To the woman that nearly ran me off the road today!!!!

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

Phil, you know I like you and have the utmost respect for you, but that's bullshit. Driving while on the phone - jabber or complex conversation - has been proven again and again to cause tunnel vision and impaired reaction time similar to driving drunk. And hands-free devices, while they free up your hands to supposedly help you drive, do nothing to improve reaction time.

I've not seen any studies comparing talking on a cell and talking to a passenger.

Each according to his gifts. Some people can do it, some people can't. I know people who can talk on a hand-held phone, smoke a cigarette and drive a car with a stick shift safely. I also know people who have a license who shouldn't be allowed behind the wheel stone sober and talking to nobody.

This is one of those LCD laws (lowest common denominator). It is what it is.

[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by frazod

Each according to his gifts. Some people can do it, some people can't. I know people who can talk on a hand-held phone, smoke a cigarette and drive a car with a stick shift safely. I also know people who have a license who shouldn't be allowed behind the wheel stone sober and talking to nobody.

This is one of those LCD laws (lowest common denominator). It is what it is.

I don't buy that they can do those things safely. I'll buy "safer than others" but not safely. And just because they haven't had a wreck yet doesn't mean anything. Distractions are dangerous, and I've never been more aware of them as I have in the past year that I've been riding. People need to hang up, put down the cheeseburger and pay the road and other people on it the attention they deserve.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

I don't buy that they can do those things safely. I'll buy "safer than others" but not safely. And just because they haven't had a wreck yet doesn't mean anything. Distractions are dangerous, and I've never been more aware of them as I have in the past year that I've been riding. People need to hang up, put down the cheeseburger and pay the road and other people on it the attention they deserve.

I once drove my old Vega with a stick shift through town while eating a cheeseburger and fries and drinking a coke. And I think I was half shitfaced, too!

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Oblivious is oblivious, regardless of what you're doing while driving (if anything)... I see plenty of clueless f***s who have both hands on the wheel and don't seem caught up in external distractions.

A few months ago, some guy (not on a phone) merged into my lane as his back tires were even with my front tires, so he could take an exit... no blinker, never looked, and he had plenty of time & space to get over earlier. I honked for a good 20 seconds, mostly because he had a female in the front seat and a child in the back seat. Yeah, a wreck would be a pretty big pain in the ass to me, but I'm glad someone was looking out for the other people in the car. Nobody in the car ever reacted to my road rage, which makes me wonder how many times he pulls that shit.

Yes, there are always going to be people doing stupid shit while driving, but it's the wildly disproportionate number of them that are driving that way because they're on the phone that is disturbing.