Driving and Cell Phones
 

http://www.newsday.com/news/printedi...,5731693.story

Do you think maybe, just maybe that if she had not been yakking on the phone she might have spotted the lorry and avoided all this?

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

In Britain we call them 'mobile' phones ;)

Anyway it must have been awful for him to have heard all of that happening.

I'm not sure if her being on the phone was the main cause, drivers can get distracted by anything these days.

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

The lorry hit her though, from behind?

But, in the few times I have used the hands-free unit in the car, I have found myself not concentrating. I don't know how it's any different from having a conversation with someone in the car though. it just seems that way.

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Can't remember or find the link to the article, but in the uk a few weeks back a series of tests where carried out. To everyones shock, mobiles and hands free kits while driving, impaired the drivers abilty more than alcohol, by quite a big percentage.

May have no baring on this case, as she was shunted from beind, but does go to show you, mobiles "hands free or not" should be a no no while driving.

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

I've been here a while now! :D Going native :)

---------- Post added at 12:06 ---------- Previous post was at 12:05 ----------

And she could not have used the 'small, economical, 3.0l V3 "under the hood" to accelerate away from the imminent danger.

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

I think there's far too much mobile use whilst driving going on with or without handsfree and I see far too much of the handling side of mobiles than the other. Quite often there are places to stop but you see people trundling along carrying on talking instead of pulling up, perhaps going at a poor speed, weaving, not giving way, RLJing.

It's hard to say in that circumstance,and I'm glad the baby survived and all seems to have gone well.

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People should really enforce bigger penalties for catching people on mobile phones.
They are a lethal hazard and cars in the future should be built with poor mobile reception to minimise mobile use.

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Assuming that was a doable situation though? Without knowing the scenario, it's probably not fair to say she could have. I've been shunted in traffic both stationary and moving and simple facts are, it's not always possible to evade.

Still, I'm in agreement that talking on hands-free does reduce concentration, based on experience.
:)

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

Whats that got to do with the fact that the lorry hit her?

---------- Post added at 20:29 ---------- Previous post was at 20:28 ----------

Do you spend all your time looking in the rear view mirror (checking your make up ;))

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

I find cruise control helps so much when putting on mascara. However I have to take my glasses off so it does reduce my distance vision considerably.

I would like to think that I would have noticed that I recently passed an HGV (tractor / trailor) or if I was running in traffic that there was one nearby, certainly if all lanes were running at similar speeds I would hang back until I could pass it, not run parallel to it. Also it was changing lanes or doing something the engine noise may have changed, something you are less likely to hear if you are listening to a phone call not the surroundings. Would I have spotted it? I don't know, but I do think that her chatting on the phone while on a hands free and legal was a contribution to this accident.

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

No ***** Sherlock....

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

Illustrates the point that hands-free usage can be as dangerous as a hand-held phone, IMO.

The safest thing to do seems to be to ignore it completely, or to find a safe place to stop and answer it whilst not moving.

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

Good Morning Everyone, I am the lady who got into the car accident. I feel you should know the whole story before judging someone, for example I was in the right lane on an OVER PASS, I had a car infront of me and a car behind me. I saw that the tractor was trying to get into the right lane but couldn't go foward or slow down I also couldn't get into a shoulder because I was on an overpass. I had to wait and get hit, and thank god for my cell phone because my husband went straight to the hospital if he didn't hear me then he wouldn't have found out till later that I was in an accident. Yes, phones are not the best thing but it was handsfree and I was obeying the law, it would have been worst if I was flipping channels on the radio and wasn't paying attention, so please before you judge me contact me.

---------- Post added at 18:22 ---------- Previous post was at 18:20 ----------

SM Herman please explain to me how I should "hang back" if I have a car behind me. Please I would love to know what you would have done seeing that you are infact Mr. Perfect.

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

Using a mobile phone while driving takes your concentration off the road in any case. I'm not going to judge you but if you're doing something distracting and you end up having a car accident then there's no-one to blame but yourself.

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I take it you drive in silence then Russ?
Must be bliss for your passengers :D

She was in lane 1 (this is in the US so right hand lane is the one by the edge of the road not the central reservation) of a flyover with no hardshoulder, there was a car infront of her so couldn't go any faster to make space for the lorry.
How exactly is it her fault???
That she was on a handsfree mobile is neither here nor there, the lorry driver didn't know she was on the phone when he decided to move across and clipped her.

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

I take it you stuck to tradition and only read what you wanted to read in my post? Might explain why you missed me saying I wasn't judging her.

If a driver does anything distracting during driving and that action contributes to a crash then pointless agendas aside, that driver has little to complain about.

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Ah yes, you're not judging her, but it's her fault that she was hit by someone else. You're also refering to her clarifying what happend as a pointless agenda. I see you don't change.
Your insurance company would love you in a rear end shunt "Yes, I was sat at traffic lights when the car behind failed to stop, but it's my fault, I scratched my nose at that exact moment distracting myself"

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

You've never really got the hang of actually reading people's posts have you?

I said:

And to make it a little easier on you I explained my point a bit more with...

..so in case you missed it again, and to help box you in I'll make it extremely clear:

If a driver is doing something distracting (talking on the phone, lighting up a cigarette, changing a CD etc etc) while on the road and doing that action causes them to lose concentration and they have a crash, they have little to complain about.

Clear enough now? I'm pretty much convinced you can't misquote me or twist me words with that.

"you started it"
"no you started it"
"no! YOU started it"

:rofl:

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

My husband has hands free fitted into his car.
I know for a fact that he does not concentrate properly when he's yabbering away to the thing at the top of his car.
If I am in the car, I make him stop if he wants to continue with the call, and I take over driving.

Turn the phone off I say when driving.

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

Except, in this case, if the poster above is to be believed, being on the phone helped..

One thing a lot of people seem to forget (when blaming one particular thing for road accidents ) is that there are a lot of things that can distract a driver, and possibly cause accidents.

Xaccers made the point that talking to a driver can distract them. This is true. However, if they are in a position where merely talking to them is going to distract them from the road, maybe they should not be driving?

I have to admit I am not sure that there is a real point to banning mobile phones in cars (I would have thought using them would be covered nicely by the offence of "Driving without due care and attention"). Unless of course that point is (like some many of our government's policies) to make it look like the government is actually achieving something while actually doing nothing.

I think that (and I mean this in general, it is not aimed at anyone specifically) the problem is that people can sometimes forget that driving can be dangerous. All it takes is for someone to look at their phone, stereo or even one of the passengers for 1 second and an accident can happen.

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Incidentally I believe this issue is coming up in America. I believe in many states it's legal to driving while talking on a handset. Although I don't see hands free being different to talking to someone with you in the car..

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I`ve worked in car bodyshops for over 25 years now and most of the vehicles brought in for repair or are total losses are down to **** poor driving, people driving too fast for the road, conditions, etc.

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I think there is a difference, since another person in the car should (hopefully) be aware of the road conditions - and would have enough common sense to stop talking when it looks like something is happening that will require more concentration from the driver (like parallel parking if you're me :) ) - such as a very congestion crossing etc - whereas a person on the other end of the phone has no idea

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

However the driver (one would hope) is aware of the road conditions and can ignore the phone conversation, just as they're able to ignore the conversation with a passenger who isn't aware of the road conditions :)


And as I said, Danielle was hit from behind by a lorry driver trying to move into the space behind her. She was in the legitimate place on the road, there was a car in front of her so she couldn't floor it and get out of the way. There was the barrier of the flyover beside her, so she couldn't swerve out of the way.
But because she was on the phone to her husband, you're saying it was her fault.
Yup, that's pretty clear.

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Have we all missed this post?

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Nope. It's happened a few times where the subjects of a story have found a Cable Forum post about it.

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

Ermm....where?

Note my use of the word 'if' at the start. Easy to miss when trying to put words in someone's mouth I know but even a seasoned veteran of that sort of thing gets it wrong ocassionally.

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

I see you're now trying to wriggle your way out of what you said Russ, just with the homophobic comments you made on the old forum, or the derogatory comments you made regarding the numbers killed in the holocaust.
To refresh your memory, you said (my emphasis to make it clearer) :
Directed specifically at Danielle by you.

You state that you believe using a mobile (as Danielle was) while driving is distracting, and if she's distracted and has an accident (as she did) she's got no-one to blame but herself.

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

It's very easy, you've allowed your tainted view of me to read all kinds of things in to my post and not just in this thread either. I'll just point out that no-one else ever seem to agree with you. I'd say that speaks volumes.

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

No one's putting words in your mouth, they're the words you posted, one would hope without thinking.


In post #14, you state that you believe using a mobile (as Danielle was) while driving is distracting, and if she's distracted and has an accident (as she did) she's got no-one to blame but herself.

Are you now really trying to deny that's what you posted?

I believe your statement is invalid, there are plenty of situations where a driver can be distracted and involved in an accident and it blatantly is not their fault.
One prime example is Danielle's case.

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

Smashing...

There's a thread that's nearly a year old that gets bumped by someone who claims the story is about her. There's just the one post by this person, but it results in the usual multi-quote slanging match. Good stuff :rolleyes:

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

This is a very very soar subject.. a friend of mine, had their daughter killed whilst the driver was on his phone. The driver, simply got community service. I think, there should be stricter laws against this

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So are you saying using a mobile while driving is 100% not distracting?

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QFT.

Completely ridiculous.

Oh, and to answer our poor victim's question.....if there's a car behind you it makes no difference to whether you can hang back or not. If you slow down, thus increasing the gap between you and the car in front, the car behind will do likewise. You therefore end up with a gap in front of you into which traffic from other lanes can merge.....thereby avoiding them hitting you.

As Alexander would say.....simples ;)

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

For some people conversations with passengers can be distracting. A friend always had to look at the person they were talking to. Bad enough for a passenger in the front but when they turn round & talk to the passenger in the back, quite terrifying.

What I cannot understand is the constant need to be stuck to a phone even whilst driving. Suspect 99.9% of conversations whilst driving could wait until the vehicle is parked.

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Surely if the lawmakers on our beautiful country are saying that talking on a phone whilst driving is distracting then there are many other similar things that should be banned also?

CB radio? Police radio? Radio 2 (I wish :D)?

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Funnily enough CB radios are completely legal to use while driving.

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I never had a problem using my CB radio while driving, never felt distracted at all. But the minute my phone rings when I'm driving I throw it at one of the kids as I just can't concentrate on the phone and drive.
I've done this a few times only to realise I'm in the car alone :D

Re: Driving and Cell Phones
 

We were on the M25 in fairly heavy traffic a few days ago and came across a woman driver chattering away on her mobile phone with her dog sitting on her lap FGS! What can be done about idiots like this?

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Apparently you run into the back of her car with a lorry, so she gets the blame.;);)

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Do you think she'd notice though.... :D