I just walked in from a short ride. Almost hit *three times *by people driving cars while operating a hand-held cell phone. This morning I nearly got hit running by anotehr person using a cell phone when driving.
I wonder, are their statistics on injury and fatal accidents where cell phones were a factor? Where are our freakin’ law makers?
In Dearborn there is a hefty fine as a secondary offence for talking on a cell phone when driving, but it isn;t an offence that an officer (as I understand it) can pull someone over for.
Honestly, if I were a police officer and I saw someone burn through a yellow left turn light with one hand to their ear with a cell phone and the other on the wheel and miss a runner by less than 6 feet- I would make a traffic stop on that.
Am I being reactionary here. It takes a lot to get me riled, but I’m riled. I’ll be damned if I am gonig to survive plane crashes, parachuting accidents, a stroke, bike crashes (that I caused), mountaineering expeditions, ultra distance running races in the Sahara, swimming with sharks and all that other B.S. only to be hit by some ding-dong in a Hyundai yaking on his cell phone abbout something critical like what he’s having for dinner.
hey Tom,
I heard a series of reports on NPR about studies that have been done looking at car accidents in relation to cell phone use. Use of cell phones for voice or text messaging is associated with a rate of accidents similar to that of driving under the influence of alcohol. Has to do with impaired ability to pay attention to driving safely. I don’t have references to the studies to back this up, but there is probably a link on the npr website or via google.
I think the officer should be able to pull them over and the impound the cell phone.
Solves two problems at once. More cell phones donated to the domestic abuse
crisis centers, and fewer people driving with them.
In MN the State Legislature is considering a law, if you’re involved in an accident, while using a cell phone, eating, or playing with the radio, you can be charged with an additional misdemeaner.
Texted messaging pimply faced 17 year old: "But Officer, he swerved right out in front of me. Watn’t nothin’ I could do nohow, honest."
(A made up word AND a triple negative, my GOD, what are we teaching our kids now days! Stop texting and learn English.)
No Tom, not at all. There use in cars should be stopped. I know their will be all kinds of people, here and else where saying this is ridiculous, and that their are all kinds of other distractions in a car. They are right. However, cell phone use is one of the biggest distractions going and it’s got way out of hand. Their use is leading directly to accidents where people are getting seriously hurt and their is loss of life.
The law is coming in Ontario. About a month ago I started turning my cell phone off when in the car. Family knows this and can leave a voice-mail same with others. In my world it’s, never that urgent. Although I seem to be an outlier in this regard as in most other people’s worlds it’s always urgent!! They must get on that cell phone and/or take those HUGELY important minute to minute crisis managment phone calls. That must be a very stressfull world to live in!!
hey Tom,
Couldn’t agree with you more! In Cali it’s been a law since July, not just a secondary offense and we just got text messaging while driving on the books this year. When I’m working I pass out cell phone tickets like candy at a parade! Lots of people ignore the law and chat away so they’re not hard to find. Of course with each one I write I get the, “you should be out catching real criminals,” speech. Not sure what state you’re in but maybe sending your local assembly or senate member an email may show them the “people” are interested in laws to make everyone safer.
Hey! The gummint can pry mah say-ull phone outta mah cold, dead hands. No gummint muckety-muck is gonna tell me when Ah can talk on mah phone! yeah!
Actually I agree. Sometimes I count when I go run and there are more people talking on the phone while they drive than not. No doubt I fly under their radar notwithstanding my garish (and visible) running attire.
Having been run down on a training ride (followed by surgery, hospitalization and months of painful rehab) by a teenage driver who was yakking on her cell phone at the time, I’m with you, Tom.
Our local newspaper (in the Upstate of South Carolina) ran an editorial recently about a law being proposed in Georgia that would ban cell phone use by teenagers who are driving. Shockingly, the editorial was AGAINST the law. Said it was government run amok and trying to invade peoples privacy and that it was unenforceable. When I wrote my letter to the editor in response, they refused to run it because I pointed out how silly their position was based on a) the statistics about teenage drivers and cell phone use/texting, b) my personal experience and c) their true motives – as demonstrated by the 2/3 page color ads run by cell phone companies that ran on both the page before and the page after the editorial page. They “resented my implication.”
It is not allowed in New York state however that does not seem to stop people from using them while driving. I like to count how many people are on cell phones during my runs…unreal.
Additionaly I saw somthing this past weekend while on a longer run that made me never want to o out on the road again. I came to stop light and while waiting to cross the street I happen to glance over at the car waiting next to me. The kid 18-24ish in the drivers seat had a tall boy can of beer between his legs, a smoke in his mouth, a cell phone to one ear and an IPOD ear bud in the other…wow!
I am upset as well watching people driving with cell phones and not paying attention to the road!
The California Highway Patrol praised the new lay which was effective January 1, 2009 which forbids texting while driving, a wopping 90 citations state wide!
WTF? I see about 20-30 people on the hand-held when in commute traffic …
I like the idea of taking away the phone on the spot; people will get the message fast!
last week I also saw a bus driver on a hand held phone with a bus full of passengers! Unacceptable!
Tom I feel your pain!
Texas is working on it. At least on a city by city basis. I’m in the DFW area and most cities in the metroplex have a ticketable law banning hand-held phone use in any active school zone. It is a nice step and will hopefully lead to it being banned entirely.
I agree. I don’t think people should be allowed to talk on the phone while driving.
Do you mean even with a headset?
I don’t think even the bluetooth headsets should be allowed. IT has actually been proven that a person is just as distracted when using the headset as when holding the phone. It is the act of talking on the phone, not holding the phone, which causes people to zone out.
To Tom: I absolutely agree with you on this. Here in CA, we “banned” the use of cell phones in cars, yet nothing has really been done to stop it. I can’t count the number of times I have almost been hit by drivers who were talking/texting, both on my bike and in my car. I have seen things that made me not want to go out on the road ever again, but unfortunately, there is no other way for me to get to school! As responsible citizens (I hope) we need to do our part to drive/ride as safely as possible, and encourage everybody we know to take this into account.