

Which Bay Area Drivers Aren’t Using Hands-Free Devices? - JacobAldridge
http://www.cockeyed.com/science/car_phones/car_phones.shtml

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jackowayed
The statistical analysis is not very thorough.

For example, while the population might be evenly split between men and women,
that doesn't mean that there's an even split of driver-hours between men and
women. In my observations, men drive more than women. Like, when a
heterosexual couple is driving somewhere together, it seems to me that in a
pretty large majority of couples, the man drives most of the times. It's also
probably that white people drive more on average because they have more money
than blacks and latinos on average. (Though I'm not sure how the averages
compare for asians.)

Anyway, I'm not sure that the demographic stats mean as much as he claims.

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paddy_m
Was he taking pictures while driving to conduct this survey?

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cvg
hehe, and probably with his camera phone.

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CamperBob
Here's what I sent her (quoting): "Only a year on the books and the California
hands-free cell phone law is virtually ignored. I see people everywhere and
every day driving and talking on their cell phones. There seems to be three
types of people; those who do not use a cell phone in the car at all, those
who use a hands-free device, and those who don’t. I was wondering why so many
people seem not to care if there is a law?"

Respect for traffic laws is regularly degraded by feel-good measures like
unreasonably low speed limits, obvious speed traps that have nothing to do
with traffic safety, 20-mile-long highway "work zones" with no workers but
plenty of cops, "traffic calming" devices such as unnecessary stop signs and
obstacles, and countless other signs of governmental indifference to drivers'
everyday concerns. Traffic laws are treated as optional because they are often
completely unrelated to safety.

"Is it because they think the ticket is so cheap? Is it that their chances of
getting caught are so low?"

There have been numerous studies suggesting that hands-free devices are no
safer when driving. This is undoubtedly because when it comes to traffic
safety, your presence of mind is far more important than where your hands are.
Perhaps more drivers realize the truth of that idea than you might think.

I violate the hands-free law frequently, but never in a context where I'm
likely to need the missing brainpower. I wouldn't behave any differently with
a hands-free device because I know it would still be hazardous for me to do
so, based on my own driving abilities and general absentmindedness. Michael
Schumacher can use his phone anywhere he wants, but I'm too easily distracted
to get away with that!

I think it was Jaron Lanier who defined virtual reality as "the place where
you're at when you're on the telephone." Virtual reality, whatever it is,
doesn't sound like a good place to be when you're driving. My suspicion is
that hands-free laws don't work for anyone except legislators who are
pandering for votes and/or desperate for revenue, and cops who are always
looking for excuses to stop people who aren't doing anything wrong besides
driving in the wrong car, in the wrong place, and/or with the wrong skin
color.

