Using a Cell Phone and Driving!

What Were You Doing When You Should Have Been Driving? (#3)

In-Vehicle Cell Phone Use: Is it a Fatal Distraction?

A good friend of mine, called me to inform me he had just witnessed this exact act with an ironic twist. Yes! Cell phone use is a fatal distraction.

Here is the story. A lady has her cell phone tucked in the crook of her neck holding the phone to her ear with her left shoulder. As the lady begins her left hand turn through the intersection, her phone slips. The lady immediately leans into the slip and inadvertently turns the steering wheel left as she tries to over compensate for the slippage of her phone at the same time. The direct result of her action amounted in plowing over the stationary traffic light pole in the medium. The lady drove over the traffic light pole without terminating the call and/or stopping. It appeared as though she had no knowledge of hitting the traffic light or running over it like a dirt bike over whooptie-do's or a skier over black diamond moguls.

Fortunately and even ironically, the vehicle behind her was a police patrol car. After chasing the lady down with lights and sirens, the lady finally hangs up and pulls over.

Profiles in Driver Distraction: Effects of Cell Phone Conversations on Younger and Older Drivers. by David L. Strayer , Frank A. Drews

Why does Cell Phone Use Interfere with Driving?

Hint: The bumper sticker reads, "Hang-up and Drive!"

Keep asking your self, "Where is the next accident going to occur?"

California has a new law coming!