Driver cellphone usage on the rise!

Despite the best efforts of lawmakers, cellphone usage while driving continued to increase in 2005 according to an annual National Highway Traffic Safety Administration survey. Currently, about 10 percent of drivers "in a typical daylight moment" are either yapping directly into their cellphone or waving their arms in tune with their handsfree system. That's up from 8 percent just last year and pretty much on par with the number of noon-time drivers you'll likely see sloppin' down a McGooble and dabbing special sauce off their ties. About 4 percent of drivers were found to use hands-free devices, but the NHTSA and others, don't believe these technologies improve safety. And mark our words, there will be more laws to prove it! [warning: PDF link]

[Via textually.org]  

[Rome @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

Pointless news...this is well known ever since cell phone came to be popular. Stay focused with technology reports.

[Homer J @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

I have never been a fan of those hands free wired ear pieces that come with phones.

For one thing you never sound loud enough to your caller, so you have to hold the mic near your mouth - which sort of defeats the whole hands free idea.

You also have have to find your ear piece (which no doubt is tangled in something), stick it in your ear, and then find your phone to press send to accept the call.

This is suposed to be the safer alternative to just picking up a phone?

[Mitch @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

i really dont think talking on the phone while driving is dangerous...its just like talking to the person sitting next to you....they haven't outlawed talking to passengers yet? have they?

[Windows Update Advisor @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

A good one I heard..... A cop stopped a man using cellphone while driving. The driver denied, saying he is using the phone antenna to PICK his ear.....

[olderty @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

Illinois recently passed the "no holding your phone up to your ear whilst driving" law. So now you have to scramble looking for your earpiece/wire and put it in your ear like Homer J said. Asinine? Yes.

[Ryan Waddell @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

Or, you could just put your earpiece in your ear when you get in the car. No more scrambling! If it's not comfortable, shell out more cash for a comfortable one. Easy peasy.

I too fall into the "it's no more distracting than talking to passengers" camp. Hell, I've found it MORE distracting having passengers in the car, because you have a tendency to turn towards them as you're talking to them. Or maybe that's just me :P

[Clayfoot @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

Conversations with passengers in the car are distracting too, but it's harder to tell the entire carloard to keep quiet for the driver's benefit. The phone, however, is easy: The driver can avoid the distraction by just not answering it.

[Rik @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

If you look at real-world studies published in such places as the Britsh Medical Journal, you will find that talking on a cell phone (hands free or otherwise) makes you four times more likely to be involved in a traffic incident which requires hospital treatment. Others have noted up to a one second drop in reaction times during a cell phone conversation during simulated heavy traffic (Strayer, David L., Frank A. Drews, and William A Johnson. �Cell Phone-Induced Failures of Visual Attention During Simulated Driving.� Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 9.1 (2003): 23-32). This makes your reaction times *worse* than someone just at the legal drink/drive limit (and, before anyone makes a comment, I'm certainly not condoning drinking and driving). It is far worse than talking to another person in the car as the rate of conversation, the clarity of sound etc. require a much higher congitive overhead. There just isn't a conversation that is worth it.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

The body shop that did my '60 Ranchero is the most popular shop in the area. People come in from 50+ miles. He is always telling me that he figures 70-75% of his business is from cellphone use. They won't tell the police or the insurance co. but they tell him.
I am a motorcycle rider and I have seen at least 3 bikers trying to use the cellphone while riding....Duh?

[David @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

Part of the problem is w/ idiots like the guy in this picture. Okay, so he's using one hand to hold the phone to his ear. Does he really need to be using the other one to gesture? No hands on the wheel; is he steering w/ his knee?

[edwin gray @ Apr 23rd 2007 11:26AM]

i feel terrorized when crossing streets because of the number of people using cellphones without head sets bluetooth or otherwise.

[windral @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

Obviously none of you live in Orange County, where everywhere you go, everyone has a Bluetooth handfree stuck in their ear. I'm sorry folks, but you're not that important. A call can wait five minutes for you to get to outside the mall. So the only advantage so far is giving great amusement to the rest of us who think you look like idiots.

[David @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

The social effects of technology are part of technology, too. I wouldn't call this sort of news "pointless" at all.

[Jes @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

The wireless ear-buds are a nice feature, if you do need to yap on the phone a lot. But does anybody else here ignore the phone if they're already in a conversation, or doing something else? I sure do. My phone is a maskable interrupt. I sure hate when I'm talking to someone, and they abandon the conversation because of a phone.

[Roberto @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

I've been stuck many times behind a driver yackin' on his phone on a left turn lane and they just don't react fast enough and fumble around with the steering wheel with one hand trying to make their turn while still on the phone. The result: Only one or two drivers get through the light. Do they not care? Are they not aware they are contributing to more traffic? Are they stupid? or shall we blame the pone? Anyway, don't drive while using the phone; it is so annoying to us other drivers.

[Teh @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

I personaly feel in the UK, its gone right down! You US peepers not heard of carkits or bluetooth headsets? The avarage UK person here now has a bluetooth enabled phone or incar kit. lol.

[Nick @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

Ten percent of drivers using a cellphone at any given moment? I was on a San Francisco corner waiting for the bus one evening and 40 to 50 percent of the drivers were yakking on the cell.

[Nobuyuki Idei @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

I have noticed that 90% of the time someone does something annoying or idiotic on the road, they'll be talking on their phone.

[TC @ Dec 19th 2005 2:06AM]

I'm going to have to agree with Nick. In SF the 10% figure is the folks on the bus yakking at 70+ dB about absolutely nothing.