Good rant for the day....

[matriarch]

The answer's simple.
Don't answer it in the car.
Don't have it turned on in the car, or have it diverted to the answerphone.
If you MUST have the phone in the car, then invest in a properly safety certified hands-free kit.

Otherwise........Just DON'T !!! Its not worth it.

 

[Lucifer_Carroll]

Why in the name of all that's holy would you use a phone on a bicycle?

Cars are bad enough but at least semi-convincing rationales can be built out of it. The safety of the self especially if you are driving a Maibatsu Monstrosity Uber SUV that can crush what you hit, the illusion of safety, the illusion of comfort, the illusion of having one wheel that can be steered with one hand.

But a bike has no illusions. You are surrounded constantly by psycho cars from Hell that can crush you without even pausing to think about it and constantly shift into your bike lane for kicks or that all powerful right turn (left for the Brits). Plus, you do not want to ever have less than complete control on a bike's handlebars when most bike lanes are built in the expectation that your bike is 1 mm wide and can duck the fucking side mirrors of the Maibatsu Monstrosities.

Without distractions, the bike ride I do every day to class scares the living beejesus out of me and has me illegally riding on the sidewalks or woods at times (mountain bikes are nice). I cannot fucking imagine even attempting that with even a slight distractant. Those who have done this on bikes: What the Hell was going through your mind???

And yeah, there can be little more scary than glancing over or into the mirror in some little compact or a bicycle and seeing some asshole shaving while communicating on the phone and seeing his hand on the wheel doing the motions of angry conversation. It is like seeing an all-mighty message from high saying "Get thee the fuck out of this lane before he wastes you out of his own stupidity".

 

[patricia51]

Speaking of advertisements and films, years ago I watched a short safety video titled "Room To Live". There are no graphic shots or scenes, it consists completely of a retired State Trooper standing beside a mangled automobile and recounting heart-breaking stories of accidents he investigated over the years. While this was from the pre-air bag days, lack of seat belt use still takes many lives every year.

Incidentally, that first viewing I had of the video was with my police academy class the morning we started the driving week of the basic certification course. I still can't get into a vehicle without fastening my belt.