Do You Use your Cell Phone when you are Driving?

With all due respect, I hope you've read the comments here on the extreme danger of using the phone in any manner while driving. Better to pull over or wait until you're not sharing the highway with many others. We need to watch out for one another's safely, and yes, their very lives here on this earth. Karen

I will also say that it is a bad habit. And it is one that I too need to change. I've had a hands free earpiece for my phone for as long as I can remember so that I am able to keep both of my hands on the steering wheel and the gear shifter, yet I also think that it is still a dangerous habit to a certain extent.

Sorry if I sound rude, but that is just plain careless of you. You text & drive when its safe? I'm sorry, but when is it safe to text & drive? So many people have said the same thing you are saying & have actually caused accidents. Texting & driving is dangerous & careless... And I hope one day you will realize this & stop on your own instead of causing an accident.

I hope that you take no offense to this at all, but I don't think it is ever safe to text while you are driving. This is one thing that I have never done and it is something that I will never ever do in the future either. I am able to type on a fullsized keyboard while paying attention to something else but the thought of trying to text while paying complete attention to something else is something that I just don't think is possible for me.

I've seen the stands that you are referring to and I think those are a great thing. Despite the fact that I acknowedge that I do use my cellular phone while I am driving, I also think that all cars should be equipped with some sort of equipment that makes it hands free to use your phone while you are driving.

It depends on how good the driver is. I have a cousin who is fond of using cellphone while driving his passenger jeep. He is doing that for a very long period of time. No accidents. Only passengers screaming at him, and other vehicles avoiding him because they already knew of his bad habit of using cellphone while driving. He is jeepney is like an ambulance in the highway. Other vehicles changing lane to avoid him. They knew him already and they have already marked his jeepney. When they see his vehicle, they are saying "Oh, here he comes! Give way! Give way!"

well thank you so much for caring about yourself & others. I wish we had more people like you. I think you pulling over to answer a call & to stop driving was a SMART choice & I hope you keep this up. As for using blue tooth, they are actually starting to ban that as well & anyone caught with a phone turned on while driving will get a ticket. They have done studies that show even the blue tooth distracts people just as much as texting & driving.

It is great to know that you pull over your car while you are driving so that you can attend to the phone call with your full attention and you are able to attend to the roads with your full attention as well. The one question that I do have to ask you is when you are using your Bluetooth while driving does it strike you as being a whole lot different from having a conversation in the car while driving?

FOxee "They have done studies that show even the blue tooth distracts people just as much as texting & driving. " This I find very hard to believe, it was my understanding that texting whilst driving increased the chance of an accident far, far greater then talking and driving, and since while you are using your blue tooth you have both hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road, though I will agree not always your attention, I do not think that it is as dangerous as "texting & driving" sailor10 You are most right my dear, there are enough accidents as it is, and the penalties are not nearly as severe as they should be, at least that is my opinion. dorannmwin It doesn't strike me as much different at all. However, I do find that you can lose your attention while driving, between the time the conversation was posted and today, I have found that even with the blue tooth, it is better to pull over then to keep driving, but it is really close to the same as being in conversation though, and it really does depend how the conversation is going. It is different though - for example - My spouse called me, and was asking about household stuff, while I was driving, since I had to switch my focus from "road" to "home" I was not paying quite enough attention, and I forgot to use my signal light(not using signal lights is my BIGGEST pet peeve in the world) So, depending on I suppose how hard you have to think about your conversation will determine how focused you can remain on the road, at least this is my believe. Cheers.

As I've said to another person, I think that all new cars should be equipped with a hands free type of set that goes through the speakers to the stereo in the car. There is a similar contraption that I've seen on infomercials that works like this, but I think if the car companies worked on something like this it would be even better.

I don't think my heart would let me quit watching the girls. Yes, I realize that they are my nieces and not my own children, but where I've been so close to them since both of them were born, I think it is very important for me to have them in my life. As far as the phone and the car, I will sometimes go out and sit in the car to attend to a phone call just because I know that no one will disturb me out there.

Aunts and uncles are very important to the kids in a family..I always have had nieces and nephews running around here. I would have liked to hid in the car to talk but back then I had no cell..and I had boys..left to themselves for 5 minutes they would have turned the ceiling fans into grenade launchers..so I stayed in the closet.

well, its been ages since I've had a kid in the car so I guess I might if I had a kid as a passenger

I never have an adult passenger in the car with me while I am driving, but when I am the adult passenger in a car, then I am the one to take the calls.

I use a hands free kit in the car and I find them very safe to use. I think the way things are going here with some of the driving laws they will ban the use of phones in a car all together

I can't believe that they are reviewing the use of hands free sets. I think those make it as safe as it is to drive while having a conversation with another person in the car or even singing along to the radio while you are driving. I'm not saying that either of these situations are perfect, but I don't thin in this day and age that there is a perfect solution.

Great to know about that concepts in your life, my friend. Well, you really true about that belief you had in your life. We need to bolder enough to eliminate risk in our life...

Life is a very important thing to consider and if I felt that I was putting anyone's life in jeopardy the way that I do it then it wouldn't be an option at all.

I am coming to the belief that it should be illegal to use a handset while you are driving no matter where you are. I think this would make the roads a lot safer than they are otherwise. There are so many different distractions for people and this would just eliminate one of them.

You are completely correct, even when there are laws against doing certain things, like drinking and driving or even manditory seatbelt usage, there are people that still don't follow those laws. However, I think the laws do make a great impact because there are far less people that do these things after the laws are enacted.

Besides I lost my two very expensive new cell phones while listening to them and lost them . It not only cost me money but emotionally I feel so bad about them. I have IMEI number of one of them so I blocked it but the other one was a gift from a very good friend of mine

You have got a very good point here. Life is very important and I probably should think more about preserving my life.

May I know why? I mean, the car already stop and why don't use time to answer call or texting than do nothing while waiting the traffic light turn into green?

It's just something that has always bothered me. First of all, I'm not a really heavy texter and secondly because I know that even the slightest inattention to the road can cause an accident. I really think this all stems back to the fact that when I was younger my sister totalled a car by sneezing so I saw how taking your eyes away from the road for even the blink of an eye can cause a major car accident.

My feeling on answering text messages while you are behind the steering wheel is that it shouldn't be allowed in any situation, whether you are at a red light or at a stand still in traffic, I just don't think it is right.

Dorann, you bring up the very point that went through my own mind reading some of these comments. My daughter A., soon after she got her driver's license, went off the road because she had friends with her and looked at the one who was talking at her, briefly...but that was all it took. I'm a chicken in heavy city traffic, and DO ask for complete quiet until we are out and the open and traffic is lighter. Distraction is distraction...like fiddling with the radio dial, etc. Again, excellent point. Karen

Do you still feel this way when a person is using a hands free attachment? And, just out of curiosity, do you feel this way when a person is having a conversation with a passenger in their car?

Sounds like you are all great multi-taskers indeed. I have never and would never consider sending a text message while I am driving. Of course, I've also never received an urgent text message.

It isn't really, it's just that I don't keep mine out and handy, so if the phone rings, I have to hook things up.

The reason that I am comfortable doing it with a headpiece is because I feel that it is really no different than having a conversation with someone that is in the car with me.

I think that using a handset while you are driving is a very irresponsible thing and I can't believe that I failed to mention in the initial post that I do always use a hands free set. However, the fact that I failed to mention that I believe has led to a very good discussion.

Regardless of whether or not I am using a hands free device on my phone, I still don't like to be on the phone while I am in a place where there is a lot of traffic. It is just too much to even have a conversation with a passenger in the car when there is a fair amount of traffic.

I think that you have a very valid point to a certain extent. I've thought about this time and time again, and I feel that using a hands free device you aren't in any different a situation than you are when you are talking to a passenger in the car with you.

No, I'm not tired of hearing how dangerous that it is to talk and drive at the same time. I know that my children are the most important thing in the world to me and I would never want them to have to grow up with only one parent as I had to do as a teenager.