What is your opinion of texting while driving?
Or for that matter, talking on the cell phone while driving?

Personally, I do not do either. I believe both to be very dangerous.
I let everyone I know that I will not answer either calls or texts while driving. I pull over and stop before even looking at my phone.

Your thoughts?

Below is a PSA video from the UK on the dangers of texting and driving.

** Caution: this video is very graphic**

[youtube]OdvFh95Yg6M[/youtube]

Both should be banned; and anyone caught doing it should be pulled out of their car and punched in the face.

Both are banned here in Australia.

Here as well.

Although handsfree is allowed. I can imagine that that's pretty distracting as well, but I guess that it is better than having your hand(s) of the steering wheel.

I don't have my drivers license, but it looks like common sense to not do this in your car. If not for yourself, then for the other drivers around you.

I do talk on the phone but I do not live in an urban area and traffic is very light most of the time.
I still think they should ban both while driving as I know my attention to the road is reduced when I am on the phone.

Something else that should be banned is girls driving while wearing flip flops. This summer we had two accidents in the area when the flip flop got stuck under the pedal and the car hit a building when she bent down and tried to remove it.

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Texting should absolutely be prohibited while driving without question.

Now talking, I think it very much depends upon your locale and traffic loads.. personally speaking in my neck of the woods, I don't think it is an issue. However once we travel into even a slightly denser traffic flow, I let the calls go to VM and deal with it when I stop.

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BAN BOTH.
And it's not just girls doing this. I have seen men lots too. It REALLY gets me mad. Hands free is the same as talking to a passenger in your car, so that doesn't really bother me. But i have seen someone texting while driving.......how stupid is that? They look down at their phone, glance up at the road......STUPID.
If i had a dollar for every time i have seen this kind of crap, i could buy a new car.

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I know I'm gonna piss people off, but here I go..

I've been known to do both. Although, texting I do so rarely (I drive a manual transmission.. only do it on the freeway).

As far as the question, yeah.. they probably should be banned. As long as handsfree calls are not.

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The Montana legislature this past session shot down a ban on both texting and talking. How dumb can you get. The legislators from the rural areas overrode all the others and it was defeated. However, here in Missoula they just passed one of the toughest cell phone laws in the country. Both texting and talking can get you a $500 ticket the first time and it goes up from there. And, what's more, this goes for bicyclists also. We've had two bicyclists killed here this past year while talking on cell phones.

Hands free is still ok here.

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I've driven with flip-flops numerous times and can say that it is quite dangerous. I've never head my flip-flop get stuck underneath the pedal, but I thought about it happening the first time I ever drove with them on and decided my barefoot was better, so I always take my right flip-flop off when I drive. It's not like it's hard to do.

To the main point, yes both should be banned. I don't care how careful you think you are when you're doing it, there's another idiot that's not and could end up hitting and killing me because of a simple distraction. Like I tell all my friends who don't wear seatbelts; I don't wear mine because I'm concerned about your driving ability, I wear it because some other lunatic could have downed a bottle of tequila and thought it was a good idea to drive right into us. I don't answer my phone on the road, I usually have my passenger answer it if I have one or let it go to voicemail. I do text at stop signs sometimes though, but usually I'm the only one there so I can take my time.