Hang Up & Drive

My buddy, fellswoop13, and I have been ranting and raving ot each other for years about the idiocy of talking on cellphones while driving. There have been numerous tests that show it to be a great hindrance on any driver. The latest is in a USA Today article:

Cellphone calls affect drivers' brains

One of the key points that 95% of the population just doesn't get is that hands-free phones doesn't change anything. It's the fact that you are having a conversation with somebody that is not physically present. Yes, it's better that you have two hands on the wheel instead of one. But your brain is still impacted by the activity.

A great clip from the article:

In Strayer's lab studies, adults on cellphones drive and react more slowly. "Twentysomethings on a cellphone have the same reaction time as 70-year-olds, and older drivers are super-slow," he says.

That's reaction time, folks. Not ability to turn the wheel, but the amount of time between when the need arises, and when your brain recognizes that need.

There have been studies on this for about seven years, and it has never faltered. Even MythBusters did a show on it! Granted we'll all remember them getting just to the edge of being drunk instead of the results of the cell phone driving. But they did show that driving while having a conversation on a cell phone is near, if not equal to driving drunk.

So next time you see some idiot go left into your lane even when his/her directional has been indicating right from when they took the on-ramp onto the highway a mile and a half back, and they almost clip you...and they never even notice because they are on a fucking cell phone...file that moment away for when you decide to call home about what kind of fucking pizza the kids will want even though your going 85mph on the highway. You are putting peoples' lives in danger because you want to save a couple of minutes.

And when you complain about your schedule and how you NEED to take this call: I DON'T FUCKING CARE!!! You are risking my life, not yours.

Hang up and drive.

FUSIC Update

Okay, its been a month. And, Cake has reminded me to actually USE my blog, so I guess I can write up something about how my phone sucks.

The only problem is that it is still freakin great! I used it as the sole source of music on the five hour drive to Montreal a couple of weeks ago. No battery issues. No transmission issues. It is a bit of a pain in the butt to change that station that the phone is transmitting on, but I can live with that.

I have purchased the 1GB card that I said I was going to, and have more than a dozen albums on there. I also just read an article that they released a 2GB version of the same memory card. I figure I'll wait for the 10GB or 20GB version of the card before I get a new one, though.

I've figured out some of the fun stuff like videos for screensavers, and custom images for contacts, etc. And in doing so, I've determined that the camera portion of this phone does indeed suck. But I would be more pissed if my phone took better pictures than my camera!

The volume of the phone when talking is outstanding. Battery life is great. Customizable navigation and menus are pretty good.

The other thing that sucks is the volume level of the media player. If I'm trying to play music from my phone, it will NOT get loud. But, again, I would be more pissed if my phone was a better stereo than my stereo!

EZ Tip Calculator is WAY cool. Alarm clocks and scheduling looks good, but haven't actually used it. Reception is good. Using it with headphones is outstanding.

So, to sum up:
The phone rocks. Most everything about it is as good or better than expected.
Two things about the phone suck:
1)The camera (does not SUCK during day, but not great either. REALLY SUCKS at night.)
2)The speaker amplifier
In response to both sucky things, I must scream "It's a Fn phone!!"

So, I am also still the only person I have seen with my phone. I have one friend that is considering getting one. But I don't want anyone to get one, because I still like being the cool kid basking in the ooo-aaaah factor.