Anybody still drive and talk on their cell phone?

fatcatdj

On December 28th, some ding dong rear ended me at a stoplight. She was blabbing on her stupid cellphone.

I hope to Christ the new Mac cellphone is a bluetooth or on regular phone mode disables itself immediately when it senses its in the drivers seat of a car so people wont be accessing their stupidass emails whist driving.

outsider

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatcatdj


On December 28th, some ding dong rear ended me at a stoplight. She was blabbing on her stupid cellphone.

I hope to Christ the new Mac cellphone is a bluetooth or on regular phone mode disables itself immediately when it senses its in the drivers seat of a car so people wont be accessing their stupidass emails whist driving.

I don't but I beep at anyone that is. Keeps em on their toes.

mydo

My cell phone conversations in the car are kept to things like, "I just turned the corner so meet me outside". I often make the call before I pull the car out.





I also like honking at people on their cell phones. Especially pedestrians that are not paying attention. For some reason they are always running into the street, at night, wearing black, trying to make the light that already turned green.

kickaha

I've gotta say, since moving to NY where holding it to your head is illegal, I do it a lot less. The ear bud is great, but kinda klunky at times.



OTOH, it finally explained to me why cell phones have loudspeaker mode *at all*... never did get that before.

trick fall

I use the loudspeaker function when I have to. I had an earbud, but lost it in the mess that is my car.

skatman

It's not about talking on the phone, but about driving.

Most people can't drive well without talking... how can they drive while being distracted?

A smart person knows his/hers/its limits.

maimezvous

To be completely honest I do talk on my cell phone while driving, but I rarely use my cellphone period. If I am driving I try to not have very involved conversations.

trick fall

This morning a woman on the train was talking so loudly on her phone that I had to say something. So I told her that her conversation really wasn't that interesting, which got her to cut the volume by about two thirds.

pmjoe

Absolutlely. It's no different than talking to anyone else who is in the car for me. BUT, it's totally an individual thing, everyone is wired differently in their brains. If I'm talking on the phone and something happens on the highway, the person on the other end will get dead silence and I'll tune out what they're saying for minutes at a time. When I finally get back to them, they're all concerned because I haven't said anything for like two minutes, and I've missed everything they've said. Some other person would be like, "oh, I'm about to crash into someone ... do you think I should hit the brakes? ... oops, too late."



Like I said, it's totally dependent on the individual. When I used to watch TV with one of my ex-girlfriends, she'd be like: "what do you think of this commercial?", me: "I've never seen it before", her: "what do you mean, it's already been on 3 times during this program"; me: "do you seriously listen to the commercials while watching TV?" After having the same conversation numerous times over many months, I just realized our brains were wired totally differently. She just couldn't avoid listening to the commercials, and I just automatically tune them out.



Different people have different personal risks for driving (just like any other task). I expend a lot of energy on attentiveness while driving, but that usually means I'm exhausted after driving 2-3 hours. Others don't put that much energy into it (which IMHO is bad), but while I might be the better driver for those first few hours, get to hour 4, 5, 6 of a long drive and they're a better driver than me. Our laws and how they interact with the auto insurance system force us to treat everyone the same when we probably shouldn't.

brussell

Somehow I've been able to get through my entire life without ever talking to anyone on a phone while in my car. Crazy, I know.

shawnj

"Hold on a second. I have to shift!"

maimezvous

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShawnJ


"Hold on a second. I have to shift!"

I've had that happen to me while on the phone with a friend. She's not the best driver to begin with and she chose to talk to my while driving a manual.

shetline

On rare occasion I'll make a brief call in my car, usually to say something like, "This traffic is awful and I'm going to be late", in which case I'm likely to be essentially at a stand-still while making the call. I use speakerphone and voice dialing to cut down on the distraction.



I made a wrong turn in Boston a couple of weeks ago and waited until I could pull off into a parking space before daring to try to call someone for corrective directions -- the traffic around me was way too frenetic and impatient to even think about making a call while still moving.

Marvin

I never do but I feel like answering mine because I keep it in my pocket and I forget to turn it off vibrate. It's very irritating when you get people who call you and just keep ringing. I wear jeans too so it's hard to take it out my pocket while I'm driving.

trumptman

Yes, I drive and talk all the time. I also do this while traveling through what are called the "Badlands" on the 60 freeway.



Nick

mydo

Quote:

Originally Posted by trick fall


This morning a woman on the train was talking so loudly on her phone that I had to say something. So I told her that her conversation really wasn't that interesting, which got her to cut the volume by about two thirds.

Let me guess. "Hi. I'm on the train. The train. I take the train to work. The train. To work. Yea. I'm on the train ..."

shawnj

Quote:

Originally Posted by maimezvous


I've had that happen to me while on the phone with a friend. She's not the best driver to begin with and she chose to talk to my while driving a manual.

Haha.



It gets bad when you have a spicy chicken sandwich in one hand, the phone in another, a few fingers on the wheel while turning at an intersection, and shifting somehow.

sammi jo

There is a large difference in peoples' driving ability and alertness, when comparing a conversation on a cellphone, to conversing with a physical passenger in the car. For some reason, people drive far better when talking to a passenger, than they do on the phone.. and it makes little difference whether the phone is hands-free, or a regular phone. Studies have shown that people on cellphones exhibit driving characteristics as if they had been drinking heavily.



If you're a Darwin award contender, go ahead and phone-drive... but you may kill someone else in the process.

guybrush threepwood

I think I'll definitely be talking and driving when the iPhone is available through cingular. As a matter of fact, I'll be posting on this forum and driving 75 mph at the same time...



How do you like them apples?

maimezvous

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guybrush Threepwood


I....How do you like them apples?

I love them Apples.

trick fall

Quote:

Originally Posted by mydo


Let me guess. "Hi. I'm on the train. The train. I take the train to work. The train. To work. Yea. I'm on the train ..."

I hear that a lot, but this time it was way more pretentious. It was an interior designer or a real estate agent talking about staging the kitchen for a client. She looked a little crushed when I told her she wasn't that interesting.