Do you drive n’ talk?
I recently wrote an article for my column in The Costco Connection magazine about cell phone accessories and I included Bluetooth and speakerphone solutions for drivers. Well, I received a couple of emails from angry readers about suggesting anyone use these products.
I recently wrote an article for my column in The Costco Connection magazine about cell phone accessories and I included Bluetooth and speakerphone solutions for drivers. Well, I received a couple of emails from angry readers about suggesting anyone use these products.
Their issue lies in the fact that drivers shouldn’t be on the phone at all – whether they’re holding it or not – and by me writing about solutions for those who do is (inadvertently yet irresponsibly) encouraging it.
So my question to you, oh valued Sync reader, is: Was I unfairly lambasted or do these readers have a point? Do YOU pull over and talk when you need to use your cell phone? Do you differentiate between holding a phone while driving or hands-free options, or are they basically the same?
C’mon now, be honest about your behind-the-wheel habits!
I agree with them since I read an article about it in a scientific magazine. It was saying that there are two types of actions that our brain can't do effectively at the same time and it is the actions involving the eyes (visual centers) and the language centers. So talking on the phone while driving is really something that can't be done properly. No matter if you hold the phone or not, you just can't. I forgot the name of the magazine but I know I still have it so if you are interested let me know and I will find it in my pile. Ciao! Guylaine
If i remember correctly, earlier this year there was an article regarding multitasking and how everytime you switch tasks, you go through a short "writer's block" time…the more complicated the tasks, the longer it is. Essentially, if you're driving and having a heated conversation with someone on the phone, you're more likely to be concentrating on what the conversation topic is and how you are feeling over where you are going.
That being said, my opinion is that two hands on the wheel are better than one for a variety of reasons. Gives you better control for one thing, so if you do talk on your cellphone while driving, make it hands free. You're also going to be less distracted with juggling the cellphone and driving at the same time (there is a reason they tell new drivers hands at 3 and 9).
One thing I would like to point out is that talking on your cellphone is no different than talking to someone else in the car (assuming you're using handsfree). If you're going to get into a heated debate with someone in the car over a small topic, I hope you would pull over until some resolution has been met. If it's a casual conversation, one that doesn't require all of your emotions, then you would keep talking and driving. The only difference between the two scenarios is that you don't have the passenger pointing out possible traffic hazards or red lights. Another side note, if you are a beginner or novice driver and don't have alot of experience with driving, I don't recommend talking on your cellphone while driving. You are still easily fatigued by driving and, like drinking and driving, safety judgements are often lost due to the distraction and tiredness.
Regardless, it comes down to personal comfort and safety. If you have to make the call, and don't feel comfortable doing it while driving, pull over and dial. Or if you have a passenger in the car, ask them to do it for you. I'm sure the person getting the call won't mind much talking to your friend after they explained that you're driving and rather not risk the safety over convience. Just my two cents. :)
As a trainer of school bus drivers and someone who drives a bus during the busiest times of the day I can vouch for the fact that you cannot drive and carry on a phone conversation at the same time.
Those "on the way home" calls cause more close calls, near misses and road rage in other drivers than you might believe.
It is not unusual to sit at a green light behind someone talking on a cell phone. We see them go through red lights. Stop signs and lane markings cease to exhist when the phone rings.
Great Britain has the right idea. Big fines for using a cell phone while driving.
The other day I was at a stop sign and the driver of a HUGE construction vehicle was talking on the phone while turning left with ONE hand! How stupid is that? Doesn't make me feel very safe knowing that they are driving on the same streets as me!
Someone, anyone, PLEASE tell me exactly in what respect, talking over a hands-free speakerphone is any different than carrying on a conversation with someone in the backseat?!?
As such, are you going to then mandate that all conversation within earshot of the driver become illegal too? Maybe the driver should be put in a special chamber that isolates him/her from any possible distraction occuring within the vehicle? The question then becomes, how stupidly rediculous do you want to get?
Please, PLEASE think about this stuff before you open your trap on it… I understand that many of you are (MUCH) less than superlative drivers and ANY distraction makes you even more dangerous to the rest of us, but I think the answer to that lies in restricting access to the road to those shown to be at least competant drivers (unlike the current system of handing out licenses to anyone who can reasonably demonstrate having a pulse). Removing the mass numbers of barely-competant (to completely incompetant) drivers would make the road a safer place for everyone, and yet, NOBODY is calling for those kinds of rules..
I know ever since I have had a cell phone I've always had a bluetooth earpiece so I could always make or answer a call without ever handling my cell phone. My other reason (very wise one at that) is because I'm originally from Australia and if you are caught using a cell phone whiling driving then u will lose 2 points and get a $150 fine in most states, and its no fun losing money that u could have used on more important things. Now if everywhere in the world introduced these penalties or harsher ones then it would really make people think about whether or not its a good idea placing their cell phone next to their ear whiling driving. Also, most of the time, I usually have my partner or a friend next to me while I'm driving and so I get them to make the call so I can continue driving.. saves me from pulling over if the conversation gets heated or is elaborate in detail of some sort.
One of the common question people asked is what is the difference between talking on cell phone and talking to a passanger. More than one studies have been done on this. The conclusion is that the reaction time is much longer when talking on cellphone. The reason? When a child runs across in front of the car, both the driver and passanger see it and STOP talking, which reduce to a single task for the driver – to avoid the accident. On the other hand, the person on the other end of the phone could still be talking. There is a delay for the driver to avert attention from the conversation to focus on accident avoidence. A delay of a fraction of a second could mean life or death (yours or someone else). Many different situations were tested, and talking on the cell phone has a much higher chance of accident compare to talking to a passanger.
I hope people stop using that excuse to justify using cell phone while driving, handfree or not.
In my area it is not an offense to use a cell phone while driving. Holding a drivers license for 34 years and being accident free likely means my time is near. However, I can say that I have had a few close calls over the years. all of them have been related to moments when my mind was not on the true task at hand…driving. On one occasion, screaming children in the back of the car, another, an intense business conversation while returning with co-workers from lunch distracted me enough to have a near miss. I have had a cell phone/blackberry for 20 years. I tried once to use it while driving and I don't feel safe, so I haven't tried since. I see many people using cell phones. It is most noticeable when you find yourself behind a cell phone user who is travelling at 50% of the speed limit. That in itself is not illegal, but it is evident to me that these individuals (perhaps not everyone using cells) cannot safely perform the task of driving while talking on their phone.
The cop that pulls you over to give you a ticket probably was talking on his radio as he pulled you over, probably had a computer on in the car too. Why are people not asking for CB's to be pulled out of vehicles. I have seen some cell phone testing on TV, they had people reading a note with a phone number on it and dialing, well no kidding the driver was distracted. I think the people doing the testing are tipping the scales with the way they set up their tests.
Is it worst to talk to your wife or child beside you while driving compared to talking through a handfree sytem to an invisible friend?
Who says in the car: 'don't talk to me, I'm driving?'
Is it worst to talk to your wife or child beside you while driving compared to talking through a handfree sytem to an invisible friend?
Who says in the car: 'don't talk to me, I'm driving?'
Referring to a study without proof could be misleading.
Marc. People are going to drive while talking on their phones whether it's safe or not. Whether they take it the way you intended to or they don't, that's their problem. People will talk on cell phones in their car whether you publicly denounce it or praise it. You just wrote of better ways to go about it.
Bleus, there is nothing that I would like more than to get more than half of the people driving off of the road. I think about 95% of those people are talking on cell phones when I ask them in my curses where they got their license from. Bing is right, when a kid runs out in front of the road and the driver isn't paying attention, the passenger can yell "Look out!" I'd like to see the person on the other end of the cell tell you that. Unless of course you were on the line with the psychic hotline. Even then ;-)
Personally I have had many near misses and without fail it has always been due to the other driver having a cell phone in their hand (ever tried to turn a corner with one hand?). I have also been scared while riding with someone else when they started dialing and talking on their phones – nothing important, just a boisterous chat with their friends. Noone can tell me they were concentrating on driving rather than on what cute remark they were going to say next. Due to some infrequent lapses in attention my wife has occassionaly asked me how I manage when I am driving by myself. My answer is that I am not talking and thinking of something else but am paying attention to driving and my surroundings. I do not even listen to the radio when I am by myself. NOone can tell me that ANY distraction does not make you more prone to accidents and personal injury – whether yours or someone elses.
Now that cell phones are a thing of now?, people WILL use them while driving, holding them, not holding them, either way, the brain will STILL be doing at least two things, one being (hopefully) focusing on the road, and two talking sensibly to whoever is on the other end of the line.
Some business drive on cell phone use now that they've come out.
So what i'm saying is something to the fact of i'm not sure which is more dangerous.. being on a wireless/hands-free device talking to somebody while driving (distraction, ex: somebody tells you something surprising, imediate reaction?, YELL, or something, you will then be much, much more focused on what that person just told you, rather than the road) OR pulling off to the side of the road to talk on the phone.. why is pulling off to the side of the road dangerous?, just think, if you were on a very busy highway, some lunatics drive on the sideway were people pull off to take a break or were the police pull people over, and just in general it's much too busy to pull off and not concentrate on what's going on around you at all.
So, the solution?, disable all cell phones, the reaction?, well, then the economy will go down, people will lose jobs, and, we'll be going right back to where we came from. Also cell phones are great if you have an emergency on the road or such, that's one reason why this whole cell phone thing started, and then they got popular, and people came up with the "brillant" idea of distracting themselves while driving!.
So really IS there a solution?:
No, not really!, were just going to have to deal with it and hope people get better at multi-tasking, just hope that they get better at using a hands-free device!!
-Nathan
the 1 thing i dont understand is, whether u use a cell fone or a handsfree type of device to talk on ur mobile phone, what is the difference between that and talking to the passenger in your car? You are still communicating… should we ban people from sitting in the passenger seat and talking to the driver?
there have been studies done, and any form of talking on the phone has proven to be equally dangerous (equally being with negligable differences). It's different that talking to another person in the vehicle because that person is able to see any hazards and thus warn you, or (more likely) just stop talking for the time being with the understanding that you need to focus. Again, this is from research…not just from me.
Time to put duct tape over your passenger's mouths to avoid distractions. No listening to music or worse yet, talk shows and news. And don't even think of scratching your nose or the back of your head. Finaly if you ever get caught performing the act of sneezing, we'll revoke your driving privileges.
I side with you. the line has to be drawn somewhere. different people devote different amounts of their attention spans to different things. one person might get so into a song playing on the radio that they crash, or another might do the same talking to a passenger. the only real way to be completely focused is to have all the windows up, the radio off, tell all pasengers no talking or making noise and have no electronics in the car.
the truth is, bad drivers are bad drivers, if they are easily distracted then they will be. No matter what the distraction, there is no way to make them good drivers. I see bluetooths about on par with talking to someone in the car. I personally don't devote enough to phone conversations for it to be a real distraction and when the occasion arises I have to ask the person I am talking to to repeat themselves because my driving has distracted me from the conversation.
I think a big problem is people don't like to think anymore. they say "a study told me this" so the study is infallible. If you think for yourself and use life experience to form an opinion then you're a fool. doesn't matter that six months later some other science paper agrees with you.
any distraction will hinder your driving. if you're a great driver, then on a cell you're only a good driver. if you're a bad driver, pull over to talk.
The issue over cell phone use in cars is really very simple, it is no different to the old CB radio's many used in years gone by, the radio, CD, MP3, kids in the vehicle, the cop using his radio or cell phone while driving or even on high speed chases, the ambulance or fire truck driver using their radios or the formula 1 racing driver talking to the pit crew racing at over 200 MPH.
We all have a responsibility to drive up to a standard and should adjust the additional tasks we take on while driving to allow that standard to be maintained, from what I see each day some people are unable to reach that minimum standard with no additional distractions they simply need all their concentration to still drive unacceptably badly and should probably not drive at all.
Those that don’t have the ability to drive properly while using a cell phone are free to not do so, I don’t believe they are free to tell or even suggest those of us who take driving seriously and can should not. Perhaps those that feel cell phone use should be prohibited should focus on their own driving skills such as merging or perfecting the lane change.
We have way to much government involvement in our lives encouraged by those that think everything should be adjusted to suit those with the lowest skill levels, what we need is less government and higher standards.
Using a cell phone while driving? Definitely not! Cell phone use while driving is extremely dangerous. Yes, I carry mine with me most places I go. But if it rings while I'm on the road – guess what? That's what the voice mail is for. Using it for "business" is a very poor excuse – many companies do have policies where they prefer you either don't answer (call back when it is safe to do so) or to pull over THEN talk. Most of the working stiffs in this world, no matter how self-important they may be, do not work in a line of business where you simply have to answer a call immediately. There simply is no arguement for needing to make/take calls while on the road. Cell phones have been around for quite a long time (over 20 years now) – but it's only been in recent history where they have been widely used. Humans survived & did business just fine before we carried a cell phone. It's only something many of us have created in our head that using a cell anywhere & everywhere is "important."
Getting back to cell phones being dangerous while operating a vehicle – I had one car totalled by a very new (young) driver who was distracted and not paying attention to the road. You guessed it – he was using a cell phone. Thankfully, I emerged from the wreckage unharmed. There's no way to know if any of us will be as lucky the next time…