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Chicago officials voted Wednesday to ban drivers from using hand-held cell phones starting this summer and set fines of $50 and up for violators.
Full story here [qctimes.com]
OK. I'ts probably a *good* thing. But I gotta tell ya, I'd be bummed if they passed this law in the city I live. I talk on my phone all the time when I'm driving.
As with any distraction (listening to radio/CD, conversing with passenger, yelling at kids in back, eyeballing the cutie on the sidewalk, etc.) you are not concentrating on driving. Impractical to regulate "distraction" so they target holding "things" other than the steering wheel. Drinking coffee while driving will be next.
A much more practical solution is "hands free": ear-bud and microphone boom (or similar) and you can yak and drive with no more "distraction" than conversing with someone in the vehicle. Of course dialing might remain a "eyes off the road" problem. I dislike the "all or nothing" approach of these sort of regulations.
I still think those women I see putting on make-up while looking in the rearview mirror and driving with their knees are a greater hazard. As are all the folks with those ankle biter pooches sitting on their laps with paws on the wheel. And little old fogies who look under the steering wheel rim unable to see anything closer than a hundred feet in front ...
We need cars to come with built in voice activated communication systems. Much greater utility than silly "map" systems. Seats to raise up the height challenged. Ban loose animals within a vehicle ...
Of course a chauffeur would be even better.
We need cars? I don't think so. The problem is not what we do while driving them, the problem is them.
Or the problem is us believing we need them for individual transportation purpose. We shall ban drivers.
BTW, it's not uncommon for me to drive an hour and a half to get to court. Even Macguru's Vespa [webmasterworld.com] wouldn't get me to court on time.
Average speed?
Really, I dont mind drivers stuck in trafic using cell phones, but if they could only shut their engines off in the mean time, we could, at least, breath some decent air while we zig zag trough the those 6 feet wide inert steel carcasses, to point "B".
if they could only shut their engines off in the mean time, we could breath some decent air
Now that is another topic entirely ...
Yes to mass transit for densely populated areas. Yes to non-poluting power sources. But in the meantime I live 10 km from the nearest store, 12 km from the nearest pub ... on sunny days walking or biking is great but this is the wet coast ... I am surrounded by dense green carbon-sink rain forest I pretend makes up for my gas guzzling old "island clunker".
Note: This will likely bring a new revenue stream into the offices of lawman's Chicago bretheran. Every regulatory cloud has a silver lining for lawyers ... strange but true. :-)
Don't know average speed. Between towns usually no faster than 75-80 mph (depending upon the actual speed limit :)) - no slower than the logging truck in front of me.
Studies show that your ability to react is much like a drunken driver's no matter what you think, so it's probably good that states pass these laws, no other way people will stop doing dangerous things, same thing happened with drinking and driving, wasn't that long ago that texas was given a choice, lose all highway funding or ban drinking and driving, it was a hard choice for texas to make by the way, not the no brainer you might believe, same with cell phones, people have had long enough to show how they will use them if left to their own devices, so it's not a matter of education, you just have to illegalize the practice. I can always tell when I see a driver on a cellphone, their reactions are way way way way slower than they should be, and often they simply fail see what's in front of, or especially to their peripheral areas.
I would take a moderately drunk driver over a cellphone driver any day of the week if I had the choice of having to be on the road with only one of them.
I'm with macguru, it's cars that are the problem, I miss having real air to breath in cities. Dumped mine finally, no loss. Don't worry macguru, oil is running lower, prices rising, suv sales are down in the states, this road will only end one place, no matter how much you all love your cars.
The thing that surprised me was finding that hands free cell phone useage was not significantly safer than handheld cell phone useage while driving. Problem? Very simple I think: people have a limited ability to multitask. The really funny thing though is that if I said:, 'hey, drunk driving is ok if the guy is a good driver and alert enough to compensate', which is true to some degree, people would jump all over that statement, but for some reason it's considered acceptable to suffer the same degree of driving impairment as long as it's caused by using a cellphone.
Scratches head, tries to figure it out, gives up.
[edited by: lawman at 5:16 am (utc) on May 13, 2005]
Onya
Woz
I like it, that's the right idea. Breaking the law with immediate consequences, that's much better than a fine. The fine is good too though. The places where cell phones are currently legal for driving are the places where the cell phone lobbiests are in direct connection with the right ears, that's what makes the fight between insurance companies and cell phone companies vastly entertaining, it's like one group of lobbiests fighting another group.
I'm glad this practice of splitting attention between driving and phoning is starting to be outlawed in some places. It's completely needless. People aren't microprocessors - multitasking doesn't work on humans.
