It Was A Dark And Stormy Internet Analyst...

Should Cell Phones Be Banned In Cars?

from the beating-an-almost-dead-horse dept

Tue, Jul 3rd 2001 9:22am — Mike Masnick

There's been a lot of talk recently about banning cell phones in cars. News.com has an article that talks about some of the backlash to that idea which includes data from the very few studies that have looked into the problem. Of course, I think the answer is pretty simple. We just need cars that drive themselves, which have automatic crash detection systems to avoid accidents. Nothing to it. Then everyone can sit in their cars and chat away. Or even surf the internet on their innovative ricochet... oh wait, forget I said anything.

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10 Comments

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Scott, 3 Jul 2001 @ 9:52am

Should Cell Phones Be Banned In Cars?
I think the banning is a good thing for safety's sake. In fact, I think they should add more things on this list of things to ban while driving.

I drive 6 miles to work on surface streets in a well to do nieborhood and the drivers are very bad. There are 2 high schools and 3 grade schools on the way so the traffic level is high. I have observed both male and female drives with so many distactions going on in the car (talking on the cell phone, reaching in the back seet stopping the kids from fighting, putting make-up on in the rear mirror and even reading the paper) it is a miracle no one is killed every week day.
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Dave, 3 Jul 2001 @ 11:43am

Cellphones
Statistically 1.4% of accidents are caused by people on a cell phone, and 11.5% or so are due to people distracted by the radio (source AAA). You're more dangerous and distracted when changing the radio station than you are talking on the phone. Banning cellphone use in a car is an public overreaction that is hyped by alot of people. I think it should be an added fine if you break a motor vehicle law while on the a cellphone, but otherwise people should be able to use them.
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musselduck, 3 Jul 2001 @ 12:49pm

Re: Should Cell Phones Be Banned In Cars?
Yes I agree that they should ban even more things while driving, such as:

Eating
Talking
Whistling
Thinking
Nose picking
Breathing........
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Mike (profile), 3 Jul 2001 @ 12:55pm

Re: Should Cell Phones Be Banned In Cars?
Yes. Excellent suggestions.

Maybe they should just ban driving altogether. That would solve the whole accident problem, wouldn't it? ;)
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Ed, 3 Jul 2001 @ 1:03pm

How to Lie with Statistics
Statistics like the one Dave quotes can be misleading unless you know enough to interpret them carefully. 99% of cars have radios, while some smaller percentage of drivers have cell phones. Not much smaller these days, but when was the AAA study done? If more than a few years ago, before cell phones--and especially unlimited calling plans--became ubiquitous, then the results might seriously underestimate the impact (no pun intended) of current cell phone usage.

Here's something nobody has suggested yet: start making automobiles more like bumper cars than rolling status symbols, so that if you tap another car in stop-and-go traffic nobody even needs to stop. (I don't exactly buy that idea myself, but that shows how much we've all bought into the current car culture.)
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Mike (profile), 3 Jul 2001 @ 1:26pm

Re: How to Lie with Statistics
Actually, I always wondered that myself. Why is it that a tiny tap seems to require $2,000 worth of repairs? Why can't they make car bumpers more resilient (and, to make that work, standardize at what height off the ground the bumpers are)?
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Jack, 17 May 2005 @ 10:08am

Re: Cellphones
What are you on? No one dies from the radio. Where did you get theese obviously Wrong statistics
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weston salyards, 5 Oct 2007 @ 10:19am

tha tis the gayist idea ever
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FrankeyWall, 15 Oct 2007 @ 9:15am

I do think that the use of cell phones should be banned while driving.
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bryan middlebrooks, 18 Mar 2009 @ 8:27am

should cell phones be banned in cars
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