Cell Phones & Driving

[4X4]

I'm in a foul mood today. Between this extended wait, and that incompetant clerk, I've resigned myself to just relaxing for the rest of the day. But not before I give cell phone drivers a jab.

I admit that I answer my phone while driving. Sometimes, I am on the thing for 10 minutes. The difference between you & me is that I know where the hell I'm going, and I watch lights & other cars.

Not so for the dipshinguard in the red chevy half ton at southland & sacramento at noon today. The green arrow is flashing away, and guy is yapping away. I tap my horn & get the finger. Then, he slowly goes around the corner, taking up both lanes on sacramento, cranes his neck out the window to look around (never missing a syllable of course, left hand plastered to the side of his face) and decides that he's made a wrong turn. He then moves over to the right and allows me to proceed at a normal speed, but WAIT! He is actually flipping a Uey & using the whole road to do it.
I hit the brakes, and get another one finger salute, while he slowly turns his truck around with his elbow (don't forget that one hand is holding the phone and the other hand is flipping me off), then he flipps off the shuttle bus driver that is attempting to pull out of southland LRT station.

The fataing guy is in a business suit, driving a full size truck, flipping off the world & almost causing accidents because his hand is fused to his ear.


I hate people like that.


I was going to relate two other infuriating stories about this, but why bother? You all probably have seen it too.

Here are some guidelines for driving with a cell phone:

a) know where you are going

b) keep the other hand on the wheel

c) before attempting to drive while on the phone, attempt walking & chewing bubblegum simultaneously. If you fail, stay the fata off the phone while driving.




Last week, I saw a lady in a suburban reading a book while driving deerfoot. No shinguard, she was holding it against the steering wheel with her hands at 9 oclock & 3 oclock. She was even sporting reading glasses at the tip of her nose.

Even she was a better driver than this idiot today.

[Cowperson]

Some years ago, just off Bow Trail near the Westgate, I followed a brand-spanking new Jeep Cherokee making a right hand turn onto, I think, 34 Ave at the Shell there.

As soon as he was around the corner, he launched into a u-turn and, conditions being icy, I inevitably plowed right into the drivers door of his shiny new Cherokee.

Fortunately it was a low speed hit or I would have probably killed him.

He was yakking on the phone while making this ill-advised maneuver that no sane person would have engaged in without checking his mirrors first.

Cowperson

[Reaper]

Originally posted by fotze@Jun 15 2005, 02:24 PM
That gets me angry reading it. Keep a spare set of billiard balls in the car, they scare the crap out of unsuspecting driver who is on the phone when they hit the windshield.

Hmmm...time to go to some garage sales this weekend for "billiard supplies."

[Regulator75]

I see these tools everyday on my 30 minute commute. When I am on the phone, I always use hands free speaker phone. Or I use my ear bud / microphone on wire, while driving.

I was on McLeod turning onto Anderson East yesterday when this fat woman driving a newer dodge mini van decided to come into my lane a the last minute.
We were right beside each other. I blasted my horn for what seemed like forever.

She was EATING and talking on the phone. I seriously wanted to take a few rounds out if her, she could of used the exercise. Or maybe she couldn't of shoulder checked because her neck was too fat.

[Bill Bumface]

I just about had my 3 week old car wrecked by some beatch from BC talking on her cell on Bow Trail

[Clarkey]

4x4 do you think these guys who you're ranting about think they are good drivers, darn rights they do. Everyone thinks they are a good driver capable of talking on their cell phone. Odds are that you too shouldn't be talking on a cell phone while driving either.

[4X4]

Originally posted by Clarkey@Jun 15 2005, 02:32 PM
4x4 do you think these guys who you're ranting about think they are good drivers, darn rights they do. Everyone thinks they are a good driver capable of talking on their cell phone. Odds are that you too shouldn't be talking on a cell phone while driving either.

Yeah, I hear ya. I know I shouldn't be either. But there is a world of difference between these space cadets who zone out, leaning on their window sill or their arm rest, light turns green & they take 10 seconds to react, wandering all over the road, can't hit the signal arm 'cause their hand is tied up - and a guy who gets a quick update & hangs up. Like I said, at least I know where I'm going. If I didn't, I wouldn't be yakking on the phone, doing 30 kph, waiting for my exit to just pop up.

I know how hypocritical it is for me to say that, but I'll tell you that I have the capacity to glance at teh speedometer every few seconds whether I'm on the phone or not. I also have the wherewithall to remain attentive to my surroundings. I'll chuck the phone on the seat if I'm negotiating a left turn at a busy intersection.
The people that I'm bitching about will not. They must think that the whole world needs to slow the fata down to accomidate their precious phone call. Thats where my anger lies.

Sorta like cabbies that think they own the road because they drive so much. The fricken road is for everyone to use & obey rules equally. If you can't handle doing something like taking a call while driving, either don't answer the phone, or don't bloody well drive.


Argh. Now I'm riled up just thinking about the spaced out look on these people's faces. La la la, I'm the only person in the entire world. I can go 20 in a 50 zone because I'm on the phone & don't want to hit a child.

[Cube Inmate]

Just about got rear-ended yesterday by a fataer on a phone. He had to swerve into the left turn lane to avoid me, but at least I could have pulled ahead (into the intersection) if he'd been a little closer.

I don't care if it's hands-free or not...it's the conversation that's distracting. For some reason, it's much more distracting on the phone than when you're talking to your passenger...probably because at least in person, your passenger can see what's going on on the road too.

People suck

[CaptainCrunch]

I was hit by a car once when I was crossing a street downtown. A guy made a right hand turn on a red light into a pedestrian (me) while he was yaking on his cell phone.

I ended up with 2 breaks in my left leg and a slightly cracked knee cap.

He got a $500.00 fine, I ended up with a permanent limp.

[Thunderball]

I'm of the mind that people should be allowed to talk with cellphones if they can prove they have the mental capacity to do two things at once, with emphasis on the important one... the driving.

I think most people can't, and its bloody frustrating.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally posted by fotze+Jun 16 2005, 02:05 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (fotze @ Jun 16 2005, 02:05 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-CaptainCrunch@Jun 15 2005, 07:56 PM
I was hit by a car once when I was crossing a street downtown. A guy made a right hand turn on a red light into a pedestrian (me) while he was yaking on his cell phone.

I ended up with 2 breaks in my left leg and a slightly cracked knee cap.

He got a $500.00 fine, I ended up with a permanent limp.

I hope you got some money out of the deal. [/b][/quote]
Yeah I got a nice settlement out of it, but money dosen't really make you feel better when you know its going to rain three days ahead of time, and set off airport security alarms even after you take off your belt and anything else metal

[CaptainCrunch]

We'll it certainly took care of my education.

and my bar tab

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally posted by Reaper+Jun 15 2005, 02:32 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Reaper @ Jun 15 2005, 02:32 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-fotze@Jun 15 2005, 02:24 PM
That gets me angry reading it. Keep a spare set of billiard balls in the car, they scare the crap out of unsuspecting driver who is on the phone when they hit the windshield.

Hmmm...time to go to some garage sales this weekend for "billiard supplies." [/b][/quote]
D cell batteries are much cheaper and send an equally as effective message

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally posted by Thunderball@Jun 15 2005, 08:12 PM
I'm of the mind that people should be allowed to talk with cellphones if they can prove they have the mental capacity to do two things at once, with emphasis on the important one... the driving.

I think most people can't, and its bloody frustrating.

Very few people can so might as well make sure no one is allowed.

The fool flipping a no-handed u-turn, the fatty with a whopper in one hand and phone in the other, the beatch from BC, the genius reading a Harlequin on Deerfoot -- they all think they can do it too. I don't mean to lump any people in this thread with them, but it is possible you don't know what you are missing while driving w/phone because you are, umm, missing it.

Remember the concern a few years back about cell phones causing brain tumors? I think that's been debunked, but I don't think they've ever done a study on whether or not a cell-phone causes temporary malfunction of the part of the brain that recognizes the flashing yellow lights at a pedestrian crosswalk. I'm quite certain there is a correlation between the two. It's all connected to the "give the guy who is using the crosswalk a dirty look" reflex, which is only found in the dimmest of humans.

[Eddie Bronze]

This thread is awesome. It should be merged with the one about tailgaters. Anyone who tailgates or talks on the phone should have their legs cut off at the knees so there is no way they can even walk to their vehicles, let alone drive them. I don't even like to reach down and hit skip on my CD player while I'm stopped at a light. I said it before and I'll say it again I'm sure, most people don't take driving seriously. People make mind-numbing decisions in life-threatening conditions. No one ever seems to learn.

[Abstract]

Is this illegal over there?

It is here. Became so last year. Has cut down on the amount of people doing it but i still see about a dozen people a day doing it. Most people certainly do not have the mental capacity to do both at the same time but im pretty sure most of them are just plain bad drivers whether they have a phone to their ear or not.