A study by the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging at Carnegie Mellon University found that just LISTENING to a cell phone lead to a 37% decrease in parietal lobe activity (that part of the brain used for spatial processing – DRIVING). Activity also decreased in the occipital lobe, which processes visual information.
The study also found that college-age drivers don’t brake as quickly when talking on either a handheld OR a hands-free phone.
It’s called a “driver’s license,” not a “talker’s license.” Hang up and accept the responsibility for piloting that 2-ton battering ram you have pointed in my direction!
To Terrill’s point: the National Safety Council has gone on record saying ALL cell phone use while driving should be banned. The NSC says your chances of being in an accident are quadrupled by talking on a cell phone – hands free or not.
The NSC says, “6 percent of crashes, which equates to 636,000 crashes, 330,000 injuries, 12,000 serious injuries and 2,600 deaths each year. The study also put the annual financial toll of cell phone-related crashes at $43 billion.”
If that said 2,600 deaths and $43 billion due to Swine Flu you’d better believe there would be a public outcry to do SOMETHING to stop the carnage!
I’ve heard this somewhere, recently… HANG-UP AND DRIVE!
CA Law Enforcement can’t seem to enforce the cell phone and texting laws…and of course many drivers don’t seem to care. I also wonder about the stats on accidents. Who would admit to using a cell phone while having an accident?
Enforcement is a good start, but until the penalty is harsh enough to give offenders something to think about, they will continue to talk / text while driving. Would you risk having your car impounded, significant fines or loss of license just to discuss what your kid did at school today???
That thinks that talking on the cell phone while driving SHOULDN’T be banned all together? What about emergencies? What about business owners that are on the road all the time but still need to communcate with their employees? Before you bash my driving, I have to state I RARELY talk and drive (no one ever calls me). I see all these people saying “HANG UP AND DRIVE” but can ANY of you say that you have never, ever, EVER talked on your cell while driving? If you own a car and a cell phone, I want to say it will be almost impossible to not drive and talk on your cell, even once. Now texting, I can say I have never text and drove at the same time, not even at stop lights.
I can say it and mean it. I do not talk or text while driving. I don’t answer the phone at all if I am alone and my wife will answer it if in the car with me. Easy to do.Voice mail works wonders. What did you business owners do before the cell phone came along? Emergency workers in the line of duty should be the only exception and only while on duty and performing their job such as a ambulance or police officer. The penalties should be harsh. Same as a DUI would be my opinion on it.
I think we have all talked on our phones while driving at some time. I use to text on my cell quite a bit, but now hardly do while driving. The sad thing is that I lived in the city when I did and now the country where I don’t. City driving is horrible. I try to limit all my cell activity while driving yet it is hard when you need to get somewhere and you are getting a call back from someone you need to talk to. I am even at times that annoying one in the grocery store on the phone!
While texting when driving is not smart can anyone deny that you have not leaned over to change the radio station, put on makeup or even shaved while driving. How is talking on a hands free phone any different.
Lets be reasonable, what isn’t subject to causing some kind of problem. Are you suggesting that distractions while driving are new.
Our society has deteriorated in terms of good judgment, personal responsibility, common sense, and discipline. Many people have embraced these techno toys and abandoned the fact that driving an automobile requires their FULL TIME FOCUS. NOTHING is that important that people have to communicate 24x7x365. People have this instant gratification notion that because something is possible, it should be done regardless of where they are. We are fast becoming a society of techno-idiots who lack the ability to prioritize, focus, and not have to play with gizmos 100% of the time.
The only way to impact the epidemic is to make the consequence too severe to run the risk. I’d bet people would think twice if the penalty for being on a cell or texting was a $500 fine and 5 days in jail. Of course our politicians and courts would never think of such a thing. So, like DUI’s, this problem is here to stay. NEVER trust a human being to do the right thing.
It is scary to know that one of every five cars you see on teh road with you has a driver who is texting at the same time.
While it is difficult to enforce laws involving cell phone use while driving perhaps the laws can be stengthened to include license suspesions and jail sentences for those who are caught doing so, especially after an accident, much like drink driving.
Changing the station on your radio is not even close to the same thing as texting out messages or talking on the phone. Pushing one button versus texting for minutes at a time? Pushing one button vesus having your mind totally on a phone conversation instead of driving? Lame comparison there. I do believe some accidents have happened due to changing the station but no where near as often as a distracted driver with a phone in hand talking or texting. I have seen many, many drivers sitting at green lights not moving or driving in the left lane way under the speed limit or drifting all over the place and when you pass them or look in their window they are on the phone or texting away. Even more amazing is that if you honk at them to go on the green light they give you the look like you did something wrong interrupting their texting or phone call. The laws should be in place countrywide and the penalties should be harsh. Phones are a huge distraction to driving. Period. You might as well close your eyes and drive because that is what you look like to the rest of us who are around you on the road. Make your call from home or the office. You are not driving a phone booth it is a vehicle weighing thousands of pounds that can kill someone while you text out your next thought or make your next call.
License suspension is a joke. Pulling a piece of paper doesn’t change behavior or send a message. If the courts had the balls (which they don’t) to make an impact, they’d impound the car and put the driver in the slammer (at his/her own cost) for 48 hours. I guarantee that will get some attention and be a real deterrent. BUT…..just look at how DUI is tolerated in this country. NOBODY will address the problem. In short…….decent people are screwed.
A study by the Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging at Carnegie Mellon University found that just LISTENING to a cell phone lead to a 37% decrease in parietal lobe activity (that part of the brain used for spatial processing – DRIVING). Activity also decreased in the occipital lobe, which processes visual information.
The study also found that college-age drivers don’t brake as quickly when talking on either a handheld OR a hands-free phone.
It’s called a “driver’s license,” not a “talker’s license.” Hang up and accept the responsibility for piloting that 2-ton battering ram you have pointed in my direction!
To Terrill’s point: the National Safety Council has gone on record saying ALL cell phone use while driving should be banned. The NSC says your chances of being in an accident are quadrupled by talking on a cell phone – hands free or not.
The NSC says, “6 percent of crashes, which equates to 636,000 crashes, 330,000 injuries, 12,000 serious injuries and 2,600 deaths each year. The study also put the annual financial toll of cell phone-related crashes at $43 billion.”
If that said 2,600 deaths and $43 billion due to Swine Flu you’d better believe there would be a public outcry to do SOMETHING to stop the carnage!
I’ve heard this somewhere, recently… HANG-UP AND DRIVE!
Just as good while driving: Don’t Call, Don’t Answer.
Icee
CA Law Enforcement can’t seem to enforce the cell phone and texting laws…and of course many drivers don’t seem to care. I also wonder about the stats on accidents. Who would admit to using a cell phone while having an accident?
Enforcement is a good start, but until the penalty is harsh enough to give offenders something to think about, they will continue to talk / text while driving. Would you risk having your car impounded, significant fines or loss of license just to discuss what your kid did at school today???
That thinks that talking on the cell phone while driving SHOULDN’T be banned all together? What about emergencies? What about business owners that are on the road all the time but still need to communcate with their employees? Before you bash my driving, I have to state I RARELY talk and drive (no one ever calls me). I see all these people saying “HANG UP AND DRIVE” but can ANY of you say that you have never, ever, EVER talked on your cell while driving? If you own a car and a cell phone, I want to say it will be almost impossible to not drive and talk on your cell, even once. Now texting, I can say I have never text and drove at the same time, not even at stop lights.
I can say it and mean it. I do not talk or text while driving. I don’t answer the phone at all if I am alone and my wife will answer it if in the car with me. Easy to do.Voice mail works wonders. What did you business owners do before the cell phone came along? Emergency workers in the line of duty should be the only exception and only while on duty and performing their job such as a ambulance or police officer. The penalties should be harsh. Same as a DUI would be my opinion on it.
I think we have all talked on our phones while driving at some time. I use to text on my cell quite a bit, but now hardly do while driving. The sad thing is that I lived in the city when I did and now the country where I don’t. City driving is horrible. I try to limit all my cell activity while driving yet it is hard when you need to get somewhere and you are getting a call back from someone you need to talk to. I am even at times that annoying one in the grocery store on the phone!
While texting when driving is not smart can anyone deny that you have not leaned over to change the radio station, put on makeup or even shaved while driving. How is talking on a hands free phone any different.
Lets be reasonable, what isn’t subject to causing some kind of problem. Are you suggesting that distractions while driving are new.
Our society has deteriorated in terms of good judgment, personal responsibility, common sense, and discipline. Many people have embraced these techno toys and abandoned the fact that driving an automobile requires their FULL TIME FOCUS. NOTHING is that important that people have to communicate 24x7x365. People have this instant gratification notion that because something is possible, it should be done regardless of where they are. We are fast becoming a society of techno-idiots who lack the ability to prioritize, focus, and not have to play with gizmos 100% of the time.
The only way to impact the epidemic is to make the consequence too severe to run the risk. I’d bet people would think twice if the penalty for being on a cell or texting was a $500 fine and 5 days in jail. Of course our politicians and courts would never think of such a thing. So, like DUI’s, this problem is here to stay. NEVER trust a human being to do the right thing.
It is scary to know that one of every five cars you see on teh road with you has a driver who is texting at the same time.
While it is difficult to enforce laws involving cell phone use while driving perhaps the laws can be stengthened to include license suspesions and jail sentences for those who are caught doing so, especially after an accident, much like drink driving.
Changing the station on your radio is not even close to the same thing as texting out messages or talking on the phone. Pushing one button versus texting for minutes at a time? Pushing one button vesus having your mind totally on a phone conversation instead of driving? Lame comparison there. I do believe some accidents have happened due to changing the station but no where near as often as a distracted driver with a phone in hand talking or texting. I have seen many, many drivers sitting at green lights not moving or driving in the left lane way under the speed limit or drifting all over the place and when you pass them or look in their window they are on the phone or texting away. Even more amazing is that if you honk at them to go on the green light they give you the look like you did something wrong interrupting their texting or phone call. The laws should be in place countrywide and the penalties should be harsh. Phones are a huge distraction to driving. Period. You might as well close your eyes and drive because that is what you look like to the rest of us who are around you on the road. Make your call from home or the office. You are not driving a phone booth it is a vehicle weighing thousands of pounds that can kill someone while you text out your next thought or make your next call.
License suspension is a joke. Pulling a piece of paper doesn’t change behavior or send a message. If the courts had the balls (which they don’t) to make an impact, they’d impound the car and put the driver in the slammer (at his/her own cost) for 48 hours. I guarantee that will get some attention and be a real deterrent. BUT…..just look at how DUI is tolerated in this country. NOBODY will address the problem. In short…….decent people are screwed.