Though I can't hear where the road is, the signs, the lights, and the obstacles, I still manage to grope my way from place to place without causing any accidents or obstructions.
I think the headphone laws have to do with being distracted and disorientated because the sound comes from a direction relative to your head instead of relative to the world. However, I notice they are not being enforced since hands-free devices for phones are being encouraged. I think people who talk on hands-free devices while driving can be nearly as dangerous as those who hold their hand-set, but who am I?
There are laws that would seem to prevent signing while driving in almost every state, but those same laws would prevent you from shifting or making any number of manoeuvres in your car, so they probably have never been enforced. If you read the driver's manual issued by the state, you will find somewhere in there to "Keep both hands on the steering wheel at all times." Turns out that's the law, but nobody can drive like that. Those same manuals though say never to take your eyes off the road, but I still check my instrument panel to see how fast I'm going and such.
Cops use all sorts of gadgets and gizmoes while they're driving, but I guess they're trained for it.
I use a combination of 1-handed signing and brief or abbreviated fingerspelling, short sentences, no lengthy explanations. Keeping my eyes on the road prevents me catching much of the conversation anyway. I normally drive alone though, so it really isn't an issue for me very often.
I have no trouble seeing emergency vehicles approaching. You use the same skills as defensive driving, avoiding drunks and numbskulls who run red lights and drive too fast and try to run everybody off the road.
This was mentioned in the original post, but no one really answered it and I'm curious. Do d/Deaf people sign while driving? What would you do if you needed to say something to a passenger, or they needed to say something to you? Are there any laws forbidding signing while driving? (since there are laws against texting, and both require use of the hands and looking away).
I've also wondered, what do you think about the laws that forbid the use of earphones while driving, because they block sound? Do you think those laws should not exist since you do not need to hear to drive safely? Do you think the existence of those laws contribute to the general public's idea that d/Deaf people can't drive, or that you must be bad drivers?
