It is illegal to use cellphones in some countries e.g. UK where it is currently a specific offence to hold and use a mobile phone or other electronic communication device such as Blackberry, PDA etc whilst driving.

In my opinion it should be here too. Most time I see a car over the center line or wandering the driver has a cellphone in the hand.

I've heard about 30% of accidents involve cellphone use but not sure if this is true

Yesterday in PG County a 40 year old woman school bus driver with 40 kids answered her cell phone and wound up going down a large embankment. One kid seiously hurt and most of the others were quite shook up with minor injuries.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE ???????????

I wish that thruout the USA we had a law that says if you want to yap then pull over and park!

I agree BAN them. Even with a headset you are distracted..

Wow. Did the woman even realize that she knocked you off the road and stop to see if you were alright?

I agree. Even the headsets are distracting. The best way to take calls is to pull off into a parking lot or just call the person back if you're on the highway.

A friend of mine actually flipped his car in a phone related incident. He dropped the phone and was reaching over to the passenger side trying to pick it off the ground. He then hit a curb and flipped the car over. I saw pics of the car on the road on its roof. That seems to be another issue with the phones. When people drop them they cause accidents trying to pick them up again.

I wonder, however, if there will ever come a point when we put the responsibility where it belongs -- on the people who do dangerous things, no matter what they are, and cause accidents -- rather than just passing another law that's not only hard to enforce but is an inconvenience to everyone.

I think there are situations when you're driving when you can use a cell phone to make or receive a quick call without it being overly risky. I also think there are other situations where you would be foolish to attempt to use one.

I find the statistics about cell phone related car accidents hard to believe. Cell phones have risen from a rarity to the point where practically everyone has one in the span of about 10 - 15 years. Have accidents and deaths gone up in those 15 years? No, they've generally gone down -- despite the fact that in those same 15 years, vehicular miles have increased substantially.

Yet now we want to pin 20, 30, even 40 percent of accidents on cell phones. I'm sure they do cause some accidents, but so do probably two dozen other driving distractions you could list off. Again, let's put the blame where it belongs, on the driver, not on an inanimate object that could be a hazard for some but not others.

Good Post cowboyind I agree 100% I got a knee jerk reaction on this subject from Corporate just recently, we can no longer use our cell phones while operating our burden carriers/golf carts/forklifts or any construction vehicles on any Jobsites. Now I am just waiting for word to come out that the only way that a cell phone can be used is if you first call a security guard to apply for a permit and you are securely seated in a special chair (inspected and tagged twice per day of course) that is securely anchored to a solid concrete floor with fall protection padding around it and a safety strap holding your butt in place. I can see it now, row upon row of specially prepared seating areas with people lined up waiting to take a seat and dial away, kinda defeats the purpose of having a cell phone though, don't you think?????????

I'll add that I doubt laws are the solution, just like throwing money at the school system doesn't necessarily improve education (another rant). The problem is convenience and people and the inherent nature of people to abuse convenient devices. The ability to call anyone at anytime is the convenience.

How many of these phone calls are THAT important that they can't wait until later? I'll gamble and say maybe 5-10% and that's a stretch. Many people simply dial while they're driving or carrying on extended conversations with incoming calls because it's a good time to chat. After all you're captive in a vehicle with nothing else to do (except drive which anyone knows you can navigate your usual routes with your eyes closed, right?) so I might as well call Joe Blow and shoot the breeze.

If cell phones were used for emergency situations only then this problem would not be so rampant. Thanks, to the miracles of modern technology we can talk anytime, anywhere, regardless of how dangerous (or down right rude) it is.

I personally feel that this electronic craze where people constantly need stimulation like cell phones, personal stereos, personal DVD and video games, etc. is weakening our nation.

(thud) That sound was me jumping off my soap box.

And I agree with you, sdello.
I remember when men used to roll their own and drive at the same time ( the steering corrections were done with the legs !)

I, for one believe these things(picking, yakking, inserting,rolling, looking at the beautiful blond) can be done, but a man must take the operation of a motor vehicle seriously - and far too many do not !

I wonder if the yakker did pull over and give any help to the poor soul in the ditch - and I believe an accident report is in order, she must pay for the towing, and damage and a $500 fine !!

Maybe she would then think twice about answering a call or commencing one with a $$$$ price tag..

The rate of accidents have decreased because cars are safer, roads are safer, and we may log more miles - but average speed in urban areas is decreasing because of traffic tie ups.

Think about it - I doubt you are going to have a HUGE accident in LA or Atlanta rush hours because no one is going over 20 mph. I also don't know how many rear-end incidents are reported in those figures but I would think they have gone up tremendously.

Regarding cell phones, it is like an SUV to me.
- We offer up an idea for safety and emergencies but it in reality causing more problems because most owners use it recklessly resulting in flip-overs or carelessness on the road.

It's OK to fiddle with the radio while driving.
It's OK to hunt for CDs in your console while driving.
It's OK to talk to your passengers in the back seat while driving.
It's OK to fiddle with the navagation screen while driving.
It's OK to drink coffee and eat while driving.
But talk on a hands free phone? That's what kills people!

ChristopherH:
No all of these things distract you while your driving. You usually don't fiddle with the radio, search for CDs, or adjust your on-board navigation for 20 minutes to a half-hour at a time.

"But talk on a hands free phone? That's what kills people!"

I really don't think this is the issue. After all, How can an observer in one car tell if a driver in another car is talking on hands-free phone? He could be singing along with the radio or just ranting to himself.

I think the complaint is with the driver that is blatantly holding the phone to his ear.

Interesting responses.....I'm sure she knew what she did as that brief second face to face before I swerved to avoid her. Afterall she was in my lane. I want to make the point that I think there are people who get so carried away with the conversation they are having whether its hands free or not that their concentration in driving is totally lost. This woman almost caused a head on collision and I'm sure kept talking as she probably looked in her rear view mirror at the end result of her recklessness.

our company has a policy of not using our cell phones, while driving, if you are in a accident while using a cell phone, thats cause for dismisal. considering they supply my cell phone, and most of my car expenses. i figure the least i can do is follow policy. and even if i had a personal cell phone i would still pull over and park to use it. now if i could only get my wife to keep both hands on the wheel, instead of a coke in one and phone in the other.

Goldensmom, the situation you were involved in there is appalling, and I'd suggest to you that someone who was in your lane and didn't even bother to stop after obviously seeing that she ran you off the road is a driver who would still be obnoxious and dangerous even if it were not for a cell phone.

It's the thought pattern that causes the problem, not the phone. If drivers do not take what they are doing seriously, and if they feel as many apparently do that the lives of other people are not important, there will always be something with which they find to distract themselves. Then, whatever that "thing" is, whether it's a phone, or a rear-seat DVD outfit for the kids, or a cup of coffee, THAT will be what they claim "caused the accident," rather than the obvious real cause: Their lack of attention and irresponsibility.

I think there are many distractions while driving and even talking with someone in the car can be distracting however, mobile phone conversations go on for a long duration of time.

And I don't know about you but if you have ever had an INTENSE conversation while driving (ie. argument) you are distracted and can lose focus on the road whether a passenger in the car, cell phone or just pissed off about something.

Of the stats given earlier regarding safety improvements - I still say we are FAR away from faster driving European on smaller roads who have less accidents.

U.S. road safety is better than some European countries and not quite as good as others. There are so many possible indicators of "safety" (accident rate, death rate, injury rate, insurance claims per vehicle, etc.) that it's very hard to make a generalization about it, but usually what you see is that higher traffic density causes more accidents but fewer serious injuries and deaths, while lower traffic density results in fewer accidents, but those that do occur are more likely to result in serious injuries or deaths. This is true if you compare accidents and death rates between U.S. states as well as between countries.

Regardless of how the U.S. stacks up against other countries in any of these measures, the point is that if cell phones are causing a significant percentage of accidents, you'd have to reasonably expect to see that somehow reflected in some measure of vehicle safety -- accident rate, death rate, or whatever. After all, cell phones are relatively new phenomenon, so it's easy to compare "pre-cell phone" statistics with "post-cell phone" statistics.

The statistics, in fact, don't generally show an increase in accidents or deaths over the last 15 years, so in order to say that cell phones are "causing," say, 30 percent of accidents, you have to believe that reductions of accidents with other causes have been so great as to more than make up for all of the accidents from this "new" cause. That doesn't seem likely.

But I agree that cell phone use while driving should be minimized, and should be managed by the driver so that it does not become a distraction. Yes, you can argue that people do not have the sense to do that, and some no doubt don't. But if you are going to say that, it would seem that there is no way you could ever pass enough laws to outlaw every possible mistake someone could make. And if you did pass that many laws, I'd be surprised if the most irresponsible among us would bother much to obey them.

sdello
All the other things I mentioned are legal things to do in your car while driving.
The cell phone situation came to pass when a little girl was killed when someone dialing her cell phone ran a red light in PA and broadsided the car the little girl was in.
The cell phone did not kill the little girl, the driver did. And by the way, The driver of the other car could have been doing any of the other things I mentioned and nothing would have come of it.
So I have a suggestion. Pass a Federal law outlawing radios, navagation systems, DVD players, and all other distractions from the car. Everybody drives in complete silence with their hands at 10 & 2 on the steering wheel and nobody gets hurt.

Christopher, Re : that irresponsible woman who killed the little girl - I believe if she were to be publicly hanged in the public square and all the people were made very aware of her criminal act - I believe this would reduce the fatalities by 90% !!

But instead , the punishment is usually just a "slap on the wrist" , then we wonder why this crap continues - year after year...

This idea is absurd, I admit, but it is no more so than forcing a driver to be at a near "attention" when driving - there must be some sensible middle ground - something that would have a positive effect on the problem of irresponsible drivers...
Good driver training would help - if a testee were to answer a phone whilst driving, she would NOT pass the test on that alone. As a matter of fact, the phone should be shut off during driving - messages can be handled at the rest stops..

I drove commercially for near 40 years and close to 3 million miles. Went from hand signals to CB's, Company Radios, Radio Telephones, Satelite Phones. No driving control problems. Why? Well there was 2 ways to use em. Answer em or Don't answer em. In a tight fix you just dropped the mike. If time permitted you could say, "just a minute," and come back when the fix was over....

People aren't going to stop using the cell phones. Laws don't seem to work.

I really believe the answer is training starting in school before they even are old enough to drive. Train em that they can turn their heads, drop the phone, terminate the call, call back, don't answer and in particular that its possible to hold a phone to the ear w/o leaning over which inhibits the ability to turn the head.

Even this would only minimize the problem. Have to wait till the untrained drivers died off.

Ah, yes, the CB. I had one for years when I commuted. I still put it in when I travel. I NEVER had a problem with the truckers. I knew they spent many times what I spent on my vehicle and they weren't about to wreck their rigs. And a lot of the commuters had CBs too. We talked to each other every morning and evening. None of us ever had a wreck because we were talking into the mike. And I never heard of a trucker wrecking because of that either. But everybody is this close to killing and maiming someone if they're on a phone on an interstate highway tooling along at 65 with the rest of the vehicles.

Truckers simply know how to drive - they should be the ones to administer the tests and write the rules..

except for the truckers in michigan!

The fact is that there are so many people here that never even had a car, let alone KNOW how to drive.

I agree we need some real standards.
Perhaps even for adults we ought to have LEARNERS licenses for the first 18 mos to 24 months and be clearly identified via a big red letter L (like they do in the UK) so you can watch them. They would not get a FULL drivers license until they pass w/o any accidents. Then give them a REAL DRIVERS TEST with a car and put them in situations where the examiner can observe them. If they fail 10% of the test they do not get a license. :-)

Good one about truckers knowing how to drive. You forgot to mention how considerate they are to other road users too.

There's a difference between being a good driver in terms of controlling a vehicle and being a good driver in the context of road safety, good manners and traffic and weather conditions etc. Rain seems to make truckers even worse. Hands up how many times you see a truck a car's length behind a vehicle in the second or third lane wet or dry. And totally ignoring the speed limit by anything up to 25mph. Then ask yourself if the trucker has any clue about his stopping distance. Or whether he cares about safety or the person in front or behind? More to the point half the time you see this there is a long stream of traffic and even if the vehicle in front pulls over there are still another 50 to go - so what's the point?

Sure there are bad car drivers out there but there are bad truckers too.

Back to the topic - using a cellphone is about distraction. There have been tests conducted that show you cannot carry on a conversation that requires thinking and still maintain 100% concentration on the driving. Doesn't matter how good a driver you think you are. Say your boss is calling or your trying to get messages or instruct your staff - you are going to be distracted. It's not some cozy little inane chat about the weather or cops.

Oh and for the record the law stopping use of handheld devices in the UK does deter many people. Most companies now tell their staff not to use them because of liability issues.

I don't think it's the holding of a device which is the problem here. How many of us regularly drive with only one hand on the wheel? What's the other hand doing? Scratching your nose, tuning the stereo, lighting a smoke?

I can't hold a proper conversation with someone sat next to me in the car, my driving requires so much concentration. My responses are barely more than grunts, or nods to acknowledge that my passenger is saying something. What they are saying, however, is a mystery to me as I have far more important things to concentrate on.

BTW I had a car written off a few years ago when it was parked. A woman drove into it because she was concentrating on lighting a cigarette whilst driving and not looking where she was going.

Part of the problem is the apparently extreme weight of the cell phones. They must be ungodly heavy because whenever they are in use the drivers' head is tilted way over to the right nearly onto the shoulder and the elbow is braced tight against the chest or upper regions of the gut. This creates a posture from which the head cannot be swiveled. The strain of supporting this unbelievable weight even affects the vision because the cell phone users' eyes are locked straight ahead with the effort.

Indeed if the driver is holding the phone in the left hand the overbalance is such that the driver must lean against the door. Not only that, tho it is not widely known, there is a nerve runs directly from the shoulder to the right foot so when the phone is hoisted to the ear the foot comes off the throttle slowing the vehicle. The vehicle thus slowed cannot regain speed till the phone is lowered (slowly to avoid injury from a sudden release) or the driver manages with tremendous exertion to raise the head barely enough to glimpse whats in the rear view mirror. With any luck at all the view is completely filled with a big wide truck radiator. This overides the shoulder-foot syndrome with surprising alacrity.

Truck drivers have even been known to smile under these circumstances.

Hey mxyplx ... so true ... LOL

There is a simple, non technical device called a bullhorn that works great at getting peoples attention. It's also wireless. Unfortunately it's only legal in North Dakota.

I don't see a problem with laws limiting the use of cell phones while driving.

The fact that it's difficult to enforce doesn't stop other laws from being in place. CB's only have one button and cannot do text messaging, etc. Talking to people in the car or adjusting the radio are distractions, but this does not support a conclustion that cell phones do not significatnly distract drivers. The fact that other things are distractions do not justify unlimited rights to do whatever you want while driving. (Red Herring--Look it up.)

All of us have seen some bozo yakking away and exhibiting signs of paying very little attention to their fellow citizens on the road. This is not some conspiracy theory invented by paranoid cell phone haters.

I still remember when I got my license they said driving is a privelege, not a right. In my state one may not drive without a seatbelt or under the influence of mind altering substances. These limitations are accepted for safety's sake.

Even though no one can exactly quantify the increased risk, I challenge anyone to present a rational argument that cell phones are not an additional distraction to the ones we already have.

I believe that the essential question is, "how big of a distraction are cell phones?" I'm not going to waste my time researching, because everyone already has their mind made up. However, I know there are studies showing that people's reactions are diminished while talking on the phone. Once enough data is gathered lawmakers will be able to show that they are a significant distraction and that a significant number of accidents are attributable to cell phone use. (Whether accidents are on the rise or decline is independent of whether cell phones are causing accidents.) All it will take is for enough people to die because of people's carelessness and a law will be passed.

It is absolutely ludicrous to argue that people kill people, not cell phones. With that logic you would also conclude that driving under the influence of alcohol is also a lawful right. (Do you even believe what you're saying, or is it just some words to support your feelings? There is no point in discussion if you don't use reason.)

This reminds me of an episode of the Simpsons where Homer gets some money and decks out his car with every imaginable gadget, appliance and accessory. He's driving down the road receiving faxes and making waffles while all this machinery is whirring away in his car. I can't believe that I'm now seeing people driving around with DVD players on their dashboards. Someone please protect us from these people!!! "Hello onstar? I drove into a ditch trying to read my GPS!!!---Help is on the way."

I do not like Cell Phones but I still have one.I hate it.In Chicago starting July the 8th you must have a hands free device.This is good but if those silly phones were never invented it would be better.

How did people get along with out them?Even kids, teenagers have them.Wonder who pays the bill for a 12 year old to talk to another 12 year old?People use them every place.Wonder whats so important that they need to constantly be on the phone.

The reason I hate mine is.Because my Boss can get a hold of me any place.So the fool calls me on weekends and one time while I was at a family reunion on a Sunday and even when im out of state on vacation.Now Caller ID on a house phone thats a good thing and I like it.

LOL Mxyplx!!! I enjoyed reading your "analysis". ;-)

A few of years ago while on vacation in Portland Oregon, we were rear-ended in our nearly new Toyota Avalon by a woman in a condo-sized truck style SUV. She was talking on her cell phone AND to her two young kids in the back - all while driving in bumper to bumper traffic on the freeway.

$3K of damage to our car - entire back end wiped out. Luckly we weren't hurt as traffic was moving at a crawl.

She got out, apologized, gave us her insurance info., and commented that she "hated this SUV but that hubby insists on it because he is worried about her killing herself and the kids, since she has had several accidents already - for this same reason."

Geeze.

I have a cell phone/Blackberry and if it rings while I am driving, I ingore it. If I need to place a call while on the road, I pull into a parking lot or off to the side.

Lynne

I think every cell phone user/driver/multitasker/makeup putter-on-her/cheeseburger eatin'/kid slappin'/video watchin'/rubberneckin' person should have their cell phone number posted on a rear sign that reads, "How's my driving? Call --- --- ----"

With some people, their multitasking capabilities are about like Windows 3.1 and the cell phone yakking process hogs the CPU.

The proliferation of cell phones, has more to do with the rat race, and human nature. If no one had one, no one would need one.

Remember the saying; "That car is quicker than a phone call?" Well, now it's true!

Every time I see someone driving while on a cell phone (in NY, which is illegal by the way), I say to myself, what is so important that they can't wait until they get home?

Whoever tailgait me on freeway,
or whoever's showing their idiotic driving,
I peek the driver's face..

95% of the time it's someone with sunglass+ cellphone on their hand!
Nothing against sunglass, but cellphones yes,
I'm gonna buy the "get off the phone and drive" sticker.

What I would love to see on this forum are responses from the other side (cell phone-using drivers) to see if they can justify what they are doing.

They just can not pull there selves away from the phone to comment.

Saw something recently that strenghens my opinion about cell phones and driving. A brand new Maxima was driving on a New Jersey road when it skidded, jumped the curb and hit a parked car, skidded again and hit a telephone pole. Miraculously, the driver was not hurt. She was on a cell phone the whole time. The car was in pieces all over the place. The parked car that was hit has a broken axle. The driver just stopped in a store to use the bathroom.

Even without the cellphone, it sounds like that driver would have found another way to get into an accident.

Interesting discussion on Good Morning America this morning about how a brain works while driving and talking on cell phones. Study proves that because cell phone quality fluctuates when motorists struggled to listen the right parietal cortex which deciphers sounds went into overdrive. This takes away from other abilities normally peformed by the brain such as interpreting what you see. This means the attention is taken away from vision and even though your eyes are in front of you and its a bright sunny day your not going to process that visual information as well. Maybe that's why I was almost in a headon with that idiot!!!!!

goldensmom: Glad to know that you were sharp enough to avoid getting hit head on. Don't know what it will take before these morons realize you can't talk on a phone and drive!!

I dare any driver/cell phone user to come back with an argument in favor of driving while using a cellphone.

Also want to know why the police are not enforcing the cellphone laws.

Probably because there isn't yet a "cellphone gun" which the officer can use while parked in the median to alert them to any drivers using a cellphone that are passing by.

In other words, because it's too much work.