mmarshall

Welcome to the ranks of those who fly, riredale.....and congratulations on your Airman's (Pilot's) License.

I, too, was a licensed pilot, trained and fluent in small Cessnas and Pipers, and also held a Ground Instructor rating.....at the time, one of only two Private Pilots in the country who did. I also had instrument and/or hood training. And, before I retired, I worked for the FAA for decades in Flight Procedures and Aeronautical Charting, mostly on TPPs (Instrument approaches). What you say about multi-tasking is certainly true from a flying point of view (and, of course, it has only gotten more critical and more stressful since 9-11, with the military waiting to intercept civil planes that stray into ever-growing patrol areas). So, with all due respect, I'm aware of what you are describing. But, to an extent, it's apples and oranges. Multi-tasking in a cockpit, above the ground, especially in instrument or simulated-instrument (hood) conditions, is different from being behind the wheel in dense-traffic areas. In areas of dense air-traffic, you are usually doing one of three things...First, either under positive radar control and squawking a transponder code ( which IDs your plane at all times, but especially when you hit the Ident button), Second, talking to local tower-controllers even if the airport does not have radar, or, Third, if taxiing at the airport, Ground Control, and all of these controllers bear at least part of the responsibility for you avoiding other traffic. If you are in non-controlled airspace or at a non-controlled airport, you (and others in the pattern and on the ground ) are at least are announcing your position and intentions to each other on UNICOM or CTAF. And, even at busy airports, you will usually have only a few aircraft in the traffic-pattern at any one given time, instead of cars all over the place.

That, however, is clearly not the case while on the road driving. In dense rush-hour traffic, you have cars literally all around you like bees around a honeycomb. It can be even worse in crowded parking lots where you not only have cars backing in and out of spaces everywhere (often blindly), but also pedestrians trying to walk and carry things all over the place around your car. Cars don't operate in blind conditions where the driver can't see out of the windows, like aircraft sometimes do (perhaps they will, someday, when we get self-driving cars, but they don't today). As a driver, even while multi-tasking, you won't have the assistance of radar, controllers, UNICOM, CTAF, or any other radio communication with the other cars around you.......you have to all of the watching with your own eyes. Sure, you have lane-avoidance, adaptive cruise-control, automatic braking, and other accident-avoidance features on some cars, but even they have only limited effectiveness, and are not designed or intended to be an automatic pilot while you are screwing around punching buttons on a phone or tablet. So, in a nutshell, what one does in the air while multi-tasking (and yes, having experienced it, I agree 100% that it is demanding )is sharply different from what one has to do on the road, in dense traffic and pedestrian conditions. You really can't compare the two.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Anyone who thinks "multitasking" behind the wheel is ok should try riding a motorcycle. Your perception will change very quickly, especially after a few close calls with distracted drivers.

mmarshall

Good point. And, unlike a car, hitting a pothole with a motorcycle could lead to a serious accident. You have to watch the road very carefully in front of the bike.

(I'll give you your first official "Thank-You", BTW, for that post).

pman6

I'm afraid of the day I'll get rear ended by a texter. I can't even make a phone call adeptly while driving. Half my concentration is lost. So I don't do it.

These people who text on the highway have ***** of steel

mmarshall

Unfortunately, often without brains to match.

GSMiura

Brutal! California is bankrupt plus people do abuse it...Perfect combo for commerce!

riredale

Well...I still like the idea of a special Riredale license.

And speaking of motorcycles, I rode one exclusively all around L.A. freeways from 1974 until 1979, when it was stolen from in front of USC while I was taking a computer exam. At the time I was really angry, but now in my mellow years I think the theft probably saved my life in the long run. AND I smile every time I think of the theft, knowing that the darn thing was so hard to start the thieves probably just left it somewhere (it was a one-off prototype of a turbocharged Honda 550 with a 12,000rpm redline).

mjeds

you are looking at this from one perspective, "moving", which doesn't matter. as I stated above, this isn't hard.. if the phone is connected to the car via cable or Bluetooth the apps can be locked out.. in this case it would usually only be the driver that has the phone connected, not the passenger. and walking, a bicycle, motorcycle, boat, aircraft, etc. would not be a concern as you would not be "connected" to anything.

most states now have a hands free law, all cars made today have Bluetooth hands free, if the phone is connected, it can be locked out. Several manufacturers are also now offering GPS and other connected apps through your smart phone in their cars, Apple Car play for example. The programming is smart enough to know you are connected to a car and can be programmed to lock out texting, social media, games, etc.

it really isn't that far fetched or difficult, and I believe it is the next logical step and I suspect someone will create a law around this in the next few years, and seeing as California is the forerunner in taking away your civil liberties and rights, I suspect it will be this State that starts the trend.

mmarshall

While I certainly don't agree with everything California does (and they indeed are a very restrictive state), it must also be remembered that there is no such thing as a "right" to drive. In all 50 states and D.C., legally, it is a privilege, and subject to all local, state, and Federal laws governing it.

svelt

Coming from BC I can't believe this wasn't already law for years down in 'progressive' CA...It's a no brainer - hands behind the wheel and eyes on the road, not on the phone

Toys4RJill

It absolutely can be done. If I am correct, Toyota hands free key less entry can distinguish which side of the car one is on. So if someone approaches the passenger side, someone can't just open the door on the driver side and vice versa. A new standard would have to be adopted, both cell phone manufacturers and vehicle manufactures would have to work together.