Originally Posted By: RWEST
I'm glad I don't drive in Canada!!
Anyone who thinks he can drive as well while texting or talking on a cellphone, as he can while concentrating totally on the task at hand, is simply fooling himself. There is just too much undeniable evidence to the contrary for any reasonable person to think otherwise.
You may get away with it for a while, or even forever, but, there's also the chance that, at a critical juncture, you might not respond properly. And, I, or my niece and her minivan full of kids, might be the victim.
I have been fortunate to dodge a number of cell-phoners at intersections who, I'm certain, thought THEY were doing a fine job; they weren't!!
Official company policy here is - "zero cell-phone usage while driving. If you receive a call, or need to make a call, pull over where it's safe and take care of it."
I have 7 years @ 60K KM (420K KM / 262K Miles) of driving problem free. 85% of which is in treacherous winter weather.
If I had to pull over every time I needed to make a call my days would be 15 hours long and I would pollute the environment from idling my engine in order to keep warm in the winter in my "mobile office".
Most of the conversations I have are confidential and can't be made in the restaurants I'm visiting or need to be in a quiet place other than a busy restaurant etc.
If there was some way I could hook up a video camera in my car to show you all the accidents and problems on the road I have avoided and my general driving style while talking on the phone I would and I'm sure it would make you think otherwise.
Trust me driving comes first, talking comes second. The problem is that others don't prioritize it in this manner and talking on a cell phone while driving gets a bad rep. then you get the media who try to turn profits on everything and they blow it out of proportion.
Texting/e-mailing and anything else that involves taking your eyes off the road I would agree with. But talking on my blue-tooth speaker phone hooked up to my cell phone which has voice dialing, I would have to disagree.
On another note, why is Ford putting the voice control "Sync" system into their vehicles which allows for hands free dialing of a cell phone if it's such a problem? Perhaps there is more to it that the fear promoting media lets on?
I guess we will agree to disagree.