only if there is nothing else going on around me (at a stop light, on an empty road), and only to give a short message and get back off again. If those things don't apply, I'd rather pull over than risk an accident, and I have done that. Most of the time I don't travel with a cell at all.
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Old 10-02-2006, 01:56 PM   #36
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Generally, I don't give out my cell number. It comes from having one for 17 years now and back in the day when each minute cost $.29-49/minute to talk on it. There just wasn't anyone other than my wife worth that much to talk to.

Yes, I will answer the phone because it is usually my wife on the rare occassions that it rings. That is why the phone stays in my brief case and I put my Blue Tooth in my ear in the parking deck and take it out in the drive way. It is safer, IMHO, to just push the answer button on the Blue Tooth than to dig the phone out and look at the caller i.d. to see if it is my wife...and we all know we have to answer that call Even then, I'd say the average length of our calls are 1-2 minutes max.

I'm just not a talk on the phone kind of guy. But I do keep one for emergencies and occassional business calls when I'm away from the office. I pull off of the road into a parking lot so I can have my hands free to hold my planner to take notes and look at my PDA's calendar or address book. But to carry on a personal chit chat sesson and drive down the road, forget it. My life and the lives of the people around me are more important than discussing the football game over the week end.
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Old 10-02-2006, 02:30 PM   #37
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stefrobrts
Never try to avoid anything small enough you can hit it without consequence. I'd rather bump off a coyote than end up in the ditch with my trailer. Besides, since they got my cat, I owe them one
I know that's true intellectually, but I've never been able to stop myself from swerving around critters. Probably never will. But I drive slower & slower as I age. Turns out that driving the speed limit is kinda peaceful!
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Old 10-02-2006, 02:40 PM   #38
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. . .Turns out that driving the speed limit is kinda peaceful!__________________

Since diesel prices hit the sky, I listened to the gurus who testified that optimum mileage falls at speeds of 55-60 mph. I insist on that in my truck, whoever is driving, that's the speed at which we tow, and, like you, I've found it's really kinda peaceful to tool along at 55 while the world careens past me tending to whatever is driving them. No cell, no high speed, life on the road gets sweeter . . .and safer! ~G
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Old 10-02-2006, 03:47 PM   #39
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We actually just about came to a stop the other day as a coyote ran out in front of us and began running down the road in front of us so we were essentially chasing him. A honk finlly got him off the road and back into the pasture. I wouldn't have the heart to run over something on purpose (though as my husband said, that one was really asking for it), but I never swerve unless it's something big enough to cause damage (like a deer). Of course, that's another benefit of not speeding, you can usually slow down to avoid hitting things without swerving.

I agree, taking it easy is the way to go. Too many people have forgotten where the brake pedal is
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Old 10-02-2006, 05:49 PM   #40
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Illegal

In California, and probably other states as well, it is OK to slow down for an animal, but illegal to swerve to miss one.
One bad thing about hitting your brakes is, the nose of your vehicle dips - not a good thing if the animal is at hood level.
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