If you can talk hands free on phone in car, won't it still divert you from caref

1. 68

   brakel2posted 12 years ago

   If you can talk hands free on phone in car, won't it still divert you from careful driving?

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2. 72

   BLACKANDGOLDJACKposted 12 years ago

   Sure it will. Pretty ladies in dresses on a windy day also may divert one from careful driving.
   
   At least hands free on phone allows you to keep both hands on the wheel, as opposed to holding the phone in your hand. Although I have noticed some who have mastered the technique of tilting your head and holding the phone between your head and shoulder.
   
   Personally, I believe in the philosophy of letting the phone ring. 99.99999% of the time the call can wait a few minutes. I usually will pull over soon and see who called, and call them back or listen to the voice mail if they left one.
   
   Those who drive with two fingers of one hand particularly annoy me. When I taught my daughter, now 18, how to drive I absolutely insisted she keep both hands on the wheel at all times. Or she could walk, not me.

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3. 65

   ThompsonPenposted 12 years ago

   I think so. But I also think that talking on the phone not hands free is no more distracting than talking to a passenger. Most people drive with just one hand any way, so I don't see the difference. Texting and driving of course is a dangerous act. But hands free phones I see just as distracting as changing the radio station or the tape slash cd in the car.

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4. 80

   DreamerMegposted 12 years ago

   Yes, it certainly does distract you. It is NOT the same as talking to a passenger because a passenger can see when the road ahead is becoming "complex" and will wait until you have more attention to give them. But when you are on the phone, all you can hear is "Are you there, I can't hear you" because the other person doesn't realise that you need to give attention to the road. In the UK, using a hands-free mobile is legal but some employers have banned their staff from using them when driving on their employer's business because it is not the fact of having the mobile in your hand that distracts you, it is the attention you need to pay to the person on the other end. When I get in the car to drive, I either turn my mobile to silent or turn it off, unless there is a passenger who can answer on my behalf.
   It is illegal to use a mobile phone when driving in the UK (unless it's hands-free) but I still see people using them every day! I feel really angry when I see this. It's too late to be sorry when you've killed someone. We didn't used to have mobile phones, it wasn't that long ago. And I find it hard to believe that being in contact 24 hours a day is necessary!

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5. 79

   JayeWisdomposted 12 years ago

   I don't talk on the cell phone at all while driving because I can't fully concentrate on what is happening in the traffic around me if I'm involved in what someone is saying.  Cell phones in use while driving, either for talking (even hands-free) or texting are both just accidents waiting to happen. I know of young people killed while trying to drive and simultaneously use both thumbs (and both eyes) to send and read texts. It usually takes only a few minutes to pull over and stop, if you simply can't wait until later to answer a call or read a text. Endangering your own life, the lives of any passengers, other motorists and pedestrians is not worth a few words that could be delayed.

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6. 65

   The RV Guyposted 12 years ago

   Accidents are going to occur no matter how cognizant one is behind the wheel.  Few of us concentrate as much as we should while driving.  Listening to our favorite tunes over stereo systems often better than those in our homes, conversing with passengers or just thinking about where to stop for dinner conflict with the concentration that should be geared to safe driving.  All too often I have seen people grooming themselves, eating and even reading a book as they drive down an interstate. 
   
   Technology has created automobiles that are so comfortable, that handle so well that we sometimes forget we are controlling two or more tons of metal that can create havoc in a split second when there is loss of control.  In the early years of our love affair with automobiles and up through the fifties, controlling vehicles without power steering and brakes often took near brute strength.  Doing much of anything but driving was difficult at best.
   
   There is a great difference between talking on the phone--hands-free--or not and taking your eyes off the road to enter a text message or find an address on a GPS app.  Some years ago one of the auto manufacturers experimented with H.U.D. (heads-up displays).  Instead of looking down at your speed and other data, like a jet pilot, an image of the instrument cluster was projected onto the lower portion of the windshield allowing the driver to keep his eyes on the road while still allowing them to gather information as needed.
   
   I think...like the H.U.D. concept, the key is to remain alert at all times and by all means keeping one's eye on the road.  I would recommend any driver when at all possible take the time to pull to the side of the road or to another safe parking environment to make or receive calls.  Just common sense...like eating, drinking, shaving or reading War & Peace...pull over!

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7. 61

   melbelleposted 12 years ago

   yes, it does.  Noone can talk on the phone and drive safely.  It should be outlawed in all states along with texting and driving.

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