Gosh, doncha hate those cell phone users?!

[ASmartMan]

jwight

Nice Items (will not admit to ordering any of them) that reminds me of years ago (I'm only 50 so its not THAT many) while sitting in my office and hearing music from the production floor. Don't get me wrong I do enjoy music when you can hear it clearly and not over modulated, now having said that .

I work in electronics, and having a LOTS of test equipment available to me, I decided (then) enough was enough. I got out a signal generator, matched it for the FM band and started to have FUN.

Every channel they tuned to, I jammed, after a week of them not being able to hear the radio, they gave up

Now for the other subject. I live in southern NH and have always worked in MA, until recently, I've always had a 40+ mile commute (Rt 93) towards Boston and as we all know Boston area drivers are not the kindest in the world.

All my accidents (actually stupid people doing stupid things) including some of the things mentioned in this thread, OOHH would you like some examples:crybaby:

My 1975 ALL STOCK Corvette Stingray (man did I love that car) was rear ended and actually totaled . The person driving the other car had to be taken to the hospital because of burns. WAIT not because anything caught on fire, because of the hot coffee and the cigarette that burned through the persons pants. After the hospital visit that person was arrested for driving to endanger. I made out on the insurance claim.

I had a bumper ripped off my truck because a person tried to exit from the 3rd lane as I was getting on 93 north @ 5PM from 128/95 west. when the cops arrived, that person said I pulled out in front of them, the cop (I'll never forget the laugh) said, "look (as he pointed to where he was parked looking for speeders) I saw everything"

I agree that the reading, make up, talking, napping (I'm serious), shaving things, and having sex (OOHH yea I've seen it a few times) needs to be stopped while driving, I will not answer the phone while driving, actually my phone is paid for by my company, and if caught using it while driving, there can be some crap.

I can not recall the number of time I have seen a person have an animated (eyes not on the road, hands waving about the car) conversation on a cell, but when I do, I slow down a let the person get ahead of me, Just like that time when I saw a guy getting H**D from his partner:sperm:.

Cars are safer now (one of the reason the ratio of % of driver to deaths is lower), yet all these thing mentioned in this thread do reduce reaction time , I don't care how young you are, using a cell while driving is the same as a .08 on the breathizer (ask you insurance company what would happen if it was proven you were talking on the phone when the accident happened).

Well enough of a rant (miss my Stingray )

ASM

[unicycle]

I considered getting a cell phone jammer just before I got the smart, when I used to take the bus everyday. The bus co. asks ppl not to chat on the phone (which they do at a louder volume than when they carry on normal conversations), but rude ppl do it anyway.

Jamming cell signals of drivers in other cars is a cute idea, but those ppl are only going to place their calls again, so in fact this trick causes even more dangerous driving to occur. If jwright is going to jam signals just for kicks, that's one thing -- but it's certainly not making the streets and h'ways safer.

[Turbo42]

this is why i put an in dash dvd player with bluetooth in my smart

[mike-in-sa]

Cell phone jammers are used by crooks to rob businesses that have cell phone back-up to their burglar alarms and bank robbers use them to keep people from calling 911. I wouldn't want to explain why I had one if I got stopped by the police.

[rawlus®]

i feel bad for the people who feel they have to be connected 24/7.

[gukin]

I once saw a woman driving down the road with her cell pinched between her shoulder and ear, her left hand holding a bowl of ice cream and her right hand holding the spoon, and her knees doing the steering; the kicker was that she was doing pretty well.

As for jammers, license revocation, huge fines and stuff like that, it's not going to work. I live in New Mexico where we have some of the highest if not the highest number of drunks on the road. It's one thing to try yakkiing on the phone or sending a text, it's quite another to put away a case of beer then drive out of the mountains.

In the first case, stupidity should be painful, and some times it is. In the second case DUI, the laws are quite severe and are definitely painful, yet people still do it, get arrested and suffer the consequences. In 2007 alone there were 2200 vehicles CONFISCATED from DUI. I'd post the link but I'm still a sub-3 post noob.

Still, it sucks that someone puts their text message/phone call/whatever above your safety.

[rawlus®]

maybe it's just too easy to get a driver's license?
perhaps it should require a more comprehensive road test with skid pad and other defensive driving tactics, you can even have someone take the solo course with and without a cellphone, have them required to carry-on a conversation while negotiating the cones, then have them do the same course without the phone so they can experience the obvious difference.
i've seen these experiments, people greatly over-estimate their abilities when driving with a cellphone. almost nobody can make it through such a course without hitting the cones - when you're talking on a phone, you access mental images and information and during those times you completely leave the present. there's no way around it.

i think the course should cost perhaps $1000 or more. to cover the additional expenses so that it doesn't have to be supported by additional taxes.

i've also been witness to the same types of courses where the drivers slowly get more and more drunk and try to complete the course. the reality of that is often a wake-up call to the average joe as well. how even 2 drinks impacts your ability to navigate a SIMPLE course successfully.

maybe that's what's needed to drill into people's heads that they are not just in their own little bought&paid for bubble to do as they please but that they share the road with millions of others and that their individuals rights are limited so as not to infringe upon the rights of everyone else not to be killed or injured by your personal bubble.

[Agent 99]

Do you remember when:
1) Riding alone in a car was a peaceful time listening to some tunes with no one and nothing to answer too.
2) You took a list, instead of a phone, to the grocery store so you would remember what to pick up.
3) No movie, seminar, wedding etc was interrupted by the ringing or sudden music or whatever the ring tone of the day was, coming out of someone’s pocket or purse.
4) No stranger appeared to be asking you a question only to realize after answering said question that the ear you can’t see has a nearly permanent phone hooked up to it and the person asking the question is now looking at you like YOU are the crazy one.
(ok sometimes strangers would appear to be talking to you, but at least YOU knew who the crazy one was)

Feel free to add your own memories to this list.

[rawlus®]

we used to go to the symphony in boston alot.
we'd have season tickets and go 5 or 6 nights in a season.
before the performance they'd always flash a "please turn off your cellphones" graphic about 30 feet tall on either side of the stage.
inevitably, cellphones would ring throughout the performance.
cellphone people can be the most narcissistic, selfish, inconsiderate, rude and crude people in existence.
we don't go to the symphony as much anymore.

[NY Smartie]

Originally Posted by rawlus®

i feel bad for the people who feel they have to be connected 24/7.

agreed. especially for their families and children, if they have any.