dkf747

1. Such regulation would be virtually unenforceable. It would be a waste of time. The police have more important things to do than look out for the few drivers that sign. How will they know it is signing, or just someone who uses their hands alot when talking?

2. Unless you can demonstrate that crashes due to signing are commonplace, there is no reason to regulate it. Can you or anyone cite some relevant statistics or facts, showing the need for regulation of SWD?

Why are we so regulation happy? Regulation should only be used when absolutely necessary. Signing while driving does not appear to need regulating. Regulating SWD will be unlikely to save many lives, if any. You may like telling others how to live, but they will naturally resist such regulating.

Deafness

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Sweetmind

Thank you so much, dkf747

javapride

my partner and i do talk in the car but only for breif times, such as which store did we need to go to first, or where do we need to turn, or what do you want for dinner? ( if its real late and we'll need to get dinner in town) sometimes we need to figure a direction out. So this is basic communication we have, sometimes when we talk, for basic communication my eyes are on the road but my one hand is signing and if i see something going on up ahead, then i say HOLD a second then proceed to use safety protcol, but belive me i use EVERY safety measure for every reasons,... but we don't yap alllll the time just VERY breif. my partner talks to me and when she says hld on we hld the convo til we re out of the busy city. all in all, rain is no converstation due to slick roads, but we do try to keep it breif. and for the music mine's set to ONE station and my CD is always inside the track so all i have to do is hit once for radio, hit twice for CD on a little red button, that's it. so 95% of the time my eyes are indeed on the road, and my hands on the wheel.

Sweetmind

YEp Yep javapride. No wonder they have a law for the loudest music for the vehicles, too. Many deafies are always turned the volume higher while they have devices in their ears.. I dont understand this anymore..

Rose Immortal

I'm going to sound stupid here, but I've kinda wondered what a lot of you guys who use mainly ASL do in situations where it's not advisable to let go of whatever you're doing, and you need to get a point across...?

Beowulf

I remember a couple years ago when a Deaf friend of mine was worried about his sister and asked me to search for her in a car. He told me to NOT sign, since we were going through bad, drug-ridden areas, and he said that there were warring gang factions throughout, and the possibility of being shot while signing would have been pretty good, since one gang could mistake the signing for another gang's. Dang.
(BTW, we found his sister and she is fine today.)

Interpretrator

There's conflicting information on this. Apparently a 1976 study showed a greater number of accidents among the deaf population compared with hearing. However, today I hear over and over again that deaf people proportionally have a lower number of accidents than hearing people (as cited in the original story). Unfortunately I can't find the original study nor the actual numbers that back up the second claim. AND, I don't think any of this information takes into account whether the cause of the accident was people signing or other negligence.

You'd really have to study this in depth before making any regulations. For example, one accident involving a deaf person could be used to prove the need for banning "SWD," but maybe that person was alone in the car, but drunk! Or perhaps the deaf person wasn't at fault at all. This is purely an attempt by people to make a blanket regulation removing "distractions" from drivers. It's not really a bad idea generally speaking, but the sign language part is just so clearly misguided.

Ack! That's very true. I seem to remember someone outside of Gallaudet was killed by gang members who mistook the signing for gang signs. Police in that area started receiving training to stop this kind of thing from happening. And just a few months ago...sad:

http://www.4hearingloss.com/archives..._find_get.html

sr171soars

It never ceases to amaze me that some people can't read anymore. I never said that we needed to have a law for signing while driving (just read my prior emails). I said we need a law for banning the use of cell phones as there is enough evidence for it.

The jury still out for signing while driving but I did call a spade a spade in that it can be as dangerous if not worst at times than cell phones. Anytime one's eyes are off the road, that person is not driving carefully. It is far from an attack on ASL and the deaf culture. That really irks me becauses it comes across to me as if it were the deaf community wants a free pass to do what they want when they want. My concern is safety period. No matter who is driving, there are enormous responsibilities/consequences for when stupid things happen and they happen all the time. Just check your traffic news...

I agree it would be hard to enforce a law banning SWD...heck banning cell phones would be hard to enforce as well (my first email alludes to this problem). There is a fine line in trying to balance the difference between under regulation (anything goes) to over regulation (everybody sort of looks the other way - this happened in the Soviet Union...curruption was rampant).

rockdrummer

Not to mention having to take your hands off the wheel to respond. There are many distractions while driving. I don't think the intention is to remove all distractions. If that was the case then we would not have radios or CD players or cup holders, or ashtrays in cars and there would be a law against talking in a car. That would be extreme. No, I think the intention is to identify and reduce the most likely distractions that would result in an unsafe driving condition. Clearly, taking your hands off the wheel for any reason will result in a dangerous driving condition. Communicating in any form will be a distraction, but with hearies they don’t have to take there hands off the wheel to communicate. That I think is the difference.

gnulinuxman

When I'm driving my fiancee around, we agree to use oral-only communication because she is against me taking my eyes off the road or my hands off the wheel longer than absolutely necessary. She lipreads me and she speaks orally to me. It's an agreement only because I can still focus on the road most of the time. (I tell her to stop when I'm doing something that needs a lot of attention, like rush-hour traffic or turns after two-way stop signs). But when I park the car, we go right back to signing.

My fiancee can't get a license due to her seizure disorder (it has nothing to do with her deafness). I hate driving.

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gnulinuxman

Interesting question. My fiancee and I temporarily switch to oral communication when in that situation, but then when we put it down we go back to signing. I do wonder what people who do NOT know how to use their mouths to talk would do, though.

I do know about face pointing (jerking the face in the direction you want to point in) and eye-pointing (looking at what you want to point in), but more complicated stuff...I don't know.

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--Danny

Passivist

I would think it highly dangerous to use sign langauge while driving, and making users a danger on the road. One hand off the wheel is considered reckless driving here in the UK, e.g. using a mobile phone (Instant fine here if caught), OR signing (Or as one instance we had someone putting make up on with TWO hands and another driver eating pizza as well !). Take cars off these people ! Deaf cultural rights will cut no ice with the law if someone is killed as a result.

Sweetmind

yea thats your own audist attitude 's thinking about our ASL or Deaf languages as usual,. Passivist

Liebling:-)))

Banning sign language during driving is a ridiculous.

We driver know how to drive safety... We know we can't use mobile phone while driving, talk, sign language, etc. but consider the traffic....

I know my limit when I sign with my hubby or friends while driving. Fix banning driving law for sign language makes no sense to me.

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*sniffing you*

sr171soars

Passivist,

Safety is not the the issue here but one's rights and if it means somebody gets injured or killed...sobeit and that is just too bad. *Rolling one's eyes*

Rose Immortal

Maybe IF they did this, they should put it in the same bill that bans hearing people from using their cell phones.

And bans eating behind the wheel.

And putting on your makeup behind the wheel.

Or reading a book.

Yes, the last one happens. There are even racks made to go over the steering wheel so you can do it. Typically you see it in large cities where there are big traffic jams, but it's a stupid idea. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, if you're hearing you do NOT need to be trying to read in the car--that's what audio books are for!!!!! (Really NOBODY should do it, but hearing people especially have no excuse.)

Liebling:-)))

mmmhh, you has a good point, Rose!

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*sniffing you*

Reba

Yes, I have seen that. I have also seen drivers looking at maps, writing notes, sorting thru CDs, and brushing teeth.

One time I was riding with a hearing missionary family from overseas. I guess they are used to calmer traffic. Anyway, the husband began to pray while driving WITH HIS EYES SHUT! Aack!

Whew! It was a short prayer!

(I don't recommend praying that way.)

Fo'Shizzle

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Y

No, that's NOT a stupid question. Since I came from a large
number of both deaf and hearing siblings communicate
with each other in sign language, we all grew up
driving like experts using ONLY one hand on
the wheel at the exact same time using ASL/sign language
with ONLY ONE hand...

Many people especially audists were NOT aware
that deaf drivers almost NEVER use both hands in ASL
during driving. We tend to use our facial expressions
at the same time signing with only one hand while
watching the roads driving. Of course, we're the Experts
and we have the common sense to have a limited talk
whenever necessary. Of course, we normally use
ASL with both hands but NOT during driving
except using only one hand.

Hmm, for example.... When you flip a bird,
do you use only one hand or both hands while driving ?

Kalista

I have seen hearing people used their cell phones and ate also make up at the mirror at same time.

If cop stopped me when I sign during my drive. I will give my finger at a cop. Tell him go to ASL class.

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Enjoy the Autumn time as much as we can. The foliage are such beautiful in Vermont and New Hampshire.

Interpretrator

*laughing*

I know this is sort of off-topic, but often I've really wished people in other cars knew more than just this "universal sign." I remember one time I pulled off a supremely bonehead move, and I so wanted to tell the people behind me how sorry I was, and all I could do was turn around at the stoplight and mouth REALLY BIG and hope they understood. I did actually sign "ME STUPID-STUPID-STUPID" assuming that knocking yourself on the forehead repeatedly might be understood even by non-signers.

Sweetmind

I m laughing so hard at Y and Interpretrator with tears. It 's really good one tho.

sr171soars

Er...I wouldn't do that as anybody understands that (the finger). Give a cop trouble and he will be glad to give you some in return...

Ummm...on the other hand you seem to like the idea...so go right ahead and be my guest. I'll be looking for how it went later....

Y

LOL That's a Good one !

Rose Immortal

LOL!

In all seriousness, I thought many signs needed both hands in order to retain the full meaning. Is that not the case?

Y

Not really, but depends on the situation.

If I intend to give a formal presentation or storytelling,
then I would need both hands to retain the full meaning.

But, when I am driving I tend to have a very limited
basic simple talk using only one hand.
I usually tell them something like this:
"Let's WAIT until we arrive at the restaurant then
I will tell you a long story about my Daddy"
while I still keep myself focus driving on the way
to the restaurant.

Passivist

We'll send you a file in a cake... Do let me know if you ever visit the UK, I don't want to be near you when your driving, I like life !