[Newsbot]

Title: Vancouver deputy chief caught driving and using cellphone
Category: Law & Order
Posted By: martin14
Date: 2012-03-15 08:24:09
Canadian

[martin14]

Another idiot.

$1:

Exemptions exist to the dialing-and-driving legislation for police, fire and ambulance personnel who may need to make calls in the performance of their duties.

This should be removed, I dont see any reason to keep these people on a pedestal when not on duty.


Also nice that this story was 'buried'.

It seems the cops have learned nothing from when they killed Dziekański.

[andyt]

Emergency responders, you would think, could have hands free installed in their vehicles. While using hands free is just as dangerous, it's not against the law.

[andyt]

The headline is misleading - he was involved in a traffic accident while using he phone.

[Guy_Fawkes]

How are hands free devices as just dangerous Andy?

[andyt]

Guy_Fawkes Guy_Fawkes:

How are hands free devices as just dangerous Andy?

Do you really not follow the news? This has been widely reported. Studies show it's not having your hands engaged, but that you are in a conversation with a person who can't see you that's dangerous. With a passenger, they will shut up if they see you are dealing with traffic (well most will). You can put them on "hold". The person on the other end of the phone can't see that, so drivers will keep talking even when they should be concentrating.

[Guy_Fawkes]

I have seen some of those reports, but none have said it is just as dangerous. If you are so easily distracted that someone talking to you can cause you to crash, chances are you are also the type to will crash because you are rubbernecking.

[andyt]

$1:

It's not where your hands are, but where your mind is that counts, says NTSB chairman Deborah Hersman.
Anne McCartt, senior vice president for research at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, added: 'There is a large body of evidence showing that talking on a phone, whether handheld or hands-free, impairs driving and increases your risk of having a crash.'


The scientific evidence, however, is generally with NTSB, researchers said.
Jim Hedlund, a safety consultant and former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official, recently examined 300 cellphone studies for the Governors Highway Traffic Safety Administration. He couldn't recall a single study that showed drivers talking on a headset or hands-free phone were at any less risk of an accident than drivers with one hand on the wheel and a phone in the other.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1pDB1v7T6