There really isn’t any doubt anymore. Cellphones and automobiles are a dangerous mix unless the car is parked and the ignition is off. We’ve all seem it and some of us have done it. I’m talking about the loss of focus one can get when talking on the phone and than the driver behind us at the stop light blares their horn with an impatience and anger that is exhibited with the duration and frequency their hand pumps the horn button.
The most extreme example I’ve witnessed was a pickup driver getting out of his vehicle and screaming through the closed drivers side window of a BMW at a shocked and soon frightened, middle aged, and as my wife is prone to say, carefully put together, women. As he tells her to get the F...K off of her phone and drive, she is struggling to get out of the world where she was having a phone conversation to a place where she can resume driving.
We’ve all witnessed people struggling to control their vehicle with one hand while the other one cups a phone to their ear, or worse steering with their knees while they talk and suck down their caffeine rush of choice. Many of us deride this behavior as dangerous and stupid, yet when that little pocket monster chirps we don’t hesitate to answer it. After all, it may be important.
Is cell phone use addictive? That is a question being tossed around intellectual circles.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/us/reframing-the-debate-over-using-phones-while-driving.html?ref=technology. If it is where is the twelve step program? No their answer seems to be lock your phone in your trunk another way of saying, just say no. Like that ever worked.
Maybe what we have to do is think n terms of being responsible for our actions and how what we do effects others. In only extreme circumstances is there not a place to pull over and answer that phone call that might be important. Also, remember you have voice mail. Lastly, think of what we did before cell phones, but than I guess there are fewer of us daily that can remember back that far.
The most extreme example I’ve witnessed was a pickup driver getting out of his vehicle and screaming through the closed drivers side window of a BMW at a shocked and soon frightened, middle aged, and as my wife is prone to say, carefully put together, women. As he tells her to get the F...K off of her phone and drive, she is struggling to get out of the world where she was having a phone conversation to a place where she can resume driving.
We’ve all witnessed people struggling to control their vehicle with one hand while the other one cups a phone to their ear, or worse steering with their knees while they talk and suck down their caffeine rush of choice. Many of us deride this behavior as dangerous and stupid, yet when that little pocket monster chirps we don’t hesitate to answer it. After all, it may be important.
Is cell phone use addictive? That is a question being tossed around intellectual circles.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/us/reframing-the-debate-over-using-phones-while-driving.html?ref=technology. If it is where is the twelve step program? No their answer seems to be lock your phone in your trunk another way of saying, just say no. Like that ever worked.
Maybe what we have to do is think n terms of being responsible for our actions and how what we do effects others. In only extreme circumstances is there not a place to pull over and answer that phone call that might be important. Also, remember you have voice mail. Lastly, think of what we did before cell phones, but than I guess there are fewer of us daily that can remember back that far.
Comments
Post a Comment