more on Silliness in Action: California Poised for Cell Phone Ban

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

I second this djf

Begin forwarded message:

From: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw () gmail com>
Date: August 27, 2006 7:00:23 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] approve:sagapo more on more on Silliness in Action:  
California Poised for Cell Phone Ban

But banning cell phones throws out the baby with the bathwater.   
There's a huge range of distraction in cell phone calls -- from, say,  
"I'm at the stoplight a block away, come out of the building to the  
curb so I can pick you up" to, say, negotiating custody in your  
divorce or attempting to discuss with your teenager why driving  
around all night with a carload of friends is not such a hot idea.

I don't use a cell phone much while driving -- just for short, timely  
communication or for coordination.  And I don't have any trouble at  
all saying "I can't talk any more now" and putting the phone down or  
hanging up.

I'm on the side of penalizing the bad behavior, not all the possible  
behaviors that might turn out badly.

Mary Shaw


On 8/27/06, David Farber <dave () farber net> wrote:

Begin forwarded message:

From: steven cherry <steven () panix com>
Date: August 27, 2006 4:31:22 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] more on more on Silliness in Action: California
Poised for Cell Phone Ban

From: Miles Fidelman <mfidelman () meetinghouse net>
> Of course, cell phones pale compared to the distractions of, say,
> spilling coffee in your lap, unwrapping a sandwich, managing
> children in the car, and so forth.

To my experience, they're not. There are no social conventions that
keep you from just ignoring the spilt coffee or from tossing the
sandwich onto the passenger seat.

I drove a 104-mile-per-day highway commute through northern New
Jersey for more than two years, about six years ago. During that
time, I myself ate breakfast, drank coffee, did word puzzles, fiddled
with the radio, and wrote stray notes into a notebook I kept in the
car for that purpose. I also got pretty good at driving with my left
leg and also with driving with cruise control in traffic and steering
with my knees.

My fellow commuters did pretty much the same things and more,
including applying makeup and reading broadsheet newspapers draped
across the steering wheel.

None of this, in my opinion, did much to impede our abilities to
drive safely.

Driving with a cellphone, on the other hand, is an interactive
experience, one that has long years of social norms attached to it,
social norms that were developed in offices and living rooms and are
ill-suited to high-speed mobile situations, or any mobile situations
for that matter. On the streets of Manhattan, where it seems every
other person is on the phone, I've seen pedestrians walk into other
people and even trees and newsstands because they're so involved with
their phone calls.

I know I myself am a much worse driver when on the phone, indeed, I'm
not as good a driver when I have a passenger, and the cellphone
interaction is much more involving and distracting. I honestly think
if the average IP reader looked inward he or she would see the same
thing. I agree with Lauren. The hands-on/hands-free element is the
least of it, and either we ban all driver cellphone use or none of it.

  Steven


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