NTSB Recommends Cell Phone Ban

IMO if you can't handle a phone call while driving then you shouldn't be driving. If talking distracts you enough to totally lose control then your doomed if a bird flies by.

Please leave common sense out of this discussion. Stupid people love to feel that the government is keeping them safe. Texting laws or hands free laws are totally worthless. Like you said, killing someone is illegal.......do we need separate laws for each way someone can be killed? Distracted driving is already illegal, you crash because you were distracted then you get a ticket, period!

I wish I could find the article showing the stupidity of these laws. A local radio host had an old newspaper or magazine article where someone was screaming how the new invention called the "car radio" was going to kill everyone on the road. The cell phone is just the latest scapegoat in a long list of things stupid people like to blame. More people die in the bathtub than because of car crashes related to cell phones, maybe we should ban bathing since it's just far too dangerous. Living causes death, if your someone thats worried about everything like this then maybe you should put your helmet back on and stay home.

 

AMEN!!!!!

Sorry, I'll try to remember to shut my common sense off!

 

I have no problem if someone talks on the phone, AS LONG AS IT'S HANDS FREE!!

BUT, if you're going to ban cell phone use, then you need to ban eating, and smoking.

A few months ago, I just nearly got taken out by a ####### who came along side of me and was lighting a cigarette. He just about got me. IIt was closer than I've ever come to getting taken out. I've been close to sharing sheet metal with a few folks eating burgers, too.


What about those guys browsing the menus on their GPS's? Or those too fancy stereo systems? Or screwing with the iPod? Or reading?
Or writing? Hell, what about those diagnostic displays in the instrument panels of these newer truck? I had a guy in a Volvo one night almost hit me screwing with his dash board display. He apologized to me on the radio, but he still almost got me. We gonna ban instrument panel displays, too??????

It's all about common sense. We gotta have more of it, period. They can ban everything in the cab, and mandate that your hands BOTH be on the wheel 100% of the time, require everything on the road to have that idiotic lane departure warning system, the fancy cruise control that keeps you from getting too close to the vehicle in front of you, and there will still be people crashing into things. YOU CANNOT LEGISLATE A GOOD DRIVER. YOU CANNOT DESIGN THE TRUCK TO COMPENSATE FOR A CRAPPY DRIVER. YOU CANNOT REGULATE BAD DRIVERS INTO GOOD ONES!

We have to train drivers. I'm all for a graduated CDL. All the advanced truck technology in the world won't replace a well trained, conscientious driver. All the bans this intrusive government can spend our money writing won't do away with drivers being distracted while driving. They gonna ban day dreaming, too?

 

ive already seen a few idiots playing with laptop computers, texting, one even eating a plate of spaghetti while driving a truck, and almost swerving into me while i tried to pass them while they were crawling down the road, this was on 65-70 mph freeways in clear dry weather!!!think of how scary that would be if they are doing all that on icy roads!

 

They are. They are subject to the exact same state codes you are. But just like bicycle 's not having follow all the laws that apply to four wheelers, four wheelers do not have follow rules governing us.

As for the ban. It is a truck not a phone booth but I think the technology very shortly will prevent use when moving over a certain threshold.

 

It takes no skill to use a phone while driving..........

that is proven everday !!!


It is if/when the unexpected happens,

... that's when you'll find out doing both at once IS impossible !!!

 

albuquerque,NM has a $10,000.00 fine sign as you enter the city, for useing a cell phone, hands free only, and just last week I saw a cop doing this, I asked on the radio, if he was going to pull himseolf over and write the ticket, cops should not be above this law

 

I caught an Illinois trooper running without headlights in the rain and reported him to the Head office when I got home with unit number and etc.

They replied that their officers are REQUIRED to adhere to all laws as well.

My understanding is that a ticket might be issued.

 

I really to do not see a problem.

In the back of the ambulance, while a patient is crashing, I have to be on the phone with the ER, or on the radio and still working the patient.

 

This is a slippery slope topic because unlike CB's that originally man dated a license and this kept a hold on things for a while. Regarding situational awareness they are relatively safe since 90% of the time there is little loss of driver attention. Besides channel change and that is why most drivers have there radios mounted on the dash so they can keep a eye on the road and channel dial.

Cells on the other hand at one time required you to have a lot of money and only those with money could afford them. Once it became so economical now we all have them and I know when I am strung out on the open road I am talking to someone to help slice miles. I am not a text type and I understand it but really it is out of control. My cell isn't that important to me and thus it doesn't control my life. That is why if there was a law that was seriously enforced it could be a good thing. But with every action there is a reactionary result.

Cops have to get off the cells in order to hold accountability! Until that happens we have nothing to worry about. The next is equip all new vehicles in motion above say 5 MPH to emit a signal that blocks cell phones and then you can't drive and text and or talk. Make the gadgit so it can't be hampered with.

But with everything if there is a way then it will be hampered with.

I just can't see how this can be fully monitored and controlled when so many people have been allowed to talk and text and these cells control peoples lives like they do.

Life should mean a little more but I guess until it happens to us then it means something.

One other thing is that in Germany the cars have no cup holders because your duty is to drive and when on the autobahn you need all your skills to focus on the road at highspeeds. I like my cup holder, my radio, CB, and at times my cell and GPS. It is about priorites like that driving is a privilege and not a right. I lived in Japan for 5 years and drove over there and it was clearly stated that if you drive you are responsible for your actions. For civilians back then it cost on average $2,000 to get a license. That didn't mean I didn't see drivers watch TV while stuck in traffic because I did.


yeah common sense is a real joke here.