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SHow the $20 first-time cellphone-in-car penalty will cost you I SECOND THIS djf
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:32:45 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> Date: August 18, 2008 12:23:11 AM EDT To: Frode Hegland <frode () hegland com> Cc: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>, lauren () vortex comSubject: Re: [IP] Re: How the $20 first-time cellphone-in-car penalty will cost you $97
The studies are clear. Hand-held is no safer than handsfree. The author of the Calif. bill now admits this, but says it couldn't hurt to have people driving with both hands on the wheel. But the law doesn't require people to drive with both hands on the wheel. In fact, few experienced drivers keep both hands on the wheel all the time, regardless of whether they're on a phone or not. I drive a stick. I *can't* keep both hands on the wheel much of the time even if I wanted to. But play it safe? It can be argued that the law does just the opposite. First, we're already seeing that people are fumbling around to put on earpieces and such when they get calls or want to make calls. This is actually far more distracting than just grabbing the phone off your belt and putting it to your ear. Dialing calls, looking at phone displays, etc. are more distractions that are permitted by the law. However, the biggest problem, as researchers are now realizing, is that the law gives people the false expectation that having a handsfree phone is safer, and there's evidence that people on handsfree phones talk longer and may actually be taking more risks. And we know they aren't safer. They may actually be less safe. Bad science begets bad outcomes. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com - - -
I don't get it. When you overhear a conversation someone is holding on a mobile phone they often sound too loud right? Louder than if they were talking to someone right in front of them. Why? It's because there is no visual response or other response, the conversation happens, quite literally, inside the persons head. When you are on the phone you have to, to some extent, leave where you are (mentally) to pay attention to the call. This is why phone calls don't usually have long pauses as well. You won't know if the other person is 'on the line' so pauses are usually avoided. Holding the handset to your head takes extra effort, and one less hand on the steering wheel. Talking on the phone in other words, takes effort. Effort probably best invested in spending looking at the road. Should other distractions be dealt with? Absolutely, but as you point out Lauren, they can't all be regulated as they can't all be caught. But with one - to me anyway - obvious factor reducing the drivers attention and road awareness being the issue. Why not deal with it? Not doing so would be akin to, for example, not dealing with trans fat 'since so much other food is bad for your health and you can't make it all illegal'. Do you, yourself, feel that holding a device up to your ear and concentrating on what someone is trying to convey to you from milesaway keeps you alert for that one second when an accident might happen?Anyway, I do agree that more science is needed, as you say, but while it's being studied, why not just play it safe? :-) On 16 Aug 2008, at 19:22, David Farber wrote:Begin forwarded message: From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> Date: August 16, 2008 1:47:20 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: lauren () vortex com Subject: Re: [IP] Re: How the $20 first-time cellphone-in-car penalty will cost you $97 Dave, The "no handheld phones while driving" laws are based on "feel good" politics, not science. Even the main proponent of the law here in California has admitted that the science isn't there. If you really want to cut down on distraction accidents, you need to ban all outside distractions and the children in the back seat, as a start. The trick is that you can easily *see* someone holding a cell phone, but you can't easily see many of the even more serious distractions from another vehicle. And the science says over and over again that the distraction level is the same from handheld or hands-free phones, but politicians don't have the guts to ban *all* cell phone usage while driving in this country. On this topic: http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000190.html http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000189.html --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com - - -I don'y ya;l while driving. I have a speaker attachment and I may answer BUT it is just to see if it is a panic or not and then tell them I will call back latter or when I can pull off the road. BUT there are a lot of distractions in a car -- talk radio, yelling kids , nagging wives (not mine). Do we out;law all of these things? How about brightly lit signboards at night? Where do we stop? Dave Begin forwarded message: From: Steve Lamont <spl () ncmir ucsd edu> Date: August 16, 2008 11:27:49 AM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: Re: [IP] How the $20 first-time cellphone-in-car penalty will cost you $97From: janosG <janosg () gmail com> Date: August 15, 2008 9:48:05 AM PDT Subject: How the $20 first-time cellphone-in-car penalty will cost you $97 [A stupid law, with outrageously inflated penalty - and I say that without having been caught yet!...:)] <http://www.mercurynews.com/mrroadshow/ci_10212334?nclick_check=1> <<Here is the breakdown for a cell phone citation based on fees in Santa Clara County and in San Jose. Fees vary slightly from county to county.As someone who was nearly run down by oblivious cell phone yakkers twice in as many days as I was legally and otherwise safely crossing the street in a crosswalk at a traffic light, I might suggest that the penalty is not harsh enough. It should be treated on the same level of offense as a DUI, since it's been shown that hand held *or* hands free driving while using a cell phone is as dangerous as being drunk. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=570222 License suspension on the first offense, *permanent* revocation on the second would be fine with me. What's stupid (monumentally, I might add) is the notion that one is so darned important that one must be in constant communication, even at the risk of killing or maiming others. Hang up and drive. spl ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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- SHow the $20 first-time cellphone-in-car penalty will cost you I SECOND THIS djf David Farber (Aug 18)