Higher car insurance rates coming?

[garys]

Warren Buffet says yes. And, it is due to cell phone usage when driving.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/bus ... /81100540/

[db5]

Warren Buffet says yes. And, it is due to cell phone usage when driving.

Some of you may remember the bumper sticker from the 70s: "Honk if you love Jesus." Here's the updated version: "Honk if you love Jesus; text and drive if you want to meet him.?

[ERLover]

Mine sez "Just Drive Its a Sport"
Hate em just hate em, head down looking to the right a bit, and car is drifting to the right, texting away.

[Ed in Tampa]

Cell phone usage and litigation! If people would stop trying to get rich on someone else's back things would change. Get caught using your cell phone? Go to jail. That would stop it.
But then would the police have to stop using their computers that is set up so they can run license checks on the fly?

[ERLover]

@ Ed > But then would the police have to stop using their computers that is set up so they can run license checks on the fly?
Ed you for get, they are trained professionals

[garys]

Maybe the insurance companies will offer a discount for people who don't own a cell phone. That would be only fair.

[ERLover]

My thought is an app that when the car is not in Park the phone is disabled except for calling 911.

[garys]

It would be very simple for the car manufacturers to add a cell phone signal jammer that doesn't allow phones to work if the engine is running. But, we would have to get that passed by our stupid politicians, and they won't do that because then they can't drive and talk on their phones.

[benush26]

Here in Helena there is an ordinance against driving and using a cell hone without a hands free device. The fine for getting caught is $100. I drive very little, usually side streets and just to where I need and back, a day or two a week. I always see at least two drivers on their phones. The local PD says there is great compliance! . I guess they are on the streets too much, watching other things to see the real compliance

With most smart phones, the GPS and accelerometer are enough to provide a method to disable different services while in motion. What if the phone is being used by a passenger? A solution offered is that the passenger needs to press a button at different intervals to prove they are not controlling the vehicle. When tried, the drivers were even more distracted by trying to press that button so they could still use the phone and be MORE of a danger!!

Some newer cars are allowing test messages to be sent and received via hands free, but studies have shown that it still causes a distraction. Then again, so does eating,listening to the radio/stereo, smoking or even talking to passengers. Adults with kids in the car! Oh my!! Distracted driving is a fact that cannot be legislated out of existence.

I guess when the JohnnyCar is available (and mandatory for personal transportation) then the problems of distracted drivers will become moot.

Be well,
Ben

[db5]

My thought is an app that when the car is not in Park the phone is disabled except for calling 911.

I was the Director of Training for the cell phone company that introduced text messaging and was charged to "personally" train the sales force in Southern California on how to use it and how to sell it. At the time I thought, "this is going to turn into a nightmare." It did. I warned sales people that if they texted while driving at work and were in an accident they were terminated and that became an addendum to their employment agreement. It took only the firing of two women (who sued and lost) to send a warning to others.

The problem is not law suits. It is the mentality of people who use those phone. Now, the 6th use for a phone is for talking. How times change.

The technology exists to disable cell phones if a car is moving and has been for years. Car manufacture's don't want to install it but it can be installed after-market. You can also buy a cell-phone jammer that interferes with all wireless signals (just shuts them off). It is legal to own one just not to use it. Of course they have to catch you.

I have a key-fob that turns off TVs (great for doctor's offices). Might get one of these jammers and just keep it on when I'm driving so as to not be hit by some texting moron.