imcarthur

"The province is expected to table on Tuesday the long-awaited legislation that would ban hand-held cell phones while driving in Ontario."

See Pulse 24 Link

Finally.

Ian

pongobaz

Good!

chrenan

I hope Alberta will follow, there is nothing I hate seeing more. I actually see a lot of young drivers "texting" now too, that has to be the most dangerous thing going.

Mark Lue

I like the way they added the lone statement"Hands-free units would be allowed".

Christien

Here's one of those situations where I'm a complete, admitted, hypocrite. I too would support this ban, yet I never think twice about using my phone while driving. The only time I won't is under exceptional circumstances - heavy traffic, bad weather, navigating side streets with lots of parked cars, etc.

If the ban takes effect, I'll of course comply, even though I can't use hands-free in the 911 because the engine's too loud. But that made me think of something - the major distraction for me at least isn't the actual conversation, it's the dialing. I use a blackberry with full keypad, and I've got stubby sausage fingers. Dialing on that thing is a b!tch - that's what can really sap concentration, rather than the actual conversation.

But I do believe that for 80% of the drivers out there this ban is a good thing. Of course, when all the cops are busy staring into radar guns, how are they going to enforce it?

pongobaz

Christien,
there are kits that allow voice dialing via bluetooth. I installed (in about 1.5 hrs) the Motorolla Hf-1000 kit into my 911 and it works perfectly with my iphone. It even "speaks" the number of whoever is calling and mutes the radio. I got it last year for $69 brand new from some internet clearance house. Can't even imagine holding a phone and talking while driving anymore. When I get into rental cars one of the first things I do is pair my phone into the bluetooth system (provided it has one).

Christien

Does the sound come through the car's sound system or an earpiece? That might be worth looking into.

Silver C

Will they also ban drinking coffee. Dropping a phone to get 2 hands on the wheel in an emergency as opposed to a hot cup of Joe..... Another knee jerk badly considered piece of legislation. I'm for it, but make it thorough. Coming soon, a ban on cars without cup holders.

The Stig

Chris,

I've got a noise canceling Platronics bluetooth headset that works really well in my car. Mine can't be much quieter than your car. Plus you can program hot keys in your blackberry for single key dialing.

pongobaz

Through the sound system. All 996 are phone ready from the factory and all I needed was a $17 wire from Becker to make it fully integrated so I wouldn't have to mount the Motorolla speaker in the car. The mic sits near the sunroof switch and the controller is between the heated seats buttons; behind that piece of trim is where you would find the factory phone prep cable (4 wires with: hot switched, hot unswitched, ground and radio mute). When you make or receive a call, the radio mutes and displays "phone" and the phone sound is routed to the right front speaker (to avoid echoing). Works great.

Speedyellow993

I don't know about you guys but my car is my mobile office. I really don't know what to think of this new law but I guess it's for the better. Generally speaking I don't believe 90% of drivers are able to operate a vehicle safely while on a cell phone. The worst offender is TEXT MESSAGING or returning emails.

Once again this is just a band-aid to fix a larger problem which is very poor and inadequate driver training from the start!

Christien

Sunroof switch? Heated seat buttons? What are these things you speak of? Next you'll tell me your car has coolant! Seriously though, I'd have to go headset. Not only is the engine ridiculously loud inside the car, the sound system is garbage. Early 911s actually shipped with one single dash mono speaker, if you can believe that. So my car, like most, has had two 3" speakers stuffed in there and two 6"s in the rear parcel shelf. No amp, so sound quality is mediocre at best.

Cliff, I'll have to check out that headset. I do have frequent #s programmed into speed dial on my BB, I was speaking more generically about people trying to dial while driving. I'll admit it that I have typed emails while driving - it's slow and extremely distracting. I don't do it anymore.

pongobaz

I know...I was just trying to sway you to the darkside!

Christien

One of these days, when business is up and 997 prices are down.

Turbodan

are headsets allowed?
I would imagine so as it leaves hands free same as hands free kit