California Cell Phone Law going into effect July 1, 2008

[Demosthenes11]

a good 50% of the time im in my car im either talking on the phone or texting. Never been in an accident.
It's not the phone, it's the driver

[Tristam]

1: BMJ. 2005 Aug 20;331(7514):428. Epub 2005 Jul 12.

From the abstract -

RESULTS: Driver's use of a mobile phone up to 10 minutes before a crash was associated with a fourfold increased likelihood of crashing
CONCLUSIONS: When drivers use a mobile phone there is an increased likelihood of a crash resulting in injury. Using a hands-free phone is not any safer.

People are still trying to figure out why hands-free sets are just as risky, but there's plenty of evidence like this. It's all hospital and cell phone records, these laws aren't coming out of nowhere.

[terranova]

Georgia has had that law for a few years now. People still do it though :/.

[octopus]

a good 50% of the time im in my car im either talking on the phone or texting. Never been in an accident.
It's not the phone, it's the driver

If all of a sudden we don't see you posting anymore, we will know why ;o

I can understand talking on the phone... but texting while driving?

[Khamsin]

This is a retarded law.

It's not the fact that someone is holding a phone with one of their hands that is the problem it's the conversation that is engaging the brain and making them lose focus on driving. Whether you're holding it, have one of those gay earpieces or it's built into your car you're just as unsafe as anyone else talking on the phone while driving.

This law solves nothing.

well let me re-phrase. In most cases the conversation itself is the problem but obviously dialing or texting is a problem as well just cause you're not looking where you're going. It's just another way for them to ticket people to make some money.

So, since using the phone at all is unsafe, and they're targetting half the instances where people use the phone in the car, that makes it merely a way to ticket and make money? I'd take a law being half-effective or half-enforced than not enforced at all.

Say armed robbery was legal, but they were going to pass a law where armed robbery would become illegal unless the robbers had safety features on their guns. I'd rather have that than nothing at all, since at least they'd be getting some of the robbers rather than none.

However, on a less out-there note, does this make talkative passengers just as deadly?

[netz]

a good 50% of the time im in my car im either talking on the phone or texting. Never been in an accident.
It's not the phone, it's the driver

It really isn't just the driver. I think you can train yourself to do reasonably well at driving and talking, but there's simply no way your reaction time while on the phone matches your time off the phone. Odds are, you won't normally rear end another car or hit a pedestrian who is obeying traffic laws, and you'll get away for another 10 years saying that it's your amazing multitasking skill, but unpredictable situations are what might really fuck you up.

1: BMJ. 2005 Aug 20;331(7514):428. Epub 2005 Jul 12.

From the abstract -

RESULTS: Driver's use of a mobile phone up to 10 minutes before a crash was associated with a fourfold increased likelihood of crashing
CONCLUSIONS: When drivers use a mobile phone there is an increased likelihood of a crash resulting in injury. Using a hands-free phone is not any safer.

People are still trying to figure out why hands-free sets are just as risky, but there's plenty of evidence like this. It's all hospital and cell phone records, these laws aren't coming out of nowhere.

The decreased safety is because of the difficulty in having a conversation while driving, and not because you have to fiddle with another device.

[sunb1ind]

There's no such thing as multi-tasking. That's just a gimmic people use to make themselves look smart. Plenty of research has been done showing the weaknesses of splitting your attention in your brain. Anything you do that isn't focused on the road can cause you to make a mistake. Shit is irresponsible, no matter how alert you think you are while talking. All it takes is a split second and you're runnin a lil kid over, clipping a dude on a bicycle, ramming someone who likes to brake hard before a turn, or, at the very least, slowing up the whole fuckin lane because your the ass who likes to feel important.

I've known folks who had family members killed by someone on a cellphone before, so that's why I hate people who can't just put that shit down and wait until they're off the road.

[Jaybar]

However, on a less out-there note, does this make talkative drivers just as deadly?

Fixed.

Trying to have a conversation removes your brain from making quick reactions to events outside of the car, or notice hazards ahead of time. When focused in on a conversation, you are removing yourself from the road.

I think it's too difficult to make an equilibrium with both. Driving is just too fast paced, and there are too many problems that can occur within a second. If you are having a conversation with someone next to you, you are most likely going to stop focusing on areas around your car (side view mirrors, rear view) and be looking straight ahead. I've even seen people turn to face the person they are talking to while driving. What happens when Mr. Type A John Doe decides that he needs to get to work faster and try to cut around you? You probably won't notice it unless your peripheral catches a sudden movement off to the side.

I don't mind talking with someone in the car, but I'll tend to just not pay attention to them if it's not important. Same thing goes for cell phones. I only talk on a cell phone in the car when it's something important.

And you can say it comes down to "Driver's Competence", but there is no safe driver that is talking on a cell phone or yapping away/yelling at their kids in the backseat.

[Skyylya]

This is a retarded law.

It's not the fact that someone is holding a phone with one of their hands that is the problem it's the conversation that is engaging the brain and making them lose focus on driving. Whether you're holding it, have one of those gay earpieces or it's built into your car you're just as unsafe as anyone else talking on the phone while driving.

This law solves nothing.

well let me re-phrase. In most cases the conversation itself is the problem but obviously dialing or texting is a problem as well just cause you're not looking where you're going. It's just another way for them to ticket people to make some money.

So, since using the phone at all is unsafe, and they're targetting half the instances where people use the phone in the car, that makes it merely a way to ticket and make money? I'd take a law being half-effective or half-enforced than not enforced at all.

Say armed robbery was legal, but they were going to pass a law where armed robbery would become illegal unless the robbers had safety features on their guns. I'd rather have that than nothing at all, since at least they'd be getting some of the robbers rather than none.

However, on a less out-there note, does this make talkative passengers just as deadly?[/quote]


why else do you think women as a whole suck at driving? They just sit there chatting it up instead of driving.


As far as the first part of your post. It's a ploy to make money simply because it is not helping anything at all. Let's say that on average 1 million people a day are talking on the cell phones either by holding it, or hands free and of the 1 million 500k are holding it.

Well after this law you're still going to have probably 1 million people on the phone but now 250k are holding it. You still have 1 million people driving unsafely. No solution, just another way to ticket people. I highly doubt people will stop talking on their cell phones completely due to this law so it's purpose in making drivers more safe, won't work.

Maybe it's just me but i don't get what you're trying to say with the armed robbery thing..it's not really the same thing as hands-free is no more safe than holding a phone. Now if you had something that de-activated the phone in a car, that'd be another story.

[Khamsin]

I've found when playing ping pong, something that requires quick reflexes to unexpected moves, that I play better when I'm slightly distracted. When focusing only on the game, I tend to miss more shots.

The same thing happens in a lot of other situations where you are consistently having to react quickly to unpredictable maneuvers. If I'm having a conversation or are otherwise distracted, and the activity requiring the quick reflexes is on the peripheral, I do a lot better.

Unfortunately, the same apparently cannot be said about driving, even though most of the time the driving is fairly routine and you don't need to react quickly to anything so it should be even easier than if you were driving through consistently unpredictable traffic and having to constantly react.

Maybe it's just me but i don't get what you're trying to say with the armed robbery thing..it's not really the same thing as hands-free is no more safe than holding a phone.

That's pretty much what I was saying, as requiring armed robbers to have safety features on their guns doesn't really do anything and doesn't make the robbery any safer, either. Just that, I'd rather have at least some of them taken in than none, despite the actual law itself not helping when taken at face value.

[aurik]

Having a conversation with a passenger in the car is a lot different than conversing with someone via phone, because your passenger is aware of the shared context and will (hopefully) tend not to demand the driver's attention while difficult driving conditions exist. Whereas someone on the other end of the phone has no clue, and so will keep up the same pace of conversation regardless.

I really don't see a problem using a hands-free device while on long, open stretches without much traffic. But commuting to/from work every day through urban traffic I can definitely tell who is on the phone and who is not.

[Nighty]

This law has been in effect in NYC for a long time now if i think about it. I heard they are about to add texting to this ban nation wide. My opinion is texting while driving is worst then being on the phone b/c you have to at the letters to type and read messages at less when you are on the phone your eyes are on the road.

But I am fine with the law it does help. Bluetooth is fun to have anyways it make me look like i am crazy mad man talking to myself

[archibaldcrane]

I'm glad I bought that Bluetooth headset for a buck-twenty or whatever it was (free plus tax or something) that was posted here a couple months ago. I didn't even think my nearly 4 year old phone had bluetooth, but apparently it does. Now I just have to figure out where I stashed it when I received it.

Being stuck in LA traffic frequently, I do most of my "call the parents, chat up friends from home" phone calls on the road - it's just more time-efficient. I don't think I've talked to my parents while not in my car since Christmas.

[Boyiee]

It's in NJ too, welcome to idk, maybe a year ago? I'm honestly surprised there are still states without this. I'm just so used to it I guess, not that it stops me, anyone else, or the officers from talking on their cell phone while driving. Kinda funny that I'm allowed to for my job though.

I used to play madden on my PSP while driving, I was sick at it during the rush on the 30min drive home from work at 430pm everyday.