Arkansas Blog

I get just a little road rage-y when I see people phoning while driving, especially when they do something (else) stupid.

We can always count on California being one of the rationale sounding boards for the rest of the country.

No way can hand held cell phones be other than a distraction. If you haven't tried it do so before you comment. However, if you must try it let me get off the road first.

But let's be fair. Someone using a cell phone is a also a big distraction to other motorist who realize that the user isn't giving 100% of his/her attention to the traffic.

I use a headphone when there is an urgent need to make a call otherwise I pull over and stop before using the phone. However, using a headphone is better but still a distraction.

Maybe I'm just not that talented but I cannot use the cell phone and drive at the same time. I can manage driving while picking off the pickle on a hamburger, eating, reaching across the car for the napkin, munching on fries and drinking a coke but as for dialing a number on the cell phone.....I admit it....I'm horrible.

I'm all for the hands-free cell phone while driving law.

I'm with hugh mann and BWC except that they didn't go far enough. Let's ban soccer moms with a car or minivan full of kids of any age. Let's be sure to ban any couple that are not having a good day in each other's company. Let's be especially sure to ban folks who have put in several hours of overtime and are too tired to drive straight. And let's just ban everyone and slow down to 45mph so even if we have a crash, damage will be minimal.

Yikes! just think what a leader Arkansas can become (kind of like our antiquated usury law).

Every time I'm in the car I'm astounded by the number of drivers talking on their phones. It's the majority rather than the minority. And, I live in a town where four-way stops are a traffic hurdle and a newly installed roundabout often has people stopping, backing up or driving across (no offense, but it's our elderly drivers that just can't some to terms with that roundabout). Anyway, driving requires more attention than talking on the phone allows. So I'm for putting the phones down while behind the wheel.

Thank God for California! Have you ever been behind someone that was texting while driving... even worse!

Anyone who is honest with themselves knows that there is a big difference in their attention to the road when they're on a cell phone compared to conversation in the car.

I am not sure why the brain would treat the two forms of vocal distraction differently, but it might be because we tend fo focus harder and more totally on what is being said to us over the phone.

Anyway, using a cell phone in the car is like driving drunk. I guess if you want to consider DUI and kids in the car as equivalent threats, you can, but I think the debate about cell phone safety isn't driven by safety at all.

The debate is really driven by our attachment to the cell phone and our need to bolster our egos by being constantly in demand by others. If that paradigm is higher on one's hierarchy of needs than public safety, then it's "Give Me My Cell Phone Or Give Me Death."

I don't know if my experience is typical, and I don't actually talk on the phone while driving more than six or seven times a year, but:

I've found that while I am talking on the phone I am driving in a slightly altered state of awareness. Meaning I am driving okay, but when the call ends I'm always aware that I've traveled some distance without actually having been aware of the "details" of driving. Often I'm a bit surprised to return my full attention to driving and discover I've gone a lot farther than I thought.

Arkansas law already makes driving while distracted illegal. The existing law covers cell phones, burgers, smokes, kids in the back seat, conversations with passengers and anything else that causes a distraction.

How 'bout enforcing existing law instead of grandstanding for political gain?!?!?

27-51-104. Careless and prohibited driving
- - (8) To operate a vehicle in any manner, when the driver is inattentive, and such inattention is not reasonable and prudent in maintaining vehicular control.

Yes, let's do enact a law banning use of hand held cell phones and make it a primary offense, not one you can charge them for after they are stopped for something else - - like running into the back of your car.

I agree that hands-free phoning isn't a big improvement over hands-on phoning. I, too have noticed how talking on the phone is more distracting than listening to the radio or having a conversation with another passenger.

But I'd like to hear some contrary views, and hope DonKey or DBI will stop by and give us the other side of the issue.

Now, those two are the type who may not even own a cell phone, but they're also the type who view with suspicion any government intrusion into them doing what they want to do in their own car.

In light of the statistics and studies, I think phone users would have a hard time defending mixing phones and driving, but look how long it has taken statistics and studies to drive secondhand smoke out of the workplace.

I can support phones in cars but only if they are not handheld.

If you want to see an accident just waiting to happen, watch someone try to turn at an intersection or merge onto the freeway while holding the phone to his/her ear . . . trying to look back to see traffic, whole body turns to the left or right, other hand on the wheel trying not to jerk the wheel . . . or just sitting at the intersection trying to punch in a number after the light has turned green.

If you are the mischievous type . . . and first in line at the redlight . . . and you see a car approaching the intersection from the right . . .who will be turning left in front of you . . . with his/her window down . . . with a cellphone stuck to his/her ear . . .you may enjoy leaning on your horn just as they cross your bow. The startled expression is priceless. (Hopefully he/she is insured and can't make a quick U turn behind you.)

I cant drive adn talk because I have to use my reading glasses to use the cell phone. Its difficult for me to even find the button to answer a call. If I do get a call while Im on the road, i pull over and usually I have to call them back because they've given up by the time I get to where I think Im safe to answer the phone.

when i leave to go meet someone, and Im supposed to call on the way to tell him where I am, i pre-program the number where they will be into the phone at home at my desk with good light, cause thats so much easier.
don K that sounds like fun......

Probably a stupid question, but don't you still have to punch in (almost said "dial") numbers with a handsfree? Or how does that work?

Tangentially, I think 16 is far too young to get a license. (27 is more like it.) A carful of teenagers with music, cell phones, burgers, etc., is a recipe for disaster.

It's official. I have become my father.

Yeah. No doubt that you can't drive as well while holding a cell phone. But here's the problem for business people: They know you have one. If you spend a lot of time driving, like I do, everybody and their dog is going to call you while you're doing that. I tried to tell my company that it doesn't do much good for them to give my cell number out to customers, because there's not much I can do to help them anyway while I'm driving. But they do it, and those people call me on the cell, if to do nothing more than bitch because they can't ever get me at my office. "Business" expects you to use your cell phone, so you are always available, and "productive" while doing nothing other than driving. It's just factored in now. Sad, but true. There's no longer any escape - unless, of course, you run off the road on 540 between Fayettenam and Alma, deep into a ravine, and lose your signal - because you are trying to drive, hold the phone, and take notes at 75mph.
Which reminds me, can somebody call me a tow truck.

Okay, you're a tow truck.

couldn't resist

Though I think talking on a phone while driving is distracting and selfish (yeah, you're not alone on those roads), I'm not sure MORE laws trying to control every personal choice under the sun are the answer. It's not possible nor desirable to try to ban every single bad-driving habit we humans can come engage in. As others have noted, eating while driving can be disastrous...so why not go after the drive-through window enablers?

The Libertarian in me wants less laws, less excuses to pull me over and invade my space (HA...like they need a reason anymore). So I'll take my chance with the talking drivers and hope nature weeds em out before they hurt some one.

I don't have a cell phone.
Don't want one.

My wife has one.
Don't know her number.

My daughter has one.
Don't know her number.

My son has one.
Don't know his number.

Old fashioned? Perhaps. I get tired of people in public places pulling out their phones, oblivious to other people around them, and then start carrying on a phone conversation in a loud voice so all can hear. It happens in the booth next to you in a cafe, standing in line at some event, the table next to you at the race track, in the auto with you while travelling, in the doctor's waiting room, in the dentist's waiting room, and so forth.

I see people driving in very close quarters in which undivided attention is needed to their driving and they are on a cellular phone.

I hate the !+**!$$ things. No cell phone should be sold until instructions are given to the buyer about phone etiquette and then a successful passing of that test.

Well ok old timers, welcome to 2006.

Is talking while driving safe? Who knows. Don't they still say that its safer to fly than to drive? So maybe me driving while talking on my cell phone is as safe as flying??

Just a thought. Anyways, its hard for me to imagine a world before cell phones. I did live in it, but now that everyone seems to have an electronic leash, it sure makes it a bit easier to get some business done. Or a lot of business done.

Not that yall want to hear this, but with a hands free kit in my vehicle, i now rarely listen to the radio. Im working more efficiently.

"Business" expects you to use your cell phone, so you are always available, and "productive" while doing nothing other than driving. - Posted by: RickBaber
********
Rick:
I posted a response but I think it went into never-never land so this may be a duplicate.

For years, I used a "hands-free" kit in my car so I could take calls on the road while in transit and place them when I was (usually) stopped somewhere. (I don't multi-task well unless I am current on my medication). After answering the call, the conversation was not much more distracting than talking to someone in the car.

If you don't like taking the calls while driving, let the voice-mail function catch it and return the call later. Your customer doesn't have to know whether you were driving or in a meeting (Its OK to be unavailable!) - just return the calls timely and they should be happy.

Spirit:
You will be pleasantly surprised to know I have had a cell phone dating back to when they were just a step above the "bag" phones - of course back then they were called "car-phones" or "mobile-phones".

And I don't mind the government intruding if it will keep tina from running me off the road the next time I pass her. . .

It seems that there are terrible consequences to everything these days. Something bad happens as a result of something we did -- or something we neglected to do.

Young people seem to be the avant garde users of these merging technologies. And they just happen to be the most accident-prone drivers.

Early habits -- like using phones, pods, etc., -- will be addictive to some users. Some drivers appear to be addicted to driving. Inevitably, there will be collisions of the two addictions.

When I took driver education, it was always emphasized that driving a vehicle is not a "right", but a "privilege" that had to be earned and maintained by following certain rules.

Most people consider that using the cell phone is a right and available to all age groups. However, use of cell phone technology is actually a privilege. There are some places where one may not have a right to use the cell phone, such as in a blasting zone or near certain hospital technologies.

As the debate goes on, we will probably see the different groups talking past each other without understanding the fundamental differences -- rights and privileges -- in which case the debate will be pure politics.

But there will be consequences to actions that are, or are not, taken.

I quit talking on the phone while driving a few years ago. Even when using the "hands-free" attachment I would find myself drifting into the other lane. As a pedestrian, I've had several close calls with cars when the driver didn't see me. Want to guess how many were yapping on a phone?

Of course, talking on a phone is the only distraction for drivers (I saw a woman putting on mascara the other day...nearly had a wreck myself from the shock.) Phones are just one of the most common and unnecessary.

Hugh Mann,
Excellent! I thought it would take longer for somebody to get that done.

DonK,
Tried the voice mail/call back later option. Believe me, in my line of work, that doesn't get it. But thanks for the tip...(8
I think I'll jut have to get the damn thing surgically attached to my head, like all those other really important people I see every day.

Rick: NO NO No No No No- not the Star Trek looking thingy!

Of course we need to ban cell phones while driving - especially here in Pulaski County - it's impossible to hold your hand gun and cell phone at the same time - what if you got confused and shot yourself in the ear instead of saying "hello"? Since we have no room in the jail - more people that I know are carrying weapons in their vehicles. Cell Phones - NO, Hand Guns - THE NEW PUBLIC SAFETY PLAN.

Ah Keytay-
I had a mobile phone in 88, had a bag phone till 98, then a Beam-Me-Scotty thingie and getting them out of my life felt better than peeing, better than quitting smoking. Try it just for weekend.
I will get one again when I can get txt message projected onto windshield; that way you can run over the kid on the bike without missing a word.

Texting while driving -- I've already heard of some accidents because of that. I'm sure there have been some caused by some poor business person checking their email on a Crackberry while driving, too.

One of the things about living near Pinnacle mountain is that it causes a big dead spot in the coverage and people lose their calls. So they pull over right before they get to the mountain, and that keeps them off the road.

I want one of those cell phone jammers. I think you can buy them out of Europe on ebay.

then a Beam-Me-Scotty thingie . . .Try it just for weekend. - Posted by: Lwood
*******
Nope, not gonna do it. The next time I see one of these in public, Im gonna MOOOOOoooo at the wearer. I have decided that it makes the person look like a cow with an ear tag more than an officer on the Enterprise.

Driving while using my cell phone is by far the most dangerous thing I do --- dangerous for me and for others. I recently invested in a new cell phone complete with the Star Trek thingy, and I'm really glad I did. Driving while talking on the phone is still distracting, but it's a lot better than the hand-held system. Being able to tell the system whom to call eliminates having to punch in the numbers, and one tap on the Star Trek thingy answers incoming calls. (I use the earpiece only when I'm in the car so as to avoid being mooed at.)

Having just seen my husband's bill for his cell phone usage, I'm ready to ban them altogether. While I use 15 or 20 minutes a month, he nearly hit the minute ceiling on his -- on the first month. Yesterday I found him leaning against a pillar in a restaurant taking a mostly bs call from a former working buddy. Maybe when he really looks at the bill, he'll understand that he pays for ALL calls on the phone.
Driving? Well, he is a good driver, but if he's going to whiz around town yakking like those west LR drivers that aggravate the fool out of me, the dog may eat the phone.

oops, don K, that was you?? dear me, Im sorry...........I was trying to do my nails while talking on the cell phone and driving. I wanted them to look nice in case I had a wreck due to phone usage or something.

every time I go to the doctors office Im the only one there who doesn't have a cell phone. everyone is beeping and squeaking and playing music, and if you were really sick that might not be too pleasant.

i love the comparison of the ear thingies to cow tags. i only use my cell phone when im traveling and that's rare so I dont need my ear pierced to wear a tag, do I?

doigotta please be sure the phone is easily digestible. you must have a big ol' dog.

I really have seen people do their nails while driving but mostly at stoplights, in their defense. I dont know how they did it, but they did.

"I hate the !+**!$$ things."

Me to.
I have one, but no one knows my number. Why would I want anyone to find me. I hate talking on the phone as it is.
I pretty much use it to say "gonna be late" click, how can one actually have a conversation and drive at the sametime?

I LOVE seeing the folks walking around WalMart with the thingiees in their ears. They looks like nutters talking to the invisible giant rabbit that follows them around.

Evidently some people are so important they've got to be connected 24/7. When I'm not available, I'm not available; and when I'm forced into Wal-Mart/Kroger/etc., I'm not chitchatting on some damn phone.

Happy to know others share my view of the cell phone...great for emergencies but it ain't a life.

Amazing that a simple cell phone is such a stumbling block when my mother could drive 90 (it was legal), smoke a Kool, hold a Coke and still reach back with a super-stretchy-arm and whack us in the back seat - even when one of my brothers was sunning on the rear dash under the back windshield and the other two of us were sweatily slithering around the hot vinyl seats without seatbelts. Now that was a real woman!

Mag, my mom had that arm too!
Funny stuff.

Yep, Tina, big, big dog. I'll bet you know the drill. Tiny puppy, "won't get any bigger than a minute" type. That was 75 or 80 pounds ago. And this puppy is a house dog. When we eat, he eats. Smear a little mayo on it and that cell phone would be gone in a gulp.
Maybe I need to ban the thing from the table. Vet bills get expensive.