4 ms·

I commute partially on foot in Massachusetts, and it can be terrifying to see people making turns with the phone held up to the side of their face.

• GrinningFool 10y ago
  Far more terrifying are the ones you can't see doing it due to handsfree. Even better is what I'm increasingly seeing in states that have made texting/hands-on phone use illegal. Of course people still do it - except now they hold the phone down low so they don't get caught. Of course, that means that they can't keep the road in line of sight for however long it takes to finish their business. Best of all [1]: in cases where this leads to an accident, phones are hidden more quickly than they were since usage is against the law - which means phone usage will get underreported in accidents. That'll create a nice echo effect where it looks like the law is helping. The apparent number of phone-related accidents will drop - while total incidents will remain the same or increase. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4001674/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4001674/ - or so some of the numbers here can be interpreted. As the authors repeatedly point out, though - there are so many variables that it's difficult to draw any meaningful conclusions.