chaos
Member
Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Mundelein, Illinois, USA
Posts: 25 |
 Re: It's the driving, dang it!
Earlier, I claimed that poor driving and inattention is the problem, and that PDAs and cellphones are symptoms of it, not the root causes of it.
quote:
What you call "symptoms" contribute to the "problems." Judgements about poor driving and inattention are too vaugue to be useful: "Yes officer, your right. That premature left turn of mine was pretty lame!"
I disagree on both counts. Folks who are distracted by cellphones and PDAs will be reading billboards, arguing with passengers, arguing with the radio, reading a book, or videotaping their child in the passenger seat (I've seen it) if we take their cellphones and PDAs away. The problem is inattention and poor driving. If people are driving poorly and not paying attention, I'd like the police to stop them. If in contrast they're driving well, I don't see why it has to be a police issue.
It's easy to tell when someone is swerving in their lane, drifting out of the lane, tailgating, cutting people off, ignoring traffic signals, and ignoring right-of-way. These are the behaviors I see every day. The existing laws aren't (at least in my neck of the woods) being enforced.
quote:
Those criteria can only be objectively defined when it's too late. Handsets are no different than alcohol: they compromise a driver's attention and reflexes. Even the best drivers' skills are compromised when physically distracted.
Enough alcohol diminishes physical reaction time, situational awareness, vision, hearing, balance, kinesthesia, and judgement. These are physical processes occurring whenever you introduce enough of the right psychoactive substances. In contrast, people are perfectly capable of dropping their handsets, ignoring the people they're conversing with ("Sorry, I missed that, had to drive.") or otherwise setting aside the potential distraction if they need to. Intoxication cannot be set aside so quickly.
Most folks don't do this properly, but I would argue many or most of them don't pay enough attention to the road anyway.
quote:
Almost every cell phone user with a handset that I've ever noticed uses his or her hand to hold the phone. The ones that nestle phones with their shoulder blades are still interfering with stop/swerve reflexes. The sobriety of the driver is completely irrelevant. [/B]
If you've got your handset cocked between your shoulder and your head, you're probably not moving your head. In my opinion, you can't drive safely without moving your head to see around your car. There we agree.
Mike
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Michael A. Atkinson
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10-05-2000 12:31 AM
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