General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: U.S.'s Amazing New 'Don't Text and Drive' Ad Will Leave You Shaking [View all]nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)that said, SMS should be disabled the moment you step into a vehicle. Ok. to be more precise, the moment you turn the vehicle on.
I pointed above that there are software solutions that do that already. Though that has to include twitter and facebook, which incidentally I use from the field as well.
As to the body count... you can blame me, and a bunch of my medics for the first ban in Mexico for using the cell phone while driving. We compiled the stats and made the case to lawmakers.
When that law was passed there were no hands free devices, so originally it was akin to driving while drunk, no exceptions with exactly the same penalties, which in Mexico they are nothing to sneeze at. Believe it or not they are far worst than the US, and god help you if you kill or injure somebody. For the record they also applied it to things like applying make up while driving, and one woman was charged with aggravated vehicular manslaughter for doing that. When hands free came out, they modified the law, under pressure from the companies. But like the US, if your phone is within reach and you crash, chances are you will be P1 in an accident. This has a few issues for me since at times we run the scanner app on top of the scanner on the way to a fire. But that is why the phone is in the cup holder. If I can get the damn thing... now you will make me finally get the hardware to use the speakers in the vehicle.