Hang Up
A Montgomery County legislator wants Pennsylvania to make drivers hang up their phones.
Unless the car has some sort of hands-free device.
State Rep. Josh Shapiro is about to introduce legislation that brings Pennsylvania into line with an increasing number of communities across the country and at least 45 countries worldwide. He says cell phones distract drivers more than anything else on the road, leading to more accidents.
Here's a confession: I am just what Shapiro's talking about.
I'm most dangerous when I wind up behind someone who's crawling in the fast lane, or doing some sort of bee dance across the white lines. Invariably, they're driving while yakking. I make this Talking On The Phone gesture with my thumb and forefinger extended and held to my ear. If really mad, I do this with the other hand at the same time, and shake these modified cuckold signs while yelling something like GET OFF THE PHONE, MORON!
My hands aren't on the wheel during this little demonstration, but I'm a very good driver. Even when I'm on the phone, myself.
I told you the legislation was aimed at me.
Actually, I do drive one-handed, the other cupping a cell phone to my ear. But I'm very skilled. I dial while at the wheel. I text message friends. Check my balance. And what I have to say is very important.
It's my right, right? Unless I happen to run into you.
Shapiro, a freshman Democrat, says he's got 30 co-sponsors - more than double the amount when the bill was introduced in 2002. It died because we don't like anyone messing with our freedoms. We're with Ben Roethlisberger on this one.
A KYW report says Shapiro claims the use of hand-held cell phones played a role in almost 1,200 crashes in Pennsylvania in 2004. His bill would allow the use of cell-phones in traffic only if a hands-free device is used. Using a hand-held cell phone while driving would come with a $250 fine.
Shapiro cites a recent National Highway Safety Administration study
"…which says that distracted drivers cause the most crashes. And the number one distraction for drivers is using hand-held cell phones. And the fact is, that our Pennsylvania legislature needs to step up and do something to make our roadways safer."
Actually some studies have shown even hands-free phones are a dangerous distraction. A study last month out of the U of Michigan found about 2/3rds of those surveyed backed a cell phone ban. Younger people thought driving while on the phone was less dangerous. Four states ban cells for younger drivers and four more prohibit all but hands-free phones, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
When I lived in Europe, most countries had outlawed cells phones for drivers unless the devices were hands-free. I'd be talking to someone, and when passing a police car, would suddenly have to drop the phone onto the seat or risk fines worth hundreds of dollars. A dangerous law, I felt. Never got caught, but eventually almost every country I worked in had adopted the rule, concluding it made people safer.
I remember interviewing a professor in Germany who doubted cell phone bans would make the roads safer. Many other things distract drivers, he said, like men staring at women's breasts. Now that guy made sense.
"We just have a lot of practice driving with one hand and doing other things while we're driving." Don't quote me out of context on that one!
I think the most distracting things you can have in the car with you are children. It's hard to keep your mind on the road when a bicker-fest is going on in the back seat or someone is quizzing you suddenly on the eating habits of killer whales or the intricacies of candy. One of my kids held a wasp nest up to the back of my head once while I was driving to show it to me (fortunately we were pulling into the driveway at the time and, as it turns out, the thing had been declared dead by a helpful uncle and dad had put it in the car but I wasn't aware of it.) Or pets, someone rear-ended me last year when her dog unexepectedly put his nose in the front seat and she was trying to push him back. Wham! I once saw two people having a conversation in sign language while one of them was driving. That can't be good either. Just my 2 cents.
The yakking-while-driving ban is totally toothless here in NJ. Aparently, you have to be committing some other offense as well to get cited. So, if you're speeding and yakking then you're likely to get two tickets. Strange logic if you ask me. It this is a case of political pragmatism, it's not working out. My Garden State breverend continues to chat away in the car..... I should add that i keep my phone tucked away while driving. otherwise it's too tempting to indulge in this bahavoir which frustrates me in others.
Your German professor may be on to something (pay close attention to final frames): http://www.funnyhub.com/videos/pages/videos/distracted-during-race.html
Last part of address was clipped off on previous comment http://www.funnyhub.com/videos/pages/videos/distracted-during-race.html
Typepad cuts off portions of link when I copy and paste into comments secion, so copy both lines, paste them together and view: http://www.funnyhub.com/videos/pages/videos/ distracted-during-race.html
I agree that the abn is not the answer. It also depends on perspective: i.e. It is the answer if you are up for re-election and think this will et you some votes for loooking like you give a damn. But guess what they don't care! And yes breast do distract me way more than any cell phone could ever do. If you are a guy and dont believe this just drive into any college or yuppie neighborhood with alot of 20 something girls and moderate traffic ( I live near hoboken, nj anyone that been there will know what i am talking about)on a warm spring day. On your way there drive talking on a cell, and when you get through the town compare. Boobs and tight shorts win all the time.
Is it really necessary to allow handheld cell phones in cars? Even if there were the slightest possibility of causing accidents on the road, why take the chance of permitting this, especially in light of the insufferable boors who subject other drivers to the real risk of an accident. Cell phone (ab)users: unconscious, disrespectful, discourteous and obnoxious. Public transportation and areas; doctors' offices; theaters; restaurants; checkout lines; just about everywhere. In their own dream world walking in the street, or "driving" their cars. Their business, everyone's business. Unable to bear silence or be by, or with, themselves for a moment. Totally oblivious to---and inconsiderate of---their neighbors. Motorists using handheld cell phones while driving should be subject to heavy penalties. If they want to risk their own lives, fine. But I, for one, am not willing to be a victim of their stupidity. Emanuel Molho, New York, NY
Actually, a number of very rigorous and credible studies have shown that it makes no difference whether you're hands-on or hands-free; it's the act of conversation itself that's the distraction. What they found was that the demand on your attention created by talking on the phone to an unseen listener compels you to, in effect, drive on automatic pilot. You're OK as long as nothing unexpected happens--but if it does, reaction time is slowed down as much as if you're legally drunk. How about if we all just STFU and drive? If you have to talk on the phone, pull the hell over.
Figuring that yesterday's press conference announcing that a minimum of 500 chemical weapons had been found in Iraq might be considered newsworthy, I thought today's Inquirer would be worth a glance. Surely, I thought, there'd at least be some carefull...