Cell phones and Driving
So today I was watching Oprah, which is not something I usually do. The opening hooked me and I PVRed the episode because I had to leave and then I came home and watched it with Adrian. Today's episode was a repeat, I had initially thought it was about drunk driving, but it was actually about the 100% preventable accidents due to drivers using their cell phones while driving. I am not sure what I feel about this topic, but I felt like it was something I had to write out, to put out there for discussion.
On the one hand I definitely agree that texting, emailing, or IMing while driving is needless and extremely dangerous. To do these activities a driver must take their eyes off the road and type in words into their cell phone. The driver is forming sentences and thoughts that have nothing to do with the act of driving. The drivers attention is therefore focused on their conversation not on their driving or the other drivers around them. This is a disaster waiting to happen, and it does happen. Apparently there are thousands of people being killed every year and thousands more that are injured. So yes, I definitely think that people should not text while they are driving. Nobody is that important that they need to be texting every five minutes or that the person responding can't stop their car to send a message later.
However, I feel that this whole bans on cell phones in cars is going to the extreme. I get the whole idea of not talking on the phone because you have to take your hands off the wheel. But cell phones and car phones have been around forever. We also have hand free devices so that we do not have to take our hands off the wheel, but the guests on Oprah and Oprah herself, were saying that Bluetooth devices were just as bad. That people should not be allowed to talk on cell phones at all.
It just seems that this pendulum against cell phones and driving is swinging to the opposite extreme. Much like everything else in society, we have to go from one extreme to another.... cell phones used to be car phones and everyone who could afford one had one in their car and they were using them while they drove. Now we are saying no one can use their cell phones while they are driving and in fact they should not talk on their Bluetooth while driving.
Next they are going to be saying you can't talk to your passengers while driving because they are a distraction. Or you can't listen to your kids because they could distract you from your driving. Somewhere their has to be a middle ground. I don't see the difference between talking to your passenger or talking on a Bluetooth or hands free device while driving. Someone might make the argument that when the phone rings it's a distraction because you are startled and must go through the motions to answer or ignore the call. My argument is that a child asking for your attention while you are driving, "mommy look at this? Mommy what's that?" is the same thing as answering a call. It takes a second and then you are back to the task at hand.
Maybe it's not about banning cell phones while driving maybe it's about educating drivers about safety. Maybe instead of fighting all these rules we work to educate all drivers on proper etiquette and how to drive with distractions so that drivers focus on their driving and tune out the distractions. I don't actually have a solution but I do want people to heed the trend that I see happening. If we start moving towards banning everything and putting all these umbrella restrictions things are going to get worse and worse, until the pendulum starts to swing the other way again.
Picture this... cell phones are banned, but accidents keep happening because of other distractions in the car so car companies must make new cars. Now the driver is in a separate area and cannot communicate with their passengers, because the driver must focus on their driving. Drivers wouldn't be able to listen to music either, radio stations could not be changed while driving, you couldn't eat while you drive (which I have actually heard is already a ticket-able offense) you wouldn't be able to adjust temperature controls or anything. Everything would have to be pre set before the car was in drive because heaven forbid if the driver could not be responsible enough to multi task while they are on the road.
On the one hand I definitely agree that texting, emailing, or IMing while driving is needless and extremely dangerous. To do these activities a driver must take their eyes off the road and type in words into their cell phone. The driver is forming sentences and thoughts that have nothing to do with the act of driving. The drivers attention is therefore focused on their conversation not on their driving or the other drivers around them. This is a disaster waiting to happen, and it does happen. Apparently there are thousands of people being killed every year and thousands more that are injured. So yes, I definitely think that people should not text while they are driving. Nobody is that important that they need to be texting every five minutes or that the person responding can't stop their car to send a message later.
However, I feel that this whole bans on cell phones in cars is going to the extreme. I get the whole idea of not talking on the phone because you have to take your hands off the wheel. But cell phones and car phones have been around forever. We also have hand free devices so that we do not have to take our hands off the wheel, but the guests on Oprah and Oprah herself, were saying that Bluetooth devices were just as bad. That people should not be allowed to talk on cell phones at all.
It just seems that this pendulum against cell phones and driving is swinging to the opposite extreme. Much like everything else in society, we have to go from one extreme to another.... cell phones used to be car phones and everyone who could afford one had one in their car and they were using them while they drove. Now we are saying no one can use their cell phones while they are driving and in fact they should not talk on their Bluetooth while driving.
Next they are going to be saying you can't talk to your passengers while driving because they are a distraction. Or you can't listen to your kids because they could distract you from your driving. Somewhere their has to be a middle ground. I don't see the difference between talking to your passenger or talking on a Bluetooth or hands free device while driving. Someone might make the argument that when the phone rings it's a distraction because you are startled and must go through the motions to answer or ignore the call. My argument is that a child asking for your attention while you are driving, "mommy look at this? Mommy what's that?" is the same thing as answering a call. It takes a second and then you are back to the task at hand.
Maybe it's not about banning cell phones while driving maybe it's about educating drivers about safety. Maybe instead of fighting all these rules we work to educate all drivers on proper etiquette and how to drive with distractions so that drivers focus on their driving and tune out the distractions. I don't actually have a solution but I do want people to heed the trend that I see happening. If we start moving towards banning everything and putting all these umbrella restrictions things are going to get worse and worse, until the pendulum starts to swing the other way again.
Picture this... cell phones are banned, but accidents keep happening because of other distractions in the car so car companies must make new cars. Now the driver is in a separate area and cannot communicate with their passengers, because the driver must focus on their driving. Drivers wouldn't be able to listen to music either, radio stations could not be changed while driving, you couldn't eat while you drive (which I have actually heard is already a ticket-able offense) you wouldn't be able to adjust temperature controls or anything. Everything would have to be pre set before the car was in drive because heaven forbid if the driver could not be responsible enough to multi task while they are on the road.
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