Reminder - NH - Hands free device while driving law in effect

jrbren said:

There are many studies that simply do not agree with the real world. I drop a CD on the floor, or pick up my hand held cell phone and dial a number or pick a number out of a menu, I am horribly distracted. If I have to push a button on my steering wheel to answer a phone call its no different then turning on/off my windshield wipers or cruise control. These are not even close to the same level of distraction.

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The real world contains nuances and shades of grey that are often not included in the law.

As far as I know, GPS devices in cars mounted on the dash board are legal. I tried that once, I found it horribly distracting.

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I don't know about the legality of a mounted (normally hand-held) GPS in NH, but a GPS can reduce the driver's workload by helping him with the navigation. I personally mount a hiking GPS (60CSx) or car GPS (Nuvi*) on the dashboard and treat them as part of the instrument panel. I think they reduce my overall workload and are easily ignored if my attention is required elsewhere.
* The Nuvi has voice input so I believe it would be legal in NH.

In both cases, the display options are preset for maximum clarity and relevance for driving a car. One should be able to get the desired information in a quick glance--the wrong display options could certainly decrease the utility for driving. Studying the route ahead of time is also a big help in recognizing critical intersections. (I have no idea how your display was set up and I'm not suggesting that yours was set up poorly. I'm just noting that it can be an important factor.)

Some car GPSes can also speak the directions to the driver reducing the need to look at the display.

Practice can also be an important factor. And, of course, some may find GPSes to be net helpful, and some may not (the usual YMMV routing...).

Doug

jrbren said:

Doug, many good points. I agree on loud music that makes it difficult to hear what is outside is very bad. Reminds me how I especially hate radio programs (usually commercials) that have sirens in them. I also can understand the "minor emergency" when the phone rings, even with blue tooth. I still claim as driver I can prioritize said emergency if the response is to either press a button or not answer. However with a hand held phone I would need to look away to find the phone, then hit the correct button(s) in sequence to answer (assuming I do not drop the phone on the floor or worse yet between the seats). Perhaps the hand held is thus safer since my answer would always be to not answer ?

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I certainly agree about driving sounds in programs. I don't like emergency warning sounds on radio or TV at home either...

I have avoided the whole cellphone issue--my cellphone is almost always off in the car*... For the few times that I have kept it on, I generally pull off the road before answering or wait until I can pull off and call back. (Missed call lists can be very helpful...)
* My car has bluetooth but the phone does not. Even if I upgrade the phone, I will avoid using it while driving.

Ham radio operators have had (2-way) radios in their cars for a long time. In general they are aware of the distraction and overload issues and may say "wait one" and drop the microphone or just drop the microphone if necessary. If receiving during the more-important event, they simply ask for a repeat. (Ham radios are different from cellphones--one can only receive or transmit at a time (half-duplex) while cellphones receive and transmit simultaneously (full-duplex).)


Depending on the details, the law might also make some of the electronics in the NH police cars illegal... (I haven't seen the text of the law myself.)

Doug

DougPaul said:

I certainly agree about driving sounds in programs. I don't like emergency warning sounds on radio or TV at home either...

I have avoided the whole cellphone issue--my cellphone is almost always off in the car*... For the few times that I have kept it on, I generally pull off the road before answering or wait until I can pull off and call back. (Missed call lists can be very helpful...)
* My car has bluetooth but the phone does not. Even if I upgrade the phone, I will avoid using it while driving.

Ham radio operators have had (2-way) radios in their cars for a long time. In general they are aware of the distraction and overload issues and may say "wait one" and drop the microphone or just drop the microphone if necessary. If receiving during the more-important event, they simply ask for a repeat. (Ham radios are different from cellphones--one can only receive or transmit at a time (half-duplex) while cellphones receive and transmit simultaneously (full-duplex).)


Depending on the details, the law might also make some of the electronics in the NH police cars illegal... (I haven't seen the text of the law myself.)

Doug

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My phone and car both support blue tooth, so I use both when practical. I would like to claim it is never a significant distraction, but I do have to confess an incident where I was driving from the west end of Boston (Clinton) to Plattsburgh, NY, which involves taking the Mass turnpike to the Albany area and catching the NY northway (I-87 I think) north from there. I have done the Albany to Champlain Valley part of the north way part of the drive several times when I lived in Burlington, VT area. I was talking on the phone with my sister for a while during the drive through the Albany area, after driving the north way for a while the terrain became unfamiliar. Finally I saw a sign that said something like "Utica, 20 miles". I lost about an hour and a half on the drive do to that wrong turn. Although I am not immune to missing turns on my own, blue tooth could have had something to do with that. I do not consider blue tooth dangerous though. I do consider trying to use a hand held device dangerous.

I make no claims my distracting gps set up was correct or optimized. It was a Garmin hiking gps with a car dashboard mount. The same gps that told me Vermont's Camel's Hump is over 5500'. But in order to optimize the set up, I think I would need to practice it, requiring a period of trail and error where the error could be very undesirable. The gps on rental cars were much better, there was a voice as you say. But I still think of the State Farm Mayhem commercial where Mayhem is a GPS device ... "TURN LEFT RIGHT NOW!!!!".

Our society is enacting more and more laws aimed at the lowest common denominator. So it doesn't matter much what the studies conclude or whether many or even most people can behave responsibly. And legislators have to introduce bills in order to appear to be accomplishing something. Education is the better approach in my view.