Cell Phones & Driving....

This is a very good topic. I see people holding a phone to their ear and talking a mile a minute all of the time. It is scary when you don't know what to expect out of the drivers. Did you by any chance see the Dr. Phil show the day he had a teenage girl on that was bragging about how fast she could text message while driving. They gave he a video driving test and besides going off the road every 30 seconds she hit a firetruck. This girl was totally obnoxious and her dense mother just sat there and when Dr. Phil told her she needed to take the phone away from her the mother says "I'll think about it" The audience booed her.

I don't drive my own car so I haven't experience driving while using cellphone- and would not even try it. I know how dangerous it is. And I heard a lot of stories about it that causes accidents. Everytime I saw one, I can't help but wish the driver will stop using the cellphone for fear of he or she might meet an accident.

I don't think that it is wise judging from the way that people drive when they are also engaged in yakking on the phone. Other people may or may not realize that you are in the car driving while they are talking to you. It is the drivers responsibility to tell that person "look I am driving right now, can I call you back?" or to not answer in the first place. When you safely get to your destination is the time to talk on the phone. Dividing your attention between the various things that are happening around you on the road and someone on the phone is foolish in the extreme and even though nothing happened yet. You are piloting a 1 ton weapon and the slightest reduction of your ability to pay attention to what you're doing could prove to be your last and/ or you could kill somebody. Is that conversation worth all that? Besides where I live (California) it is illegal now to talk on your cell while you are driving.

During Driving Cell Phone is very much dangerious. More people use Blue Tuth technology. It is best.

Know what the best suggestion to that is for safe driving while talking to the other end. Purchase a hands free gadget that is an earpiece. Or bluetooth..Where you can drive while talking. As long as you keep the gear low,your concentration on the foot and eyes on the road. Anything is possible nowadays.

Well both are nice if not done together...if ur driving while talking on the phone..well unless u r really careful that cud be the last thing u do

I personally think that driving deserves our full attention, we really don't know what will happen when we remove our eyes on the road (even just for a second) or when we are doing something besides from driving which divert our focus on the road (answering a call, others even writing text messages). I really believe that we should make a stop to answer a phone call, which could very much help in preventing accidents or road mishap from happening.

I've done the same "informal survey" on several occasions and you're absolutely right, 9 out of 10 are on phones while driving and I think's it's crazy! There is no need to talk on the phone while driving 99.99% of the time. It's definitely too distracting and we'll never know how many accidents it's caused. Annie

I found this article on 'using the cellphones, either hands-free or hand-held while driving' very useful and informative so we may become aware of the disadvantages of doing such thing - Talking on a hands-free cell phone while driving may not be much safer than talking on a hand-held phone, according to a new study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied (Vol. 9, No. 1). The study could have important implications for how cell phones are used, the researchers say. About 85 percent of the more than 135 million Americans who own cell phones say they use them while driving. University of Utah psychologist David Strayer, PhD, and his collaborators used a high-fidelity driving simulator to study the impact of cell phone use on the driving performance of 110 undergraduates. A member of the research team engaged the undergraduates in hands-free cell phone conversations while they drove along computer-simulated freeways and city roads. The researchers found that the conversations slowed drivers' reaction times and increased their risk of crashing into the simulated cars in front of them, apparently by misdirecting their attention. They also found that when participants were in the "cell phone zone," their ability to remember billboards along the side of the road was significantly worse than when they were not on the phone, even though they looked at the roadway signs just as often. The effect, known as inattention blindness, may explain why talking on a hands-free cell phone can impair driving, says Strayer. "The conversation is drawing attention away from driving and redirecting it towards the virtual reality of the conversation," he explains. The findings suggest that laws that ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving, such as the one enacted by New York state in 2001, may not be effective at reducing cell phone-related accidents. "The legislation that's been enacted says, 'Let's prohibit hand-held cell phones and permit people to use hands-free phones while driving,'" says Strayer. "Our study shows that a big component of the impairment is from cognitive distraction, and this distraction is the same for both hand-held and hands-free phones." E. Benson - http://www.apa.org/monitor/mar03/handsfree.html

I am not very good at doing more then one thing while I am driving..and that one thing is paying attention to driving! I know what you mean. You look around and they are busy talking. If you do see me in a car and my mouth is moving a mile a minute it's not because I am on the phone....I am usually singing with the music! LOL

Hi Toni! There are many people who cant talk and drive, or talk and walk or talk and do much of anything else. So yeah I agree with you, I dont think that its safe. They say you have to go hands free to keep both hands on the wheel, well your hands are not the thinking part of driving! Hello!?!?! Im sure there are people that can do a great job while driving and talking on the cell, but how can you really weed them out? No one should be on the phone and driving a car, not even the police, who I see doing it as well. If its that important pull over, stop the car and talk then. Too many people are in too much of a hurry, thats why they are talking on their cell phones. Bay Lay Gray xx