National Transportation Safety Board: Ban novice driver cell phone use

That's a great idea.

Novice cell phone users should alsoo be prohibitted from driving.

 

I hate to reference an LSD (Lowest Common Denominator) bumper sticker I saw once, but "Hang up and drive!".

 

The NTSB doesn't have the cajones to recommend banning cell-phone use for all drivers? In the case of the driver who was slow to react to a gust of wind while talking on the phone, I doubt she'd have been any faster had she been 40.

 

What about those speaker phones. How about making them mandatory and then you solved the problem.

 

OK, how does one enforce this - the honor system? ( How does law enforcement differentiate between novice and non-novice drivers at a glance? )

 

This sounds like age discrimination to me. I don't see any other way to enforce this besides saying that a person has to have driven for X number of years prior to cell phone use. Why not ban them in all cars? Or at least the hands-on type.

 

This sounds like age discrimination to me. I don't see any other way to enforce this besides saying that a person has to have driven for X number of years prior to cell phone use.

From the article...

<I>Only New Jersey now bans holders of learners permits or intermediate licenses from using cell phones, pagers or other wireless devices while driving. The board wants the 49 other states to adopt similar laws.
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The NTSB doesn't have the cajones to recommend banning cell-phone use for all drivers? In the case of the driver who was slow to react to a gust of wind while talking on the phone, I doubt she'd have been any faster had she been 40.

However, someone who actually had years of driving experience is far more likely to be able to manage talking on a phone and driving then someone who's driving for the first time.

 

I think the actual motivation is that banning cell phones for drivers would be an unpopular move. But, banning their use for other people would be just fine.

I'm a driver of about 11 years now. Not as veteran as many people, but I certainly wouldn't get branded as a novice by such a law. I've driven and talked on a cell-phone simultaneously and I know that it is distracting and does make me a worse driver.

 

I used to have that sticker on my old truck. I yell at people to hang up their phone all the time. They sit there and talk at a green light (that's when I lay on my horn with no mercy). I once saw a guy hanging out halfway in the street, halfway in a parking lot driveway just talking away. I have seen others run stop signs. I can't stand cell phones, period. I'm 32, never had one, and I don't plan on getting one.

 

I'm a driver of about 11 years now. Not as veteran as many people, but I certainly wouldn't get branded as a novice by such a law. I've driven and talked on a cell-phone simultaneously and I know that it is distracting and does make me a worse driver.

Sure -- but lots of things make you a worse driver. Should we ban people for driving while tired? No. What we do is ban it if it has a critical effect on driving. Distractions such as cell-phones have a far greater impact on someone who barely knows how to drive than someone with 11 years of driving experience.

We already do this in other aspects of driving. Driving without an adult passenger is illegal with your learner's permit, but once you have experience, its OK. Nothing really different here.

 

This isn't any more discriminatory than saying that you must be at least 16 years of age in order to drive a car.

 

Better make sure they arent listening to the radio either...... that is a big distraction.

In fact, they better just drive alone, or better yet be forced to ride bicycles.

 

Yeah like having my mother screaming "Oh my God, you're going to kill us all" at the top of her lungs the entire time I was trying to merge onto the highway made me a safer driver.

 

I bought a G35 in Dec. Since then, I have been involved in two accidents with 16-year old kids...both fender benders....in both cases they were distracted by their friends in the car...

I am starting to support increasing the age for a drivers license.

Hell I was a terrible driver at 16. I was in 4 wrecks by 18.

 

But wouldn't you have theoretically been just as bad at age 18? It's experience that usually makes one a better driver. Yes, things like maturity, etc. can play a part, as well.

 

This is a serious problem. I believe that statistics show that drivers who use cell phones are much more likely to cause accidents than drunk drivers (to an extent).

Of course, you have to weigh in factors such as the fact that people who are drunk usually drive in less traffic (driving at night), etc., but the punishment for DUI/DWI is harsh when you consider that people who drive while talking on cell phones are likely to be much more hazardous to themselves and other drivers than a drunk person. Having driven under the influence a decent number of times, I'd say that I felt a much more comfortable and alert when 'under the influence' than the times when I've been on a cell phone.

 

Everyone who uses a cell phone while driving is no better than a "novice" driver. Seriously, No one should be allowed to talk on the phone while driving. Many countries have made it the law.

 

Using a cell phone will driving is prohibited pretty much everywhere in Europe (and there are hefty fines) as it has been proven that this greatly (I think more than being drunk) increases the probability of causing an accident.

I still do it a lot, though, but it clearly causes a higher danger of having an accident.