Schmandel, you are obviously unaware of the vast body of research which shows that cellphone distraction is merely another distraction in the long list of things which causes Mindless Zombies to do things wrong and crash.
Tuning a radio
Lighting a cigarette
Eating a sandwich
Looking in the rear view mirror
Looking at the scenery
Talking to a passenger
Talking to two passengers
Hitting children in the back seat.
Gesticulating at other motorists
Listening to the radio
Shouting at the radio
Driving in heavy rain
Driving at night in heavy rain
Chasing a wasp out the window
Being kissed by a girlfriend
Kissing a girlfriend
Unmentionable activities with girlfriend
etc...
If they aren't yammering on the phone, they'll find another reason to crash and die.
For some weird reason, despite the sudden and huge increase in the number of cellphone calls made while driving, the death rate hasn't gone up. But using a cellphone is a huge benefit.
Mindless Zombies are stultifying the world with their ever-increasing litany of petty bureaucracy stopping people from doing almost anything, "In your own interests and for safety of course".
As Ashley pointed out, and extensive reasearch proved [but you obviously haven't read that nor even the couple of posts, nor have you thought about it] the problem is not the holding of the phone, it's the mind being engaged in talking instead of driving.
Mindless Zombies advocate hands-free cellphones as the answer. Which proves again that they are too unintelligent to be driving a car. The scientific research shows that mind off the job = crash.
How are you going to stop people talking in a car? Hahahah!! Talk about a joke. How are you going to make it illegal to have your mind off the job? That's already illegal "Driving without due care and attention". People will become ventriloquists so the mindless bossy-britches can't even see them talking on their hands-free cellphones. But they'll still have their mind off the job.
Take a look again at your research.
Mqurice
BTW, why did your wife have to go to court because she and somebody else had a crash? Doesn't he [or his insurance company] just pay up for the damage and off they go? Was the responsibility disputed?
Also, given the frequency with which you have near misses, you might get advantage from a defensive driving course. You are perhaps putting yourself at greater risk by your attitude to driving and knowing how to drive defensively will give you a more relaxed, happier approach, not so given to near-misses or actual crashes in your wife's case. I've driven in many cities in Europe, North America, Australia and NZ and don't seem to get such problems. My main risk is inattention due to the boredom of driving, even in those hectic places - it takes only half a brain to drive without near-misses. It's easy to let the other half wander off to something too. There's plenty of space for a phone conversation, most of the time, though sometimes full attention is needed for driving. Sometimes one can talk to a passenger, other times, full attention is needed for driving. Sometimes one can listen to a radio, other times, full attention is needed for driving. |
