Cagers and Phones

I think we should lobby for a universal response when cells are on "answer".

" No Shit! " "Please leave your message at the tone."

 

I was repairing a dent in the tank of an older CB750 a little while ago and while I was completing the repairs, the owner of the bike was talking about his day. He was a driving instructor and driver license tester for our provincial licensing and insurance company. He was giving a final drivers exam to a cute, single mother (as he put it) and though she had made a few minor errors, he figured that she had done the test completely and had passed. They were on the way back to the licensing facility parking lot and the young girl (apparently in her early twenties the guy said) asked if she had passed. The examiner said "Well, I'm not supposed to say until you are finished and back to the parking lot, but yes, you made a few minor errors, but you have passed." The guy said they were a block from the parking lot and the girl said "Oh that's great, I really need my license so I can get my daughter back and forth to pre-school and so I can get to work." After this comment, the guy said she took out her cell phone, took both hands off the wheel, put her knee on the bottom of the wheel to steer, and texted her friend that she had passed and to meet her at Starbucks. The examiner grabbed the wheel with one hand, and took the phone away from her, and told her "Nope, using your cell phone during the test is an automatic FAIL." The young girl was completely at a loss he said, as to what she had done wrong, as she said all her friends text while driving cause its safer. WTF

The examiner told her that there are many things that could be overlooked about a test, but he said that taking your hands off the wheel and eyes off the road to text a friend "I passed my test. Meet me at Starbucks" was not only utterly irresponsible and stupid, and could have deadly consequences. She apparently thought he was rude and inconsiderate for failing her, and complained to his supervisor. Hopefully they revoked her license.........

 

I'm of two minds on this one. On the one hand, they are a distraction even using bluetooth/handsfree. For my job I talk to a lot of customers on any given day and if I feel distracted with the call, I pull over. My truck is my office, so sometimes I have to use the phone while driving and I can tell I'm more distracted than I would be without being on the phone. With my bluetooth headset I tend to talk as if the person is sitting next to me, breaking the conversation if I get distracted. But in the end, I think it's better to leave them alone while driving.
On the other hand, I'm sick of all the over regulation and gov't intrusion into our lives, mostly in the interest of our "safety". I think it's very subjective to say one person on a cell phone is more/less distracted than another eating a cheeseburger. We can't regulate all behavior or we cease to be a free(ish) society.

 

"Good driver, so I can handle it." Ok, prove it: take your next driving test, on a closed course, while on the phone.

 

+1 for jeVFR. :amen:

In my truck or my wife's cage, I will talk on the cell (via hands-free) in light/no traffic zones. In busy zones, I will either pull over, say "gotta go, just got into traffic" and hang up, or ignore an incoming call until I'm home or again in a light/no traffic zone.

No taking eyes off the road (and other vehicles, pedestrians, etc.), and no texting! :thumb:

I Definitely wouldn't be talking on the phone at 7 in the morning at a busy intersection in a school zone :doh:.

I used to have a 50 mile commute, most of it Interstate, and usually with only light traffic. I frequently talked to my parents or sister during those drives home - traffic, road conditions, and weather permitting. I frequently check my mirrors, as well as doing actual blind spot checks when driving, so it's also second nature to do that while riding the bike too.

During those sometimes boring commutes, I also noticed that I was more alert driving home (after a long day at work) while talking on the cell, more so than I would have been if I were listening to a book on tape, the radio, or just engine noise.

But still, driving in traffic or rapidly changing road conditions while attempting to carry on a conversation is kinda crazy. :der: :fear:

Did I say no texting? :rant:

On the bike I frequently took back roads instead of the interstate. With my old KZ, I didn't have any of those luxury distractions (still don't with the VFR), and the hour long ride on the bike after work was almost always invigorating enough that I was not bored or sleepy (like I might be in the cage). :bored: Just my $0.02.

Did I say no texting? OI! :loco: :doh:

op2:

 

I think Cyborg just scored a headshot!

 

The inattentive cell phone driver is why i always carry a big fuckin sparkplug in my riding jacket pocket !!

 

Yep :highfive: on that one, every blue moon, I am on an important phone conversation can not hang up while I cruise the motor-oil section of Wallmart. Forgive me jesus... I have sinned, am a sinner :evil:

 

I don't need to prove anything to you guys, and I don't need all your displaced critism like I personally cut you off or ran you off a road. I don't know if you noticed I try to keep these kinds of posts funny and light. I've never been rude to anyone on this forum so I'm not sure why I'm being ganged up on because I honestly mentioned I talk on a phone in a car, like that is some kind of crime. The next time I'm on may way home from work and my wife calls because we need to figure out who is picking up our kid I'm not going to ignore the call on behalf of the faceless cell phone police on VFRworld. I'm sorry my comment derailed your thread Soloii74.

 

Just had a guy leave my shop that was on his phone the whole time he was here. First he pulls up in front of my shop's overhead door, blocking the door completely in the process. This happens a lot since there are a lot of business in my industrial location, but come on, the door is open and I was backing a one ton dually Dodge delivery truck out of my shop at the time with a back-up beeper blaring away the whole time. He just sat there on the phone even when the truck came within two feet of his BMW. I had to stop, turn the truck off (tail pipe still inside the bay door), and then get out and ask him politley move his vehicle. He did so, but not without first giving me a condascending look as though to say, "Can't you see I'm on the phone."


He then gets out of his Bimmer about 10 minutes later and goes in to the plumbers office in the shop next to mine. I was sitting in my office writing up an estimate for a customer when he comes in and asks if he can speak with me for a moment, and then answers his phone when it rings. I politely told him, "I will be happy to help you sir, just allow me to finish up with this customer's estimate." He held up his right index finger, so that he could hear what the person on the phone was saying, and then, right in front of the other customer, he replies, in a very kurt tone, "Well I'm in kind of a hurry, and I don't really have time to wait, is there someone else here who can help me?" The person I was doing the estimate for, grabbed his phone and hung up on the caller, and told him, "Look, there appears to be a break in your schedule you insolent prick." I thought I was going to die laughing, as the guy walked out the door fuming, got in his BMW and, presumably, called back whoever happened to be on the line. The customer I was doing the estimate for said he hates people who talk incessantly on their phones, and then act rude when they are interupted.

The guy with the Bimer comes back in to my shop a few minutes after my other customer leaves and then starts ranting about how rude I was for asking him to move his vehicle and then not talking with him when he walked in the door. Being a business owner, I attempted to be as nice as possible when I explained that I was backing out of my shop when he pulled up and needed to get the truck I had out of the building. His response was, "You mean the one over there in that parking stall, the one that is still here. You interupted me for no reason apparently as moving that truck could have waited." At this point I lost it, and said "Well if, you're so self indulgent as to think that your time is more important than mine, then why are you in here talking to me." He scoffed at me, left, got back in his Bimmer and then put the phone up to his ear, and proceeded to have an irritating conversation from the looks of it. While talking on the phone, he puts the Bimmer in reverse and backs straight in to the front of the garbage truck that was coming in to empty the bins in our complex. HA HA HA HA HA,. No damage what so ever to the garbage truck, but likely $7000 to the back of the Bimmer. When the cops showed up, I was happy to inform them that the guy in the Bimmer was on the phone when he backed in to the garbage truck. The camera mounted to the dash inside the garbage truck clearly showed the garbage truck driver was NOT at fault and the Bimmer got a ticket for causing an accident and a fine for using his cell phone while driving. The guy was just as beligerent to the flat deck driver that picked up his Bimmer, and he was cursing and swearing at the cop that gave him the tickets. For once, the cager got his just derserves.

 

His is bigger than yours.

Google Image Result for http://roadsidewonders.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/spark-plug.jpg

 

Well at least your superior driving skills are still sharp. What if your mom calls and she needs you to pick up her prescription from WalMart or your Uncle Charlie is out of hooch? Do you pull over, hang up or keep on truckin?

 

Durk,

Its ok, really. I don't take any commentary here (or on any forum/BB, for that matter) too seriously. :argue: Some want to play devils advocate :evil:, some are playing playground jokester :joker: - just goofing around trying to get a reaction :boink:. Sometimes when its raining, its best just to step inside and watch, :rain: other times you don't mind getting wet and/or muddy - it all kinda depends on your point of view.

Never met anyone on this planet who is perfect, so I tend to give/take any criticism while weighing the intent and severity of the perceived misdeed. When I have screwed up, and know it, I accept it and own it - that goes for driving too.

I doubt you would be like the woman who prompted this thread - mad at me for pointing out (with my horn) the error of her ways. :der: :asshat:

If I had done something stupid like that (and I can guarantee sometime in the past I have, but not because of a cell phone) , I would have been surprised at first, and then sheepishly apologetic afterwards :sorry: out:.

Now: :focus: :boobies7: ound:

Ok, really :focus: op2:

 

Look at it this way...They wouldn't tease you if they didn't like you!

 

Dude, you have to look at what you're saying from the layperson. You're comment is like 99% of the people that I hear tell me about how the are a "good" driver so they can drive and talk on the cell, eat, read a book, jerk off to a porno, etc, etc. Each person thinks that THEY are the exception, and THEY can do it better than everyone else. Point being is that it is not a good habit, and dangerous habit. A lot of what makes a person dangerous talking on the phone (or texting) is that their attention is growing more and more "outside" of the car......as in, you are more concerned about what is for dinner, or like you are in the only one in the world with a kid who needs to be picked up, or your agenda is somehow more important than others. My wife was actually rear ended by a guy yapping on a cell phone at a light in town. Get this.....he was mad at her for getting in his way. Good I was not their, as my temper may have gotten the best of me at that moment. He denied being on the phone, even though like 5 witnesses saw him doing it.

You have to find some humor in what BB wrote. He can be an ass, but he is spot on with his sarcasm more often than not.

I know you are going to feel as if I am picking on you. I just saw your posts, and thought, "man, this dude needs to grow some thicker skin, and wakeup to the online world." Too many folks start crying that their vag hurts when people don't like what they say. People argue, people laugh, people shout (CAPS) people insult, people disagree with one another, mine's bigger than yours, I slept with your sister, I am an online expert on everything so call me the almighty (I just retired my title), and so on and so forth. The way that you mention missing a call from your wife about picking up your kid makes it sound like the world revolves around you, and you are more important than the other families/people/kids on the road that have just as much to lose as you if you should crash into them. Pulling over, and/or making your calls prior to leaving work is not all that hard. We all somehow managed to survive prior to cell phones and the world will not end if we take 5 more minutes because we missed one call. As the old saying goes, "if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen."

Now put that damn phone down and ride your friggin' bike to work more often (if possible)....it moves the soul man!

Ok, now back on target Luke!

 

Too funny Tink! ound:

 

+1 to what vfrlover4life said. - But BB isn't an ass, he's an existential comedian, and a consummate pot stirrer. otstir: ound:

Now everybody, hang up the phone and ride/drive. :focus:

op2: