On Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:00:27 -0500, wrote:

On Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:56:24 -0700, Mark & Juanita
wrote:

There you go throwing facts into the discussion. That should bring things
to a grinding halt. :-)

Good call on the tests. It would be interesting to find out if the people
designing the test had a certain desired outcome in mind when designing
those tests.

It's NOT a good call without the actual stats to back it up. Most
every accident of import is thoroughly examined by police. Those are
existing and proven facts. Show me where all this "controlled" bull is
created and I'll reconsider my statement.

I think you misunderstand. The statement "using a cell phone while
driving is as dangerous as driving drunk" is based on a series of
comparative studies done under controlled conditions. The actual
accident statistics are a separate issue and are somewhat interesting
in themselves, although not nearly as hype-worthy. If you look at
accident causes you will see that over that last several years the
accident rate has remained essentially flat, but you will also find
that there is an increasing number of accidents attributed to cell
phone use. I'm not denying that there are risks associated with the
distraction of talking on a cell phone, but it appears from the
statistics that the risk is replacing other risks in causing
accidents. In other words, those who are easily distracted while
driving are going to be distracted - whether from a cell phone or from
their stereo or from their burger or whatever. This leads me to the
assertion that the hype is misleading in regard to reality and that
the reality is much more complex than the media and special interest
groups would like us to believe.

He says they are controlled tests, I said they're actual facts from
accidents. Yet, without shred of proof at all, you're prepared to jump
on his "controlled tests" theory.

There are both controlled tests and statistical evidence. The two do
not produce the same conclusions when taken in context and then
extrapolated to the total population. Therefore the issue is much more
difficult to evaluate than "using a cell phone while driving is as
dangerous as driving drunk".

Obviously, you're biased.

Yes. I dealt with my drinking problems many years ago and don't drink
at all any more, but back in the day I did a fair share of driving
drunk. I currently do quite a bit of talking on my cell phone while
driving, albeit mostly with a headset. I can pretty confidently assure
you that talking on a cell phone while driving is nowhere near as
dangerous as driving drunk.

YMMV, as always.
Tim Douglass

http://www.DouglassClan.com

"I'm not exactly burned out, but I'm a little bit scorched and there's some smoke damage."