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Girl + Honda + cellphone = this story from CityTV..

Quote:Did A Cell Phone Conversation Lead To A Horrific Accident In The Downtown Core?
Monday April 7, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff
He never knew what hit him and he had no chance to avoid it. A pedestrian was strolling on the downtown streets enjoying the weather one minute and fighting for his life seconds later.

It was all the result of a terrible accident that closed the major intersections of Carlton and Jarvis Sts. in the downtown core around 2pm Monday and left police wondering exactly what happened. The mishap began when an ambulance, with lights and sirens at full blast, went roaring southbound on Jarvis.

A Honda coming westbound on Carlton somehow failed to see or hear the emergency vehicle and the driver inside seemed to be taken by complete surprise by its sudden presence as it loomed straight in front of her. At the last second, the woman swerved to avoid a head-on collision, but her maneuver still resulted in a terrible tragedy. Cops say the car went out of control, mounted the curb and plowed directly into the man who just moments before had been ambling down the sidewalk.

Investigators confirm it appears the victim was carried on the hood for what must have seemed like an eternity. "There is evidence that the pedestrian was on the front of the vehicle for some distance," admits Toronto Police Insp. Neil Corrigan.

The car then hit a concrete planter and sputtered to a stop.

The man was rushed to St. Michael's Hospital, where he remains in very grave condition. His name hasn't been released. Although police say it wouldn't have prevented the driver from hearing the ambulance, at least one witness who saw it all unfold insists the woman was distracted by talking on a cell phone.

"When she landed over here, she still had the phone in her hand," Kristian Stefanson relates. "Can you imagine?"

Stefanson claims the woman in the car appeared to be so engrossed in her own conversation, she didn't see the ambulance until it was too late. And he's wondering how anyone survived the head-on impact that followed. "If he's alive, it's a miracle, it's a miracle," he shakes his head sadly. "The moral of the story: don't talk on cell phones when you're driving."

The province has repeatedly debated bills to ban the use of phones while driving, but they've always gone down to defeat at Queen's Park.

the scary part is that I was maybe a couple blocks from where it happened, and that ambulance had passed me as I walked back to work from lunch. This accident one block south would have resulted in a LOT more injuries

*uckin cell phones strike again !! ............ then there's the morons who actually text while driving. How about concentrating on the DRIVING instead of the inane conversation you're having. The amount of accidents caused by cell phones is way under-reported.

I thought all woman drivers automatically had a cell phone attached to their ear and hand :unsure:

I wish they'd finally get the law into effect. The way people drive up here is bad enough, they don't need a helping hand to make it even worse. I've almost been in so many accidents because other drivers were on their phones its ridiculous.

I never EVER answer or talk on the phone while driving.. I see who it is, and drop the phone back into my lap. IT CAN WAIT. Or I pull over if I need a hand with directions or whatever, so I can talk instead of trying to multitask.

my friend likes to text his gf all the time when hes driving. countless times ive told him to stop cause hes swerving all over the lane. he also likes to do this at speeds over 80 and sometimes around 120. he doesnt get it and jsut laughs it off. hes driving a full-size F-150 so its not like the swerving isnt noticeable

darkpuppet,Apr 8 2008, 12:39 PM Wrote:Girl + Honda + cellphone = this story from CityTV..

I think the girl and Honda had something to do with it and not the cell phone :)

joking aside this is getting to be a serious issue in TO. Too many drivers and too many cell phones. Banning cell phones won't do it either, bc i can bet you the person would just hide the phone once they see the cop and continue on talking once the officer drives by.

There has to be a better way of controlling cell phone usage while driving. I'll admit i use my cell a lot, my job requires me to be on the road a lot and unfortunatly compaines expect you to answer the freaking phone whenever, whereever it rings :( i do use my headset a lot, but still at times you have to look at the phone to dial or search for a number.

yeah all this says to me is duh!

I feel bad for the poor guy and hopefully he'll survive!

On a positive note.... at least she wasn't "street racing" and maybe it will direct the police's attention towards dangerous and reckless drivers instead of so called street racer`s`

cops are on the rampage out here... i stayed late at work and was on my way home around 3am and was followed by 2 different cruisers before i made it home. the 2nd one made a point of going through an intersection, stopping, reversing doing a u-turn, then followed me through my subdevision almost right to my house. And this was in my stock `00 caddy and not the focus!!!

And street racers are an issue? :huh:

way bigger than street racing. it aggravates me every time i see someone talking on their cell phone and driving, even worse is when kids with newly minted license are texting and driving.

There is a law for this, its just people are to cheap to buy hands free devices.

for cheap ppl like me you can get a headset with a wire that attaches to your phone for like $10, and bluetooth headsets are cheap now.

or you can be balla and get a headunit with bluetooth and a mic so you can use your car's speakers to have a phone convo

talking on the phone isn't the issue IMHO (or else you might as well make talking with passengers illegal as well). its really more about not having both hands available to operate the vehicle. if you were eating a burger with one hand and driving with the other, IMHO that is just as dangerous (and in europe you would get a ticket for that too)

I'll probably get trashed for saying this, don't get me wrong, I have a couple friends who are Paramedics, as well as knowing firefighters and cops. I personally hate how Ambulances and Fire Engines (mostly) and occasionally police cruisers who are coming up to an intersection that has lanes blocked and they cut over into oncoming traffic, usually done with a good amount of distance and warning but on occasion they are just all of a sudden there in front of you lights and bells on, with little to no warning.

I've been caught by surprise with this a few times. Before people jump all over me saying I'm not an attentive driver, I am an attentive, safe driver with a virtually perfect driving record. It is no surprise really that this crash (not an accident as everybody likes to call it) happened, between being a possibly non attentive below average driver coupled with a possible distraction of being on a cell phone.

Even the guys I know who are medics don't even like to go into oncoming traffic lanes.

yea i use bluetooth whenever im in the car.....manual car+cell phone in the hand=no good

NikiterZTS,Apr 8 2008, 07:56 PM Wrote:yea i use bluetooth whenever im in the car.....manual car+cell phone in the hand=no good
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i see ppl manual+cell+smoke+coffee, makes you wonder how they are sterring the car! :)

i've occasionally steered the car with my knees so i can have a sandwich and drink while driving :ph34r:

the only time i've done this was very late at night on a long distance drive on the interstate with miles of straight road ahead and no one around.

mo_focus,Apr 8 2008, 09:40 AM Wrote:There has to be a better way of controlling cell phone usage while driving.
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I have an idea.

http://www.spymodex.com/jammer001.htm

There are some that work up to 40 meters. Problem solved.

I'll never understand why people think it's safe to operate a cellphone with one hand while driving with the other. I mean cripes if you have a manual what the hell are you steering with when you shift gears? :blink:

I guess I just don't get it :huh: I use a headset [b]if[/i] it's an important call while driving, otherwise, I ask them to call back later...

NefCanuck