I thought it would be interesting to see what everyone's opinions are on this. Regardless of what the current laws are where you live at the moment, what do you think the law should be regarding cell phone use while driving?

Please try to keep the discussion relatively sensible and friendly! I know that this could turn into a very heated debate on what is safe and what is not, but please state your opinion and respect the opinions of others if they are different from your own...

I voted for "talk on the phone, but only with a hands free kit."

I have a little story about phones, it actually happened to me today. So I was travelling on the motorway, on my way back home after I wrote my math test at uni. My mom called me. She asked me about the exam, and I noticed that I'm just staring at the road and travelling at 165km/h... My speed before the phone call was about 140km/h (Limit is 130 tho :P) I missed the exit, I didn't even notice it was there.... So I had to take 10 more kilometres to leave the motorway... Interesting how the phone kept me so busy.

I could give a shit about cell phones.....Töki , I love the avatar!!

I voted for "only with a hands free kit".

Not even with a hands-free kit.

I'm not saying don't use one, but having a full blown conversation on the blower while you're driving... bad.

Drivers really need to get into the habit of just saying "I'm driving, sod off" and hanging up. I never let anyone who's driving me talk on the phone, I'll take it off of them if needbe.

If you get caught, you deserve the points and fine IMO.

i say you can talk on the phone while driving, but not text. if your talking on the phone and your still paying attention to the road, then that might be okay.

Quote from Syfoon :

Not even with a hands-free kit.

I'm not saying don't use one, but having a full blown conversation on the blower while you're driving... bad.

Drivers really need to get into the habit of just saying "I'm driving, sod off" and hanging up. I never let anyone who's driving me talk on the phone, I'll take it off of them if needbe.

If you get caught, you deserve the points and fine IMO.

and, what if it was their spouse? or a best friend? or thier boss?

no matter who calls, they are still driving a car. no discussion possible.

Quote from GrIp DrIvEr :

and, what if it was their spouse? or a best friend? or thier boss?

So what?

Just because it's some geezers wife at the end of his phone, it doesn't give him the right to potentially endanger someone.

I voted for the 4th option, you should just ignore it and call them back when your not driving.

Quote from GrIp DrIvEr :

and, what if it was their spouse? or a best friend? or thier boss?

If they're not on work time, then the boss can sod off. If they are on work time, (and missing from the workplace) then a simple "I'm going to be late" followed by a hang-up is all it takes. If they're on the road because of work (driving to a meeting somewhere other than the workplace, etc) than the boss needs to realize this, and he/she can sod off.

In my opinon, I would not use the phone at all in the car, or minimze the use of it. The human was not made to multitask, such as talking on the phone and driving. I have noticed this "problem" on talking on the phone, even with a hands free kit while "driving" on my G25 in LFS and other games I use my wheel a lot.

I voted for hands free device simply because you can't just take it away. IMO, you shouldn't be talking on the phone while driving, but it still needs to be allowed (via hands free) for emergencies and such. I personally have one and rarely use it. I never make calls while driving, and if I receive one I'll keep it VERY short. If you want to talk for an extended period of time, just stop somewhere and make the call. One problem I have against removing it entirely is 1-another restriction we don't need to have, people should be able to make the judgment themselves, and 2-the same would go with other things: discussions with people in the car/having the stereo on/talking gps/etc.

All in all, don't do it unless you REALLY need to, and keep it SHORT!

Quote from Knight_Atack :

All in all, don't do it unless you REALLY need to, and keep it SHORT!

This my friends, is great advice about sex!

It's bad to do other things while driving a car. Little lapses of concentration kill people.

I vote no, never. And I don't call people who I think might be driving.

i hate phones in general and think they should be illegal even while not driving

You know, I'm currently doing a science fair project on the use of cellphones and driving...
Instead of real cars, I used LFS.

And I definitely vote no to cellphones and their use in any way.

When I see someone on the road driving and talking on his cell phone at the same time, the person is usually doing one of these things:

- Taking the wrong route
- Going wrong way
- Getting out of the track and/or almost ramming another car
- Going too slow and blocking the way on the fast speed lane
- Going too fast and breaking too close to other cars
- Slow reactions to the environment and traffic

And, in the worst cases
- Crashing
(I've seen a guy using his cell phone while driving on heavy traffic, and he didn't notice a HUGE TRUCK stopped in front of his car (wth!). The truck was in front of it, stopped, didn't move at all nor changed track, everything else stayed the same, and the guy just crashed hard into it.)

So, my vote goes to no, never use it while driving.
And I don't, nor will use the cell phone while driving. The other person can wait (unless it's a lawyer)

Note: Everything I said above is related to things I've seen personally, and only with people holding the cell phone on their hands (hands free device is not common in Brazil, I'd say 98% of the drivers that use the cell phone while driving doesn't have it)).
I have no experience with hands free device to talk about them.

Quote from Knight_Atack :

I voted for hands free device simply because you can't just take it away.

I think this is what really interests me in this kind of discussion. I definitely see your view, and I think a lot of us think this way, but it makes me wonder how we got to thinking like this. Saying we can't take it away makes me think, well how did we survive before we even had cell phones, if we can't even live without using them while we're operating a potentially lethal weapon.

I only started using cell phones about 3 years ago, but I'm as dependent on mine as anyone else these days... I always carry it on my person and it pretty much never leaves my side. I just wonder how we got ourselves into this feeling of needing to be able to be reached 24-7. We used to manage back before cell phones, emails, and text messages! But now we see people out there who feel that it's important enough to respond to a text message immediately that they will do so while driving 70mph on the highway, rather than waiting until they're stopped or out of their vehicle.

I guess a lot of it is the expectations placed upon us by society and the media... It's now simply expected of us that we should be able to be reached at all times wherever we are. I love the convenience of cell phones, but I think we take it a bit too far sometimes and just don't step back and realize how dangerous what we're doing is.

As you can probably figure out, I voted for "not use your phone in any way while driving".

Quote from Scatter :

You know, I'm currently doing a science fair project on the use of cellphones and driving...
Instead of real cars, I used LFS.

I'd be really interested in seeing some of your work on this, if you'd be so kind as to post up some of your methods and results!

I voted for no use at all.
The problem is not that people use 1 hand on the phone, but that they lose the focus of the driving, making them unfocused and dangerous drivers.

People who say they can multitask this are usually the ones that are most dangerous, because they don't even notice they gets unfocused, and this causes dangerous driving, neverthless if you notice it yourselfe or not.

Quote :

I'd be really interested in seeing some of your work on this, if you'd be so kind as to post up some of your methods and results!

I will, once I stop procrastinating and finish my homework! Arrrgh... (will most likely put it up tomorrow)
Results are predictable but interesting. But I found my background research on it is even more interesting than the results.

Pretty much a no-brainer: Don't use a cellphone while driving. Full stop. If it's an emergency, take the next possible stop and return the call. if it isn't, then it's not worth to endanger the lives of others and yourself for it.

Also, while I see the point in not restricting it (at least with a hands free kit), that point is somewhat utopian. Sadly, most people who inhabit this earth are complete idiots, and giving them a possibility to harm themselves (actually, not that bad an idea) OR myself (very alarming) leads to one thing: they're gonna cause harm, and lot's of. So it boils down to either having an annoying yet purposefull restriction, or a considerable amount of idiots killing themselves and others.

Hands-free if you really have to, but ideally you shouldn't use one at all.

Your reactions times are drastically increased when you're doing more than one thing. In an emergency your brain needs to work out which is the one that needs dealt with first, and obviously all of the time it's doing that (miliseconds) you could be braking or steering.

Hands free is fine, IMO. No different to having a conversation with a passenger.



Regards,

Ian

Quote from Michael Denham :

I think this is what really interests me in this kind of discussion. I definitely see your view, and I think a lot of us think this way, but it makes me wonder how we got to thinking like this. Saying we can't take it away makes me think, well how did we survive before we even had cell phones, if we can't even live without using them while we're operating a potentially lethal weapon.

I survive quite fine, thank you.

I don't have a cell phone. I think it's ridiculous that people have to have a cell phone at their ear constantly annoying everyone with their loud obnoxious chatting and gossiping. They talk while driving, they ignore the checkout person while they gab, they ignore the waitress in restaraunts. People are down right rude with the damn things.

I had a cell phone once. It was one of those prepaid phones. I carried it for emergencies. Most of the emergencies were standing in the store scratching my head after work thinking, "now what did my wife want me to get?" Other than that, I would call my wife from the parking lot after work occasionally, before I started the car. I let it run out a few months ago because it wasn't worth even the $20 every 3 months that I was paying for it to make 1 phone call every couple of months.

I dont think its appropriate (spelling) to talk on the phone while driving, unless its an emergency, in which case u shouldnt drive.. so, no no talking on phone while driving for me

Quote from Syfoon :

SNIP!
If you get caught, you deserve the points and fine IMO.

Fine? U get fined in the UK for talking while driving? :O