Cell phones being used in vehicles while driving. Pros. Cons.

[Jules]

Eating? Dog on your lap? Applying makeup? Where do you draw the line?

Reading a book? We were beside a woman doing this in city traffic.

Any of the above can be given a ticket for distracted driving here.

 

[Knight]

Even with hands free thru our cell phone we don't call or recieve a call while driving. But the use of our cell phone for GPS locating various places we haven't driven to is convenient.

Still ignored by a lot of people.

It is illegal to talk or text on a handheld cellphone or similar device while driving under legislation passed by the 2011 Nevada Legislature.

As of Jan. 1, 2012, fines of up to $250 are being imposed for any driver using a handheld phone or similar device to talk, read or type.

 

[bobcat]

I think this is turning out to be more of a problem than hands free cell phone calls. It's the large interactive touch screen infotainment systems now perched on the dash of most new vehicles. Here's the report:
New Study Finds Big Car Touchscreens Are Dangerous—Slowing Drivers Down by 58%

 

[Been There]

No one should be on their phone while driving. Florida law prohibits cellphone texting or using, unless it’s hands free.

 

[Tish]

100% Ban, you can always pull over to take the call.
Over here, you get fined.

 

[WheatenLover]

Since my car is pretty much pre-high tech (2004), it has nothing I used to take for granted on it, including the screen that shows everything including maps and music.

Until I find out whether my car can be upgraded, I put my cell in a holder on the dash to use maps. The sound is up so I don't have to look at the phone. If that were forbidden by law, I'd be living in Homer, Alaska, by now. I have no real good sense of direction. Plus when I do remember how to get somewhere, it is always because I navigate by landmark. I'm lucky I know the name of the street I live on!

IMO, drivers should not do anything else with their phones while driving. I have been a passenger in a car with a normally intelligent and safety-conscious person who checked their incoming texts while driving. Nevah again!

I can see the tombstone. Here lies XYZ. Checking his texts was more important than living.

 

[Michael Z]

There already is a ban in our state. And if you are in an accident while on a phone that is not hands free, you are in big trouble! Maybe even jail!

 

[Mike]

Here in the UK, to use a phone in a car, you need to
pull over and shut down the engine, even if you are
safely parked, the engine has to be off, or you will get
charged for using a phone while driving/in charge
of a vehicle.

Mike.

 

[MarkD]

Here in the UK, to use a phone in a car, you need to
pull over and shut down the engine, even if you are
safely parked, the engine has to be off, or you will get
charged for using a phone while driving/in charge
of a vehicle.

Mike.

I'd vote for that. I now expect to have to honk at the person ahead of me at a red-light. It seems no one is paying attention anymore. It shouldn't be my job to alert someone on their phone that the light has changed.

 

[StarSong]

View attachment 477332

I think this is turning out to be more of a problem than hands free cell phone calls. It's the large interactive touch screen infotainment systems now perched on the dash of most new vehicles. Here's the report:
New Study Finds Big Car Touchscreens Are Dangerous—Slowing Drivers Down by 58%

Exactly the experience I mentioned in an earlier post in this thread. Computer screens suck a driver's attention from the matter at hand: driving.

 

[WheatenLover]

Exactly the experience I mentioned in an earlier post in this thread. Computer screens suck a driver's attention from the matter at hand: driving.

I am too neurotic to pay attention to screens while driving. I have a simple point of view. I pretend all the people in cars around me are my beloved friends and relatives. That ensures that I stay focused on driving.

When I was 12, my best friend died in a car accident. Not only was that horrifying, it made me resolve to do my best never to physically hurt another person -- especially in such a way that they were seriously injured or died. I feel that way about other animals too.