2012 conventions 2012 election 2013 session arts arts and culture author ballot measures basketball bomb books boy scouts budget bullying business charlie hales children clackamas climate change coal college courts crime culture culture club democrats drugs economy education environment family film fluoride food gay rights guns handguns health health care health insurance high school history housing immigration internet kitzhaber law legislature lgbt literary arts living marijuana marriage media medicine mental health military minor parties mohamed mohamud movies music native americans news newspaper obama olympics oregon our town parenting pers photography police politcs politics port portland portland business journal president prevention public safety religion republicans rnc romney rural salem sam adams sandy hook schools science shooting sports suicide supreme court taxes technology terrorism theater third parties transportation union university of oregon washington wildfire women

Being on the cell is definitely a distraction while driving.  I knew someone who was killed driving to Mt. Hood to take his son skiing by someone in the oncoming traffic who leaned over to pick up his cell phone (which wasn't even ringing - the guy simply HAD to have his phone near him at the cost of a life).

My husband's vehicle has a button he pushes when he gets into the car to transfer all calls to voice command hands free which then allows him to have a conversation similar to having a passenger in the car without holding anything or fumbling for bluetooth, phones, etc.  I feel Land Rover was absolutely considering the safety of the driver by offering this option.

Bluetooth is simple to use but enough of a hassle that most of us choose not to utilize it even when we have it.  If every vehicle offered the voice command hands free option and made it easy to use we could be solution oriented and end this discussion about how to micromanage every driver.  As it stands now, if the phone rings while we are driving, we need to use good judgement, how urgent is the call - really?  

posted 4 years ago
view in context