just a bother

[scoop22]

i live in NY so we are hands free.. not aloud to talk on cell phones while driving. what gives the everyone the right?? ok so that upset me today on my way home. i have seen this several times. it just annoys me.. i also know several who have gotten tickets for this...

eta: i don't think i could talk on the phone again without my blue tooth. i love being hands free. and cord free
http://b2.lilypie.com/XbITm4.png

[C99]

huh?

I don't think the police make the laws, just enforce them. I'm sure there are NHTSA studies about how dangerous it is to talk on a cell phone while driving, just like it's dangerous to put on make-up, read a book, while driving.

[Melanie]

Are you saying that the police are using cell phones that are not hands-free?

[nov04]

I know this is a bitch and you're certainly entitled, but I have to comment. I think its the same principle as police going through red lights. They would have a darn good reason (I'm sure there's an exception to every rule), maybe even saving someone's life.

[AddiesMom]

Thanks, you just reminded me I need to get an earpiece for my cell. I am driving alone with DD from Mass to NJ in two weeks and CT, NY and NJ are all hands free (I think!)

[KrisM]

Are you upset that you had to go hands free? Or that police are enforcing it with tickets?

As for not being allowed to talk while driving, I think this makes the roads a lot safer. And, I don't know that the police have a choice, really, whether to enforce or not.

We drive through NY to NH often. What annoys me is that there is a sign when you enter the state saying that you must be hands-free. If you miss that ONE sign, you will never see another one. This is on the thruway. One trip, I made a really good attempt to look at every sign that we pass for hours and there was not another one with that info. Seems like maybe there could be additional signage.

[elizabethkott]

I see this all the time. I'm on LI, and I constantly see cops on their cell phones, holding them up to their ear without an earpiece. I also frequently see regular people doing the same thing - not to make a broad generalization, but it's usually women of a high-maitenence quality right by the chi-chi really pricey mall in large, expensive SUV's wearing designer sunglasses... but not to make a generalization. :)
There was acually a woman in an Escalade yesterday, pulling out of the ritzy mall, holding her cell phone in one hand, trying to steer and read directions at the same time... she nearly sideswiped me with DS in the back seat. When I honked at her, she dropped the directions to give me the finger.
Classy, no?
She did still stay on the phone.
Sometimes I wish I could make a citizen's arrest for people who are being stupid.

[sarahsthreads]

>Sometimes I wish I could make a citizen's arrest for people
>who are being stupid.

Oh, me too. There's a "new" (as in, two years old) separate left turn arrow near our mall. I can't tell you the number of times I've been turning left on that green arrow and had someone across from me make a right on red without slowing down while chatting away on their hand-held cell phone. And if I have the nerve to honk at them they give me the finger and keep going. It's sooooo hard to not say the things that go through my head, but I have to be extra good since DD repeats *everything* I say. She'll also tattle about me honking the horn - "Daddy, the car went 'beep beep'!"

As for the OP, I honestly don't mind if the cops are talking on their hand-held phones as long as they don't drive dangerously while they do it. It would be *nice* if they set a good example, but I also don't drive 80 in a 65 mph zone just because the cops are, kwim?

Sarah :)

[22tango]

I wish we had such a law in WA state!

This past weekend my DH almost got hit while crossing the street with a "walk" sign by a freakin' lady turning left while talking on her cell and not looking until the last second when she heard me SCREAM! I was a nervous wreck for the next few hours and my husband was sooo angry that she wasn't even looking in front of her -- just too busy chatting away to even look for pedestrians in downtown Seattle!

I'm still upset about it. I looked it up and a bill just passed the state house, and is in the state senate. Hopefully THIS will be the year they finally get it passed.