Cellphones and driving

Try Voice Assist.com --- You can Text, Email and Call all with the sound of your voice. Uses ANY phone. They even give you 60 days for free.

I too have a built-in bluetooth hands-free phone in my leased car (Acura TSX). My lease is about to end and I'm going to need a new car soon.

I will not consider ANY car that does not have built-in bluetooth with VOICE DIAL capability.

These units allow for the storage of at least a hundred or so frequently dialed numbers, with "voice tags". You store these numbers and voice tags while you are safely parked in your driveway. Then, while driving, you press a button on the steering wheel and say "call my lovely bride". If you have not stored a number with a voice tag of "my lovely bride", but you have your lovely bride's number memorized (you had better), you simply say "dial three one oh five five five one two six three", and off it goes.

All of this is done with both hands firmly on the wheel (or not, as circumstances require), both eyes vigilantly scanning - in the same way as one might (and should) do while conversing with a passenger, and with minimal diversion of attention.

While the call is in progress, the same applies.

Termination of the call is accomplished either by pressing the button on the steering wheel or simply ignoring everything and letting the intelligent electronics do the hang-up work for you.

I posit that the major problem with cell phone use while driving relates to the fumbling around with the handset and it buttons, or other user interface requirements of the handset - AND user interface requirements of most wireless and/or wired headsets, NOT THE ACT OF CARRYING ON A CONVERSATION.

Statistical research of vehicle accidents seeking to correlate cell phone usage as a suspected contributory cause MUST be refined to tease out a differentiation between specific activities inherent to hand-held versus built-in phone usage. The terms "speakerphone" or "hands-free" do not adequately accomplish such differentian because most handheld units include both features, or can accomplish conformance with those specifications by use of (dangerous in my opinion) wired or wireless headsets.

More granularity is needed. Assuming investigation into an accident where cell phone usage is suspected as a contributory cause, the following tidbits of information (among others) need to be collected:

1) Did vehicle involved have built-in bluetooth hands-free capability?

2) Was cell phone "holstered" / "pocketed" / "pursed" at time of accident? (i.e: was built-unit in use)

3) Was driver in process of
a) Initiating Call , or
b) Conducting Converation, or
c) Terminating Call, or
d) Other Cell-Phone Related Activity (specify)
at the time of the accident?

I am of the belief that it will come to light that use of built-in, truly hands-free, voice-dial, speakerphone cell phone will ultimately prove to add minimal additional risk of accident while driving. In other words, very few accidents will correlate to "holstered", built-in speakerphone use, conversation in progress conditions.

Now whom do we need to convince that this kind of research is missing, and needed.

All of that being said, I also believe that the use of any cell phone while driving, built-in or not, should be prohibited for drivers under the age of 21.

BTW - Insurance carriers will probably be the ultimate arbiters of this discussion. I think it quite likely that a clause will be inserted into policies that will limit carrier liability in the event that cell phone usage is determined to be a contributory cause.

They'll weasel out of paying claims any way they can. Believe it!

My humble $.03 (adjusted for Bank Bail Outs and Imminent Collapse of Greek Euro)

i agree with jimmy

WHILE I AGREE WITH BOTH SIDES OF THIS ISSUE. MY COMMENT TO YOU WOULD BE; YES WHILE IT IS FAIRLY SIMPLE TO PRESS ONE BUTTON AND TALK ON YOUR BUILT IN BLUETOOTH, NOT EVERYONE POSSES SUCH A SYSTEM. SO TO IT IS IMPERATIVE TO BAND THE USAGE ALL TOGETHER, AND EVEN THOUGH THOSE WITH HAND SETS AND BLUETOOTHS MAYBE EFFCTED, YOU WONT , HOW CAN THEY TELL YOUR EVEN ON THE PHONE ! YOU COULD SIMPLY JUST STOP TALKING UNTIL THEY PASS, OR THEY MAY THINK YOUR JUST SINGING ALONG ! BUT YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, IT IS THE TEXTING AND DIALING THE NUMBERS THAT FUMBLES ONE UP, BUT UNTIL EVERYONE HAS A BUILT IN BLUETOOTH, I MUST STILL AGREE WITH THIS LAW.

If you think it's okay for people to be on a phone while trying to drive, you're an idiot!

Federal Employees are insured by the government to drive federal vehicles while working. It is perfectly acceptable and fiscally responsible for the entity that pays the insurance to ensure that those driving the vehicles are driving in as safe a manner as possible... As to how the government will know who still does it... well, they just have to read the accident reports...

"Did any of the naysayers consider the effect of not using the phone at all and it's impact on business? Customers call and business gets done."

And 15 years ago, it still got done. In certain areas where there is no cell coverage, it STILL gets done. Lame excuse...

Banning even hands-free cell phone use is overkill.

It's the dialing and the fumbling that are the problems.

My car has built in Blue Tooth. I can answer any call with a small movement of my thumb on the steering wheel. My eyes never have to leave the road.

What difference is there between that and talking with a passenger? (mind you, I keep both to a minimum)

In fact, last year when I was hit by a driver who had run the red light it was because she had 3 passengers in the car and they were too busy talking to eachother to pay attention. And, no, she wasn't a teen ager, she was in her late 40's - early 50's.

The best way to make the roads safe? Require an IQ test.

Driving requires ALOT of attention. and some people simply cannot multi-task. Those people should not drive with passengers, or while drinking coffee, OR while talking on the phone...but it's hard to make a law about that.

I agree with limiting cell usage, but in the event of an emergency, your solution would render the cell phone useless. There are times when you need to place a call while the car is running or it is not safe to stop the car. Making it an all or nothhing solution will not work. You have to think this all the way through. Do you want your daughter lost in her car in a bad neighborhood without a way to contact you unless she pulls over and turns off her car? You have to consider all options. What if you are driving someone to the emergency room. You would not want to have to pull over and stop the car to place a call regarding the emergency. Rendering the cell phones unuseable defeats the only good reason to have one.

I agree with the person, about emitting and interference when driving and using the cell. In March of this year, my car got totaled when a guy ran a red light at 60 miles an hour while he was on the phone.

The best solution would be that if the car ignition is on, the cell doesn't work and vice versa. Lots of static. That should be a law for all car manufacturers. I know the phone companies are going to balk, but that is too bad.

To the people that are concerned about what impact it has on business? What happened before cell phones? Business got done.

Cops use cells all the time and they drive just as erratic as a 18 yr. old.

Did any of the naysayers consider the effect of not using the phone at all and it's impact on business? Customers call and business gets done.

I understand the advantage of not using any handheld device, including cell phones, but isn't hands free better than pulling off the road to use the cell phone and then pulling back on? So many accidents are caused by accessing onto roads.

I do not believe that there is an absolute monarchy in this country. If a person, any person included the president of the United States, wants to change law then submit a bill to congress. Federal employees have the right, yep the right, to use their cell phones any where, any time and at any place, until the law is changed. Plus how in the blankity blank is he even going to know if a federal employee is driving while using their cell phone. Is the president going to hire thousands and thousands of social spies?

The real simple solution is to have the car manufacturers build a device into all new cars that emit very low level white noise that will not allow a cell phone signal in or out of a car while it is running.

Those of you that are old enough will remember the static on old am radios when the car went under a high voltage line. It would also happen when spark plug wires were not shielded properly. So there is more than enough electro magnetic interference generated by an automobile to cause cell phones not to work. It just means generating the right frequencies.

I would love to see a total ban on phone use. The idea that EVERY call is so vitally important that we have to jump for that phone is ridiculous. We've become addicted to the connection. Our every thought has to be communicated immediately. It would be great to instill a little self-control in us ALL!

Your poll question implies that it is a black and white issue. Unfortunealy, as with everything else, this is not an “either or” issue. If you have lost someone in a traffic accident because of a distracted driver, the answer becomes very clear and very personal to you. But if were the fortunate one that was reached just in the nick of time during a family emergency via cell phone in your car, the answer is very clear but quite different.

A ban on a behavior does not suddenly endow humans with the wisdom or judgment to make the best choices; it only establishes consequences for them when they make a choice to violate the ban. We have banned driving while under the influence of alcohol, yet this behavior continues and horrendous accidents happen every day. We have bans on driving above the speed limit – yet people die everyday due to speeding drivers.

Humans have a tendency to act within their own self interests. Survival is a rather large self interest for most of us. Our first task should be information - raising the awareness level of the dangers of cell phone use while driving. We will begin to change behaviors when we can instill in others belief that the behavior of using a cell phone while driving is no longer in their personal best interest.

As a nation we are inundated with messages to buy this or buy that - we have marketing talent that can convince someone to buy ANYTHING – why can’t we use those marketing talents to address this issue? Let’s include that with any “ban” – we have to vividly illustrate that not talking on a cell phone while driving is the SMART thing to do – it is in our own self interest. We need to act as a community – in our collective self interest to survive.

You can outlaw cell phone usage, but you can't outlaw kids. Does that mean that because you can't outlaw kids in the can you should not outlaw cellphones, which have been proved time and again to be the equivalent of drunk driving.

Last I checked looking down at a piece of paper was more of a distraction than having a navigation system tell you audibly what your next direction is. I think they need to really look into the alternatives to what they're trying to ban and figure out if it's really the best course of action.
I, for one, sometimes talk on my cell phone on long trips so I stay awake and alert. The person I talk to knows that I'm driving and I'll tell them to hang on if I get into a difficult situation. Long boring roads that have to be traversed and no ability to "get a room and sleep it off" means that I have to find alternate ways to stay awake. I use hands free or speaker phone as much as possible and have saved myself from several accidents because I was actually alert instead of asleep.
I also agree with "a" Kids are definitely more of a distraction than a hands free system. So what are they going to do next, ban kids from riding in vehicles? Probably not because that would take all the busses off the road....hmmm.

Come on, duh, get with it.

kids can't.

I imagine yelling at squbbling kids in the backseat cause more distraction than a hands free blue tooth voice activated system.

Not disputing distracted drivers increase risk - but out right ban doesn't make the most sense. too many feds are in need of being reached, and don't have personal drivers like the president.

There's been some interesting research suggesting that talking on a hands free cellphone really is different from talking to a person in the car. For one thing, if you're conversing with a passenger, they're aware of what's going on in the vehicle and will make adjustments accordingly. They're more likely to clam up while the driver's navigating through a difficult situation than someone who's on the other end of the phone, for example. And I imagine the fact that passengers can see the driver's body language and facial expressions means there's less speech required. It's a question of attention...does talking hands free require more of the driver's attention that talking with a passenger does?

Easy - the Police see someone with an active phone and they get pulled over and ticketed. It works many other places and generates revenue from those dumb enough to break the law and cause a hazard on the roads.

Other countries ban usage of cell phones while driving as the result of detailed studies. I have seen too many careless drivers using phones behind the wheel. It's time to ban them to protect innocent road users from idiots.

Texting while driving has to be one of the most stupid things a person has ever thought of. However, if hands-free cell-phone talking while driving is banned, it makes just as much sense to make a law that only one person can occupy a vehicle. Talking is talking, whether in person or on the phone. There's no way all distractions can be eliminated; merely reading road signs is a distraction. A concentrated effort of teaching and reminding people to concentrate solely on their driving would be just as effective. Bottom line: Every drive has to be a responsible driver and this would be more nearly accomplished in driver's ed classes than by legislation.

How are they going to enforce this? Your tax dollars at work. Do the math. Its like busting pot smokers. You should only be ticketed if you have or cause an accident.

So, FBI, NCIS or Military personnel etc. don't have the same chance of causing an accident as us regular folks? I don't think so.

I agree. We were almost run off the road on 81 in pa. This road is never traveled less than 70 or 80. He was doing about 40. Texting the whole time.

agree; a man with a trailer almost run me off the road because he did not see me and started over in my lane.

As long as it excludes law enforcement and emergency personnell. For example, FBI, NCIS, and military personnell during business hours. Otherwise I have no problem with it.