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Cellphone usage equal to drunk driving
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Who do these people think they are? Equating cell phone driving to drunk driving...what a retarded waste of time. I'm beginning to think it is better to just keep some people in the dark about the dangers of certain behaviors. All it ever leads to are stupid regulations that solve nothing, but take more money out of our pockets one way or the other.
What a joke! First of all, the study to end all of this BS came out years ago, and here is one more recent (and close to home, for us NJ drivers).
In New Jersey, police reported 3,580 accidents statewide involving cell phones in 2006, the only year for which a full accounting is available, according to data collected by the Department of Transportation.
The number of crashes involving hands-free and hand-held devices were about evenly split -- 1,854 to 1,726. And of the 11 fatal crashes among the total, six involved drivers using hand-held devices and five involved drivers using hands-free ones.
I remember reading the article from 2003, and thanking the dear lord that some sense had been added to the argument. Apparently not.
How much more proof do people need that this is just one big scam? "Hands free" technology does nothing (save possibly reducing brain tumor odds, but that's another story). It does not make you any safer of a driver. The phone is not the danger, the conversation is the danger.
I, and many other people, drive with one hand regardless of whether I am using the other hand or not. If I am ever on the phone, and something occurs that requires my other hand, I drop my phone and use my hand. It's not complicated really, I can call the person back so long as I'm still alive, so it's an easy choice. Again, it's the distraction of the conversation that is the problem. You are using some of your brains "field of attention" for something other than driving, so sure, that may increase your risk of an accident a tad. How much is highly debatable and I would imagine highly dependent on the individual and their mental faculties/driving abilities.
I could go on with this, mentioning interviews I had seen relating evidence showing that picturing the person in your head that you are talking to increases risk. Or that just plain old detailed daydreaming in general does. I won't though, because I think it's painfully obvious what a load of crap all of this is. Have no fear though! "Hands free" tech has made billions by now I'm sure, and state governments love the extra revenue they generate from issuing bogus cellphone tickets. The truth is lost amidst the profits, just another day in the USA.
So basically, ban everything from drinking coffee to listening to the radio. It's the only way to be safe. Or, we could just grow up and kick the nanny state in the nuts. Let them know we won't be their puppets to be used to pander to their buddy lobbyists in the endless quest for riches. At least, not on the cellphone thing anyway...
2 comments
Actual statistics available on NHTSA site and well known since 2000 clearly shows that the leading cause for cell phone related accidents is as follows:
1-42% Incoming call (No conversation yet)
2-23% Dialing a number (No conversation yet)
3-%remain is multiple reasons including using hand held phone for conversation.
Hand held phone or Ear piece still have the same effect in terms of cognitive distraction, but an ear piece still leave the hands free to deal with emergencies. Also, when holding the phone, driver have the tendency to lean and support the arm holding the phone and to loose peripheral vision as the vision is blocked by hand or posture
The best solution is not outlawing the use of that technology, but to introduce a medium technology to help mitigate the proven causes of the accidents.
We invented and have patents granted and pending in EU, USA and Japan for a system and method that does just that.
Our device is configured for drivers skills, e.g. teen aged driver vs. middle aged driver and the configuration is installed on the cell phone itself.
Once the cell phone is plugged in to the car, the device will not let the phone ring if the turn signal is on or if the driver is accelerating or decelerating or turning, thus taking care of 42% of accidents causes.
The device will allow the driver to toggle through the phone book and hear the name. The toggle happens from a sensor located at the 9:03 or 10:02 on the steering wheel. So the driver can call up people without looking at the phone opr taking hands off the steering wheel. This takes care of the other 23%.
Having Hands on the steering wheel to dial and having incoming calls delayed to allow drivers to concentrate on critical driving situation and the fact that the phone is no longer in the driver ear and hands, the rest of the problems are solved.
We are looking for support to educate legislatures and drivers about our technology so we can help reduce accidents and death.
Please check www.actplace.net for details.
Thank you
Mouhamad A. Naboulsi, President
The number of crashes involving hands-free and hand-held devices were about evenly split -- 1,854 to 1,726.
The difference between those two is negligible at best. Hands free or hands on, both are dangerous.
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