Over and over a united concern that they are distracting, so much so in fact that there has been attempts by the local law enforcement to ban them to no avail. Certainly I have seen more then a few individuals who for there safety and for the safety of others pull over and talk on the cell. Sadly to say that is not as widely held as it should be, each day I see people driving and talking on phones and driving along. Still they just cruise along talking up a storm, arguing, battling and I hate to say even texting.
Based on experience I am inclined to agree they are very dangerous. Lets take an example, a regular day a regular hour, a nice day, said driver is usually very good about considering distractions, but hey he got this snazzy new cell phone this morning, so great, talk to the world be in touch all the time, exciting. So he puts common sense aside, drives the same route he drives every day at the same speed he always travels. This particular day at this particular moment a cyclist, figuring it was a great day for a ride, the weather is nice, a refreshing breeze so he to is following the same route. Simply because it is a great way into Monterey and well established as a route for an experienced cyclist such as himself. The main drawback of this particular route is that there is a stretch where you are just driving along the road with the cars, not a separate bike path until you near Marina. As the experienced cyclist he is, using the proper signals traveling the same direction as the cars and all in all traveling just as a car would without distractions. Remember the driver has always been careful but he got this awesome new cell phone so he is playing with it calling people seeing what he can do with it. To bad though when you are playing with a cell phone you are not paying attention to what you should be looking at, the road and any slow moving vehicles including bikes. The driver finds something really interesting on the cell phone and it is certainly fun, the problem is he is distracted and as such not noticing the slow movement of his car to the side where the cyclist was riding. This car was probably travelling at 50 mph or the way it usually goes over the speed limit by about 10 mph. A bike can travel at maybe 20-30 mph dependent on weather or the physical fitness of the rider. And the weight differential is considerable. Taking all those into consideration, the driver loses control, hits the rider and goes over the side of the road. Luckily for the driver blanco is not to steep so he ends up in a small ditch off the side of the road. Easily enough to get the car out but can you guess what happened to the cyclist as a result of a moment of distraction? Because that really cool cell phone has this awesome feature he did not know about and sure need to experiment. Considering common sense was aside though, maybe if he was thinking straight he would of figured he could mess with the phone later and kept his eyes focused on the road ahead not the cell phone.
I have found that it is better to be on the safe side when you see someone on the phone while driving considering the resulting lapse of concentration. I am fortunate to have seen some examples of people taking that into consideration and pulling over to the side of the road to use the phone, otherwise leave it off. It is good to see some take responsibility but sad to see most do not.
When you are cycling you must consider traffic as an ongoing concern, simply put ... if a conversation gets heated and your driving your car, you become to focused on the conversation, the yelling the arguing. Similar to road rage all things result from how you are feeling at that time so then would it not be better to leave that at home or turn it off?
Of course you can drive no problem while talking on the phone right, till you make a mistake. perhaps you end up turning into the bike lane, or you veer into another lane and you are hit by another car. Just pay attention,keep yourself alive and others who may of been innocent bystanders, turn off the cell when driving. Someone calls there is always voice mail, check it when you are stopped or be smart about it pull off to the side of the road and just focus on the call. It makes better sense and can result in a longer life wouldn't you say?
Thanks for Reading Additional Writings.
-=Cycling with the Cell Phone Off=-
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