New driving law
Just a reminder that starting from November, driving while using the cellphone by hand is not allowed anymore. That includes texting and talking on the phone.
Base my experience I support this measure. As a still relatively inexperienced and cautious driver I have never attempted to do either. I don't know how others managed to do two things at the same time, but for me, using cellphone removes my eyes from the road, it's no different than driving blindly. No need to prove how dangerous that is.
However, cellphone really is just part of the problem. People do and can be distracted by all sorts of things while driving. But most importantly, I usually find that it's where your mind is, rather than where your eyes are that makes the difference. I have found little evidence shows that such law change can reduce the road toll, but plenty on how bad mood can influence driving performance. Talking over the cellphone, although using the hands-free set, can still take people's mind off the road.
The only solution that can genuinely reduce the road toll is to ban cellphone use altogether, but no government at its right mind would adapt this measure as it would likely to be very unpopular among voters.
"Talking over the cellphone, although using the hands-free set, can still take people's mind off the road."
That's the point. Talking to somebody who is not physically present causes your brain to bring up a mental image of that person, so it does literally, physically take your mind off the road.
A total cellphone ban would also be unnecessary- I don't see what's so hard about pulling over to the side of the road to take a phone call (provided, of course, you stop somewhere safe).