Ban Cellphones in Cars????

Quade and I have come up with a public regulation for asshole drivers.

( sorry yall..gonna de-rail a bit here )

Its called the jackass ticket.

EVERY licensed driver gets the ability to issue 1 jack ass ticket every 30 days. In order for the ticket to apply you have to be able to get their license plate number and some matching description of the car. Like.. you have to say its gray and 4 doors for example simply because a lot of people do not know cars by maker or design just by sight alone. BUT.. if that license plate is registered to Joe Smack and it is a Gray 4 door BMW.. DING DING! you got him.

This ticket costs the car owner 50 dollars.

These tickets are given out by the publics discretion only. Its going to go to those that bully their way through traffic, cut into lanes so close that they cause accidents, race around lines to push their way in , race down the high way at 100 mph dangerously etc.


Now, .. KNOW that the first 2 or 3 months everyone is going to ticket everyone else for any miniscule slight they see. " Driver A was looking at me too long. Im gonna ticket him." .. etc.etc

But after 3 mos of stupid behavior.. it will change.
People will start to hold on to those and WAIT for the ass hole who ALMOST hits you, or runs someone else off the road.. etc.

And in turn.. it will take those sepecific assholes only one or two months of having to give 50 bucks SEVERAL times in a month to stop their ****

at least in our fantasy world... thats how it would work.

I had a pager for a job once - and it got to the point that every single time that thing went off, I could feel my stomach clench and tighten into a knot.

I have a cell phone, but I only carry it for emergencies. If one of my kids calls, I call them back as soon as I can - other than that- I wait until I get home and call whoever has called me on the cell phone on my landline.
It is amazing how we used to be able to call someone, leave a message and wait for them to call back without worrying or fretting. Now, I find myself worrying if someone doesn't pick up the phone.
And then I remember that I often don't pick up the phone - because I'm doing something else and I don't feel like talking.

I almost never have it with me to answer the thing. One of my friends wrote me a text once that said, 'mobile' - adj. def. in British English - movable, easily transportable - def. in American English - 'left at home'.

And my few experiences with GPS have convinced me that those things could possibly contribute to accidents more often than not. I was using one once to go to a concert in Birmingham as my friend had one and we brought it in my car because neither of us were familiar with Birmingham. I'll never forget it, the woman's voice said, 'Keep to the right, stay in the right lane, whatever and then suddenly she was saying, 'Turn left' and this would have meant a left turn across three lanes of traffic, as she'd just told me to keep to the right.

And last year I walked past a charred minivan that had been driven by Japanese tourists up New Lane in our village which is narrow, one lane track that goes up a hill at a 75 degree angle. They were trying to get up this hill that the GPS had directed them was the shortest route in a snow storm on an icy hill - someone was coming down the other way and hit them head on. No one in their right mind should have been going up that hill - but once they started going up because the GPS told them to - there was absolutely no way they could have turned it around to get off the hill.

I'd rather just read a map and follow the signs. Scary thing is, I don't think map reading is going to be a common practical skill soon.

And as far as these kids texting - alot of time they're playing games. My son told me that- because I asked how they could always be texting so much too.

I agree.
and especially now with internet and GOOGLE.. all you have to do is use google maps and PRINT your map.

But.. you know.. that involves too much movement or something.
We americans are set on making things very easy in our busy lives of sitting still all day because electronics do everything we need them too now..

i HAVE had that happen. I have a phone that has GPS.. ( its a basic flip phone too) and yeah.. it was a gift.

I agree. I moved here 3 yrs ago and don't know all the neighbourhoods and streets and google is great if you're home, but if you decide to stop in somewhere for something, or someone calls you and asks to meet you somewhere, the GPS is wonderful. It also alerts you about construction projects, lets you find the nearest supermarket, etc., and for me, it's great because it's linked to my phone, and I can talk on the speaker.

I've never had a problem with it telling me wrong, confusing, or opposite directions.

What does bug me about it, though, is that you can't program a trip into it. So say I found the fastest way somewhere - I can't input that into the GPS. It doesn't always find the most logical or fast routing. You can input a trip into the geology GPS's but not these.

When I google a map, most of the time I don't have to print it out. I just look at it, read the directions, and I'm good to go.

Even if I print it out, I've already read it and have most of it down.

I would think it would be really annoying to not know until the next turn what I was going to have to do.

Personally, I think a lot of apps that you can buy for your phone is a waste of money too.

Really? You need something to tell you how much to tip? Really? Basic math skills?

Or, "what's that song playing in the background?"
Are you serious?

ok, I just googled "useful apps" and the first hit was these apparantly extremely useful things we should all have....Here's the link btw

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/08/scitech/main20103517.shtml

1. Dropbox
Dropbox is a great cloud service that automatically syncs a folder of files between multiple computers (Windows, Mac, or Linux). This app extends Dropbox to the iPhone and includes a built-in reader within the app for PDFs, image files, and Microsoft Office files.
Yes, I need this....I don't even know what the **** it means, but I need it.

2. Evernote
Once you get used to typing on a virtual keyboard (and it honestly took me over a year to do it), then these devices are great for note taking, and Evernote is a great note taking app. It is similar to Dropbox in that it saves data locally but syncs it across all your machines and devices.
Wow, it syncs

3. Due
There are a ton of to-do apps on iPhone but I prefer Due for its simplicity and its audio alerts. However, this is an iPhone-only task list. If you want something that can sync with your PC, Mac, or the Web, then try 2Door Things.
Jesus wept

4. Tripit
I love Tripit. It is by far the best app I've found for keeping track of all my travel itineraries. It is powered by some excellent backend systems. You simply forward your confirmation emails (or use the Gmail plugin to do it automatically) for your flights, hotels, rental cars, and more to Tripit and it automatically organizes them into trips with all your details and confirmation numbers.
Will it tell you were your ass is so you can wipe it?

5. Analytics App
For some reason Google doesn't have an official app (for either iPhone or Android) for Google Analytics. The best one I've found to go deep into all of the data is Analytics App.

6. Ego
Even better than Analytics App for a quick-glance dashboard is Ego. It shows basic data from Google Analytics as well as a bunch of other sources, including Squarespace, Twitter, and Feedburner.
I would use both 5. and 6. while driving, because that's when I like to anal eyes stuff.

7. Twitter
The official Twitter app (formerly known as Tweetie) is still the best Twitter client on iPhone (although Osfoora is catching up). Twitter itself is an amazing instant-intelligence engine. Two other great social media apps for iPhone are Google+ and Foursquare.
Words cannot express.

8. Reeder
Twitter has largely replaced RSS for me for finding and filtering the latest news. However, I still track some RSS feeds and the best tool I've found to do it with is Reeder. It syncs with Google Reader so it's easy to flip between the mobile app and the desktop, plus the app lets you share to Twitter (and Facebook) and save to Instapaper and ReadItLater.
This will keep me up on the Kim Kardashian divorce.

9. Amazon Kindle
I've never fully warmed up to the Amazon Kindle e-reader, but I'm a big fan of the Kindle iPhone app. Since it was released I've read a lot more books simply because my phone is always with me and I can pull it out and read a few pages anytime I've got a couple minutes free. Alternatives: Nook, iBooks, and Kobo.
Those kids aren't texting or playing games. They're Reading!

10. Audible
As much as I like the Kindle ebooks, I actually consume more books as audiobooks via Audible. In the past you could download these and sync them via iTunes. But Audible now has its own app, which lets you connect to your Audible library and download over the air, and even gives you a self-contained player optimized for audiobooks.
Those kids aren't texting or playing games! They're reading!

11. Podcaster
Sure, you can use iTunes and the built-in iPod app to listen to podcasts, but if you're an avid podcast listener (I regularly follow This Week in Tech, Buzz Out Loud, and Tech News Today) then the app Podcaster offers a better experience. You can download over the air (so that you don't have to constantly sync to a computer to get the latest episodes), you can skip forward and backward 30 seconds, you can increase playback speed to 1.5 times normal speed, and the app is even compatible with AirPlay.
Yes, who wants to constantly sync to a computer?

12. Photoshop Mobile
Photoshop is, of course, the best known photo editor in the world and its mobile app doesn't do anything to hurt that reputation. But while the desktop version is known for having a zillion features, the mobile app is distinguished by its simplicity. It's the best iPhone photo editing app for simple crops, brightness adjustments, and sharpens, for example. However, once editing is built into the native Camera app in iOS5, editors such as Photoshop Mobile may quickly become unnecessary.
I often find it necessary to photoshop during a typical day.

13. Pano
Pano makes it easy to take excellent panoramas with the iPhone. It helps you line up your shots and it automatically corrects many of the imperfections. My wife is a photographer with a big, expensive Nikon camera and she's regularly jealous of some of the shots I can get with the iPhone and Pano.
My wife is not a photographer.

14. Instagram
The camera and camera app on the iPhone are now good enough to replace a point-and-shoot. You can even take pictures that are worthy of saving in your family albums. For those, I upload them to Flickr using the iPhone app. For the everyday photos that I just want to quickly post on social media, I use Instagram. It is very quick, dead simple to use, and very social media friendly. But, do me a favor and go easy on the filters. They are badly overused by most Instagram users, while 90% of photos are better with no filter at all.
Does anyone ever look at all the pictures they take?

15. Navigon Mobile Navigator
I used to carry a separate Garmin GPS unit for turn-by-turn directions but I eventually got rid of it and decided to just use the iPhone instead. In researching the various apps, I eventually decided on NAVIGON, which is a company that makes a lot of the built-in navigation systems for many cars. Tip: Make sure your iPhone is plugged in to power when you run a GPS navigation program like this because otherwise it will quickly drain your battery.
Where is my elbow?

16. Where To?
A great companion to a GPS system is the app "Where To?" which lets you quickly look up various types of shops and services, from Cuban restaurants to medical specialists to animal hospitals to local museums and much more.
Quick! Where's the nearest animal hospital!

17. RunKeeper
This is a great little app that can save you from buying a pedometer. It uses the iPhone's GPS to track the miles you've run or walked, and it compiles the data into some nice dashboards that you can view on your phone or on RunKeeper's website.
OCD anyone?

18. Nutrition Menu
Another app for all of you health-conscious geeks out there is Nutrition Menu. This thing is a mobile compendium of nutritional data. It has calorie information on common foods and most major restaurants, and it has calorie-burning information for many types of exercises. It also allows you to track your daily weigh-ins and makes notes on your progress.
OCD part deux

19. GroceryGadget
This is an app plus a website and you can quickly sync between the two. The way it usually works for me is that my wife makes a grocery list, enters it into grocerygadgets.com, and then it syncs to my iPhone so that I can swing by the grocery store and pick up the stuff.
Holy ******* ****

20. RedLaser
This is a great app for shoppers. It turns the iPhone camera into a barcode scanner and it's quite accurate. You simply scan a product's UPC code and let the app go to work to find it in Google Product Search and TheFind. For food it will even look up allergen information and for books it will scan to see if you can get it in a local library. You'll be amazed at how fast it works. A similar product is SnapTell, which not only scans barcordes but you can also take a picture of the cover of a book or DVD and it can look them up that way. These apps are great when you're shopping at a retail store and want to check the prices of products online before buying. It also reads QR codes.
Let's spend mo money, mo money, mo money

Wow.
While it's surprising he doesn't have a cell, it's equally impressive.

I generally don't want to be reachable on my own time, including when I'm at home.

Do people no longer stop and ask directions?

by people you mean women, of course...

I stand corrected.

why can't they get cell phone to scrub your bathtub?

that's what I'm waiting for.

chai(my hands smell like Comet)tea

Hard to do when you're on a freeway. Plus, some people's directions would confound just about anyone.

I was looking for a restaurant once, before I had an iPhone, and I asked a woman who was sitting in a convertible where it was. She pulled out her phone and Googled it. She didn't know where it was, either, but she was able to tell me.

I don't have all of those apps on my phone that you listed, but I do have some. I love them And that tip one is great - we go out in a group of up to 16 and since we always split the bill, you just tell it the amount, the % to tip, and the number of people and it works it out in a nanosecond.

I have a FlightTracker, too, since one of us is often at the airport. I go out, run errands, then plan on picking him up at 2:00 - check the flight and oh, it's delayed an hour. Perfect.

It's a fun world out there

No. Never. And by that I mean, "not one time ever."

"19. GroceryGadget
This is an app plus a website and you can quickly sync between the two. The way it usually works for me is that my wife makes a grocery list, enters it into grocerygadgets.com, and then it syncs to my iPhone so that I can swing by the grocery store and pick up the stuff.
Holy ******* ****"



what they need to do is to combine the list with a GPS in the store, so the phone can find the items on the shelves in the store.

imagine all the husbands on the phone wandering the store then...

You're pushing my button there, in a good way.

I can see using it in certain situations, thus a good idea to have, but even if I had one, would not use it all the time. I'm a map person, usually ok with that, though not, of course, always.

The main time I've experienced gps (godphorsakensearch), I was jolted by a strange voice from hell as a passenger in my cousin's car in the San Diego area, on several occasions over a week or so. At least a few of those times, she knew the area and knew better than the device and at least once it was plain wrong. Talk about distracting.

Signed,
map lover, pal of a cartographer extraordinaire

exactly.
the GPS chick, when I told her how locals would go, and she said that wasn't what the GPS said, I asked her which way she Was taking.

She was actually getting on IH35 to drive maybe 2 exits up, to get on another road that screamed "I wouldn't do that if I were you"

You don't ever get on 35 if you can avoid it, especially in the morning. When I said "you said your apt was right on slaughter and congress, just take congress north to ben white.
After 2 days, she finally took congress, and I'll be damned, got to work on time.

I know there's been other threads here over the years where the computer savy(er) have pointed out it's the way of the future and all that, but right now there is just such a glut of superfluous stuff people are doing on their phones, they literally don't even look where they're walking.

Beautiful day out, sun shining, everyone staring down at their phones.

Personally, I use the GPS function on my phone to show me where I am in relation to where I'm going on the map. I don't use it to give me step-by-step directions, although it does do that.

That pretty much says it all. I've had people literally walk right into me.

Talking on mobile phones in cars is already banned here...though hands free is allowed.

I note the police have increasingly been giving stats about the high numbers of accidents where driver/s were using them and did something careless that caused an accident.

I suspect any use will soon be banned...though I cannot be sure.

If, I assume. you do not mean that having one upon your person will be banned in cars, I see no problem if there is good data to suggest they are dangerous. It appears, though I have not researched it, that such data exists.

I have been known to Google and print directions, and then get a "2nd opinion" on my GPS. I find that if I am in the passenger seat, the printed directions are fine, but if I am driving, the GPS is far less distracting than checking a piece of paper.

As far as "needing" cellphones and other techie gizmos, no you don't NEED them. You also don't NEED refrigerators, as an icebox will accomplish the same thing. You also don't NEED indoor plumbing, as an outhouse will serve the same purpose as a toilet. These gadgets simply make life more comfortable.

If we don´t have a cell phone we still can make phone calls from normal phone.

We cannot use an icebox instead of a refrigerator as there are noone to deliver ice for an icebox anymore. So you need a freezer to make ice to use for your iceobx.