hang up and drive!

[Anonymous]

I'm hoping that someone can talk me off the ledge on this one. I don't understand why so many people talk on handheld cell phones while driving. On any given day, I would estimate that at least a third of the drivers I see are talking on a handheld phone while they drive (it REALLY makes me mad when it is someone in a fancy car -- can't you get a friggin' wireless device?) And some are also smoking or reading or drinking coffee or something else with the other hand, too! I can't understand how they can possibly be paying attention while they are talking and have only one hand available for driving (thus most don't bother with a turn signal or other basic driving safety issues like, of, i don't know, using their mirrors and not drifting across lanes, stopping appropriately, or going when the light turns green). The other day I saw a woman driving a Jeep Wrangler on the beltway with a child who looked to be about 6 or 7 in the front seat, and she was talking on her phone as she drove. What is so important that you need to put your kid and mine in danger? Am I overreacting? Please help!

[Anonymous]

I hate when I also see people (usually women) in these huge SUV's that they can barely see over yapping away as their kids are in the back. They have to stop and reverse several times while chatting away and then give you a smirk and a wave like "opps- sorry" while you wait for them to pass by. Get off the phone

[Anonymous]

I don't think you are over reacting. I feel the same way! What's so damn important that people have to be talking on the phone while they're driving, especially on the freeways? I hate when they're driving 35mph in a 50mph zone or 45mph on the beltway. The minimum is 55mph!! If drivers really must take a call lasting a couple minutes, pull the hell over.

[Anonymous]

I drove down my narrow DC block the other day and was nearly side-swiped by FOUR cars, speeding. Every single driver was on their cell phone.

It's so dangerous - on narrow residential streets, drivers need to be paying full attention to driving. There are YOUNG, YOUNG CHILDREN walking to school on these blocks!

Really, it's beginning to convince me that we need cameras everywhere.

[Anonymous]

The thing is lawmakers will not enact laws banning cell phone use until something truly catastrophic happens. It's called catastrophy legislation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I drove down my narrow DC block the other day and was nearly side-swiped by FOUR cars, speeding. Every single driver was on their cell phone.

Not sure if it's much help, but in DC it's supposed to be handsfree now. Is that law not enforced?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I drove down my narrow DC block the other day and was nearly side-swiped by FOUR cars, speeding. Every single driver was on their cell phone.

Not sure if it's much help, but in DC it's supposed to be handsfree now. Is that law not enforced?

No, not really, especially for the drivers speeding down side streets to get to Downtown at rush hour. It's too bad because I've lived on my street for nearly ten years and I know that drivers need to pay full attention around here.

I'm going to guess that between ten and twenty percent of drivers are on their actual phones (no handsfree) at any given time.

[Anonymous]

Does it make anyone else crazy when moms do this at the school pick up line too? At our school there are signs everyone that say "No Cell Phones" and moms ignore it. I watched a teacher approach a mother the other day to say get off the phone and the mother refused to acknowledge her. She pretended she couldn't hear the teacher telling her to get off the phone: all the while she was pulling up into line with kids running across the road. It was so incredibly rude I wanted to get out my car and tell this woman off, but with the kids around, I opted not to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does it make anyone else crazy when moms do this at the school pick up line too? At our school there are signs everyone that say "No Cell Phones" and moms ignore it. I watched a teacher approach a mother the other day to say get off the phone and the mother refused to acknowledge her. She pretended she couldn't hear the teacher telling her to get off the phone: all the while she was pulling up into line with kids running across the road. It was so incredibly rude I wanted to get out my car and tell this woman off, but with the kids around, I opted not to.

Was this mom parked or driving?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it make anyone else crazy when moms do this at the school pick up line too? At our school there are signs everyone that say "No Cell Phones" and moms ignore it. I watched a teacher approach a mother the other day to say get off the phone and the mother refused to acknowledge her. She pretended she couldn't hear the teacher telling her to get off the phone: all the while she was pulling up into line with kids running across the road. It was so incredibly rude I wanted to get out my car and tell this woman off, but with the kids around, I opted not to.

Was this mom parked or driving?

"...all the while she was pulling up into line with kids running across the road."

I think pulling up in this sense means driving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does it make anyone else crazy when moms do this at the school pick up line too? At our school there are signs everyone that say "No Cell Phones" and moms ignore it. I watched a teacher approach a mother the other day to say get off the phone and the mother refused to acknowledge her. She pretended she couldn't hear the teacher telling her to get off the phone: all the while she was pulling up into line with kids running across the road. It was so incredibly rude I wanted to get out my car and tell this woman off, but with the kids around, I opted not to.

Was this mom parked or driving?

"...all the while she was pulling up into line with kids running across the road."

I think pulling up in this sense means driving.

ok. just read thru it quickly.

[Anonymous]

Don't you think that insurance companies have data on cellphone-related accidents? If it was such a huge problem, it seems to me that they would put some provision in one's policy about driving while on the phone. It's annoying, I know, but is being on the phone any BIGGER distraction than any of the other myriad distractions (radio, makeup, pets/kids, etc.) that drivers can't prioritize?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't you think that insurance companies have data on cellphone-related accidents? If it was such a huge problem, it seems to me that they would put some provision in one's policy about driving while on the phone. It's annoying, I know, but is being on the phone any BIGGER distraction than any of the other myriad distractions (radio, makeup, pets/kids, etc.) that drivers can't prioritize?

After an accident, I don't think most people admit to being on the phone - unless a witness actually saw them. So I would say NO, they probably don't have accurate info on cellphone-related accidents.

Also, I'm too lazy to google it for you, but there was a huge study of just how distracting cellphones are in a car - the study results were very dramatic.

And lastly, it's against the law. I'm always amazed at how many people think that they are "above" the law -

[Anonymous]

How about those who text while driving? There is no excuse for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about those who text while driving? There is no excuse for it.

As much as I hate drivers talking on cell phones, texting has to be such an all-time SOB thing to do. I'd like to believe that natural selection will take them off the human grid, but they will seriously injure & maim others in their bonhead inspired accidents.