Re: [telecom] Cellphones and driving [Telecom]

Sometimes studies aren't all they claim to be. The California legislature certainly perceived a difference.

In some cases, hand free is even more distracting if the caller gestures a lot while conversing. Such people are wont to take their hands off the wheel. Holding a cell phone prevents gesturing.

In some cases people don't use their turn indicators and run stop signs. I see women putting on makeup while driving. I see men drinking coffee and eating pastries while driving. I see men turned completely around yelling at their kids in the back seat.

Then, there are some people who know how to use a hands-free telephone, don't get engaged in heated or distracting conversations and, in the process, actually use some common sense.

I had my first amps telephone installed in a car in 1984. It was mounted to a large transceiver which, in turn was mounted to the floor to my right on the front seat floor. In order to place or receive a call I had to take my right hand and press two clamps on [each] side of the handset, then lift it and use it like a wireline phone. Holding it and dialing out was a hoot.

No one has any clue how much attention is required for any given task. As someone can be killed if one is inattentive while driving, I don't want him to be using a cell phone no matter how loudly he's assured me that that he can do both at the same time.

Gesturers may gesture regardless of whether a conversation is particularly heated.

How could you possibly do that safely whilst driving?

I remember car phones, but I recall that they could be dialed while mounted, with the dial at the back of the corded handset. Hehehe. I almost wrote "on hook", which doesn't apply to cellular of course.

My point. It was far less safe than my hands free unit of today, which is dialed via a phone directory displayed on the car's navigation system.

Yes they did perceive a difference. [Because the law was] written the way they wrote it, they [the assemblymen] could still use their cell phones. They, of course, are superior persons that would never be distracted by a cell phone conversation. So, why aren't you running for the assembly?

That same one that wrote the laws allowing then to ignore the telemarketing laws.

I'm surprised Bill even allowed this post. All you have accomplished is to make yourself look bad.

Yea, on second thought, it was over the edge. Tom's my brother, and I was thinking of it as if he'd said it to _me_, not the world. Won't happen again.

Bill Horne Moderator

The auto industry is promoting hands-free in a significant manner. I don't see the federal agencies that oversee auto safety stepping in to stop them.

I apologize for my rudeness and Bill is right in saying it won't happen again, not because he will moderate it but because I hope to be wise enough to learn from my mistakes.