Driving car while using cell phone is like DUI?

cars · Post by **cars** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:32 am

Just saw this blurb:

According to a new study, talking on your cell phone while driving could be as dangerous as being under the influence of alcohol. Carnegie-Mellon University researchers used brain imaging to show how mobile phone use alone reduces 37 percent of brain activity engaged in driving. The findings were published in the latest gotta-have-it issue of the journal 'Brain Research,' and also suggest that using a hands-free headset doesn't make much of a difference.

Basically, the study found that drivers who spoke on their phones while driving tended to make many of the same driving mistakes as those who just got finished speaking to the bottle.

I FOR ONE AGREE!

SO WHAT'S YOUR TAKE ON ALL THIS REACH, AGREE OR DISAGREE?

abbey · Post by **abbey** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:12 am

I agree 100%.

Dont know about the States but in the UK it's an offence to use your phone whilst driving. :driving:

Imladris · Post by **Imladris** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:29 am

It makes sense to me.

The number of times I've seen people using their phone then take the other hand off the wheel to change gear or trying to steer round corners.

No phone call is important enough to risk your life of someone else's for.

Imladris · Post by **Imladris** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:37 am

jimbo;809548 wrote: how about if it was a call to tell you to get out of the car coz a nutter had put a bomb in your car and it was going to explode in like 9 seconds time and kill you , then i beg to differ immy that call would be pretty important

but it could also be a wrong number but unless you answer it you will never know

:D

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

The moron strikes again..................

Imladris · Post by **Imladris** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:02 am

jimbo;809551 wrote: boom

sorry wrong number :wah::wah::wah:
Are you making death threats?????

Muppet!

G#Gill · Post by **G#Gill** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 4:37 am

I saw a Royal Mail van the other day, where the driver was holding a mobile phone to his ear, chatting away, whilst negotiating a traffic island ---- insanity !

I used to drive a private school taxi, taking 'special needs' children to and from school. I bought a mobile phone (the original 'brick' type !) also bought the fitment to fix it to my dash board, also the 'hands free' kit where you wear a single ear plug and the microphone is in the wire just under your chin, as it hangs down and plugs into the phone. It worked very well, and if the phone rang while I was driving, I always told the caller that I was driving, and to bear with me if there were some pauses whilst i navigate through junctions and round traffic islands. I felt that as I was doing a lot of driving out of the town, with these children, it was essential that I should have communication. If it was an involved type of call I always pulled into a 'lay-by'.

This type of 'hands-free' is still available, if you cannot afford to buy a 'blue-tooth' phone and earpiece.

It all boils down to people being more sensible whilst they are driving, not irresponsible and a danger.

:rolleyes: :driving:

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 6:45 am

I agree 100% insane this one arm driving and chatting on the phone. Phones in car should be outlawed period. It will happen just will take time. The more deaths they cause the sooner it will happen sad to say.

Just yesterday I watched a guy pull up to a stop right next to a Police car talking on his cell phone. He tried to switch hands real quick but the Officer saw him. To bad he got pulled over as its illegal to use them now here in California. You have to have a handfree device to talk to anyone while driving a car.

What don't people get you aren't paying attention to your driving when talking on a cell even with a hands free deivce. I see people plow into the back ends of cars all the time at stops. Idiots talking on the phone no brakes applied at all just BAM.:-5:-5:-5 MAKES ME INSANE ANGRY..

along-for-the-ride · Post by **along-for-the-ride** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:44 pm

Nothing should be going on in your car to distract you as the driver. Nothing.

If you have to be distracted...................park it.

YZGI · Post by **YZGI** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 9:46 am

They need to outlaw those commercials on the radio that have a cell phone ringing in the background. If a lot of people are listening to the same radio show and the cell phone rings in the background everyone suddenly starts searching for their phone in their purses and pockets then CRASH!!!:wah:

cars · Post by **cars** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 2:27 pm

Actually, talking to a live person in the car IMO is somewhat safer then on a cell phone. Case being that the person in the car can see a tough traffic/driving situation arising for the driver & will most likely pause the conversation untill the situation eases up. Not so on a cell, as the other person has no insight of the immediate driving condidion that requires full driving concentration. And may even say something startling to the driver that really makes the driver's mind wander! So . . . .

I once saw this idiot guy "text messiging" on his cell while driving, doing this for a few miles down the road. I made sure I stayed far away from him, where's a State Trooper when you need one?

qsducks · Post by **qsducks** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 6:45 pm

When I was teaching my daughter how to drive there was always a rule - no cell phone. If she really needs to talk she has to pull over to the side of the road. It's my car and my rules.

Peg · Post by **Peg** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 7:11 pm

True story. The other day I saw a lady painting her fingernails while driving down the road. :-5 I was so hoping she'd hit a bump. :sneaky:

qsducks · Post by **qsducks** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 7:15 pm

I've seen people putting on makeup, reading the paper, fiddling with food (ever try unwrapping an Egg McMuffin in traffic?), and my unfave, children climbing all over the car while parent is driving. Driving is hard enough, put them in a friggin seat belt!