"MLOM" <grvan@netzero.net> said in rec.autos.driving:

LOL!!

I can just picture it now: bimbo on a cell phone runs a red light and
T-bones another car. She blames the crash on the "loud chirping sound"
that came out of her phone; she claims it startled her and caused her
to lose control of her car.

The jury buys it and awards the bitch $100 million.

The sheer rudeness of these ppl is quite staggering. It shouldn't be tolerated in restaurants.

Graham

How is someone talking on a phone at a restaurant or in line any
different than if the other person was standing next them, except for
the fact that you feel left out of the conversation because you can't
hear both sides?

Well that's reasonable, but still seems to have problems. I can
imagine all these drivers going 3 MPH in the slow lane of the
freeway so they can call somebody to tell them they're running
late, or ask which offramp to take. Or somebody calling 911 to ask
for driving directions because that's the only number they can call
from the freeway without slowing to 3 MPH.. I wonder if comp.risks
(Risks Digest) has any discussions on this topic?

It seems to me that talking on a cellphone with headset, so you
still have both hands on the wheel, is the same as having somebody
sitting next to you or in the back seat trying to talk with you,
both equally distracting, except for:
- A passender can see a problem and warn you LOOK OUT, whereas
  somebody on your cellphone can't do that for you.
- If you slam on the brakes because of an emergency, a passenger
  will usually immediately SHUT UP so you can regain your
  concentration on the emergency, whereas somebody on a cell phone
  won't even shut up after you yell SHUT UP over and over, will in
  fact be demanding to know what the problem is, further distracting
  you.
- A passenger can compare the map to road signs, relieving you of
  that task, whereas somebody on a cellphone providing you with
  driving directions still can't see the road signs so you need to
  do that yourself. The newer in-car navigation systems using your
  GPS radio to know where you are at all times would seem to solve
  that problem. But people in older cars with only cellphones can't
  do that.

But I'm just brainstorming here. When I used to have a car, I
didn't have a cellphone, and 99.9% of the time I didn't have a
passenger either. So I don't really know how distracting a
cellphone or even a passenger would be, and my car was too old to
have GPS. But the digital radio in my last car was nice: I didn't
have to fiddle with the dial to tune in FM stations exactly right
to get decent reception!

Checked GG just now, yeah several old threads on cellphones while
driving in comp.risks, gonna have a look at them.

Link from Risks Digest 24.17 to:
<http://www.straightdope.com/columns/060210.html>
Ah, that's fun, cellphone photo of penis helps diagnosis herpes.

Risks Digest 23.72:
Article mentions cellphone virus infecting automobile, then similar
incident possible on airliner:
A passenger is sitting in an airliner using his laptop, and on the
screen appears:   Bluetooth: new device found: Airbus A310