- LONDON (Reuters) - Motorists
talking on mobile phones while driving are more dangerous than those who
are over the legal drink-driving limit, a report said on Thursday.
-
- Tests conducted by the Transport Research Laboratory,
Berkshire, England, showed that drivers' reaction times were on average
30 percent slower when talking on a hand-held mobile compared to when they
have been drinking alcohol.
-
- It took mobile users half a second longer to react than
normal and a third of a second longer than when they had been drinking.
-
- They were also less able to maintain a constant speed
and found it harder to keep a safe distance from the car in front.
-
- Direct Line insurance, which commissioned the research,
said that four out of 10 drivers admit to using a mobile phone when driving.
-
- Dominic Burch, road safety campaign manager at Direct
Line, said: "We were surprised to discover that talking on a mobile
phone is actually more dangerous than being drunk behind the wheel.
-
- "In effect this means that 10 million drivers are
partaking in a driving activity that is potentially more dangerous than
being drunk."
-
- Tests showed that hands-free mobile phones were also
a considerable distraction, added Burch.
-
- Direct Line said it would support MP Janet Anderson who
is campaigning to make it an offence for motorists to use hand-held phones
while driving. The second reading of her bill is due to take place on April
12.
-
- Burch added: "Eventually we would like to see the
use of mobile phones when driving, both hands-held and hands-free, become
as socially unacceptable as drink driving."
-
-
-
- Commentary
-
- By Jim Mortellaro
Jsmortell@aol.com
3-24-2
-
- Horse hockey in spades. OK, maybe those who use the phone
without a hands free option, but with a hands free option, using a cell
phone is not dangerous. As a matter of fact, I would go one point further.
Using a hand held cell phone 'should' not be dangerous. Except for radiation.
And that s solved easily by using an external antenna, getting the RF (radio
frequency) outside the car not in it.
-
- What is dangerous is the attitude, level of concentration
and the "training" of the licensed driver. What is even more
dangerous is the continuous legislating of life in the so-called free world
without thought or action which would enable the user of cell phones, ham
radio, CB or other devices including satellite equipment to find one's
way. What is dangerous is the inability of the government to legislate
RESPONSIBILITY. Personal responsibility! That, dear friends, is what
it's all about. Pretty soon, it will be illegal to listen to one's radio
or CD player because it too is distracting. And all this from a country
which eliminated guns from the hands of citizens and had their level of
crime go up significantly since the event. And those crimes involve hand
guns. My grandparents used to say, "What is this world coming to?"
-
- I say, "What are the people in this world coming
to?" And the answer to that question is .... nothing. They are acting
as if everything they do needs to be listed in the law books. They need
to be treated like children because they are acting like children. The
place to learn how to be responsible is not in school or in the law books.
It's in the home. And that place is growing less and less responsible every
day. No, not the kids, the parents. The scenario is not unlike the environment.
At some point, you reach a place of no return. At some point, we reach
a time when there is nothing more we can do to undo the damage to our environment
... and our children.
-
- So let us muddle and confuse their minds with the drivel
shown on TV and in the theaters (I refer to the movie theaters). Numb their
senses, including the one which defines personal responsibility. Dumb down
the intellect at the earliest possibloe stage in the life of the child.
Make them not think, use their intellect. They are much more "Controllable"
that way. No guns with which to protect themselves and their rights. No
intellect with which to protect their freedoms and no will to even try.
God help us, but I truly believe we are almost at that point. The point
of no return.
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- Jim Mortellaro
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