Quote:
Originally Posted by FFR
Maybe I'm missing something and someone can explain it to me - but how is talking on the phone different from having a conversation with the passenger in your car? (Obviously the looking at the phone to type in the number, texting, etc. is taking away attention from driving) But specifically - you mention above that if you're talking on the phone and someone says something that causes your attention to go to the conversation instead of driving and thus your driving is affected. Well - how is that different than having the same conversation with a passenger in the car who says something that catches your attention and pulls it away from driving?
I'm not trying to say that I disagree with this law or anything - I completely support it (and I'm one of the people who would be affected by it) but I just don't undertand how a conversation on the phone (once you are on it and not typing) is any different than a conversation with a passenger in the car?
I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I don't think you have a good argument since they are allowing people to continue to use wireless handheld which still lets people have conversations which could distract them from driving.
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See MartimeQScout's post earlier in the thread.
Simply put, it is different because the person you are talking on the phone with doesn't know when to shut up. A conversation with the person in the passenger seat is different because they are seeing the same situation you, the driver are.
Open stretch of highway with light traffic? Appropriate time to ask questions that make the driver think critically. Making a left-hand turn during rush hour at a busy intersection where you're waiting for an opening? Not the best time to be discussing the grocery list or talking about the seat sale to Las Vegas. As a passenger, you're not going to start telling a funny story about your co-worker a few seconds after the brake lights of all the lanes in front of you light up at once and the driver is trying to figure out why and apply the brakes themselves. The person on the phone does not see all this happening but will still start telling the story, thereby distracting the driver without meaning to.