ATTENTION: Cell phone talking drivers

Just picked up this e-mail message from Denice:

"...I had a really bad day yesterday. I was driving to the office in the Stanza and was broad-sided at 43rd and Minn. by a Dodge pick-up truck, driven by a cable guy who was talking on his cell phone. He hit the driver’s side front left and hood it’s smashed up pretty bad, so it’s probably totaled as it’s worth less that what it would cost to fix it. He got a ticket for failing to yield. "

START RANT:

OK.
I'm really pissed at this guy for smacking into D.
But, let's face it.
We all do it (talk on the phone while we're driving).
Well...
STOP IT.
Today.
I mean it.
Encourage everyone you know to do the same.
It is just NOT SAFE...
and it's WAY TOO DISTRACTING.
(yes...I am yelling.)

END OF RANT.

UPDATE:
Research on cell usage while driving.

The Fatal Analysis Reporting System (FARS) is a census of police-reported fatal accidents occurring in the US.

In one analysis of fatalities involving cell phone use, the cell phone-using drivers were all in the striking vehicle. That is to say: they struck something stopped in front of them, or left their lane of traffic and struck a vehicle or object.

In these crashes:
75% of the drivers were engaged in conversation
13% were dialing their cell phones
13% were hanging up

Of those engaged in conversation, one third were using mounted phones in the hands-free mode.

In the case of collision, according to a University of Toronto study, "Association Between Cellular-Telephone Calls and Motor Vehicle Collision":

1. The risk of collision when using a cell is 4 times higher regardless of the age or the driving experience of the driver
2. Hands-free cellular phone units offered NO SAFETY ADVANTAGE over hand-held
3. Note, in all cases the driver wasn't necessarily "at fault" but it still slowed their ability to avoid a collision caused by someone else.

BOTTOM LINE:
Please don't "cell phone" and drive.
The life you save may be your own.