Switched

I totally agree. I am sick and tired of having to share the road with idiots that cannot drive, let alone use a cell phone. I can talk and even text safely. I text by feel, not even looking at the phone. I do not want to be punished because of others.

cheryl...hate to break it to you, but YOU'RE the idiot on the road...texting while driving and not looking?!? pleeeease...two hand on the steering wheel, sweetie!

I'm living in the UK right now, and studying for my drivers exam. According to the UK government, over the last four years deaths of young drivers has /doubled/ even though the exams have gotten harder. So clearly, better training (enforced by tougher exams) is not the answer. A government study here showed that the major factor in determining who is a safe driver is /attitude/, not skill. Which could explain why I, who failed my first driver's test back in 1983 and generally stink at video games requiring eye-hand coordination, have driven for 26 years without even a moving violation, let alone an accident.

That said, discussing serious business on a cell phone is surely a distraction, and doing something that requires you to focus on a tiny screen and accurately hit tiny buttons is surely a hazard. It's worse here -- the roads are narrow and winding, and still people park on them -- but that's got to be a problem even on the US's wide, straight, un-parked-on roads.

I'm not sure how I feel about a ban on hands-free phone use in the car, but such a ban is actually enforceable, at least after a driver is involved in an accident. The police simply check the cell phone records to see if the driver's phone was in use at the time of the accident. If it was, the penalty is increased significantly. That's got to be at least a deterrent.

Thank you Alyssa - my sentiments exactly! Aside from that, listening to the radio and changing the stations or CD have proven to be just as distracting as well. Sure we should promote safety - but we can't legislate for every possibility - it's just ridiculous!

yep thats the next step in this socialistic society. Give government more control of OUR FREEDOMS!!!!

I agree completely. How crazy is that. I can see saying no talking without a hands free device but to ban all talking on the phone is going to be very hard to enforce. Next in the name of safety we will have a ban on all talking in a moving vehicle.
It's time people learned to use some common sense.

Long live this FREE country!

actually, studies show that a mother turning around correcting the child in the back seat is # 1. Do we make mothers leave their children at home while they go to the gym & grocery store.

You're a psych major and you're going to try and convince us that talking on a cell while driving isn't any more dangerous than speaking w/a passenger in the same vehicle -- this notion has already been disproved -- where've you been. Spend 5 minutes driving behind a driver on a cell and it's as if you're following a drunk driver. This is fact and someone in college should be a little better informed before posting statements in defense of said practice.

When you're talking to someone in the car with you, there are 2 sets of eyes seeing the road ahead. When you are tuning the radio station you are only occupied for a few seconds. When you are talking on your cell phone, it can be for minutes at a time. Your attention is being pulled away from your driving for long periods of time, not just a matter of seconds. I have seen so many of you idiots talking on your cell while driving and you just don't seem to realize that you are not driving in a straight line, your speed is not constant, always varying up and down, you talk with your hands, and since 1 hand is holding the phone guess which other hand is doing the talking.

Just, Keller, & Cynkar (2008), stated "Behavioral studies have shown that engaging in a secondary task, such as talking on a cellular telephone, disrupts driving performance. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the impact of concurrent auditory language comprehension on the brain activity associated with a simulated driving task. Participants steered a vehicle along a curving virtual road, either undisturbed or while listening to spoken sentences that they judged as true or false. The dual-task condition produced a significant deterioration in driving accuracy caused by the processing of the auditory sentences. At the same time, the parietal lobe activation associated with spatial processing in the undisturbed driving task decreased by 37% when participants concurrently listened to sentences. The findings show that language comprehension performed concurrently with driving draws mental resources away from the driving and produces deterioration in driving performance, even when it does not require holding or dialing a phone. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved)(from the journal abstract)"

I'm sorry C Fraulino, what were you saying? This is just one study of many, but you asked where've I been and this is from 2008 so I thought it was relevant. I didn't say I condoned the use of cell phones, I was merely making a point that it isn't any better than speaking to someone in the vehicle with you. By the way, I reside in Miami, a city that ranks in the top 10 for worst and rudest drivers in the US, trust me, I've observed plenty of bad cell phone drivers.

What did everyone do before the cell phone? they had to pull over somewhere and use a telephone in a rest area or a store or a phone booth (remember them) It was just a slight incovenience, you lost maybe 5 min. If you think cell phones are not dangerous,ask any state trooper. The stories they tell you are so gross and sicking you will want to barf. I am out everyday and the idiots on cell phones absolutly do not pay much attention to their driving. The only call made on a cell phone while a car is in motion should be a 911 call. Any other call made while in motion should shut the engine down to an idle and will not pickup again untill the car comes to a compleate stop for 30 seconds and phone is off.

I have to agree and disagree with you; I agree on the laboratory or Campus studies ;however there is real situations while driving and they differ aLOT from studies;maybe there is a few people who can drive and talk but there is alot more who CAN'T!!nowthis is for everyone just watch closely in a freeway ppl on a cellphonefollow them for a short while ans watch for yourselves they drive worst than A drunk driver that's is the truth and no matter how it feel is the real treat that a lot of good drivers out there face any given day with people who can't talk and drive and that task is more self involving that having a conversation with a passenger just imagine a guy being dump by her girfriend on the cell phone !!while driving uhh! is just happening everywere everyday Peace

One thing you miss is that if you are involved in a conversation with another person there are 2 sets of eyes to watch the road. Most of the studies I have head of cite that talking on cell phones causes more accidents than any other firm of distraction. Maybe you would like to name one of these studies or are they vapor?

Maybe we should just increase jail times and fines if you are caught willfilly acting in a distracting activity. Then people will be accountable for their actions.

Thank you!!!

7 years w/o accident,give it time ,it only takes one slight misjudgement,all I can say is you're tempting fate to say the least,remeber when you're lying up in a hospital bed "How safe" a driver/phone talker you "Were"! If you survive the accident!