Marie Monday

I have the moral mountain peak of not even having a drivers licence bitches

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Trollheart

It's just the wrong thing to do. The law here says that if you have a Bluetooth you may not get pulled over but if you have your phone in your hand you will. Whether you THINK your attention is all on the road or not is beside the point; it's not. Even subconsciously, you're concentrating at least partly on the phone and the call and what's being said and what you're saying and what you want to say and how the guy is wrong and you're gonna tell him and how you're going to OH **** WHERE DID THAT TRUCK COME FROM!!!????

See?

No matter what, if your attention isn't 100% on the road you're driving dangerously and you deserve to be stopped. I don't drive but I've seen my brother do this, and it's ****ing scary. He'll talk as if he's at home and you're like WATCH OUT FOR THAT KID CROSSING THE - never mind.

buy yourself a bluetooth and handsfree set.
And don't complain like a bitch when they stop you otherwise.

Oh, and great idea to further antagonise a cop who has just given you a ticket by throwing attitude at him. Is that tail-light broken sir? Oh well it is now.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

YorkeDaddy

All of this remains true when you're on bluetooth too. I also don't see how it doesn't remain true by simply having a passenger. When I have a passenger in my car I am usually in an active conversation with them. Which by your definition is a distraction that means you're driving dangerously

I will antagonize every god damn cop that ever approaches me, especially in my city where they do things like this:

https://www.wboi.org/post/protesters...s-use#stream/0

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http://cloudcover1.bandcamp.com/
http://daydreamsociety.bandcamp.com/

9-Time Winner of MusicBanter's "Most Qualified to be a Moderator" Award

Psy-Fi

Kansas State Senate leader called an officer 'donut boy' during his DUI arrest

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She's a Brick House

DianneW

I could show you how quiet is around here but till too young to do links yet...tractor passed an hour ago..and the odd dog bark... not counting next house along who keep four hunting dogs as pets...not a good life, penned up mostly
.Husband out cutting the grass yet again this week, on a small tractor singing his heart out... Don't see the police from one week to the next hardly ever hear an emergency siren..If I had to go back to the UK I would not know where to settle for a good life..that's me in the Rural under lockdown and curfew..peace on yer....

jwb

Mine is revoked lol

Trollheart

As I said, I don't drive, but there's something about being on the phone that takes your attention in a way that it doesn't when you're talking to someone. Not to mention that that someone is more than likely half-watching the road too, so it's not as if you're speaking to someone detached from your journey.

Sounds really relaxing. France, is it?

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

jwb

I think you'd be surprised how uncommon it is for a driver's attention to be 100% on the road at all times

No offense but I think if you've never driven then you might have somewhat unrealistic expectations here

Trollheart

Not really. Like I say, I admit I haven't driven but I've been in cars as a passenger and seen how distracted people can get on the phone. Conversely, I've been talking to people in cars and their attention never wavers from the road. I don't know what it is, whether the phone gives them a false sense of security or a detachment or what, but the attention wanders in a way it doesn't if the driver is just talking to me.

Actually, I think I do know: both people in the car realise that the driver's attention can't and must not be distracted from the road, so you don't do something like "Look at this dude" and tap him on the shoulder, whereas on the phone the same connection, the same shared understanding of the mutual danger - if he crashes you get hurt too - is not there. He's off driving and you're safe at home or out walking or whatever, so you don't take the same caution that he should, and I think it's there that the link breaks down.

Either way, using a phone is both wrong and illegal unless it's a handsfree, so whether you agree with the law or not, he is in the wrong. But I'm sure those overpriced notary publics will get him off. And maybe he won't have to pay his fine either.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

jwb

I'm not saying the law is even wrong or that he wasn't wrong... I'm saying your expectations sound somewhat naive to me.

You've been in the car and talked to someone and you don't think his attention ever wavered from the road... Ok there's a number of flaws with this.

1) you don't actually know for a fact that their attention never wavered because you aren't a mind reader. Additionally if you've never driven then your perspective on the matter is even more limited by that lack of experience.
2) it's an anecdote. I'm quite sure there are people who have been distracted by other passengers in the car even if your friend wasn't. If you've ever driven with a parent and an unruly kid in the back seat you would know what I mean.
3) having a handsfree device doesn't make you less invested in your conversation it just frees your hand up, which is a good thing obviously but doesn't change the dynamic you described above about the person on the other end not being in the car with you.

The reality is people get distracted all the time and you can very easily be distracted by your own thoughts or an argument you just had or a meeting you're about to go to etc etc. The ideal is for people to pay as much attention as they can when they drive but that's just that... An ideal. Nobody pays 100% of their attention to the road at all times and it can be very easy to get lost in moral grandstanding based on hard-line rules or "the law is the law" mentality.. in reality I'm perfectly capable of holding a phone and driving 15 mph without it really being dangerous.

These laws exist because not because they are perfect but because they are broad brush attempts to prevent accidents. There are many accidents caused by driving while on the phone but that doesn't mean you're prone to one in every instance.

There's a big difference between being on the interstate in a big city going 60 mph with a bunch of cars merging and **** vs driving in gridlocked traffic where you're going 15 mph.

tldr lrn2nuance + lrn2drive