When we finally were able to start ticketing people for talking while driving on a handheld cell, they just scoffed at it and continued to keep holding the cell and driving. This will not be any different. The fines are not enough to deter people from the behavior. Every day on the freeway, I see people still holding the cell phone to their ear. The fines need to be increased for either of these laws to be a real deterrent.
Increased fines will be politically unpopular so don’t hold your breath. The simple fact is that human beings are incapable of acting responsibly and will continue to do whatever gives them instant gratification. They have no discipline and have to entertain themselves 24×7. Woe be the S.O.B. that rear ends me because he/she was on a cellphone or texting. I won’t wait for the police to arrive express my displeasure.
I have purchased 3 Bluetooth earpieces none of which work to even a low level of professionalism. $250 later I’m frustrated with the level that my customer service has fallen to. As a broker, 75% of my work is done by phone and the other 25% involves client meetings that I must travel to and from. People who drive erratically for any reason should be cited. Those of us capable of multi-tasking should be left alone. I’m obeying the law but I’m not happy about it, especially when I see others breaking it.
Brokette: I find it hard to believe there is any issue that requires you to be available in real time 24×7. Let’s be honest, people use the technology becasue it’s there………not because there’s a legitimate purpose for it. Medical or law enforcement professionals I understand. Everyone else……..no.
Yes, Ricki, I’m getting along without it. However, my customer service has suffered because of it. When you have a client getting kicked off a jobsite because some bureaucrat doesn’t understand what we do I can assure you, that client thinks it’s an emergency. And my clients DO let me sleep 6 hours a night. So 24/7/365? No. But 12 hours, 5 days a week, yes.
Too bad people allow their cars to be turned into their offices. When whistling down the road at 70 MPH + your job is to drive the car, not listen to some stupid insured complain about a problem they most likely caused anyway. I’m fed up with having to take the responsibility for someone that is so important (in their mind anyway)they cannot be bothered with the niceties of keping track of that 2 ton missle they are driving. Somehow business was taken care of just a short while ago without cell phones etc. so find that effiency again and get off the phones on the cars and if you text, well please just crash and burn.
I wish I had the luxury of your attitude but with competitors seducing clients with out and out lies and falling prices, it would take only one unreturned phone call to piss a client off enough to take his insurance elsewhere. I get paid to produce, not sit around and take car change requests.
If you or someone you know is ever injured by a distracted driver who was on a cell phone but thought they were excellent multi-taskers, I have a feeling your attitude would change.
Consider the possibility that MOST people who drive and talk on cell phones probably DO consider themselves very capable of multi-tasking behind the wheel, just as you feel about yourself. Otherwise they wouldn’t risk their own lives or the lives of others… Not the most pleasant thought, is it?
It’s one thing to multi-task as much as possible… but not where lives might be taken if a mistake is made.
Being in insurance, you should be able to assess that the reward of multi-tasking behind the wheel is not worth the risk, no matter what.
Good comment KLS, and correct. I’m sure multitaskers do neither very well. Just like posting here, where is your attention? Pull over & talk on the phone or drive without being on the phone. Keep your head in the game.
Frankly, I have to focus more closely on erratic drivers now that the no handset law in imposed because all the people still using their handsets (and breaking the law) are the same idiots who were a menace before the law was enacted. Honestly, I think the road is more dangerous now than it was before.
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When we finally were able to start ticketing people for talking while driving on a handheld cell, they just scoffed at it and continued to keep holding the cell and driving. This will not be any different. The fines are not enough to deter people from the behavior. Every day on the freeway, I see people still holding the cell phone to their ear. The fines need to be increased for either of these laws to be a real deterrent.
Increased fines will be politically unpopular so don’t hold your breath. The simple fact is that human beings are incapable of acting responsibly and will continue to do whatever gives them instant gratification. They have no discipline and have to entertain themselves 24×7. Woe be the S.O.B. that rear ends me because he/she was on a cellphone or texting. I won’t wait for the police to arrive express my displeasure.
I have purchased 3 Bluetooth earpieces none of which work to even a low level of professionalism. $250 later I’m frustrated with the level that my customer service has fallen to. As a broker, 75% of my work is done by phone and the other 25% involves client meetings that I must travel to and from. People who drive erratically for any reason should be cited. Those of us capable of multi-tasking should be left alone. I’m obeying the law but I’m not happy about it, especially when I see others breaking it.
Brokette: I find it hard to believe there is any issue that requires you to be available in real time 24×7. Let’s be honest, people use the technology becasue it’s there………not because there’s a legitimate purpose for it. Medical or law enforcement professionals I understand. Everyone else……..no.
Yes, Ricki, I’m getting along without it. However, my customer service has suffered because of it. When you have a client getting kicked off a jobsite because some bureaucrat doesn’t understand what we do I can assure you, that client thinks it’s an emergency. And my clients DO let me sleep 6 hours a night. So 24/7/365? No. But 12 hours, 5 days a week, yes.
Too bad people allow their cars to be turned into their offices. When whistling down the road at 70 MPH + your job is to drive the car, not listen to some stupid insured complain about a problem they most likely caused anyway. I’m fed up with having to take the responsibility for someone that is so important (in their mind anyway)they cannot be bothered with the niceties of keping track of that 2 ton missle they are driving. Somehow business was taken care of just a short while ago without cell phones etc. so find that effiency again and get off the phones on the cars and if you text, well please just crash and burn.
I wish I had the luxury of your attitude but with competitors seducing clients with out and out lies and falling prices, it would take only one unreturned phone call to piss a client off enough to take his insurance elsewhere. I get paid to produce, not sit around and take car change requests.
If you or someone you know is ever injured by a distracted driver who was on a cell phone but thought they were excellent multi-taskers, I have a feeling your attitude would change.
Consider the possibility that MOST people who drive and talk on cell phones probably DO consider themselves very capable of multi-tasking behind the wheel, just as you feel about yourself. Otherwise they wouldn’t risk their own lives or the lives of others… Not the most pleasant thought, is it?
It’s one thing to multi-task as much as possible… but not where lives might be taken if a mistake is made.
Being in insurance, you should be able to assess that the reward of multi-tasking behind the wheel is not worth the risk, no matter what.
Good comment KLS, and correct. I’m sure multitaskers do neither very well. Just like posting here, where is your attention? Pull over & talk on the phone or drive without being on the phone. Keep your head in the game.
Frankly, I have to focus more closely on erratic drivers now that the no handset law in imposed because all the people still using their handsets (and breaking the law) are the same idiots who were a menace before the law was enacted. Honestly, I think the road is more dangerous now than it was before.