[Devon]

I get stuck in rush hour in the company van a few times a week, and I've noticed so many drivers yaking on the phone. One trucker was rounding the Queensborough Bridge exit to Marine Way (a big 360 turn with traffic going both directions) and he's a good foot and a half into the oncoming lane. The driver, busy on the phone, is doing the 'cell phone glance around while talking' bit and not really checking his line. Or drivers doing the same thing at an intersections, making left turns, not realizing they have a clear shot at making it through because they're distracted on the phone. Or going into a roundabout and a girl wont yield cause she's on the phone.

Speeding can get you killed. We've gone ad nausea over that one since the inception of BCSB. There possibly a thread that I've missed on this on this same subject. Drinking and driving goes without saying, but studies suggest that using a cell while driving is just as bad.

My question is, do you think there is a problem with this.

 

[adam112]

Nope I do it all the time. Thats why god invented a cell phone, so I can multi-task. You should see all the other shit I do at the same time as talking on my phone and driving.

 

[SkydiveSonic]

Car sticker i saw months back:

you'd drive a lot better if i shoved that cell phone up your ass !!

 

[VTwinVince]

Hear, hear, Frank. It's time our weak-kneed legislators did something about crap like this.

 

[Jaybo]

I agree people shouldn't be talking on their cell phones and driving. But then I also think people should use their signals and stop on red lights...hey, i'm a dreamer.
If I remember correctly there are some places out there in the world where it is illegal to drive while on the phone.

 

[SkydiveSonic]

In the UK, you can get MASSIVE fines for driving while holding the phone. You're allowed a headset, as long as you don't have to press more than one button to answer. If you don't have a headset, you're required to pull over safely and switch off the engine

 

[racerboy88]

I get stuck in rush hour in the company van a few times a week, and I've noticed so many drivers yaking on the phone. One trucker was rounding the Queensborough Bridge exit to Marine Way (a big 360 turn with traffic going both directions) and he's a good foot and a half into the oncoming lane. The driver, busy on the phone, is doing the 'cell phone glance around while talking' bit and not really checking his line. Or drivers doing the same thing at an intersections, making left turns, not realizing they have a clear shot at making it through because they're distracted on the phone. Or going into a roundabout and a girl wont yield cause she's on the phone.

Speeding can get you killed. We've gone ad nausea over that one since the inception of BCSB. There possibly a thread that I've missed on this on this same subject. Drinking and driving goes without saying, but studies suggest that using a cell while driving is just as bad.

My question is, do you think there is a problem with this.

My wife and I almost got hit head-on by an 18 wheeler at that same corner. He came over the line and luckily for me I had room to move over into the other lane.

 

[osama1234]

Hear, hear, Frank. It's time our weak-kneed legislators did something about crap like this.

I talked to my MLA, NDP's Raj Chouhan about it. He turned around and told me that there's lots of professions where wireless communications can't be banned, such as taxis and truckers; even though it was obvious from my message i meant the casual type of chit chat undertaken on cell phones by civilians while driving.

Unfortunately i don't have his response still lying around my inbox, but it was clear he's not really interested in getting off his rear-end.

Maybe some of you guys should also write a short email to your MLAs also, maybe if enough people bring it up, they'll be forced to entertain the thought.

 

[Rick's wife]

I have to admit, I am VERY guilty of driving and using my cell phone. Every once and awhile I see an article talking about how bad it is, but I still find myself sneaking in a client call or two while on the road.

I also eat, drink coffee, entertain my son, tell my dog to settle down and many other things while I drive... Probably should clean up my act.:surrender

 

[Squint]

Personally I hate it too, and will often ignore a call while driving.

But a few interesting things: the most in-depth study I've seen concluded that headsets don't reduce the danger much, most of the problem is the distraction caused by the conversation. Makes you wonder, should it be illegal to drive and argue?

A local company (don't remember which) with a big fleet of drivers made a rule that drivers were not allowed to talk on the phone while driving. There was such an increase in productivity that they ended up taking the phones away altogether. Turns out that the frequent calls to and from "home base" were mostly unnecessary and huge time wasters.

My vigilante day dream is this: cager on the phone cuts me off, I pull up to the open window at the next stop, take phone out of driver's hand (mid-conversation) and throw it down the road.

 

[Devon]

There was a time when our lawmakers were talking about having the same laws as Egland has in place right now. But I believe that was last decade. Once you let something get out or hand, it's hard to reel it back in.
People now feel it's a part of their daily routine to chat to co-workers, friends or loved ones back home. But I'm willing to bet every last one of them have had an incident which gave them pause about their concentration level while using it.

I can't see them allowing it while doing a road test. And as I said before, studies suggest that it's akin to driving under the influence. So why are we still ignoring the problem?

I think that we as bikers have a bad enought time out there with drivers who are supposidly aware of their surroundings. And I also think it's not if, but when the time one of us gets nailed by someone talking about what movie to get from the video store.

 

[Kithelbec]

I also remember last year I think it was, an Engineering firm here in Vancouver decided to ban the use of Blackberries while in the car. and after a few months, the company and the employee's all decided that they like the restriction from the blackberries so much, they all decided to get rid of the damn things all together. Word is company efficiency is way up and the employee's couldn't be happier. We should all try and cast off the ball and chain that is instant communication every now and again. I think we'd all be a lot happier.

Kith.

 

[Tystixxx]

:firemad my biggest pet peve :firemad
i counted 34 drivers talking on their phone in 15 minutes when i was having coffee one day!
when are people going to wake up? you are four times more likely to be in a accident and hands free doesn't mean shit!
my fav the chick in the h2, coffee in one hand on the wheel, phone in the other making a lane change in the middle of an intersection or the chick in the suv on the phone pulling out onto the road and almost taking me out the other day!
GET OFF THE PHONE YOU STUPID F*CKING IDIOTS!
:2guns

 

[UltraMax]

Whenever I see somebody yapping on the phone while driving, I stay the hell away (whether in car or on bike).

One time on hwy91, I almost got hit TWICE by two different ppl yapping on the phone and did lane change without shoulder checking. The two incidents were only 10 seconds apart. That really got me very mad.

One other time I was in the passenger seat and friend is talking on the phone with his gf while making a left turn. He did not see the oncoming traffic and almost made the left turn. I yelled WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING STOP YOU CELL PHONE YAPPING MOTHER FUCKER then he finally saw the car. Otherwise in that would-be accident I would have been the one who died not him.

Let's face it if you are yapping on the phone your attention is divided. It's simple as that. I would argue that if you have full attention on the road and are speeding, it's much less dangerous than if you do speed limit and not pay attention.

I think cell phone should be banned in the car.

 

[UltraMax]

<---------- Notice that when Jack is talking on the phone, he's not driving.

Good going, Jack Bauer!

 

[penumbra604]

I have this fear that the last thing I'll see/hear in this world is a cager saying "I have to call you back in few minutes", as I am passing over his hood.

I think it's a huge problem. And whenever traffic is stop/start is when most people feel lonely and start making calls - when the drivers should be paying attention more carefully.

Our world is so full of distractions that we seem to crave them as a society. I think there should be laws banning their use on the road. Professionals on radios should have voice-activated headsets. Drivers should never dial or answer a handset.

My gf and I had a cabbie pick us up and start yapping on the phone - when Nereid told him that we don't tip cabbies who ride and yak on their phone - he didn't really understand because he was busy and said "don't worry". You could tell he was angry and surprised to receive no tip at the other end - we paid exact change.

Anyways - big pet peeve for me....

 

[Squint]

My gf and I had a cabbie pick us up and start yapping on the phone - when Nereid told him that we don't tip cabbies who ride and yak on their phone - he didn't really understand because he was busy and said "don't worry". You could tell he was angry and surprised to receive no tip at the other end - we paid exact change.

I was in a taxi in Philadelphia (I think) and the driver was the taxi dispatcher!!

 

[r1100s]

Proven to be more imparing to drivers than alcohol in a British study I believe...

 

[Spike]

I get stuck in rush hour in the company van a few times a week, and I've noticed so many drivers yaking on the phone. One trucker was rounding the Queensborough Bridge exit to Marine Way (a big 360 turn with traffic going both directions) and he's a good foot and a half into the oncoming lane. The driver, busy on the phone, is doing the 'cell phone glance around while talking' bit and not really checking his line. Or drivers doing the same thing at an intersections, making left turns, not realizing they have a clear shot at making it through because they're distracted on the phone. Or going into a roundabout and a girl wont yield cause she's on the phone.

Two things come to mind:

1. Semi-trailers coming around that 360 off the Queensborough will run off the road if they stay in their lane. The corner is too tight for 90% of the full semi-trailers to make, and their back ends leave the road. Most of them have taken to swinging wide with the tractor to avoid this. Not saying it's right, but that's what they do.

2. Doesn't traffic in a roundabout have right of way over traffic entering a roundabout? On a phone or not, the girl in the roundabout doesn't have to yield to you.

Despite those two points, I agree that cell-phone use has become an epidemic. But until it starts to get recorded as a major contributor to accidents, don't expect anything to be done about it.

-Rob

 

[Devon]

Two things come to mind:

1. Semi-trailers coming around that 360 off the Queensborough will run off the road if they stay in their lane. The corner is too tight for 90% of the full semi-trailers to make, and their back ends leave the road. Most of them have taken to swinging wide with the tractor to avoid this. Not saying it's right, but that's what they do.

2. Doesn't traffic in a roundabout have right of way over traffic entering a roundabout? On a phone or not, the girl in the roundabout doesn't have to yield to you.

Despite those two points, I agree that cell-phone use has become an epidemic. But until it starts to get recorded as a major contributor to accidents, don't expect anything to be done about it.

-Rob

So.....what you're saying is until enough people die or are injured by cell phone use, it's okay?

and on your points 1 & 2

1. If it's so hard to make the turn, shouldn't he be off the phone?

2.I was in the the roundabout, she was too busy on the phone to care.