Cell Phones Not The Problem

[pj8708]

Here is the latest group to weigh in on the cell phone - distracted driving stand off. And of all things, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (the people with the crash test dummies) insist that cell phone are O.K. to use while driving....

IIHS contends cell phone bans not effective for curbing accidents

By Chris Shunk RSS feed

Posted Dec 18th 2011 10:02AM

27510 Comments57

It just makes sense. Cell phone usage causes accidents, so state governments and the National Transportation Safety Board should ban phone usage while driving, right? Not so, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. CNN Money reports that studies by IIHS show that phones may not be the issue.

IIHS studied crash data from states with and without the cell phone bans in place, and it determined that there has been no reduction in crash rates. IIHS spokesman Russ Rader tells CNN Money that drivers are the biggest problem, adding "focusing on phones doesn't deal with the full spectrum of things that distract."

Automakers have attempted to solve the cell phone dilemma with hands-free calling and voice-activated controls, but that technology would be banned if the NTSB had its way. Phone users won't like that very much, and it's likely that many drivers would just ignore such a law and continue to utilize hands-free phone tech.

Distracted driving is a tricky but important topic. There were 3,000 distracted-driving accident deaths in 2010 alone.

[1990LS400]

Cell phone bans won't work because people will just use handsfree systems, headsets or turn a speaker phone feature on.

My wife called me today while I was driving on a nearby street in a 40 mph zone. I've got a pretty neat set-up in my LS - automatic radio mute, automatic answer and automatic hangup ... no action is needed unless I want to decline a call. It was only about a 15 second conversation but I realized still again that I was in complete trance while driving about a block.

About the only thing that will slow down cell phone usage while driving is some sort of feature that prevents cell phones from operating in a car - and even then, an entire industry to defeat features like that will probably spring up.

The last several people who rear ended one of our cars were all talking on cell phones at the moment of the impact. I think if damaged parties were authorized to summarily execute drivers who damage our cars while talking on their phones, the problem would vanish within a day.

[LEXIRX330]

Talking on the cell phone is not the problem IMHO... The texting and checking email is the problem. It drives me nuts...I am driving along and look over and see some young kid looking down texting away as they drive down the road. :chairshot: Bad thing was yesterday...I was looking over at a car noticing the driver was texting with his phone and I wanted to flip the driver the bird! IT WAS A COP! IN A COP CAR! COME ON!

[nc211]

I think there needs to be "zones" where cell phones are banned entirely. Some kind of device that uses the 911 GPS gadget in all phones that figure out if the phone is moving beyond human walking speed and will jam all signals until the phone stops moving. If gps can see me running around my house, it can figure out if I'm in a car. These zones would be in high traffic areas. In my opinion, some areas it's ok to use the phone while driving, like in the country or on a highway that isn't crowded and you've got plenty of room around the other cars. Calling in stop n go traffic, or in an area that is highly populated with foot traffic, is a disaster waiting to happen. There is a stretch of my drive home every night where traffic slows down from about 70 to 10 mph (toll road reader). If you don't know it's coming or you're not paying attention, it's dangerous. I nearly bought the farm about 3 weeks ago from a guy in a BMW X5 who was coming up behind me at full speed, not paying attention. He looked up at the last moment and had to jerk the car into the next lane. Luckily nobody was in that spare lane, which given traffic at the time, was a miracle. I was ticked, caught up to him, looked over at him with a "WTF" look on my face. He shrugged at me and held up his phone, basically saying that he was dialing at the time. I responded with a signal of "close the phone and drive". He responded with a wave off. I responded with a middle finger, and then got behind him. I rode his bumper with my brights on for a while.

This sort of stuff is the problem. If you're stick in traffic and not moving, I can see checking your device. I do that myself.

[1990LS400]

Talking on the cell phone is not the problem IMHO... The texting and checking email is the problem.

There have been a many tests including a memorable televised one that showed that people talking on the phone while driving make almost as many driving errors as people at the bottom limit of legal alcohol intoxication. I wish it wasn't the case but I'm sure convinced based on the near misses I've had while driving while talking on the phone.

I agree that texting/email while driving is even worse. If people doing this weren't hurting other people I'd view this behavior a convenient way of "culling of the herd" and removing people from the shallow end of the gene pool.

My latest effort to deal with these idiots is to add a couple of extra horns to my LS ... seems to get phoning/texting drivers attention and has gotten a few people to jerk their cars back into their own lane.