Cell Phone Drivers: Let Them Eat Pavement
Published June 09, 2008
Anyone who's taken their car for a spin anywhere in the United States knows teenagers are not the only ones ignoring laws that ban cell phone use while driving. They’re also not the only ones throwing common sense out the car window. I’ve traveled the entire length of I-40 several times and have witnessed more carnage caused by self-distracted drivers than I care to say. Trying to get a mere five miles down the road in any American city takes way longer than it should - and cell phone use is not the only reason.
The motor vehicle is the new house.
Women applying make-up while driving have long been the bane of reasonable women drivers, but there are also a significant number of men and women who read while driving, some arched around and facing the backseat for a variety of reasons, and — as of my last excursion — men who look into their visor mirror while shaving.
It has proven to do no good whatsoever to tell people the dangers of their behavior. Children these days have been allowed by their parents to see all manner of video and televised guts and gore to the point that Driver’s Ed films have little or no impact on them by the time they’re old enough (by state law, not my law) to get behind the wheel.
Self-distracted drivers operate under the delusion that since they’ve made it this far without causing an accident, surely the gods are on their side. Pointing out to the individual driver just how much his or her behavior impacts others on the road is for naught. This may be the crux of the issue. An entire generation of drivers, despite their age, thinks like teenagers: If it doesn’t hurt me this time, it must be okay all the time.
An almost 40-year-old friend of mine regularly uses the cell phone while driving. She is completely unaware that once she’s on the phone, her average speed drops by as much as 20 mph, even on the highway. She has a tendency to shift to the far right lane, without looking to see if anyone is there, and without use of a signal. She brakes repeatedly for no reason and hovers on or near the left edge of whatever lane she’s occupying.
Even as she looks ahead, you can tell she isn’t really seeing anything. Two or three drivers honk at her, and the extent to which she comprehends the noise is limited to her telling her caller, “Sorry, I didn’t hear that. People are honking.” She dismissed me outright when I called it to her attention.
Diana (nee Gulick) Hartman is the Culture and Tastes Editor for Blogcritics.org. She is a freelance writer, mother of three, and a (Ret.) US Marine spouse. She is a Wichita, Kansas native, having also lived in the California desert, eastern North Carolina and Stuttgart, Germany. She currently resides in Oceanside, California. She is a contributing writer to Holiday Writes.
- Cell Phone Drivers: Let Them Eat Pavement
- Published: June 09, 2008
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Culture
- Filed Under: Culture: Society
- Writer: Diana Hartman
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A lot of the locals here use a speakerphone in the car to argue over the price of some item or try to cut some kind of deal (Israelis are always trying to cut some kind of deal, somehow, but I digress), but a lot don't. I tramped a ride home with a guy who spent the whole trip on the cell phone trying to set up some kind of party for selling stuff.
Don't ask me about the Nimrods who would clog up the drive-thru at BK while chatting on the phone.
I'm just grateful I don't drive. All of the worst in my nature would come out on the road here.
Diane,
"She's not old; she's reading a book!" You have really touched on a subject that most anyone driving today can relate to. Here in Houston, people not only read while driving, they also text message, change clothes, and eat an entire spread of food from the passenger seat. Since moving here a few years ago from Maine, I've seen more rear ends than I have in the last thirty five years of driving.
Of course when people are not mindful of driving, rather erratic behavior becomes commonplace. "I'm in the far left hand lane of the freeway, but I just remembered I need to take that exit." Not a problem. Just zip four lanes to the right in front of oncoming traffic and squeeze by the crash barrier. When people get rear ended here, they call it "getting blue toothed."
Scot
Oh, this hits home. I try not to do anything in my car but drive. Oh, I should take that back. I'm trying to learn Japanese in my car. Damn it.
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Spot on.
I drive a lot. It's part of my work. Most of it is interstate. Cell phones are a problem for drivers; I see it everyday. I also see the two-handed talkers (steering with the knee I presume). I see the make-up applicators, two handed with the mirror adjusted for a detailed look at the eyeliner. I see the carloads of socializing peers, music loud, laughing, dodging through traffic, tailgating, and distracted soccer moms on the cell phone. All of them multi-tasking and really not paying rapt attention nor practicing any sort of reliable situational awareness. It's scary. I quit riding motorcycles (old BMW's) after 42 years because of all the inattention that was passing me by, like I was standing still. Do I talk on the phone when driving. Yes, but never for more than a minute or two and only very occasionally. And, yes it does distract me. A few miles may pass me by and I don't really recall what just transpired. Part of it is fatigue, but I would venture to say that distraction is the detraction from what I should be doing... and that is. Paying attention to driving at speed, without causing any harm, or damage to other motorists, or myself. BTW, wear your seatbelts dummies!