Re: Cell phone driving = drunk driving

donquijote1954 <nolionnoproblem@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:

> You wouldn't know this if you listen to all the vilification of drunk
> drivers, while you see everybody chatting on the cell phone, but the
> latter may be just as dangerous as the former. Well, it may just be
> that, just as terrorism, they need a scapegoat to keep people off the
> real subjects....
> 
> Cell phone driving = drunk driving...

<snip>

Except the article is overstating it: they compared drivers using
cell phones to drivers with a blood alcohol level of 0.08%, which
is just at the lower limit for drunk driving.  It's set low enough
that there is not a serious level of impairment, and it is legal
to drive with a blood alchohol level of 0.079 (in California - the
level may differ from state to state).

Also, there is a difference between chatting away and making a
quick courtesy call telling someone that you'll be late (and
you can, of course, do that while stopped at a red light as
the call is very short).

The article also doesn't say anything about the amount of time
spent on the phone.  Spending one minute per hour on the phone
while driving is far safer (acording to the results cited) than
spending the same hour driving with a blood alchohol level of
0.79, (ever so slightly below the legal limit).

It also ignores the fact that the call may reduce the amount
of driving by more than enough to make up for whatever increased
risk there is.  E.g., you get a call to please stop by a store
on the way home to pick something up.  The call takes 30 seconds.
By accepting the call, you end up reducing the amount of driving
by 10 minutes.