Comments on: Hands-Free Phone Driving Law in California

Two of my friends have had phone-related car accidents, due to fiddling with the damn thing rather than paying attention to the road. One rear-ended somebody whilst reading an sms, and the other drove over a traffic cone near some roadworks while they were trying to answer the phone. I was in the passenger seat. Dragging along the highway it made this horrific grinding noise - the kind of sound you never want to hear a car make. It sounded like it was going to explode. Scared the crap out of us.

So, I don't know about scientific studies, but my own anecdotal experience reckons these kinda laws are a good idea. We've had them in Oz for awhile now and the world hasn't ended.

Although... real Duke Nukem Forever screenshots have surfaced recently...

Maybe it's a portent.

Studies have outright shown over and over and over again that it is the conversation, not the handling of phones, that causes the accidents.

However, from the link given in the thread below (http://www.psych.utah.edu/AppliedCognitionLab/TRB1.pdf):

Prior research has established that the manual manipulation of equipment (e.g., dialing the phone, answering the phone, etc.) has a negative impact on driving (e.g., Brookhuis, et. al., 1991; Briem & Hedman, 1995).

SV, seems to me that you overstated the case beyond what the research actually showed. Yes, their research showed that the "conversation" had a significant negative affect (and possibly "greater" in the sense that the conversation is longer in duration than the "manual manipulation of equipment"), but they did not conclude what you said they concluded: "...not the handling of phones....". The manual handling of phones had already been shown to "have a negative affect on driving" (the quote above). Their research was designed to go beyond the previous studies to conclude that is was also the conversation itself that affected driving. It's not an "either/or" issues. The conclusion I would reach from their research is that it is "both/and". And even the type of conversation (topic and content) has an affect to a greater or lesser degree.

So if they aren't going to place an outright ban on any conversation in vehicles, cutting down on the "manual manipulation of equipment" is at least a start in reducing some of the craziness I have seen. At least it'd be easier to turn the steering wheel!

Interesting stuff though. Maybe given enough time, I'll find out if they compared phone conversations to "live" conversations with passengers. (But not today; I'm late getting to bed.)


"twrock is infamous around these parts" (from my profile over at Brighthand due to my negative 62 rep points rating)

Double knock it off. Handsets have been in cars for over fifty years and thanks to irresponsible consumers, we now have this law.

I'm glad that this doesn't cover CB and others types of radios like the original drafts did. There are a lot of armature an commercial radio operators with handsets that have been using them while driving with little incident for decades before you could buy them in retail stores.

This is mostly aimed at the soccer mom and the high schooler that can't keep their eye on the road as they are more concerned about a grocery list or who is dating who while driving. With it being in California, I'm sure there are going to be court challenges to this for the next year or so.

Police state? I don't think so.

"Oh boo hoo hoo! Waaaaah. Why can't I still act like a self-centered asshole and jeopardize other people's lives on the road by distracting myself with my phone toy! I'm so oppressed! This is a police state! How dare people try to govern my behavior for the good of other people! It should be clear I don't give a *&^% for other people. Only I I I me me me matter!"

Grow a frikkin brain.

Here's the link ...

http://happening-here.blogspot.com/2005/05/on-boiling-frogs-and-hypnotizing.html

... assume the position little boys and girls.

Pat Horne

Where I live, "hands-free" has been the law for as long as I can remember. It really isn't a problem if you can get used to always having your "stuff" prepared before you start driving. But plenty of people are still holding their phone up to their ear anyway; there's a lack of enforcement of every traffic law, not just this one.

As for the holding-the-phone vs. conversation question, all I know is what I've seen as well. People holding phones up to their ears seem to be driving worse than others. I hate getting stuck behind one, because generally they are driving slower than the rest of the traffic, and they can't seem to keep their car properly oriented in their lane (weaving over the lines). And don't get me started on being stuck behind someone who is trying to make a left turn while holding their phone! They obviously have never learned the art of cranking the wheel one-handed.

So I'm still working on trying to understand why (supposedly) the "conversation" is the problem, when people are having conversations with the passengers in their cars all the time and I haven't heard or seen anything to indicate that is a problem. So why would a hands free conversation on a phone be any different? So is there something significant about there being no one else in the car while you are talking?


"twrock is infamous around these parts" (from my profile over at Brighthand due to my negative 62 rep points rating)