NTSB Recommends Ban On Driver Cell Phone Use

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


No it won't stop it... BUT now when your hit by a texting driver your lawyer gets to nail his butt and she/he gets all the blame

Originally posted by strafgod
Why dont they install software that prevents the phone from functioning when moving faster than 30 MPH? If it was up to me I would make it mandatory.

 

Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

 

Because then you would get idiots dropping to under 30 on the freeway just to pick up a call, probably causing more harm than, if answered at the normal speed. Still I don't see why people can't just wait and take the call when not driving.

ETA, since they made this illegal in the UK, more people are still using their phones, despite harsher penalties

reply to post by zorgon


Like my mom used to say when i was learning to drive, "Does it matter who gets blamed when you die?"

Originally posted by buddhasystem
I can't believe some people are THAT stupid -- to text when driving.

I have seen people shaving, putting on makeup and even reading a book. And for some reason many women feel they have to look at the rear seat passenger to talk to them :shk:

When your on the road a lot you see many strange things

Originally posted by Corruption Exposed
I figured the Americans would already have a ban on this. In Canada it's not allowed, people still do it though. It's like a speeding ticket if you get caught.

Which isn't as much a ban as it is a taxation without Canuck representation. I'll take the US version.

Originally posted by camaro68ss
one person screws up and they ban it from the rest of us.

Hardly. There are thousands of cellphone related accidents on record. It has been scientifically proven that driving while on a cell impairs you to a point similar to having 4 beers and driving.

no it shouldnt have to be regulated, but apparently people dont have enough common sense to act responsibly.

Originally posted by captaintyinknots

but apparently people dont have enough common sense to act responsibly.

And dont have enough fear of consequence to refrain from the practice as has been shown in states with these laws.

So what's the point?

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere

Originally posted by captaintyinknots

but apparently people dont have enough common sense to act responsibly.

And dont have enough fear of consequence to refrain from the practice as has been shown in states with these laws.

So what's the point?

I understand what you are saying, but i wont ever throw up my hands and say "whats the point" when it comes to reducing deadly activities. Perhaps the approach needs to change, but it absolutely should be addressed.

Originally posted by captaintyinknots

I understand what you are saying, but i wont ever throw up my hands and say "whats the point" when it comes to reducing deadly activities. Perhaps the approach needs to change, but it absolutely should be addressed.

But we're not reducing the activity. The hope or at least the stated intent is to reduce the activity but years of stats show no affect on the activity despite legislation.

Cops already have 13,000 reasons to make a traffic stop. No cop is going to look at a driver texting on their phone or swerving on their phone and not pull them over for reckless driving even without a phone specific law on the books.

What cop is going to watch that chatting swerving driver and shrug and say "well, jeepers there's no law against phone use in a car so there's nothing I can do about that obviously distracted and reckless driver" ?

Distracted driving is distracted driving. It's reckless endangerment. There is absolutely no use for a phone specific law.

The problem with new laws is that they require enforcement. Enforcement requires loss of power from people and gain of power by the enforcers. Now you want to give them the power to harass you if they see a cell phone in your hand while you drive, What about hands free? then you also give them power to harass you if they see you talking to yourself? What if you are singing to the radio? Now you must prove your innocence in order to avoid punishment further eroding the "innocent until PROVEN guilty" standard we used to have. Actions have consequences. Since you refuse to allow individuals to face the consequences on their own, you allow the state to impose consequences on everybody. Then you wonder what happened to our freedoms.

Originally posted by GeorgiaGirl
This morning Kim Komando said that since no-texting laws have gone into affect, MORE people are actually texting than ever. So the laws haven't stopped the unsafe practice.

If you can't do hands-free talking on the cell phone, then can you speak to your passengers? Because that is just as distracting. The most distracted I've EVER been is when my boys were toddlers riding in the backseat. Maybe they should ban toddlers.

edit on 13-12-2011 by GeorgiaGirl because: hyphen for clarification

exactly, if they ban this they may as well ban driving altogether. which brings me to my second point, when are they going to realize we don't need anymore laws that protect people from themselves so that all of society must suffer for the actions of relatively few.

OMG somebody died= oppress the people

Originally posted by Simon_Boudreaux

Originally posted by SpartanKingLeonidas
Let us hope there were no children on that School Bus.

There were two buses, one semi I believe, and a pick up involved and yes, kids were on both buses. One girl lost her life and several others badly injured.

edit on 13-12-2011 by Simon_Boudreaux because: (no reason given)

Sad indeed that one person's selfishness and irresponsibility caused so many deaths.

Let us hope the offender in this particular case went to prison for a very long time.

Needless deaths indeed.

Originally posted by captaintyinknots

Originally posted by camaro68ss
one person screws up and they ban it from the rest of us.

Hardly. There are thousands of cellphone related accidents on record. ...

Indeed - and if the poster you replied to had actually read the article they might have noticed this:

In 2009, nearly 5,500 fatalities and 500,000 injuries resulted from crashes involving a distracted driver, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The NTSB said it investigated the first accident involving a wireless electronic device in 2002, when a driver “distracted by a conversation on her cellphone” crashed and killed five people in Largo. Since then the NTSB has probed several accidents involving distraction, including:

●A 2004 bus accident on the George Washington Parkway that injured 11 high school students;

●A 2008 collision of a commuter train with a freight train in Chatsworth, Calif., where 25 people died and dozens were injured; and

●A 2010 boating accident on the Delaware River in Philadelphia that killed two tourists.

“No call. No text. No update. Is worth a human life,” Hersman said.

reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas


If you look closely in your pic in your OP you'll see what's left of the texter's truck smashed between the bus and semi. I can't remember if he lived.

reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas


NTSB Recommends Ban On Driver Cell Phone Use?

ABOUT FRIKKING TIME! SHEESH! IF PEOPLE DUMB PEOPLE WANNA DRIVE WHILE "TEXTING" THEN UPON KILLING A PEDESTRIAN THEY DESERVE THE "DEATH PENALTY" FOR "PREMEDITATED MURDER"!

reply to post by strafgod


then people as pasengers on trains busses ships and in cars could not use there phones and in the event of an emergency ie some one trying to run you off the road you will end up dead with out the ability to call for help or have to slow down to 35mph dont need more laws just harsher penalties for those who cause accidents while on there phones ca banned kids from using cell phones at all in cars and i dont think it stopped to many of them from doing it just cost there parents a good deal of money in fines and fees.....i personaly wouldnt use a cellphone that hd limits like that

Originally posted by GeorgiaGirl
Maybe they should ban toddlers.

YES!!!!

Now there is the best suggestion I've heard all day...

Kids are distracting and unlike a phone, they smell, leak and make funny noises. Sticky too!

Wait...some phones are like that as well....hmmmm

Originally posted by SpartanKingLeonidas

Originally posted by 46ACE

All for it! On a motorcycle you watch drivers closely. I have never been closer to becoming"road pizza" than when sharing the road with cellphone yakking"(young,... female... )people.

Inthis case "there oughta' be a law" and I hate laws in general..

Face it(!) all you "knee drivers" you CAN'T stop texting.

Just like I can't seem to keep from coming back here;( daily) just to see which incoming comet is "cloaked" and gonna unleash the alien invasion!

edit on 13-12-2011 by 46ACE because: (no reason given)

edit on 13-12-2011 by 46ACE because: (no reason given)

I'm not saying I do not believe there should be a law in regards to this problem.

However, we as citizens need to investigate where those laws intersect, with other laws.

One law meshes with another law and sooner than later all your rights are taken away.

A simplified example but I think you catch what I mean.

I get you, and the post saying:" it won't stop anything"....My freedom loving libertarian side agrees most laws are useless intrusions.

Of course; We should be responsible for our actions; unfortunately after people are killed you can't make reparations no matter how responsible you are.
Look at the Lindsey Lohans of the world and the "11th conviction dui" folks...
Some ( most) People are dangerous idiots with these things in cars.

The input buttons for my bike electronics ( onboard gps) don't work at over 8mph. I know it Stops me from screwing with it after moving off...

Originally posted by camaro68ss
one person screws up and they ban it from the rest of us.

Not even close to true. I've been run off the road now by three middle aged people in expensive cars talking on a cell phone and again just last night another incident involving a young girl driving with the back of her hand while texting who drifted off and off ramp and then corrected in front of me causing her to go sideways on the ice.

There simply is no difference between driving drunk or driving while distracted.

2,600 is the low estimate of the number of deaths caused annually in the US by drivers using Cell Phones while driving. 330,000 is the estimated number of injuries.

Link to good article.

The estimates are hard to make because the drivers lie and no doubt the estimates are low. Lately they have started checking cell phone use via the records and seeing if the phone was in use when the wreck happened.

No person has a Right to risk other peoples lives. Anything important is important enough to pull off the side of the road and make the call. People who don't do so are a serious problem. We had some fatalities here just a few days ago where they found out the driver who caused it was on a cell phone. Dead is dead and no amount of silly arguments will change the fact that person caused others to die for no good reason.

Every time you use your phone while driving, you risk other peoples lives. That is a fact. The punishment should be equal to drunk driving.

reply to post by zorgon


I've seen that reading a book business more than a few times. It's fine with me if they kill themselves, but it is time something was done about these irresponsible people.

I carry a phone like everyone else, but never once has a case arisen so important I could not wait until I pulled over. I think those who say otherwise are lying to themselves and think they are immortal.

Perhaps a cell phone lane with barriers on either side so they can kill each other?