US calls for ban on in-car phone use ... even with Bluetooth

[kdfwr911]

The government's transportation safety experts recommended Tuesday to ban all American drivers from using portable electronic devices — including cell phones, even if you use a hands-free device.

The recommendation, which isn't binding but which is likely to influence the decisions of Congress and state legislatures in writing new safety laws, makes only two exceptions: You could still use GPS navigation devices, and you could use your cellphone in an emergency.

"No call, no text, no update, is worth a human life," Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference in Washington.

Safety advocates have long called for such a ban to reduce the phenomenon of distracted driving, which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says killed 3,092 people in 2010. The HTSA reported that about 20 percent of all drivers and 50 percent of drivers 21 to 24 years old admit to having texted while driving.

Only 10 states ban handheld devices right now, and 35 ban texting while driving.

The recommendation comes following the NTSB's investigation of an August 2010 accident in Gray's Summit, Mo., involving a pickup truck, two school buses and several other vehicles.

The accident was blamed on the 19-year-old driver of the pickup, who sent or received 11 texts in the 11 minutes before the pileup, which killed two people and injured 38 others.

"That finding raises a red flag to all of us on the highways," Hersman said.

The NTSB recommendation wouldn't cover GPS devices, but — if it eventually becomes law — it would ban using your phone for any reason, even with a Bluetooth headset or speakers. The only exception would be to call 911 in an emergency.

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/ ... -bluetooth

[E_]

There were always bad drivers, before cell phones and after. The number of crashes did not go up after these devices were put in our hands. It just sometimes changed the reason for the wreck, more than likely if they did not have a cell phone they would be daydreaming or playing with the radio, or reading the newspaper anyway and would still wreck.

There is already a law pretty much everywhere to cover stupid driving moves. - Wreckless Driving. That should pretty much cover about any dumb move and not require any other laws.

I'm tired of laws just to have laws. Let the basics of protecting people from idots and those that would do them harm cover things and from there let darwin take care of the rest.



If we are not careful we will not even be allowed to talk to a passenger.

[kdfwr911]

If they ever pass such a law, cops will be among the worst violators. I say this because communications are critical to law enforcement, and cell phones have become critical to LE's communications tools. 2-way radios limit communications to only those people with a properly programmed 2-way radio.....which is basically a dispatcher and other on-duty officers. Outside of that you have to request a dispatcher to place the call for you and then play a 3rd party role in your communications with the person. This doesn't work well for various reasons and I can't forsee police officers making such a huge step backwards in communications technology. They'll never give up the cell phone and limit their in car communications to 2-way radios. Hell those stupid MDT's (Mobil Data Terminals or laptop computers for the non LE types) in every police vehicle is a much worse distraction in the vehicle than cell phones are. But even those would be illegal to use under the proposed law.

[KYCanuck]

Why don't they just make the fines stiffer for incidents involving one of these devices. Like similar to a DUI. It may not completly eliminate the problem but I expect it would be a deterrent.

[FasterThanYou]

I've pulled up next to a LE official many times and looked over to see them texting.

Have they banned putting on make-up, reading the paper, shaving (seen it), messing with the radio/ipod, turning around to smack your smart mouthed kid int he back set (Mom did it to me all the time)?

[KYCanuck]

Well Faster, all I can say is your Mom should have tried something else....obviously that didn't work!!!


Did you miss me?

[re3too]

Well Faster, all I can say is your Mom should have tried something else....obviously that didn't work!!!


Did you miss me?

[FasterThanYou]

Well Faster, all I can say is your Mom should have tried something else....obviously that didn't work!!!


Did you miss me?

I'm getting paid back now. My son is too much like me

[kdfwr911]

Not a youtube vid so I can't embed it here, but here's a link.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news ... /#45661197