In your observation, how do cell phones affect driving?

Eric Ringham December 14, 2011, 5:00 AM Dec 14, 2011

A federal agency recommended Tuesday that all states ban the use of cell phones and other devices while driving. The proposed ban would cover both texting and voice communication, whether with handheld or hands-free devices, except in emergencies. Today’s Question: In your observation, how do cell phones affect driving?

About the blogger

Eric Ringham

eringham@mpr.org

Clark

Ban their use while driving. I personally can’t count how many times I have avoided an accident by other drivers using their mobile phones. It’s a huge distraction while driving. I will never believe that anything is that important that you can’t wait 20 minutes to call home. I hear these idiots on the plane all the time calling someone, “i am on the plane”‘ ” i just landed” this is all meaningless communication that can wait.

Mike

Not so much. It’s when I am reading the paper and trying shave at the same time that always gets me. I mean I”m pretty good at driving with my knee and reading the paper while drinking my morning latte. It’s that third component of using my electric shaver that I haven’t quite mastered yet.

Rachel

I’m with Mark on this. The act of putting on eye liner and or mascara is the part I find challenging. Although I am getting better, I’ve learned to trust my knee steering the wheel. I do recommend the hand-less inboard phone. It frees up your other arm to multitask. God… you should see the looks from the drivers passing me and honking while I’m sending this… Priceless

James

Guys seem to be able to talk and drive. Gals, not so much! Especially young gals.

On a personal note, this would be a problem for me. I drive over an hour to work. If the drive time became pure downtime it would be costly.

Emery

Perhaps driving should be banned while using cell phones. ;^}

Patriot

But.. but …What happens to our liberty and freedom to be idiots? I mean… Freedom and liberty are the very things that brave American men and women have fought and died for (hopefully not on the freeway and because of inattentive driving). We need to protect the gains (oh wait that’s another argument).

Well you know what I mean. Freedom it’s not always free. Wait hold on, I do believe I see a blue light flashing in aisle three

david

There would probably be a lot less issues with talking on the phone and driving if we actually had proper training and testing to get a driver’s licence, instead of the current strategy of being able to read 15 letters on an eye chart.

Steve the Cynic

In the metro area, it’s more dangerous than DWI, but I’m not sure a complete ban makes sense on those long, straight, boring country highways I often have occasion to drive on, where one meets an oncoming vehicle maybe once every three or four minutes. What makes sense in DC is often absurd in the Dakotas (including East Dakota).

GaryF

Sure it has an effect on driving. So does eating in the car. So does drinking coffee in car. So does changing the radio station or clicking the I-pod or changing a CD. So does yelling at your kids. So does picking up the dropped pacifier.

Just how do we expect to enforce such a law?

Are we going to outlaw everything?

Those who give up freedom for security end up with less of both.

Patriot

Damn-skippy GaryF!!

They’ll have to pry my cold dead fingers off of my cell phone before I lose any more liberty and freedom.

Mark

All this talk of rights and liberty is way off the mark. Driving is not a right. Talking on a cell phone is not a right. The freedom to say what you want while on the phone is a right. The freedom to drive to where you want is a right.

A law to ban cell phone usage while driving is not enforceable. The key to the problem is long-term education on the demands and requirements of safe driving. It is like seat belts. Eventually most of the people will get the message.

GregX

here is an opportunity for the free market! – insruance companies already know that cell phones – unlike food, radio, mascara – involve a level of attention to something completely outside your vechicle – and in some cases can engage you a very high level of atttention on that topic/person – almost completely ignoring the both the normal and the erratic-accidental traffic around you. How much would you use the phone IF your insurance company told you you’re liable for the entire cost of the accident if cell phone records show you were on the phone at or 2 minutes before an accident. How about if your deductable quadruples due to cell phone use during the period of an accident ? Let the insurance companies make money on the very thing they are insuring – the driver’s promise to be attentive and safe while driving.

Deborah

People’s driving skills seem impaired regardless; if you’re a bad driver, any distraction can throw you. Should you text and drive? No. Talk and drive? Probably no too, but I do. I listen to the news. I check my.grandson in his car seat. I tell the.dogs to.sit still. I.check my hair if I’m not in a traffic situation. I’ve never had an accident and have driven A LOT for 48 years. Why? Because driving itself is an exercise in multi-tasking. And I do that constantly.

Drive well.

Avoid distractions.

Check your mirror.

Keep a hand on the wheel.

Don’t eat while driving

don’t text

If you need to fins something pull over

Learn to do more than one thing at once.

Pay attention. This is a heavy efficient killing machine of which you’re in control.

Kevin

The lesson here: Don’t mess with Americans and their Cars. Or their Freedums.

How do cell phones affect driving? They certainly don’t increase the safety of the talking/texting driver of others in their vicinity. If that’s granted, then doing something to increase everyone’s safety should be taken into consideration. In this case, banning talking/texting using One’s hands seems like a pragmatic step. Freedums people: try hands-off phones for talking and texting. In that case you’ve got your Freedums and I’m more safe from your wanton recklessness.

Bear

Ban texting, spot on; ban phone held to ear with hand, yes; ban hands free: not, this is another bureaucratic over reaction, excessive regulation. Regulators always propose extreme solutions despite a pragmatic solution staring them in the face. If this prevails then ban food, coffee, screaming kids, radios, GPS’, all electronics for that matter, all reading materials, conversation, etc.

Larry M.

Drivers don’t plan ahead, which leads to the last minute three lane shift, people have forgotten what the blinker is, and I’ve seen inconsistent speeds followed by running of stop signs, and a lot of people no longer have the ability to stay in their lanes. One texter I saw driving was worse than any drunk driver I’ve seen.

Hang up and drive!

GregX

“Those who give up freedom for security end up with less of both.” ………………………………… True…. I just wish that those who casuallly exercise their “freedom” to the minor and mid-level detriment of others around them … paid a much higher price…. espcially when their ignorance of others causes loss of life, liberty and purfuit of happineff. For example we have drunken driver plates – how about a special plate (+fee) for cell phone or other distracted driver accident’s. Since WJ (whickey jack? ) has been allocated for drunks – how bout DH ( dunder head) for this new plate – and the fee is …. 1000/year. Yeah punitive – plus the insurance changes I suggested. FREEDOM has a cost … in this case vigilance .. on the road.

GregX

They’ll have to pry my cold dead fingers off of my cell phone before I lose any more liberty and freedom. ==================================================== sot of makes the case for the ban on cell phones while driving. sure – you don’t mind dying to keep your cell phone … but that mom with her two kids and the neighbors 2 kids … she doesn’t share your death-wish. It aint JUST about you… its about the rest of the world.

KevinVC

People on Cell Phones while driving are more interested in their conversation then the road.

I have see way to many near misses, and the the ‘Socialite’ does not even acknowledge or seem to care they nearly killed someone.

Or even on the less extreme how much they are a danger to traffic, but also their in attention causes others to slow down as they see the ‘bozo’ ahead is weaving, not attentive to stop lights, or just making random turns without turn signals.

After all their hand is on the phone… and not near the turn signal.

Its not optional equipment guys!

And just because someone else does it does not make it legal or ok.

Never mind the road rage that this causes…. Almost makes one wish their was hunting season to people who text/phone while driving.

Texting is like the phone thing while driving only WAY worse….

It should have been illegal to begin with. Only there is a lot of pressure NOT to make it so, from not the users, but the cell companies. And they are kinda two faced about it. Publicly saying one thing, but then with politicians going on about ‘regulations’ and how it hurts business.

Sorry, most all business if left to their own devices (pun 1/2 intended) would be acting straight out unethically and if the only bench mark is how much money they can fleece others out of for profits…. then we would railroad our selves into on disaster after another.

Regulations are because Business has NO ethics, unless we artificially force it to.

mike

There are plenty of laws already on the books regarding distracted and/or reckless driving. Everyone you meet says they’ve seen it, be it by cell phone, big mack, lipstick, or DUI.

Yet we see our highway patrol lurking under overpasses and on freeway entrances, hunting for speeders. If the priority was safety – and not revenue – they would be driving with traffic, in unmarked cars, pulling over the clowns that can’t keep it between the stripes. Punish the behavior, rather than attempting to itemize the possible distractions.

Steve the Cynic

A bumper sticker I saw recently:

“Would your driving improve if that phone were up your ass?” (The picture of a donkey with a cell phone sticking out of it made me laugh.)

John

Not a big fan of people holding there phone and talking or texting but hands free technology works and can make driving much safer.

Also, this is a State issue not a Federal issue. We should not have laws dictated by Washington.

Valerie

Cellphones are incredibly distracting, just as trying to eat is, as well as having a serious conversation. Drivers of all ages need to reduce these distractions and focus on driving more safely. If a call is that important, pull over to make it.

Nate

Every week I see another idiot on the phone cutting a corner, not signaling, blowing a stop sign, or otherwise ignoring others’ rights to safety. Sometimes I’m walking my dog, sometimes I’m in the traffic. Every time I’m thankful that I’m observant enough to avoid them.

Drive (and walk) defensively; let the bonehead plow into something (or someone) else, and live to be a witness at their trial.

Spencer

The funny thing is that metro area drivers seem to be the worst drivers…in the entire world….my wife and I have traveled all over the world and the metro drivers are absolutely terrible. Is it a contest to see who can run the most red lights or stop signs? Or is it a game for people to drive like an utter imbecile and then yell at and flick off the other person? (so much for “Minnesota nice”)

It seems to me that they should just ban driving.

Jefferson

Cell phones seem to make most people forget how to drive, and yet it seems to be a very popular thing to do. If you are on your cell phone and you are unable to drive properly please move over to the far right lane. I hate when someone is on a cell phone swerving in the left lane going 10 mph under the speed limit, then when they finally get off the phone they end up flying past me going 15-20 mph over the speed limit…I just want to go at least the speed limit if not 5 mph over…if you are not going the speed limit move over to the right (this applies when on a cell phone or not). Just use common sense when using a cell phone, I don’t think there is a problem using a hands-free headset if you are on a long drive on a virtually empty highway; just don’t be trying to text or talk on your actual phone while in heavy traffic with lots of speeding up, slowing or stopping (like during rush hour).
Regnar James

“Hang up and drive” Nuff said.

∑

DTOM

PS.. Thanks for deleting my input yesterday. Seems like “Libtard” struck a never;-)
Clark

It’s about damn time!
T

Not true KmMN, notSteve or any other alias you espuse to. Your posts are off topic rants that blame %100 of the US problems on one source. Therefore, you lack skill to answer the Question of the Day with Insight. That is what’s asked for by this site. If you fail to do this, your posts will be deleted (I and many others I assume emailed MPR to complain about anyone’s off topic rants).

Now to answer the question; hands-free should be allowable, improve driver education, and hopefully we’ll see decreased incidents of distracted driving.
K N

Ban it — hands-free included (a study has shown that hands-free phone use is just as distracting as a handheld cell; the theory being that your mind is more on your conversation than your surroundings). People used to cope with long commutes pre-cell phone, and they can still do so. If you really can’t take it, look for a job closer to home or move closer to work. Or take alternative transportation (car-pool, commuter rail). Your liberty is NOT more important than someone else’s life, and as someone else pointed out, driving is not a right.

I realize that there are all sorts of ways people can get distracted by driving, but tell me — how often have you seen someone grooming themselves or picking something up off the floor, for example, as compared to someone using the cell phone. I can easily find multiple cell phone users on every commute. Unless we ban cell phone use specifically, folks are going to continue to use their phones, thinking, “Well, OTHER people get distracted, but not ME. I’m special!”
suzie

The only cell phones that affect me are the ones being used by other drivers (and walkers). I turn my phone off when driving. No phone call is THAT important. And to you arrogant drivers, YOU ARE NOT THAT IMPORTANT AND NEITHER IS THE CALL YOU MUST MAKE OR RECEIVE. If, as one of you said, the hour you commute is wasted time, leave home an hour earlier so you can get to work earlier to make those calls and the same to those who must put on your makeup.

Some think this is a personal rights issue – HA! Driving a vehicle is not a “right” it is a privilege – same as using a phone. More laws are passed to save us from those who abuse the privileges we have. If people acted in a responsible maner, and not think that they are more important or can do no wrong, we wouldn’t have laws passed to protect us from the arrogants and stupids.
Mark G

Steve had written that it’s not as big a problem out here in the country….but we need to keep in mind that, given the relative desolation on these roads, deer, farmers’ dogs, school buses, farm equipment, icy patches, debris on the roadway, and inattentive and/or unconcerned drivers are all major hazards that are made all the more troublesome when drivers are on the phone. I know that I pay a lot less attention when I am using my phone, so I have made a commitment to turn my ringer off whenever I am driving. Even a ringing phone is enough distraction to cause a moment’s inattention, and thus a totally avoidable accident. I can’t even imaging using my phone when driving in city traffic!
Jason

Cell phones affect driving, and almost all other behaviors quite a bit. Many of the the previously posted comments already reveal my grievance with the obsessive use of them. Its sad to know that it probably would take an accident to make someone change their behavior.

To quote a segment from the BBC series ‘Life on Earth’ what defines humans is that we are “compulsive communicators”. The popularity of cell phones was thus predictable. As humans we also have the ability to model our environment and think ahead to determine the best course of action. Unfortunately it seems that sometimes our compulsions overrule our common sense.
Mary

We have to remember that driving is a privilege not a right. With that privilege comes the responsibility to operate your vehicle in a safe manner. Doing anything while driving that distracts your attention from driving is an abdication of your responsibility. I’ve never seen anyone use a cell phone while driving that is paying 100% attention to driving. Cell phones dumb down your ability to safely drive. They should not be used while driving. Nothing is so important you can’t pull over and call the person back.
Hannah

I use my phone for navigation. It’s less of a distraction and more of an aide that keeps me from driving off the road while looking for an unfamiliar destination.

I also use my turn signal.

And manage to stay in my own lane, drive at a consistent speed, and have consideration for other drivers attempting to merge into my lane or onto my highway.

It -is- possible for young(ish) female drivers to be responsible (and considerate).
John P II

In my observation people using cell phones drive slower than the flow of traffic. I think the solution is to allow cell phone usage only in the left lane, so that the really important people driving faster than the flow of traffic will collide with the really important people talking or texting on their cell phone and driving slower than the flow of traffic. People aggressively changing lanes would be vaporized with a tachyon pulse from the modified main deflector dish of those of us in the middle.
GaryF

I still just don’t see how you could effectively enforce the law without having Marshal Law.

Then, I would presume so many people would ignore the law as an act of defiance that cops would be so tied up in enforcing cell phone law breakers that they would have no time for real criminals.

When cell phones are outlawed when driving, the only outlaws will use cell phones during driving.
GaryF

Oh, comments regarding George Soros and his funding and control of NPR get deleted?
Jamie

// Guys seem to be able to talk and drive. Gals, not so much! Especially young gals.//

This is absolute BULL!! Men are just as bad as women! Teenage girls are probably worse than adults, but teenage boys are just as bad as the girls. I’ve seen (and almost had accidents with) plenty of both.

This isn’t about freedom – it’s about being a responsible citizen and not risking the lives of other people on the road.

Those who say that hands-free talking is ok have apparently not heard about the research that has been done on this. It’s not as bad as holding the phone, but it does distract you. I heard a researcher say on the radio this morning that you’re FOUR times as likely to get in a crash while talking hands-free.

Driving while distracted by anything — phone, food, radio — is against the law. We need more education on this.
van

Oh, comments regarding George Soros and his funding and control of NPR get deleted?

Posted by GaryF | December 14, 2011 1:11 PM

——————————

Is that why KimMN posts were deleted? Since when did freedom of speech not exist?
John P II

A second observation – I think well-dressed, executive types of both genders with nice cars are FAR worse than teenagers when it comes to driving erratically/poorly due to cell phone use. The car as office routine needs to stop.
GaryF

JP 2,

How about contractors, tradesman, and delivery drivers?

Or just “well dressed executive” types?
Thomas

If you’re in business, especially for yourself, it is expected by clients and customers that you are in cell phone contact, even in your car. It may not be safe, but until there is a total ban on cell phone usage in cars, business people will keep up with their competition by doing so.
John

Leaving work one evening, I dialed a friend in the parking lot, and was just saying “I’m on my way” when I realized that I, a hyper-attentive driver, had just crossed 4 lanes of 50MPH roadway though a red light. Oops. Phone conversations remove your attention from the immediate present, and God help everybody on the road. Hands-free operation does not mitigate this diversion of attention. This regulation will save lives.
Marlene Bergan

I wonder what the difference is between hands free cell phone and a passenger talking in the car. Obviously a passenger might be able to alert driver of impending danger, but any conversation is a distraction. Are they then going to outlaw conversation with others in the car while driving?
bev

There’s a saying in aviation: “There are old pilots and bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots.” The same could be applied to those who think they can drive while their brain is somewhere else.
Chuck

Don’t we already have a “distracted driver’s law”? Oh yes, it has no teeth in it – a misdemeanor. So if you kill or seriously injure someone you get a small fine.
Matt

Whether you have a bee in your car, are on a cell phone, are in an argument, lighting a cigarette, or any number of things that could be distracting you from driving is not the real issue. The real issue is the decision to drive while doing something else. There is no debate that doing something else, be it texting or swatting a bee distracts from driving. Every study confirms this, so this is really the wrong question. We don’t need to be discussing whether or not it is distracting, that is clear. The question is whether or not we want to regulate activities of individuals in order to potentially increase public safety.

I am less likely to drive into you with my glasses on, and when I have not had anything to drink. Yet, I am fairly confident that I could have a glass of wine with dinner and still not drive into you on the way home. Likewise, I could probably manage to drive home on the freeway with my bluetooth hands free headset on talking to my friend.

The solution is probably severe penalties for accidents that occur in part due to texting/dialing, or talking on the phone if that is what contributed to the accident. Traffic tickets issued when officers can see clear evidence of being distracted and/or texting, not watching the road – for any reason. We might also try to incent NOT using a phone while driving. No clue how, just a thought.
RachelB

According to the greatest influence to the current government leader, all people should be free to do as they please which includes texting. The bilionair hedge fund owner should respond on this topic so we know what to support when the legislation tackles this issue.

Mr hedge funds Soros aids hundreds of left-wing groups in America each year under the auspices of his Open Society Foundations. In the past 10 years, he has given more than $550 million to liberal organizations in the United States.

That total represents about 27 percent of the $2 billion given out by the American branches of his Open Society Foundations from 2000 to 2009. (2010 forms are unavailable and Open Society staff uncooperative with the media.) He has given more than $8 billion to those foundations since they first started in 1993, as an outgrowth of his “open society” charity efforts dating back to 1979. His foundations credit him as having given that money “to support human rights, freedom of expression, and access to public health and education in 70 countries.”

The New York Times said the foundation claims “it is on track to give away about $860 million” this year. If things stay true to form for Soros, much of that money will head toward liberal groups in the United States. How that money is allocated takes on a new dimension as Soros just named criminal justice expert Christopher Stone the foundations’ next president, starting in July.

The Times left out that the Soros network is excessively left-wing: pro-abortion, pro-euthanasia, pro-gay marriage, pro-drug legalization, pro-union and pro-government-funded media as well as anti-faith, anti-death penalty and as anti-conservative as they come

I so trust his views to advise us all if we should have the freedom to use a cell phone. He does confer with the white house often so who knows how this will turn out?
Steve the Cynic

@Mark G

On those boring country roads out there, falling asleep at the wheel is a bigger risk than talking on a cell phone. If talking on the phone keeps me awake out in East Dakota, isn’t that a good thing?
Steph

I used to use CDs in my car now I plug in my phone. Much much safer way to listen. Texting is not safe. Pulling over to accept a call vs using the new automated voice sync? Again the latter is safer. Ban texting nothing else. Using a radio, having a child in the car, eating are not banned yet all can cause accidents. Maybe we should ban cars then we would never have an accident.
Kate

As the daughter of a man who was almost killed by a texter I have many thoughts on this topic. Instead of getting angry and spewing what I really want to say I would like to offer a more realistic way of thinking.

It is all about common sense! Is there traffic? Are the roads bad? Is this an emergency? Can this text or phone call wait? Thanks to people who don’t understand this concept we are now facing a ban on cell phones by the driver. After watching my father go through this horrible injury hanging up the phone while in the car is a must for me. If I’m a passenger, please don’t pick up that phone. If I’m driving? Everyone knows I’m on the road when they can’t get a hold of me. We need to start taking responsibility for ourselves. I’m not perfect. I have text and talked on the phone while driving but I have always, even before the accident, thought of others while on the road. After all, I am basically driving a weapon. I don’t want to get hurt (to say the least) and I don’t want others to either.

Think! That’s all I ask. You have people’s lives in your hands.
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