"hands-free" safe? heck no

[wolfdogs]

NHTSA is smirking at DC and other localities that banned cell phones in the hand while driving but allow hands-free operation......by saying "hands free is safe"........

well........its not....... in fact..it may even be less safe! studies showed! because people tend to talk longer when on hands-free....and

its the "carrying on a phone conversation is dangerously distracting to drivers" that is the culprit, nhtsa and the studies said.

ready or this?

the Cell Phone Industry says "more studies are needed....some research has shown that cell phone use is not a major safety hazard........"


my (__!__) its not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dave M]

I have always believed that it's the conversation and not the act of holding the phone that's the problem. People simply are not concetrating on the road and potential hazards when their concentrating on what someone is saying... not that they ever pay attention when driving anyways Many people drive with one hand when not on the cell phone, so holding a phone shouldn't be detrimental to safety, at least not much. Naturally if your mind is elsewhere, it's not on the road and traffic. This goes for anything; cell phones, daydreaming, drowsiness, drunk, eating, reading, putting on makeup, tuning the stereo, conversations with others in the car, admiring yourself in the mirror, etc.

I don't know why the cell phone industry is so against it, it's not like everyone is going to give up cell phones altogether if you can't use them in your car.

Should there be a law against cell phones in the car altogether or even a law requiring a hands free device? I don't think so, but I've always been a big one on personal freedoms. More education is needed to warn drivers against the hazards of distractions in general, not just cell phones. And more and better driver training and retesting is needed to make sure those on tha road are fit to be there.

[95TransAm]

I can totally agree with you on that one. I swear that in the past 2 weeks, I've had to avoid people who were on their cell phones. One guy almost collided into me when coming out of a gas station on to the street, he was on his phone and didnt even look for traffic before merging. Another one was a girl on her phone, and i was driving next to her (Not even in her blind spot) and the next thing i know it, her car is starting to come in to my lane ! I had to hit the brakes and followed her for a block with my hand on the horn, and even then i dont think she even realized. I will say though, i too am no saint. I have been on my phone when driving, but it usually winds up me asking "What?" every other sentence because i am paying attention to my driving, not the conversation. There are also times where i wont answer a call if i feel my full attention needs to be on driving, and if i am on the phone, i always try and get to the point so i can make it as brief as possible. In all honesty, i dont think using the phone while driving would be that big of a problem as long as people put the priorities of driving first over the conversation, and sadly its usually the other way around .

[raroZ28]

Going down alley today to get home.

Woman in ranger on the phone not paying attention, talking and smiling, pulls out and almost nails me. How could she not see me? She almost hit my driver door coming at me, but I sped up and she JUST missed my rear quarter. What could I have done in this situation? Stop? no... I just had to floor it and hope I got out in time. It's always women too, they're in big suv's on cell phones. It's aggrevating.

[MN6WS6]

I install hands free car kits, so of course I have to disagree with some of you. If you can keep both hands on the wheel, then you're safer. The problem is not the cell phone, or the radio, AC controls, navigation, children, food, etc. It's the fact that people inherently CANNOT do two things at once. Driving has become a right in our minds, not a privilege, and people believe that the road is theirs and everybody else is in their way. You can't blame the equipment, it's the operator. Just like guns don't kill people, people kill people. People get on the phone and forget they are driving. Just like people jam the radio. People look at the navigation screen. People holler for their kids to settle down or reach back and give them something to shut them up. It's people's fault, not the phone.

I cannot tell you how many customers I have that have had wrecks when they did not have a handsfree unit. Once I put them in, they have been accident free. Now they may be in the minority, but if they are, then that is one hella minority! A handsfree kit keeps the phone within peripheral vision, so you're not hunting for it or looking down at the seat to see who's calling. You hit the answer button, and keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel. Now if you get caught up in the conversation, and lose concentration on driving, then you shouldn't have a phone in the first place. But we all know that will never happen. So you might as well have a handsfree kit to at least somewhat minimize the distraction level.

Now then, with all that said, I have a handsfree kit in my car and my truck, and I don't use either one while driving. Why? Because I don't talk on the phone while I'm driving. Why? Because I pay attention to the road. The call can wait until I'm stopped.

[hotwhip9]

i agree that it is the conversation itself that is the main problem. Hands free is cool, but i mainly use it while im doing paperwork, not while driving. I drive with one hand anyways, so it makes no difference if i am holding a phone. The problem with the hands free kits, like NY requires, is you still have to look at the phone to dial the number, or you look at the phone to check the caller id on an incoming call. The nicer hands free kits, work into the stereo, really nice, expensive, but you still have to dial the number. More phones now you can talk, so they will dial, but that seems to me a new idea and will take more time to perfect.

[MN6WS6]

Motorola has had the voice activation for about 2 years now, but you have to program your voice to the number. Say you want to call home. When you enter the number in your phone book, you scroll to voice and record it to whatever you want, for instance "home". So when you press the button and say "home" it dials home. No looking at the phone. You could program it to respond to "money pit", but that's your personal preference

GM's Onstar with voice activation is PERFECT, at least in the Escalade. Please, nobody take offense to this, it is just an observation. One of my customers is black, and has the corresponding slang and accent that a black person raised in the local black neighborhoods would have, so the way he says words and numbers are not the same as white, suburban people would say them (that is about as politically correct as I can put that). On top of that, he was severely burned in a chemical fire, so he does not have 100% facial movements. Even with all of that, the Onstar phone in his Escalade never misses anything he says. And that phone is FULL voice activation, you say the individual numbers and it repeats them back to you then dials the phone. That's about as handsfree as you can possibly get.

The bottom line is that cell phones are here to stay. Having a phone in a cradle or some other type of handsfree system is logically safer than holding it to your ear (notice I said "logically" not "proven to be"). Since we can't take the phones away, the only option government has is to enforce the safest logical way to use the phone while in the car.

By the way, if you've never had a handsfree system in a car, it is not fair to judge their safety factors. 90%+ of people who have had a handsfree system, and had them professionally installed or bought a car with one in it, will always have one from that point on. Why is that? Because they consider it to be safer than holding it to their ear.

[Rob B (shoebox)]

Obviously some people are physically challenged enough to where they cannot drive well with one hand. More of a problem is that the human brain cannot easily do these tasks at the same time. Whether you are holding a phone or not, your concentration is diverted to the conversation and not vehicle control. All you have to do is observe and it is blatantly obvious. I see it almost every time I drive. Anything that takes your attention from controlling the vehicle is a bad thing, IMO.

[fastTa]

I definitely agree that the act of conversing itself is definitely dangerous while driving. I have caught myself not paying attention to the road or the cars around me while talking on the cell. I think it is definitely hazardous the longer and deeper in conversation you get, especially for those who inherantly can't walk and chew gum at the same time!

Here is an interesing article with lots of good info:

http://www.irmi.com/Insights/Articles/2003/Olson05.aspx