On Saturday, February 23, 2002, at 03:08 , Michael R. Clements wrote:
> Jerry, I admire your purist attitude. It's true that phone is a bad
> distraction but remember that some people are more dangerous behind the
> wheel even without any distractions. The term "unsafe at any speed"
> comes to mind.
True but irrelevant.
> The research I have read is inconclusive in this area. It is certain
> that
> using a hand held cell phone does increase the probability for mistakes
> and
> collisions. But this fact alone is a red herring because tuning the
> radio or
> having a conversation with a passenger also increases the risk. What
> needs to
> be shown, and to my knowledge has yet to be shown, is whether using the
> phone
> increases the risk more than these other distractions.
The research is crap. Here's the nub: Over 50% of the overtly
dangerous things that happen to me on the road prove to have been
performed by a driver on a cell phone. And I'm not preselecting - I
almost never see the phone (or the driver, clearly) BEFORE the clown
action occurs. Anyone with an open mind can reproduce these results.
The research is unnecessary crap.
KeS
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