lig

No - I won't stop. More than likely it won't become outright illegal. Even if it does - too bad. Do you obey every traffic law? If you do - you have more self control than I do - especially with a car like the S2000.

We have a state senator pushing for a hands free law. I don't have a problem with that since I generally use a headset or the speakerphone for my calls.

Just for fun I checked on the amount of miles I drove today - it was 48. Total driving time ~ 2 hours. Time on the cell phone - 69 minutes. Time on the cell phone while driving 17 minutes.

The final tally?

Zero accidents. Zero pedestrians hit. Zero dogs or other animals squashed. Zero times I endangered a fellow driver by doing something stupid. Two deals sealed. One lunch scheduled. Three fires put out. Two customer service order placed.

FO2K

How do you know?

Javelin360

I hate phones period. If I didn't have to have a phone for work I'd rip the thing out of the wall. Cel phones are even worse. I think we should all write letters or go visit in person. I've got DSL so my internet connection need not be affected.

lig

I was there. Were you?

If you are so unaware a driver that you don't know when you've had a close call - then you shouldn't be on the road - phone user or not.

FO2K

If you were on the phone, I doubt if you were 100% "there". I have never seen a cellphone user 100% "there". If you are the exception, I apologize.

lig

Apology accepted.

mikegarrison

Pretty much, yup.

We all know the number one killer on the highways is drunk driving, but even though there are strict laws against it and the evidence remains in the bloodstream, it still goes on. However, there is a lot less drunk driving than there would be without the societal pressure.

I remember as a kid hearing my folks laughingly tell stories about times they had driven home drunk. It was just one of those things, like speeding is today. Something you knew you shouldn't have done, but most people did it every once in a while. These days, however, it is closer to the status of pedophilia. Nobody admits to being a drunk driver, and there is a lot of pressure from society to avoid it, above and beyond the laws. When someone famous is caught doing it, it shows up in the news as a serious moral character flaw.

So laws and campaigns, even when not 100% perfect, do affect the pressure on people to "do the right thing". For that reason, I like all the attention about cell phone usage. Even though cell phones are only one of many distractions, they are very common distractions and it doesn't hurt to apply some societal pressure to behave smarter.

And, in fact, cell phones are a very potent distracting factor. Worse than many of the other things on your list. The problem is that conversations take up a HUGE part of our brainpower. If the other person is at least in the car they can see for themselves when it is a a good idea to be quiet and concentrate on the situation. But when they are remote, they can't tell when you suddenly need a lull in the conversation because the traffic conditions just changed.

My biggest personal distraction is that I love baseball, and during the season I almost always have the game on the radio. But at least I'm only talking to myself when I start ranting about "bunt? why bunt? we need baserunners, not outs!"

Anybody who has driven a track with a passenger knows just how distracting even a passenger can be. Normally on the street you don't notice it, because you are driving on auto-pilot almost all the time. But on the track, when you are driving at a very high level of concentration, you become aware of how very difficult it is to really drive well and talk at the same time. Even being talked to can be enormously distracting.

In general, I favor the idea that the cell phones don't need their own law. Instead, people should be held more accountable for all their bad driving decisions, including the decision not to learn how to be a skilled driver. Nevertheless, the societal pressure against cell phones while driving is a good thing, and should be kept up.

mikegarrison

Even though it is a topic for a different thread, what else would you expect? We are talking life or death -- of course the lawyer is going to try anything possible to win.

Wouldn't you?

mikegarrison

Oh, and Jeff? Ask yourself how it would affect your autox time if you drove the course carrying on a cellphone conversation.

Obviously, real world street driving is not as demanding as track or autox driving. But you never know when that one moment of terror is going to inject itself among the endless minutes of tedium. People aren't "neglegent drivers" because they can't handle the ordinary demands of driving in traffic. They are "negligent drivers" when they fail to handle the extraordinary (but not unreasonable) demands that occasionally pop up.

Elistan

Disregarding the near physical impossibility of handling a steeringwheel, stickshift and cellphone all at the same time , I don't think it'd be any more or less distracting than carrying on a conversation with your passenger.

I personally tend to be quite non-verbal with passengers when I'm on-track because it is distracting. But I certainly don't think having the other person physically present makes it any less distracting. In my experience, cellphone conversations are just as distracting as physically-present conversations. I certainly hope nobody is advocating outlawing all car conversations!