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

[pylon]

Originally Posted by InCoGnEtO

almost 30 years old, but I have been to 4 continents, and 35 countries...I am still shocked everytime I come home to see just how over legislated life is in Canada (and the US for that matter). People in North America live under the thumbs of the government, and it doesn't necessarily make it right, or good.

I am even talking about places like Germany, where the speed limits on the highways are basically left up to what you are comfortable with.

All over the world, people are left to be responsible for their own doings, not counting on the government to raise their kids, and keep them safe. It is insane how people do not want to be responsible for their own doing here in North America. Hell, i guess when the government has dictated things your entire life, then why change now?

And for the record, I am a 29 year old, staunch fiscal Conservative. I have had a father that has sat in the House of Commons in Ottawa as an MP (PC Party), and believe in seeing all sides of the story. I am well educated, and have a great job. I am not just some backpacker that has the blinders on.

Sorry, but for someone that has so much "world experience", and is got such a pulse on things, your view is relatively ignorant and misinformed. China is probably the most dangerous place on the planet to be a driver or pedestrian near a public road. Also The Autobahns in Germany, or any other european roadway without a speed limit are specially designed for the speeds people travel on them, they are wxtra wide, triple laned and concrete and the calibre of cars people drive at ridiculous speeds there are night and day to what we drive. And to be honest most europeans, Germans especially are superior to North American drivers. Hence why it is the safest place to drive a car in the world. Also in Germany cell phone usage is banned on all public roadways.

[Devils'Advocate]

Actually, talking on a cell phone while driving in Germany is illegal and has been illegal since 2003 and carries a hefty fine (40 Euros).

[Resolute 14]

lol.

Pwned.

[Reaper]

I say they allow for citizen enforcement of the "no using your cellphone while driving" law as well. Make it legal to follow the offending person to their destination, rip the phone from their hands and then smash it into tiny pieces using a 5lb sledgehammer. I guarantee that the person wouldn't re-offend unless they were a total ######bag. A second offense allows the enforcer to use the sledgehammer on the offender.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Reaper

I say they allow for citizen enforcement of the "no using your cellphone while driving" law as well. Make it legal to follow the offending person to their destination, rip the phone from their hands and then smash it into tiny pieces using a 5lb sledgehammer. I guarantee that the person wouldn't re-offend unless they were a total ######bag. A second offense allows the enforcer to use the sledgehammer on the offender.

whats funny is, I bet that would work better than any sort of punishment out there

InCoGnEtO's post - its too bad people are just trying to pick the small details and miss the whole point of his post. Too many people are so entrenched in their tunnel vision of "this is good, everything else is bad" that even counter arguments, while not even opposing the opinion, but bringing a different view - they are ignored. I think his point was there are so many laws out there that protect people from themselves, moreso than anywhere else in the world outside of NA. For the record, I'm in support of the no-cell phone law and so on, but yes... so many laws to protect us from ourselves.

I suppose the bigger point to his post was, if you are an impaired driving when talking on the cell phone, you shouldn't need a law to govern your driving. You shouldn't be talking on the phone in the first place. And yes I have seen people who can talk on their phone and drive better than 95% of Calgarians who drive with 2 hands on the wheel and fully focussed (no I'm not referring to me, mostly taxi drivers I've seen in NY, Italy, Paris, London, Hong Kong...)

[zuluking]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

None of which helps you when, five minutes into your conversation with your family, you only see at the last second debris on the highway (such as the remnants of a blown truck tire), panic, swerve, over correct and roll your car into the ditch. If you had been paying attention to the road, you see that debris a kilometre ahead of time and easily glide around it.

And your point is...that you can come up with a scenario that causes an accident in any situation. So can I. The risk is low (in this case, due to probability.)

[zuluking]

Originally Posted by Superfraggle

Ok you've lost me again. You think it's a stupid law, but you think it's a necessary law? Why would it be stupid to do what's necessary?

It's stupid because common sense should prevail. It's necessary because common sense does not.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by zuluking

It's stupid because common sense should prevail. It's necessary because common sense does not.

Given how many people on CP have driven drunk, that should be readily apparent.

[C-Life]

2 words:

GET BLUETOOTH

I drive about 150K a day downtown and all over the SW and I cant tell you how many ######s talking on their phone there are. Damn rights it should be illegal. You ppl are ****in up all over and dont even realize it cause your laughin it up on ur ****in phone.
/rant

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

How are they going to enforce it?

Also same with the seatbelt law now. Couldn't you just put on your seatbelt when the cop approaches your car? Has anyone ever gotten a ticket for seatbelts?

Damn, I hate when I miss a driving thread and have to read 200 posts before I can reply. So I wont read them all and just reply to this post.

The difference between a seatbelt law and a cell phone law is that the distracted ######s that are going 10 under the limit with their hand plastered to their face are too oblivious to notice a cop noticing them.

Generally speaking, I'm usually for less laws and more onus on individuals to use common sense, but in this case, I'd fully support this legislation. I just hope there's a bit of leniency attached to it. For example, I answer my phone all the time while driving, but I'm so used to hitting the speaker button and sticking my phone in my sun visor for hands free talking, that it's no different than turning on my a/c or hitting the disc changer. It takes maybe 1-2 seconds for me to do this. Not much of a distraction assuming that I'm using common sense and scanning my situation before looking away for a second.

I don't think that talking hands free is a distraction because I still have full neck mobility for looking around. When someone has their arm up to their face, they can't properly look in that direction and also, they tend to slow down because they subconsciously know it.

I probably drive twice or three times more km than the average person because of my job, and you all know that I'm a driving nazi... I notice these things and it drives me insane. Nothing pisses me off more than watching some dumass sitting in an intersection waiting to turn left and then not noticing that the light turned red because they're yapping on their phone.

And the texters! I want to kill them. How many times have I been rolling down some road when suddenly the person in front of me sloooows down for no reason, then when I switch lanes to pass, inevitably they're looking down at their stupid phone texting away.

[metallicat]

An 18 year old kid was killed here a couple weeks ago by a woman who was reportedly texting. He was picking up traffic cones.

I am on the road nearly 100% of the time for my job, and I notice first hand how badly cell phone use affects ones driving. I admit to using my phone while driving, but I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. The problem is going to be enforcement.

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by 4X4

And the texters! I want to kill them. How many times have I been rolling down some road when suddenly the person in front of me sloooows down for no reason, then when I switch lanes to pass, inevitably they're looking down at their stupid phone texting away.

I have a coworker who is addicted to his crackberry. I've been out with him when he's driving and it's not a relaxing experience as the passenger. I could close my eyes and know when he's texting, it's always the same: roll away from a light, hit cruising speed, pop out the berry, start typing away...speed starts to slow...we're now at the speed limit....we're now 5....going on 10 k under...the light ahead is green and we could make it....VROOOOM, oh I guess he looked up in time. And repeat.

He just won't change and I don't think a ticket will change him. He'd do the same thing in California where it illegal.

[Resolute 14]

Quite frankly, if I was in a car with a coworker like that, I would give him one chance to stop texting while driving. If he refused, I would tell him to stop immediately, get out, and call my company's HR to get his ass fired.

[psycho_demonata]

Thank god for this law. About time eh. Some chick talking on her cellphone almost rear ended me so many times while at a red light. i moved up slowly and she kept hitting the gas instead of letting the brakes go and move up slowly and she kept doing that and chatting away on her phone. stupid girl.

also almost hit some guy cuz he decided to slam on the brakes at a green light cuz he was on his phone and not paying attention. tsk tsk.

[pylon]

The 10 safest countries to drive a car on the planet are in order.

1: Netherlands
2: Sweden
3: UK
4: Norway
5: Japan
6: Denmark
7: Switzerland
8: Germany
9: Finland
10: Iceland

Canada comes in at 15. And approximately half of our provinces have since legislated bans. Ontario and Quebec being key

These numbers are as per the international road traffic and accident database. As of 2004.

In every single country on the list cell phone usage is banned, while driving. The only country with an exception is Sweden which restricts you to using a headset.

For Incogneto:: China comes in dead last of ranked countries at # 52 as the most dangerous place on the planet to drive in 2004. In 2007 they lost 219,000 + citizens to traffic fatalities according to the WHO and they are predicted to hit 500,000/ year by 2020, but I wouldn't trust any numbers out of China to be accurate.

As of the time of study, every country had already legislated their cell phone ban.

I left out Malta as #1 as it only has a population of 480,000 and is smaller than your average city and I could not find any traffic laws for their country.

I find it interesting that the Japanese, the most gadget hungry and tech-addicted country of the bunch, can somehow manage fine with the legislation. Where as a bunch of yokels in the middle of the prairies are all "you are violating my human rights! When will the oppression stop!" over the adoption of a much needed law the most of the civilized world has adopted and embraced.

I think these are pretty powerful stats.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by psycho_demonata

Thank god for this law. About time eh. Some chick talking on her cellphone almost rear ended me so many times while at a red light. i moved up slowly and she kept hitting the gas instead of letting the brakes go and move up slowly and she kept doing that and chatting away on her phone. stupid girl.

also almost hit some guy cuz he decided to slam on the brakes at a green light cuz he was on his phone and not paying attention. tsk tsk.

Just a recommendation, always watch for erratic driving and to avoid these crazies. I've had to use it once on the highway, came close to smoking a women on the highway but I'm alway scanning my mirrors and gadgets to know what my situation is, and I was able to immediately dodge into the other lane which I knew was empty from my last scan. I'm always watching for people who can't keep a consistent speed or lane drift. If I'm behind them, I'm switching lanes. If I'm passing them or beside them, I'm always keeping my eye on an escape route. Also if I'm changing lanes, I'm always watching to see what the driver is doing in case they are pre-occupied with something, make sure they know that I'm changing into their lane.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by JustAnotherGuy

I have not had any near misses, cut anybody off, or any other such experience.

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 don't know how much walking you do, but I do a fair amount, and people on cell phones have nearly run me over dozens of times. Completely ignoring pedestrian lights, turning at intersections without looking around, running red lights, the whole bit.

They are always completely oblivious to the fact they've done something wrong. There ain't even a hitch in the conversation. They don't look at me, not even in the mirror, and roar off in their merry way.

They were distracted enough to nearly kill me and remained distracted enough to not know it even happened. Now you may be special -- hyperaware, undistractable, ever-vigilant, Spidey-senses tingling and all that, but I doubt it. Far as I can tell, nobody else is.

I know how sensitive people can get when some stranger questions their driving, but it ain't nothing personal. I'm just assuming you are a regular bloke and prone to the same mistakes everyone else makes when talking on the phone while driving.

Or look at it another way -- I'm a goddamn deadeye shot with my crossbow. Other people aren't so good, but I'm a real ace. Should I be able to practice my crossbow skills in public? I mean sure, most people can't shoot a crossbow as well as I can, but I'm a rare breed. I might have lost an arrow here or there (I'm not sure) but I've got that crossbow clocked. So should crossbow practice be allowed in downtown Calgary? I'm not going to hit anyone.

[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.

[sclitheroe]

It seems pretty simple to me...When you do a benefit analysis the benefits of universally banning cell phone use while driving outweigh the benefits of allowing it, in broad terms.

Cell's allowed-
Best possible outcome: You get to make a call while driving, nothing happens
Worst possible outcome: accident causing injury or death

Cell's banned-
Best possible outcome: Improves road safety by reducing number of distracted drivers
Worst possible outcome: you have to stop to make a call

There's lots of possible outcomes in-between best and worst case (eg. you could become a slightly worse driver for the duration of a call, but make a call), but the fact remains, that at the end of the day, we are talking about the difference between increasing your risk of getting in an accident, vs. making a phone call...

Ultimately, I wouldn't be suprised if phones are simply designed to stop operating above a certain velocity other than 911 calls...one of my GPS units actually shuts down above 200km/h to prevent it from being used in aircraft, for example.

[troutman]

Driving around today, it seemed every woman in her 20s was doing their utmost to get in every last minute of driving and cell-phoning possible.