Cell Phones

[ToyotaNSaturn]

For the most part, I'm not an anti-cell phone zealot. When talking on the phone, move over to the right of the freeway and cruise along. Fine by me.

Except today...

Typical 4-lane road, 30mph zone, I'm in the right lane of the two lanes in our direction. The left lane had to stop due to someone in front of the small pack making a left turn. No problem, right?

The nose of my '01 is about at the B pillar of the Ford Escape in question who's the last one in in the left lane traffic pack who are stopping. Or so it seemed.

The driver stops a bit, then darts into the right lane, where I'm at. I slam on the brakes (thank G0D for A.B.S.!!) and miss the curb. And miss the Escape. Whew. Bad enough the driver was oblivious, but a more thorough inspection of the left side mirror reveals she's on the phone. I go up next to her, we give her a few sentences out loud (her window was up), no swearing or threating or anything like that, just "PUT YOUR PHONE DOWN". All while she was still on the phone. GEEZ.

She put the phone down for a minute. Then picked it back up and continued on her merry way.

I'm VERY thankful nothing happened...but man oh man...how do these people go through life like this?!?!??!?!

 

[StevieC]

Yup!

I must admit I spend lots of time on my phone behind the wheel, but I never put it at the expense of driving properly. If I can't drive properly checking my mirrors, doing the speed limit and staying within my road lines I will pull over and continue my conversation or hang up and continue my conversation later.

Driving first, talking second!

 

[RoGuE]

I will talk on my phone only if I am on a straight road and there is little traffic (or a lot of traffic if it is stop and go). Any lane changing or turns, I tell the person wait a minute and I put down the phone.

Although I rarely talk while driving. Only if I really need to.

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

They're a pox on the roadways.

 

[rationull]

Grrr!! This is a pet peeve of mine! Seriously, it's not that hard. It really bugs me when people just ignore the fact that they're piloting two tons of deadly steel (well, maybe a ton of steel and a ton of plastic these days ) and need to pay attention.

I'm not usually for overbearing laws but I gotta admit I was a little bit satisfied when CA passed the law requiring a hands free device when using a cell phone while driving.

 

[65cuda]

From what I've read there isn't much difference between the accident rates for hands or hands free cell phone use. The problem isn't so much having the phone in your hand as it is having the phone coversation in your head. People just don't pay attention once they get on the phone and now to make it worse you have the idiots that want to text also.

 

[Dualie]

I can manage to pull a 14' wide load with a gross weight of 120,000lbs with an over all length of 64.5 feet while doing 61 mph in varying traffic speeds and grades rowing an 18spd

ALL while talking on the cell phone and communicating with a pilot car on a CB. several hundred thousand miles with out a single at fault accident.

I'm not the most talented person on earth so if I can pull that off im thinking its not to much for a blonde in a escape to keep it in one lane while talking on a cell phone.

I will say that if I have any big right hand turns or maneuvering to go I will throw the phone on the passenger seat and do what I need to do and hope their there when I get back to them.

I personally hate California new hands free cell phone law. I tried several ear pieces and headsets and hated every single one of them. I'm just going to use my phone like I have for the last ten years and pay the ticket when I get one.

 

[Cutehumor]

ToyotaNSaturn,

I'm having alot of near miss accidents in the past week. I had 4!

a) Ford Expedition starts backing up in an Autozone Parking lot on Murfreesboro. I'm behind him in the 06 vibe. I have to put my vibe in reverse so he won't back into me. He was going in reverse to get into an empty parking spot that he missed.

b) I was behind a Dodge durango in my 96 sunfire after work on Monday during rush hour at hickory hollow parkway at mt. view road. Light is green. This old lady in the dodge durango slammed on her brakes at a yield intersection when the light was green! I slammed my brakes, she waited for five seconds, and then left. then not even a half mile down the road, she stops in the middle of the road to make a U-turn in front of me. She was lost!

C) yesterday in morning rush hour on bell road at I-24. I was in the right hand lane. When I crossed under the I-24 bridge, we were side by side. the chevy silverado truck in the left lane started to change lanes into my lane. Fortunately, when he started to move into my lane. A new third right lane was there that I had to swerve in the far right (third lane) to avoid getting hit in my 96 sunfire.

 

[Kestas]

Originally Posted By: ToyotaNSaturn
...how do these people go through life like this?!?!??!?!

Their usual answer is... "Don't worry, insurance will take care of things if anything happens".
I often hear people telling me this. I immediately label them as irresponsible. It's their attitudes that raise the insurance rates for everybody.

 

[CROWNVIC4LIFE]

Originally Posted By: 65cuda
People just don't pay attention once they get on the phone and now to make it worse you have the idiots that want to text also.


I almost got killed last week when a Lexus SUV was texting while going 70 mph on I-95 in Miami Dade County..All of a sudden traffic came to a dead halt and he just looked up at the last second and slammed on his brakes..His bumper was resting on mine..He admitted he was texting his girfriend in Cuba.

Everybody texts here and there are accidents daily because of that..But Florida so far has no intentions of stopping it.

 

[brianl703]

I'd just like to remind people that the cell reception is better in the far right lane.

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: brianl703
I'd just like to remind people that the cell reception is better in the far right lane.


Brian, it's even better off to the side of the road in a stationary vehicle.

Several years ago I saw a place selling licence plate frames and bumper stickers that said "Hang up and drive."

A quick Google shows thay are even easier to find now.

 

[PT1]

I have to use a hands free phone...otherwise how am I going to text with my blackberry and drink my latte...

 

[rationull]

It's not so much that I think using a hands free device is THAT much better than holding the phone, although if it encourages the development of better in-car systems with better voice control then I think that's a net win. Also I'm hoping the inconvenience of having to deal with a hands free device will keep at least some people off the phone who can't talk and drive at the same time.

Maybe it won't work and like all other safety laws it's not only targeting the people who can't handle themselves better, but I'm happy to see some official emphasis being placed on paying attention to driving rather than just staying under the speed limit. Of course there's still a long way to go.

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: PT1
I have to use a hands free phone...otherwise how am I going to text with my blackberry and drink my latte...

You forgot about eating the Big Mac and shaving!

 

[tom slick]

When driving to school 2 days ago I was behind a person weaving from line to line and driving about 50 mph (traffic flows at 60mph) on a two lane road. Finally passed her while she was trimming her finger nails. Yesterday, same situation in the morning, passed a different person while she was busy talking on the phone held up to her ear (illegal in Calif.) Yesterday afternoon, person weaving, going ~75 (traffic is 65-70 mph), and tailgating anyone in front of her while she eats ice cream out of a bowl with a spoon. One pinky finger touching the steering wheel while the rest of the fingers held the bowl.
All were apparently more important than driving safely.

 

[rationull]

I've said it before but I really wish the CHP would pull over more people for doing things like weaving and tailgating. I know it's more difficult to enforce and obviously they can't be everywhere at once (nor would we want them to..) but I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've seen people speeding "dangerously" on the highway here. It would take many, many hands to count the instances of tailgating, unsafe lane changes, etc.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: PT1
I have to use a hands free phone...otherwise how am I going to text with my blackberry and drink my latte...

I have this same problem. It's a biatch eating my breakfast, sending an e-mail on my BB, and carrying on a conversation.

 

[tonycarguy]

Do you think it's dangerous to talk to your passenger while driving?

 

[tom slick]

If it causes you to swerve, I do. I've seen it.