{"id":7554,"date":"2009-07-21T09:42:20","date_gmt":"2009-07-21T16:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/?p=7554"},"modified":"2019-12-23T14:23:31","modified_gmt":"2019-12-23T22:23:31","slug":"your-cellphone-can-kill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2009\/07\/21\/your-cellphone-can-kill\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Cellphone Can Kill"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:3868,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.nytimes.com\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/19\\\/technology\\\/19distracted.html?_r=2&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20200307072611\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.nytimes.com\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/19\\\/technology\\\/19distracted.html?_r=2&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-06 22:49:59&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-24 16:58:33&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-04 19:18:56&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403}],&quot;broken&quot;:true,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-04 19:18:56&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:3869,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.nytimes.com\\\/2009\\\/07\\\/21\\\/technology\\\/21distracted.html?partner=rss&amp;emc=rss&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:null,&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>I&#8217;ve had a guideline in my head for some time that I haven&#8217;t always followed as closely as I should. From here on out, I&#8217;m going to be making a much more determined effort to follow through.<\/p>\n<p><strong>If I can tell that you are talking to me on a cell phone while driving, <em>I will hang up<\/em> after asking you to call me back later.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t care if you&#8217;re friend, family, job recruiter, Trent Reznor, or Barack Obama. Do <em>not<\/em> call me while driving. It&#8217;s stupid and dangerous to yourself and anyone around you.<\/p>\n<p>There really shouldn&#8217;t need to be much explanation on this one, but just in case, here&#8217;s excerpts from two recent articles from the New York Times that essentially confirm what <em>should<\/em> be blatantly obvious to everyone.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n  <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2009\/07\/19\/technology\/19distracted.html?_r=2\" title=\"New York Times: Driven to Distraction: Drivers and Legislators Dismiss Cellphone Risks\">Driven to Distraction: Drivers and Legislators Dismiss Cellphone Risks<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>  Extensive research shows the dangers of distracted driving. Studies say that drivers using phones are <strong>four times as likely to cause a crash<\/strong> as other drivers, and <strong>the likelihood that they will crash is equal to that of someone with a .08 percent blood alcohol level<\/strong>, the point at which drivers are generally considered intoxicated. Research also shows that <strong>hands-free devices do not eliminate the risks, and may worsen them<\/strong> by suggesting that the behavior is safe.<\/p>\n<p>  Five states and the District of Columbia require drivers who talk on cellphones to use hands-free devices, but research shows that <strong>using headsets can be as dangerous as holding a phone<\/strong> because the conversation distracts drivers from focusing on the road. <em>[Not to mention all the people in Washington who blatantly ignore the law and don&#8217;t even use hands-free headsets, because we wussed out and passed a watered-down, ineffectual law that is practically pointless. -mh]<\/em><\/p>\n<p>  [Simulation-based] research, showing that <strong>multitasking drivers are four times as likely to crash<\/strong> as people who are focused on driving, matches the findings of two studies, in Canada and in Australia, of drivers on actual roads.<\/p>\n<p>  The highway safety administration estimates that <strong>drivers using a hand-held device are at 1.3 times greater risk of a crash or near crash, and at three times the risk when dialing<\/strong>, compared with others who are simply driving.<\/p>\n<p>  Research also shows that <strong>drivers conversing with fellow passengers do not present the same danger<\/strong>, because adult riders <strong>help keep drivers alert<\/strong> and <strong>point out dangerous conditions<\/strong> and <strong>tend to talk less in heavy traffic<\/strong> or hazardous weather.<\/p>\n<p>  \u201cThere is <strong>zero doubt<\/strong> that one\u2019s driving ability is impaired when one is trying to have a cellphone conversation \u2014 whether <strong>hands-free or hand-held, it doesn\u2019t matter<\/strong>,\u201d said David E. Meyer, professor of psychology at the University of Michigan.<\/p>\n<p>  In fact, some scientists argue that <strong>hands-free laws make driving riskier<\/strong> by effectively condoning the practice.<\/p>\n<p>  <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2009\/07\/21\/technology\/21distracted.html?partner=rss&amp;emc=rss\" title=\"New York Times: U.S. Withheld Data on Risks of Distracted Driving\">U.S. Withheld Data on Risks of Distracted Driving<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>  [The] National Highway Traffic Safety Administration&#8230;decided not to make public <strong>hundreds of pages of research and warnings<\/strong> about the use of phones by drivers \u2014 in part, officials say, because of concerns about angering Congress.<\/p>\n<p>  The former head of the highway safety agency said he was <strong>urged to withhold the research to avoid antagonizing members of Congress<\/strong> who had warned the agency to stick to its mission of gathering safety data but not to lobby states.<\/p>\n<p>  Critics say that rationale and the failure of the Transportation Department, which oversees the highway agency, to more vigorously pursue distracted driving has <strong>cost lives<\/strong> and allowed to blossom a culture of behind-the-wheel multitasking.<\/p>\n<p>  \u201cWe\u2019re looking at <strong>a problem that could be as bad as drunk driving<\/strong>, and the government has covered it up,\u201d said Clarence Ditlow, director of the Center for Auto Safety.<\/p>\n<p>  Mr. Ditlow said that putting fears of the House panel ahead of public safety was an abdication of the agency\u2019s responsibility.<\/p>\n<p>  \u201cNo public health and safety agency should allow its research to be <strong>suppressed for political reasons<\/strong>,\u201d he said. Doing so \u201cwill cause deaths and injuries on the highways.\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>**If I can tell that you are talking to me on a cell phone while driving, _I will hang up_ after asking you to call me back later.** I don&#8217;t care if you&#8217;re friend, family, job recruiter, Trent Reznor, or Barack Obama. Do _not_ call me while driving. It&#8217;s stupid and dangerous to yourself and anyone around you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2043],"tags":[13,65],"class_list":["post-7554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal","tag-life","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7554\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}