Alberta govt to ban the use of cell phones and other driver distractions

[C-Life]

^^ Or just get bluetooth. My car came with it installed in my steering wheel. It is absolutely the way to go.

[JustAnotherGuy]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

The problem with this is that you just might not know that you've had near misses, cut anybody off, or any other such experience.........

I have a couple points.

The first point seems to get a number of responses about me thinking I am a better driver than other people or something. But I do not think that. When I talk on the cell phone while I am driving I do not talk while I am changing lanes, or driving downtown, or in a mall parking lot, or making multiple turns in residential, or when there is heavy traffic, or.. do you get the point? I only talk on the phone when I driving in a multi-lane road. I stay in my lane, I am not changing lanes. I am not cutting people off. I am looking all around me. I am doing the standard checks as when I normally drive. I still see other things. I do not have indepth conversations about work etc. Those are my personal rules for talking on the phone while driving.

Second point is. Yes, there are an absurd number of people who are talking on the phone and driving poorly. Something does have to be done about it. I am sure we all have stories to tell about somebody on the phone. My latest was the car in front of me driving like the person was drunk. (I was not on the phone) The car was going about a third into the left hand lane and then flip back. I had to pass the person to see WTF. It was a woman practically napping against the drivers window and talking on the phone. She couldn't see around her vehicle.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

I certainly agree that people need to drive with more care and attention. I am against this proposed law, because it assumes that it is impossible to drive safely while talking on the phone, which is certainly not true in the right circumstances, and because it is entirely redundant to the existing laws that say you must drive with proper care and attention.

Singling out cell phone use over some other things that many people do that are on average more dangerous is totally unfair.

I personally try to keep the phone down when I know that more intensive driving is looming (downtown, busy traffic, changing a lane, etc.)

When it's not busy, and I'm in the lane I want to be in, I can't see how talking on the phone is any more dangerous than not. My view is not obscured at all, I usually would only be driving with one hand at those times anyway, and it takes up no more thought power than having a conversation with someone in the car.

Driving requires anticipation, generally, virtually nothing just "pops" out with no warning. When those things happen, I don't see how being on a cell phone is going to change anything. What if something just pops up while you are doing a shoulder check? Should we ban shoulder checks too?

I'm all for saying drivers should talk on the cellphone less when they are driving, and there are definitely scenarios where one shouldn't talk on the cellphone at all.

Its not just targeting cell phone use, it is targeting all forms of distraction while driving. The problem is the law is too grey when it comes to this stuff. Now they want to put it in black and white, and the people endangering those who understand the concepts road safety will be made to pay and possibly lose their licenses if they continue to text and shave and apply eyeliner while driving. Every one thinks they are the best driver on the road, and even if you are a better driver than your average driver while you are on your phone, eating your McMuffin, or watching Benny Hill reruns on your pimped out "system" you are still not driving at your best and are unnecessarily endangering the public.

Like I mentioned earlier, I was about 2 feet from being wiped of the face of this planet head on while I was on my Motorcycle by a woman who wandered into my lane while dialing/looking at her phone over the steering wheel. Had I not been paying attention and taken evasive action, it would be game over. Had she not had a cell phone odds are 99% she wouldn't have wandered into my lane. So how can this be a bad thing?

edit: the best part is when I checked my rear view, she flipped me the bird like it was MY FAULT she almost took me out.

[moon]

Meh, nothing law that won't do much to reduce the dangers of driving but allows all the self-righteous people to feel good about themselves for another day.

I am not sure it is such a great law to get all excited about and certainly not such a terrible law that it should be a concern for most folks.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by zuluking

It is merely frustrating that many drivers do not possess the common sense required to determine the relative risk of their actions while driving.

It's worse than that - according to the Dunning-Kruger effect, the poorer drivers are actually less able to accurately assess their ability to operate a vehicle and use a phone at the same time, meaning that they are more likely to believe that they are capable of doing so safely.

In other words, the worst drivers are the most likely to engage in risky cell phone use while driving.

Read up on it here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_effect

I love the Dunning-Kruger effect - it explains a lot of what you see in everyday life.

[Superfraggle]

Originally Posted by moon

Meh, nothing law that won't do much to reduce the dangers of driving but allows all the self-righteous people to feel good about themselves for another day.

I am not sure it is such a great law to get all excited about and certainly not such a terrible law that it should be a concern for most folks.

You forgot about the hypercritical folk who get pleasure out of deriding the self-righteous for feeling good about being good. You guys get something too, don't ya.

[twotoner]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

How are they going to enforce it?

They could ride up beside you in rush hour traffic on their cop bikes or just look across from their cop cars.

The biggest way this will be enforced is in an accident. Insurance companies by default will subpoena your cell records. Any calls of more than a token duration near the time of the accident could be problematic for the driver. Look forward to policies that won't pay out your collision when you were found to be on your cell phone, much like policies work with drunk driving accidents currently.

It won't be long before you will have cctv cameras at key locations filming you talking and grabbing your plate for later processing. Think I'm taking this too far - look to the UK right now. Taking it too far would be Telus, Rogers etc forwarding on a weekly basis lists of all phones that were active at a certain speed for police to cross link to highway cameras and see if said phone was the single occupant in a vehicle.

On another note, people are calling this fascist. Fascism is when the government sets up corporations for private gain but makes society as a whole suffer the corporations losses. Bailing out AIG was fascist, how does banning cell phones in cars help corporations?

It seems that the studies do prove that cell phone driving is as much of an impairment as drunk driving. If the studies are sound, don't be hypocritical, either support drunk driving and cell phone driving or ditch em both (my vote). I'm biased though, I ride my bike and try to stay off the roads as much as possible.

[pylon]

Best response so far twotoner.

[twotoner]

Originally Posted by pylon

We have instituted an instant fire policy at work for text messaging and facebooking on company time.

On the surface this kind of policy seems sound, but I can remember many times when messaging colleagues outside a company has solved technical issues that I or any one else inside could not figure out.

A better policy is just to not hire idiots. But idiots beget idiots so I guess your company is f@#cked.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by twotoner

On the surface this kind of policy seems sound, but I can remember many times when messaging colleagues outside a company has solved technical issues that I or any one else inside could figure out.

A better policy is just to not hire idiots. But idiots beget idiots so I guess your company is f@#cked.

If you can prove its work related absolutely fine, but unfortunately 99% of the time it is not. It is no different than when I was in my early 20's back in the ealry 90's, you didn't make personal calls and spend half you day on the phone with your buddies. That was grounds for dismissal then, and disrespectful to your company. And are you calling me an idiot?? lol

[RougeUnderoos]

And another thing...

All this talk of "how is it any different than talking to the person riding shotgun"?

I don't know the proper term for it, but it is different.

I'm sure we've all enjoyed the modern convenience of eating dinner or having beers with someone who is talking on the phone. It is my experience that if you say something to a person while they are talking on the phone, something like "what are you having? I had a big lunch so I'm just having a quesadilla", the person you are talking to will either ignore you completely or stick up their index finger and nod their head and not look at you. If they are texting, they will finish that text and look up at you and say "what"?

If the person you are talking to is not on the phone, they are not going to give you the the "gimme just a second" index finger and nod, and you are not going to be ignored.

If you can't carry on a normal conversation with a person sitting 2 feet away from you (or even hear that person talking) while you use your phone, you are obviously distracted from what is going on around you.

And if you can't answer a simple question or order a hamburger while you are talking on the phone, you can't drive a car while you are talking on the phone.

Hell, we all know how great it is when someone in the room is blabbing at you when you are on the phone. Most of us usually say something like "I'm on the phone ferchrissakes, gimme a minute".

If we can't talk to one person on the phone and one person in the room while we sit on he couch, how can we talk to one person on the phone and drive a car at 100 klicks an hour on the freeway?

[twotoner]

Originally Posted by pylon

If you can prove its work related absolutely fine, but unfortunately 99% of the time it is not. ... And are you calling me an idiot?? lol

I was reacting to the "zero tolerance" aspect of it. This followup seams more reasonable.

I only would call you an idiot if you were the one that said it should be zero tolerance and also were the one who hired people who text message nonsense all day.

So maybe your not a total idiot, but I wouldn't rate you the quickest bunny in the forest if you still think that you work for a great company. This seems like one of these companies that you can't change so it might be best to just change companies.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Singling out cell phone use over some other things that many people do that are on average more dangerous is totally unfair.

Such as?

[Pastiche]

Haven't gone through the whole thread.

However, for the people critical of this kind of legislation you need to produce credible documentation that driving while talk or texting on a cell phone does not inhibit driving ability for you to have one leg to stand on.

As a cyclist this is great news. I know first hand that any kind of cell phone interaction while driving is very dangerous.

[Antithesis]

The ability of people in this thread to ignore data contrary to their beliefs is something I see in the teenagers I teach every day. "The experience or information you have for me is irrelevant as it doesn't apply to me because I am invincible." I've yet to see anything in this thread that counters the numerous studies others have posted that show cell phone use makes you a worse driver than drinking does with anything other than "I don't think that's true".

Doesn't that say something? I mean, everyone either for or against cell phones while driving is an intelligent enough person, but the amount of people just (seemingly) willfully ignoring some good information provided is ... well I guess it's not surprising. Then again, my students think that I'm a dinosaur because I don't text and I only have a cell phone because my wife is pregnant.

[Antithesis]

Originally Posted by fotze

They are right about the last part, suprised you can operate a mouse.

Oh, come on. I know full well how to operate THOSE contraptions.

[Pastiche]

"Hello computer."

[The Ditch]

I'm for this 100%, I try not to use my phone while I'm driving, I know I'm a worse driver when I'm on my cell and driving.

[habernac]

[Resolute 14]