Go to my blog Poor Clio

Oct. 4, 2009

My Cell Phone Policy


By using a cell phone while operating a vehicle, I may endanger the lives of myself, my passengers and those with whom I share the road. The statistical and anecdotal information that supports this view is overwhelming, and to believe myself to be in some way exempt or invulnerable would be pure hubirs. Therefore, I have now adopted this policy with regard to cell phones and vehicles:

I will not use a cell phone while driving.

I do carry a cell phone upon my person much of the time, and I may check from time to time at such stops that might occur in the course of a vehicle journey for messages that might have been left, and may elect to return a call or calls before resuming my travel. Additionally, in certain circumstances, if I am driving and detect that a call is coming into my cell phone, I may elect to fully leave the road out of all traffic at the next safe opportunity, to evaluate any message that may have been left, without, however, examining the cell phone prior to such stop in any effort to detect the origin of the call.

Should I receive a call on any phone from someone whom I believe to be driving a vehicle while speaking on a cell phone, I will quickly discern whether this is the case, and, if so, quickly but politely terminate the conversation. Should such a call be of an emergency nature grave enough to risk the endangerment of the lives of my caller, any passengers he or she might have, and those with whom my caller is sharing the road, I will attempt to provide such emergency assistance as is appropriate, although this may largely consist of counseling the caller to pull completely out of all traffic and to then directly contact emergency service professionals through a 911 call.

Should I place a call to a cell phone number, and believe when the call is answered that the recipient is driving a vehicle, I will quickly discern whether this is the case, and, if so, apologize for making the call and quickly but politely terminate the conversation.

I will not make a call to a cell phone number if I believe it probable that the recipient will answer the call while driving a vehicle. If an intended call recipient has stated unequivocally to me that he or she will not answer cell calls while driving a vehicle, I may elect to place calls to that party, confident that the call will not be answered while the party is driving a vehicle, and that my call may be returned a later time, possibly even at a pause in the party's vehicle journey.

Should I in the course of driving observe an emergency situation that warrants a call to 911, I will look for the first reasonable opportunity to safely leave the road and pull over completely out of all traffic, in order to place this call.

If a passenger in a vehicle, I will ask permission from the driver before partaking in a cell phone call. I will also politely but firmly discourage the driver from conversing on a cell phone while driving, and offer to drive so that the party may pursue his or her cell phone call(s) while not operating the vehicle, or alternately, offer to make calls on the driver's behalf so that the driver is not using the cell phone while driving the vehicle.

I apologize in advance for any inconvenience that this policy may cause any others, particularly any who believe that the content of a cell phone conversation that may not materialize due to this policy would have warranted the endangerment of the lives of myself, any passengers I may have had, or any others with whom I was sharing the road.

Having declared this policy, I expect to be held to it, and invite anyone observing me violate this policy to remonstrate me for so doing.

-James Edmunds

Copyright © 2009 James Edmunds