kmcrawford111

Why not just pull over in such a case?

JoeyBike

Don't know if this will help, but it might make you laugh:

My old commute took me right through Uptown and the Garden District in New Orleans on narrow side streets with 2 and 4 way stops at every corner. Maybe I had to stop 40 times in 4 miles as sight lines are horrible. Lots and lots of SUV driving soccer moms navigating those narrow streets and ALL of them are on the phone. The normal series of events:

1. I roll up to a stop sign with right of way. I see the SUV coming so I stop (track stand) at a 4-way stop, or cautiously proceed at a 2-way stop.

2. As I start to go, they go too. So...

3. I stop AGAIN (track stand) just beyond the stop sign.

4. The female (just so happens it is ALWAYS a female) jams on the brakes in panic stop, smiles sheepishly, and waves me on.

5. Still in my track stand I reach up to my ear as if holding a cell phone, then swing my arm around in a huge arc and pretend that I am jamming the imaginary phone up my @$$. Then with my index finger, I point to her.

6. I put my foot on the ground and wave her on while relishing the look on her face, especially if there is a passenger.

CB HI

+1

JoeyBike

You a big NIN fan? You probably know that Trent Reznor is from my home town. Bumped into him a few times around town. Never spoke to him tho. I have yet to use one of his tunes in a video, but I will one day.

degnaw

I'm in high school, so obviously i don't get "urgent" phone calls; I'm just pointing out something others may see as a valid reason to do so. (when I get a cell call, I generally ignore it, pull off if convenient, and call back)

thompsonpost

Excuse yourself from the call, hang up, pull over next chance, call back. Works for me. Normally I use the speaker button on my Blackberry.

subclavius

It's a lifestyle thing in the USA. I remember watching a documentary on the autobahn and they said German cars made for the German market don't have cup holders, because when they drive they drive. They're disciplined drivers who don't take the act for granted.

Driver education here needs to catch up to technology, and we need a national law banning the use of cell phones while driving. I told my family, friends, and work that if I ever get hit on the road, to have the cell phone records of the driver checked. That would be a good law too, and if enacted I bet the statistics would surprise even the most jaded cyclists.

A couple of weeks ago I received a call when driving, and although on a deserted stretch of road I asked the caller to call me back in 5 minutes or that I could call them back after I got off the road. Seems reasonable, right? That's what we are supposed to do, yes? Well, it sure pissed of the caller.

DoB

Germans don't chat on the phone or eat in cars because traffic there is typically heavy, the roads are tight and they tend to move fast as a group. I've driven all over Germany and the driving is typically intense. Just sit at a light for 200 milliseconds after a green and see what happens....they honk angrily. This is why their stoplights actually stage down like the start tree at a drag strip....so that the drivers can have the engine rpm up and the clutch starting to engage by the time they get a green.

To the OP - I think you scared this woman, hopefully enough to drive some reflective thought. She was defensive at the point of the confrontation, but I bet later she thought back on it and realized she could have killed you.

supercycle62

I see people driving and talking on cel phones every single day. Every single day....

On my ride home there is section of the road where the bike lane "merges" with the right hand turn ramp to get onto a parkway (the "bike lane" continues straight). At rush hour cars and bicycles have to be cautious of each other at this spot and usually right lane traffic is backed up..but yesterday a driver talking on her cel phone while "merging" into the lane decides to just stop. Myself and 2 other cyclists were expecting her to just merge to the right hand turn ramp lane so we could just go around her on the left but I figure she thought because there is a "bike lane" she had to let us pass her on the right. This of course caused us to become stuck behind her as other cars where now taking the right turn ramp...Finally we where able to pass her as she did get in the right turn lane. I am not sure if it was a case of the cel phone or just plain old stupidity....

thompsonpost

You know, I think there is something in the cell phone signal that somehow disables mirrors, windows and turn signals, as well as somehow causing the operator to think on a level that invokes hazardous operation of the vehicle. I know for certain that this is true with regard to turn signals and the braking system.

noglider 

JoeyBike, that's a good story and a good idea.

kmcrawford111

It's not a valid reason and your first post didn't suggest so.

If there's one thing becoming car-lite and less of a consumer-zombie has taught me, it's how neurotic the US population is. Always gotta do everything and get everything right now, always gotta be in a hurry, always stressed out over ridiculous trivial things. Making a 10 mile 3-ton SUV trip to Wal-Mart just to get a box of Ho-Hos, for God's sake. Thank God I stopped living that way. I've learned that 90% of the things I want to get or things I want to do can wait. When I do finally get things / go places, the experience is much more rewarding, especially if I go there on bike. Delayed gratification. I swear food at restaraunts actually tastes better this way. It's just too easy to hop in the car and drive to a restaraunt.

End rant.

kmcrawford111

Oh yeah. I rarely get into music from bands other than NIN, in fact.

I look forward to watching the video. I'm sure it'll be entertaining! I've seen some of your others.

N.O. looks like a nice place - I certainly wouldn't mind visiting. My wife has been there. I hope to move to a more urban area within the next few years - suburbia/sprawl sucks.

noglider 

kmcrawford11, you're a man wise beyond your years. Unless you're a woman.

Sirrus Rider

Shame were won't be able to get a video of this.. A Third party shot of the scene would have most of us laughing to tears!

kgriffioen

No need for any new laws. The ones that we have already cover this tyoe of activity. Its called inattentive driving. No need to punish all for the inability of a few to multitask safely.

Map tester

I can only speak for myself, but my boss does not have my cellphone number. My phone, my time. The *very* few times I have gotten a call while driving a car, I either let my passenger answer the phone or I pull over someplace safe and call back.

Last week, I passed someone who had pulled over to talk on their phone; unfortunately, it on the bike path where it crosses a RR track.

kmcrawford111

That's quite a compliment - thank you very much. I am a man of 29 years.

nkfrench 

I am still trying to figure out *who* people are talking to on a cellphone at 7AM and *why* that is more important than driving safely.

I don't give out my cellphone number - I set it up so my homephone voicemail will PAGE my cellphone and I can check voicemail at a convenient moment. Half the time I don't even answer my home phone. So many of the calls are just nuisance / telemarketers anyhow. Most legit callers have figured out that they get better response from me if they just email me.

Fremdchen

I read about a study a couple years ago about driving/cell phone use that demonstrated the "scanning" visual activity dropped precipitously and the drivers stared at a spot a little ways directly in front of their cars. Their perception of peripheral objects and events just evaporates. I'll see if Google can cough it up for me.

ETA a couple different studies:
https://www.bcmj.org/dangers-driving-...king-cellphone

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18156094

ItsJustMe

Same here. A couple of days ago I put on my turn signal to pull into a parking space in a parking lot. Of course, that actually might make sense, given how some idiots tear around parking lots and like to try to pull past people trying to park.

ItsJustMe

That's interesting. However, I'm assuming that in Germany they don't have a lot of arrow-straight, dead boring expressways that go on for hundreds of miles. I think that if you're on a 6 hour drive consisting mainly of keeping your car at a consistent speed and keeping it between two paint lines down a road that never has more than a 4% grade and no turns sharper than about a 1/4 mile radius turn, it's probably SAFER to have SOME distraction, radio, drinks, something. Otherwise you get highway hypnosis.

aley

Oh, NOW you tell me. I've used that very excuse with my boss. He was fine with it, BTW.

genec

I think the problem is actually compounded.

No doubt we could easily use cell phones and drive at the same time under certain conditions, but what has also happened is that more traffic on the roads, plus increased speed limits (in my area I can still see the previous lower speed limits in faded paint on the road), all add up to a more stressed environment... and trying to multitask under those conditions is just asking for trouble.

Add to that the fact that some people are doing more than talking with their cell phones... they are texting, which requires one to look at the screen, vice the roadway.

genec

And that my friend is why every cell phone has some sort of messaging service.

I keep my cell phone in my jeans pocket when I drive... there is no way I can physically retrieve it to answer it in time. Thus when driving, all calls go to message. I will retrieve them the moment I can pull over. Unless you are transporting live human organs for lifesaving transplant, nothing your boss has to say cannot wait until an appropriate moment.