No, I will NOT call you while you're driving!

[KuariKaydrith]

I've been helping the spa answer calls, emails, and chats on the days they are closed so they don't end up with a huge backlog to deal with. It has kept me fairly busy on days when I would otherwise be bored out of my mind. It has also allowed me to learn a lot more about the services the spa does - I'm just a hotel front desk agent for the most part, and can do most of the other hotel duties as needed, so the spa thing is nice to learn.

So, today a guy chats in and wants me to call him back, and says he's driving. I respond telling him that I am not comfortable with calling him while he is driving and requested that he call back when he is parked.

Well, he got mad because he'd been on chat since 8:23 this morning. All he was getting responses from was the bot prior to me coming online at 1pm...and the bot even stated it was a bot as well. But we all know that people don't read.

I was nice after his little freak out and 'apologized' - said I was sorry, but didn't mean it - and told him that there wasn't a live person available until 1pm today. And once again to call us when he was no longer driving. This was two hours ago, and he's kept the chat open. I'm *still* not going to call him - how am I supposed to know if he's still driving or not? I'm not a mind reader, and I don't like catering to rude douche-canoes.

If he's still holding out on the chat when I get off, I'm just going to close the window. He's been told what to do and why he couldn't get a live person sooner, so the ball is in court now.

[dalesys]

"But, it's OK when I phone and drive because *I* have one of those hands-free telephonatio devices."

[KuariKaydrith]

That's sometimes the response I've gotten, and I do understand that people would get a bit ticked when folks refuse to call them while driving. Even using hands-free calling causes distraction while driving, especially if any information needs to be passed along. Either way, it's up to him to call in and if he's driving that's up to him, but if he wants me to call him while he's driving, I'm simply not comfortable with it as I'd rather not be the cause of him causing an accident.

[Argus]

When I was choosing my first cell phone, I ranked various features based on priority to me. Free voicemail was a high priority. Hands-free operation was in the bottom category, a placeholder for features that I was aware of but didn't care about.

[Seanette]

I very much wish I could require my callers to at least pull over. I've been in a few accidents myself, and dread hearing one in my headset.

[EricKei]

I'm a bit notorious among my friends and family for being the guy who refuses to pick up the phone while I'm driving They know that, if I don't pick up while I'm out, that's why, and that I'll call 'em back once I'm stopped somewhere.

[RealUnimportant]

I can converse with someone sat next to me, or even sat behind me, but trying to hold a conversation with someone who's not there in the car is a nightmare because my brain filters their voices as "the radio's on" and enjoys the sounds without paying much heed to the content. Should any information need to be passed, I'm unlikely to have it at my fingertips if I'm supplying it, and I have no way to record it if it's being passed in my direction. Much easier for all concerned to just call later - or text, or email!

[AkaiKitsune]

I seem to recall an experiment done where they measured how badly talking on a cell phone effected your driving (compared to no distractions and then compared to driving after drinking). It turns out that driving whilst using a cell is equivalent impairment and reflex inhibition as driving while slightly above the legal limit. They did both hands and hands free devices and they still found a call while driving definitely impacts your ability to safely preform.

[Nunavut Pants]

The odd part is that hands-free wasn't much better than hands-on at all.

[EricKei]

I recall hearing/reading about such studies, too. As I recall, the issue is as much our tendency to visualize the other person as anything else, which distracts us from the act of driving. If someone insists that they don't have this problem/are really amazing drivers, they probably have it BAD (and are likely a terrible, dangerous driver). Keep in mind how many people who tend to "talk with their hands" in person still do so on the phone. Similar concept.

[Mental_Mouse]

One time an old friend of mine tried to call me from his car. I told him that I didn't want the last words I heard from him to be "Oh shiIT<CRASH!>"

[earl colby pottinger]

Happens

One time an old friend of mine tried to call me from his car. I told him that I didn't want the last words I heard from him to be "Oh shiIT<CRASH!>"

One crash here in Durham region occurred at a unmarked railway crossing, it is the only one I know of in the area, and I think they finally put those moving barriers in place after the accident that kill the driver and his son.

He was speaking on a handheld phone, and it was thought his vision to the side that the train came from was blocked by the phone and his hand. The person talking to him just heard a horn and then the line went dead.

I would not like to be that person afterwards.

[Mental_Mouse]

I would not like to be that person afterwards.

Yeah, pretty much what I was thinking.

[Monterey Jack]

I'm reminded of a woman a few years back who was texting while behind the wheel ("This 'Happy' song is making me happy...!"), and seconds after firing off that last text, hit a bus or truck or something and was killed. Have to wonder how the person on the receiving end of that text felt after that.

[Mental_Mouse]

There was one Greek philosopher (Solon?) who suggested we should never call someone "happy" until they were dead, because something could always happen to screw things up. Aristotle's response was that even that might be too soon, because their survivors could still fall into misery or shame their memory, and they'd surely have cared about that if they'd known it would happen.