First they wanted to ban texting while driving.
Then they said talking on a cell phone is distracting to drivers as well.
Then they informed us that using a hands-free phone is also dangerous, because the conversation itself can be distracting to a driver.
Then they vilified cell phone companies for inventing and promoting the product in the first place.
Then [...]
Posts Tagged ‘distracted driving’
Now the New York Times says EMS computers are dangerous [distracted driving]
You can ban cell phones but you can’t ban stupid [distracted driving]
One of the reasons that cell phone bans don’t seem to reduce traffic accidents is that in the scheme of things, talking on the cell phone is not one of the more dangerous activities that drivers regularly engage in.
And even if you do managed to stop people from yakking on the phone, they’ll just come up with [...]
Now the NYT wants to ban billboards too [distracted driving]
Not content merely to fear monger about the immanent national threat posed by motorists who chat on their cell phone, the New York Times has decided to take on a new bogyman: electronic billboards.
From the New York Times:
Safety advocates who worry about the dangers of distracted driving have a new concern beyond cellphones and gadget-laden dashboards: digital roadside billboards.
These high-tech billboards marry the glow [...]
Surprise! Surprise! Cell phone bans don’t make the roads safer [distracted driving]
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety just finished a comprehensive study of the effectiveness of cell phone bans and the results won’t be surprising to regular readers of this blog. Cell phone bans, it turns out, have no effect on road safety and accident rates.
To repeat: The effect of bans wasn’t mild, or slight or [...]
They thought car radios were dangerous too… [cell phone ban]
It strikes me that a lot of the hysteria about the dangers posed by cell phones in cars boils down to little more than plain old technophobia.
After all, there is no reason to believe that cell phones are uniquely distracting. Both academic studies and surveys suggest that they are in fact less of a distraction [...]
This is where I draw the line [distracted driving]
Regular readers of this blog know that I am very skeptical of schemes to ban the use of cell phones in cars. After all, there is little reason to believe that using a cell phone while driving is any more distracting than, say, adjusting confusing radio controls or driving around with a car full of [...]
Is texting while driving dangerous?
A few weeks ago I published a graph showing that our roads have actually become safer as more and more Americans use cell phones. Chatting on the phone is one thing, but surely texting behind the wheel is another. After all, we keep hearing that texting-while-driving is worse than drunk driving. And legislatures around the [...]
Is it time to ban carpooling?
It took the police almost an hour to arrive at the scene of the accident. The dark red Saturn with its crumpled front end and my 2001 VW GTI with its smashed side panels and broken rear axle had already been cleared from the road. Shattered glass and the remnants of my passenger-side mirror still littered [...]
