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.