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Drive Now, Talk Later Cell Phone Stories This incident happened several years ago, but it will always stick in my mind. I was driving with a friend on I-75 just north of Detroit. I was in the passenger seat, so I was able to look around and daydream and see the sights. I happened to look at an individual who was driving next to me. He was talking on his cell phone, and it looked like he was having a wonderful conversation with someone on the other line! He was talking very fast and very loud and laughing hard. This went on for several miles, up to the point when he was so far into this conversation that he forgot the fact that he was driving and literally looked up at the ceiling of his car. Little did he notice that the traffic had come to a complete stop in front of him. When he finally lowered his head he was about 15 car-lengths from the car in front of him, and, with the cell phone still clutched in his hand, he let out a scream into the phone that hit glass-shattering decibels and slammed into the car without even hitting his brakes. I learned from his mistake that talking while driving could have a big IMPACT on my life and maybe someone else's! Lots of children live on my Street, and many of them were out playing. Parents were watching them and helping them cross the street. Many cars were parked on the street, which made it very congested and an area where you would need all of your senses. Too bad the man who had his cell phone jammed in his ear, and who had no license and was driving a borrowed car, didn't think so. He hit a five-year-old little boy at around 40 to 45 miles per hour, injuring him terribly. He needed to be life-flighted to a better hospital to treat his injuries. The man got out of the car, still on the phone, describing the accident to the person on the phone. I have NEVER felt so close to physically harming a human being in my whole life. I will never forget the sound of that child's mother's screams as her child was hit or the cries of the child in his agony. Jim Sukel Lorain, Ohio On Saturday at about 1:00 pm, Dean Laberge, Darin Divine, and I were traveling southbound on Silverado Trail in Napa County during a bicycle training ride. For those not familiar with this road, it is a very good, smooth, wide road, with a very wide shoulder. Bicycle traffic on this road is common among both recreational and serious cyclists. We were pedaling along at about 23-25 mph, with Dean on the outside edge of the road, me on the inside, and Darin behind me. Without warning, all three of us were hit from behind by a small sedan whose driver had allegedly dropped his cell phone and was fishing around on the floor for it. Because he wasn't paying attention to driving, he veered to the right and mowed us down. Our estimate is that he was traveling between 45 and 55 mph when we were hit. There was no sound of squealing brakes, no warning of any kind. The first hint that we had of our impending disaster was the feel of car fender. We all have a lot of road rash, bruises, and very stiff muscles. We all have trashed helmets--for Darin and me, the helmets probably saved our lives. They are both flattened where our heads impacted the car, and mine also split in the back. Larry Friend Napa Valley Funny you should mention anti-talking-on-the-cell-phone-while driving. The scene: I am driving home from Connecticut, where I worked, to Vermont, where I lived, on a Friday afternoon. I call my house in Vermont to get the messages off the answering machine. Lo and behold, one is from a realtor in New Fairfield, CT, where we were thinking of buying a home. So I get the number and start the tedious dialing process to make the call. I'm traveling, at 80 mph (cruise control--a wonderful invention) in the passing lane, dialing my Nokia cell phone, when I notice the car has drifted slightly to the left, so I jerk it back onto the road. This particular stretch of I-89 has a rather narrow shoulder on the left, one that also drops rather precipitously. This confluence caused the car--a 1993 VW Passat--to flip toward the driver's side. After that, I guess I lost my orientation, but I'm sure it made quite a sight for the folks behind me as I did two complete flips and landed--upright--in the spacious center median. Fortunately the VW took the brunt of the impact, and I would have been able to walk away, had I been allowed. Instead, I got a nice ride in an ambulance to Gifford Medical Center, where my lack of injury and wealth of stupidity were confirmed. Or, more accurately, people who use cell phones while driving a potentially lethal weapon suck. And I like to think this red Passat got its vengeance on me when, on Monday, on my way back to my job in Connecticut, it allowed me to smack my head full force into the top of the car into which I was attempting to sit in order to remove the CD player. And I thought I heard it say to me, through the ringing in my cauliflower ear, "You jerk!
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