IC2, if I understand things correctly, it is illegal to use a hand-held phone but legal for a bluetooth. Did I understand your post correctly?

When we drive, there are many things to distract us and not just a phone. When I drive, I tend to look for stock cars and old cars, especially when I am in new areas. That is one of the reasons of why I have my Hudson Metropolitan. It was sitting along I70. When I am in town, I look at the vehicles around me and wave at the people I know, and as a pastor, I do know a few. I have had people come up to me and complain because I ignored them instead of waving. They were giving me a hard time and really weren't ticked, at least I don't think they were. These are also examples of distracted driving.

I know that I could drive safer, but also know that even when I'm driving with my bad habits, I am a lot safer driver than many people around me. That also does not mean that what I do is less of a danger than something else because when you are behind the wheel, anything can happen. I got rear ended once because I slowed down with traffic to drive over debris from an accident. The kid who hit me totaled his chevy truck by running into the back of my f150.

I am also one who put off getting a cell phone. We fist got one for my wife because she was traveling a lot and wanted her to have a way to contact me if she had any problems. I ended up with one about 5 years later and refuse to text. Heck, I refuse to get the internet because don't care to surf the web on a screen that small. I have called 911 numerous times while driving including reporting a teen doing about 70 going uphill in the wrong lane of traffic. I was able to give the license number to the police and noticed that the car disappeared for about 3 months. I will admit that the phones being used while driving are a bad habit and cause more issues than they help, but there are instances where they do good. If using a phone, I think the bluetooth should be the only option because to me, that is no different than talking to somebody in the car. I am guessing that every one of us who is married talks to our spouse while we drive, at least I know that I do.

From experience, I am glad to have my phone because I have had to leave Wichita for Salina earlier than planned because I received a call that somebody was dying. I have also received calls that somebody was in the hospital and so made a detour to there instead of going home and getting a message and then have to drive back down. But I also don't talk when in a business and being waited on. I silence the ringer and return the call when done. I know that I am in the minority on this one, but I do think that there are safer ways of using the phone. As far as texting goes, there is no safe way to text and drive.