Using cell phone same as drunk driving

[madboy]

sh**, guess i should stop talking on the phone while riding too then...

seriously, I think the problem is the concentration thing - doesn't matter whether it's a phone/shaver/breakfast/lipstick/blowjob/DVD/newspaper. Some people are better at multi-tasking than others, and that in effect is what it is.

If you are competent enough to drive at a "safe" level while only requiring 30% of your available concentration, and it only takes you 50% concentration to have a meaningless conversation then you can probably do okay-ish. (Gotta be careful here, I talk and drive too)

But if you're so f****** incompetent at driving (or driving like a nutter anyway) then you might require 80% concentration just to drive the friggin car in the first place. So if it takes 50% of your concentration to talk on the phone - oh dear, 130%?? Umm, clear the roads fellas!!

And then there are those people that just require 130% concentration to drive safely anyway... a whole nother thread I think!!

[Draco]

seriously, I think the problem is the concentration thing - doesn't matter whether it's a phone/shaver/breakfast/lipstick/blowjob/DVD/newspaper. Some people are better at multi-tasking than others, and that in effect is what it is.

Ambo's (cops, fireman etc) manage to drive at speed, negotiate every tosspot on the road in the way, operate a radio, cpac unit, lights/siren buttons.........and still arrive safely at destination. If you ask me it comes down to driver skill, and the average driver in nz hasn't got the skills required anymore.

I'm amazed at how the average driver doesn't even know the length and width of their own vehicle, they can't even park, let alone drive! When i learnt to drive, i wasn't even allowed to drive on the main road until i could pull my car out of a slide on a metal road. Metal road u say, i know i'm old and i'm from hicksville. But jeez pa, least we's could drive back in dem days and still load dat shotgun!

[toads]

you ever tryed texting while driving man thats dangerous

to my shame I admit I have, but you are right it's bloody dangerous and very stupid too, I now pull over and use my phone at the side of the road, a lot better, and I now don't answer calls that ring while I'm driving either, unless I have a passenger who can answer the phone for me and wait for me to pull over so I can answer it properly.

[toads]

seriously, I think the problem is the concentration thing - doesn't matter whether it's a phone/shaver/breakfast/lipstick/blowjob/DVD/newspaper. Some people are better at multi-tasking than others, and that in effect is what it is.
!!

splutter, if you say so MB, I guess it comes down to being distracted at the end of the day, it only takes a split second to not see something because your attention has wandered and it could cost someone their life.
I have been guilty of doing most of the above mentioned things while driving, ( most not all btw) and consider myself to be very capable of multitasking, I don't think however that anything that impairs concentration while driving is a good idea, no matter what a person's capabilities, noone is superhuman, and unless our cars are equipped with sensors to drive for us to negotiate hazards for us while driving, then I will have to excercise self discipline and consideration for others by restraining from anything other than driving while driving I feel.

[Biff]

Ambo's (cops, fireman etc) manage to drive at speed, negotiate every tosspot on the road in the way, operate a radio, cpac unit, lights/siren buttons.........

Correct me if I'm wrong - but in fire engines dont the front seat passengers use the radio as oppossed to the driver, the same for ambos, and don't the police use remote Push To Talk buttons (PTT's) on their gear sticks, steering wheels?

I genuinly don't know the answer, (here it comes....) but back in the UK this was the normal operational procedure for 95% of the emergency services.

[Drunken Monkey]

Correct me if I'm wrong - but in fire engines dont the front seat passengers use the radio as oppossed to the driver, the same for ambos, and don't the police use remote Push To Talk buttons (PTT's) on their gear sticks, steering wheels?

I genuinly don't know the answer, (here it comes....) but back in the UK this was the normal operational procedure for 95% of the emergency services.

There are some minor variations around the world, but that's generally the case. I did read somewhere that NZ highway patrol vehicles also use a text-based alert system, but I'm not familiar with the details.
Studies tend to focus the problem on the concentration factor, hence the 'hands free kits make little difference' statement. While it's easy to focus your anger at 'people who talk on cellphones while driving', technically they are no different to people who eat dodgy kebabs while driving, people who eat double whoppers while driving, people who change CDs while driving, people who shave while driving, people who use their PDAs while driving, etc, yet there would be little compliance with a law that banned all "distracting" actions while driving.

[Hitcher]

People who text while driving. [Mutter, seethe, fume...]

[Biff]

but that's generally the case. I did read somewhere that NZ highway patrol vehicles also use a text-based alert system, but I'm not familiar with the details.

The radios that the HP use have a Status Message capability. From the front panel of their radios they have the capability to send pre-defined , I.E "Arrived on scene", "On route" and such like. Whether this is enabled at a local level is a local decision. But the vehicle radios that they use are definatley capable of doing this.

There is a mix of handportable radios in use by the kiwi police such as older Motorola gear and some technical superior Tait radios. The Tait radios, (depending on the model) can also suport text but the Motorola's can't.

[scroter]

There are some minor variations around the world, but that's generally the case. I did read somewhere that NZ highway patrol vehicles also use a text-based alert system, but I'm not familiar with the details.
Studies tend to focus the problem on the concentration factor, hence the 'hands free kits make little difference' statement. While it's easy to focus your anger at 'people who talk on cellphones while driving', technically they are no different to people who eat dodgy kebabs while driving, people who eat double whoppers while driving, people who change CDs while driving, people who shave while driving, people who use their PDAs while driving, etc, yet there would be little compliance with a law that banned all "distracting" actions while driving.

and if you have a crash cause your operating/eating anyone of those thatll be at least one charge of careless driving if your real unlucky carless causing death.

[Lou Girardin]

It's just another dent in LTNZ's credibility. A short drive in any major city will show the dangers of cellphone use while driving. Yet they claim few accidents are caused by it.
As if anyone involved in an accident will admit to using a phone at the time.
If we did the right thing when we are cut up by these morons, public demand will then create much smaller, smoother phones. (Aids insertion)

[spudchucka]

Correct me if I'm wrong - but in fire engines dont the front seat passengers use the radio as oppossed to the driver, the same for ambos, and don't the police use remote Push To Talk buttons (PTT's) on their gear sticks, steering wheels?

I genuinly don't know the answer, (here it comes....) but back in the UK this was the normal operational procedure for 95% of the emergency services.

No police vehicles have a transmit button on the steering wheel, that I am aware of. In a two up vehicle the passenger always does the comms, leaving the driver to drive. When you are one up you do the comms as well as drive. The difference between this and the average driver yapping on a cell phone is that the cop car responding to a job has lights and sirens going and the driver is in a very high state of awareness. The cell phone yapper is just driving along in a day dream, not really aware of his / her surroundings.

[spudchucka]

The radios that the HP use have a Status Message capability. From the front panel of their radios they have the capability to send pre-defined , I.E "Arrived on scene", "On route" and such like. Whether this is enabled at a local level is a local decision. But the vehicle radios that they use are definatley capable of doing this.

There is a mix of handportable radios in use by the kiwi police such as older Motorola gear and some technical superior Tait radios. The Tait radios, (depending on the model) can also suport text but the Motorola's can't.

The Motorola radios are better if you have to whack someone though.

[Biff]

No police vehicles have a transmit button on the steering wheel, that I am aware of. In a two up vehicle the passenger always does the comms, leaving the driver to drive. When you are one up you do the comms as well as drive. The difference between this and the average driver yapping on a cell phone is that the cop car responding to a job has lights and sirens going and the driver is in a very high state of awareness. The cell phone yapper is just driving along in a day dream, not really aware of his / her surroundings.

Thanks for the clarification Spud - A question for you - when you're solo in your vehicle, do you use the vehicle mobile or your handportable?

[Drunken Monkey]

and if you have a crash cause your operating/eating anyone of those thatll be at least one charge of careless driving if your real unlucky carless causing death.

and your point is...?

Are you saying careless doesn't apply if I'm talking on my phone?

Talk sense, boy.

[WINJA]

"A University of Utah study claims that drivers who use a cell phone will be 'more impaired than drunken drivers with blood alcohol levels exceeding 0.08.' The study also says that use will turn a driver who is age 20 into age 70. Hands-free systems apparently don't help much either as they still require a driver to 'actively be part of a conversation.'

I ALSO HEARD THAT A DRUNK DRIVER ON A CELL PHONE WHOS BEEN UP ALL NIGHT IS STILL A BETTER DRIVER THAN AN ASIAN DRIVER WHOS SOBER NOT ON THERE PHONE AND HAS JUST HAD 8 HOURS SLEEP