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

[oldman]

I tried using my cellphone at 37,000 feet, but it didn’t work. However, I was able to make a call using Wi Fi. It about blew my wife’s mind.

I said to my wife, “Guess where I am?” She said “God only knows.” I told her, “I am flying over Salt Lake City at 22,000 feet during my climb out.” She very calmly asked “I thought you weren’t flying today?” I told her United called and asked if I could fly from SLC to DEN and then take the rest of the day off and fly home tomorrow.

I had flown into Salt Lake City from New York that morning and was supposed to have the rest of the day off, but United called me in my hotel room and asked if I would make another flight because the Captain that was supposed to make the flight from Salt Lake City to Denver came down with food poisoning. I asked what did he eat today. The Dispatcher said shrimp. I ordered the chicken, so I said OK.

 

[Sunny]

I don't talk on the phone while driving and it has little to do with whether I'm holding the phone or talking hands-free. Here's why:

Adult passengers notice road, traffic and weather conditions. They see when you're merging, changing lanes, turning off, etc., and regulate their conversation accordingly without even realizing they're doing so.

Small children do not, so we ask them to stop talking, asking questions, squabbling, etc., because traffic is heavy, it's raining, we're someplace unfamiliar, etc., and need to fully focus on the road.

Phone conversations are like driving with little children, but drivers aren't as comfortable about asking them to stop talking, or to not ask questions that are going to take a lot of the driver's focus away.

Pondering even simple questions or hearing news about someone's life steals a portion of our executive function, making us less able to make good decisions on all fronts. The older we get, the harder it is to multitask and switch attention between tasks.

For me, talking on a cell phone while driving is very different from listening to the radio (which we often turn down or off in stressful driving conditions) or having others in the car (please don't talk to me right now), because cell phone conversations don't modulate based on driving conditions.

Interesting points. You're probably right. (I personally don't talk on the phone while driving.)

However, my son does, he's a very good driver, and if I asked him not to call me while driving, I'd never have a phone conversation with him.
He does sometimes call while walking the dog, but otherwise...

 

[jhummel73]

It is a tool of our present age. It can be used or abused. Hands free is def'ly a great help.

 

[Kadee]

Do you mean the feature for a hands free phone in the car to convert a text to an audio message?

Mu husband can do that in his car - so the screen reads out the text like a voice mail message, you don't have to look at the phone

Wow that’s really good , our car is getting on in age now , 6 years next month since we bought it new
and our car isn’t the top of the range that had extra features our is a Nissan Qashqai

I don’t think our car phone announced text messages , we only used the phone call feature where we could answer the phone with a button on the steering wheel , like i mentioned we disabled that soon after getting the car as our phones were still ringing in car ~ and not inside on our phones …. when we was in the house .

Hubs is the tech minded one in our home that’s his department so I’ve never even looked what features are on the car regarding calls / Texts …..think we had the option of apple play …or something like that …that was a $$$ subscription feature

Is that using SIRI to convert text to spoken words ?

I’ve got a Apple watch that has pre set short messages for texts I’ve used, but I’ve never completely set it up the phone up to do that, never bothered didn’t feel there was a reason to.

 

[January]

Kadee the phone is blue tooth connected to the GPS screen in the car, when a text message comes in the car screen gives the option of ignore or read. If you press ignore text just stays on your phone to read later, if you press read it coverts it to audio and reads it to you.
I presume using same technology in reverse as when you leave a voice message and the phone converts it to text.

 

[January]

For me, talking on a cell phone while driving is very different from listening to the radio (which we often turn down or off in stressful driving conditions) or having others in the car (please don't talk to me right now), because cell phone conversations don't modulate based on driving conditions.

Yes that is a fair point.

For me it is a matter of degree - meaning I wouldn't do a detailed conversation but I would do a quick simple call like Running late, be there in an hour, or Can you get milk on way home etc.
I would also choose whether to make or answer call depending on conditions- yes on a flat stretch of country highway ,no on a busy urban situation.
Just like we would have degrees on when we talk to passengers, listen to radio programs etc