Posted on 12/14/2011 8:21:25 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Texting on a cell phone and driving might be banned nationwide.
(CNN) -- The National Transportation Safety Board's big, bold stroke encouraging all states to prohibit drivers from using cell phones faces a long, tortuous process in the nation's statehouses, experts said Wednesday.
This political reality stands out: Since states began legislating distracted driving or cell phone use in 2000, none has gone so far as to impose a complete ban on mobile devices behind the wheel, and only one state -- Alaska -- has considered such a blanket prohibition, just this year, said Anne Teigen, senior policy specialist with National Conference of State Legislatures.
Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, said opponents don't like big government intrusions and savor their personal freedoms.
"This is a controversial issue so you can assume it's not going to pass right away," Harsha said. "It's going to take a long time for legislatures to pass laws, and a long time for states to begin to enforce the laws, and then a long time for behavior to start to change.
"The first seat-belt law was passed in the mid-'80s, and we're now at 84 percent of drivers who are buckled up nationwide," even though all states now have laws requiring drivers and passengers to wear seat belts, Harsha said.
"People like to be connected. They like to respond to e-mails and voice mail," Harsha said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I doubt that. For one thing you hit 911 and it is locked into the 911 system and they are tracking via GPS. Second of all I'd take a drive with every person in my nearby city driving with cell phones than I would 5 minutes in L.A. Been there no thank you never will go there again. The least I would worry about in L.A. is drivers with cell phones and I was there before cells hit the market. With my cell phone I have called help for countless persons stranded on interstates. Some I'm pretty sure were medical emergencies. I don't stop but I do call. I've also reported reckless and obviously drunk drivers.
Yes. You see DUI laws are another TOOL used for Road blocks. Any drunk after paying the money can get a license back. So what is the DUI law about? MONEY!
Oh Praise Be. Our Masser Goverment giving dis ole boy permission to calls for helps. One person wants cell phones in trunks turned off. You deserve the government you wish for. Many more of us want no part of your Nanny State. But you live in a Nanny State don't you? State almost tells you when you can flush. Hows that working out for your state BTW? LOL.
So I’m a “moron” and an “idiot” for thinking you should hang up and pay attention while you’re driving? You pretty much proved what a belligerent dunce you are. I only hope you only kill yourself.
Those 2 guys you’re arguing with are impenetrably stupid. I loved it when the one said he’d rather get into a wreck in a 67 Fairlane than a new car. Seat belts? Airbags? Padded interiors? Crumple zones? Nah, I don’t need them things, I ain’t no liberal sissy. Apparently he also thinks you can’t use a cell phone to call 911 if you need help. The other one thinks everything is a gubbmint plot to keep him from blabbering on his cell phone when he should be watching the road. At least they’ll be in jail or a grave pretty soon.
No, you're a moron and an idiot for assuming that I don't just because I don't agree with your advocacy of nanny statism.
I only hope you only kill yourself.
And I hope you live a long and healthy life, mired in the misery you have helped to create, suffering under the government you empower with your foolish quest for unattainable 'safety'.
But we're repeating ourselves.
No, you’re repeating yourself, and I’m telling you how stupid you are. Happy motoring.(While you still can)
“And you are MUCH more likely to have someone driving near you that has a handheld than has had a six pack.”
You are correct. And yet accidents and injurie rates per mile driven continue to fall.
This is not about banning handheld phone use. The proposal is for banning ALL cell phone technology, handheld, hands free, bluetooth, you name it.
Where does it end?
Should you get a ticket because a cop sees your lips moving?
“And you are MUCH more likely to have someone driving near you that has a handheld than has had a six pack.”
You are correct. And yet accidents and injury rates per mile driven continue to fall.
This is not about banning handheld phone use. The proposal is for banning ALL cell phone technology, handheld, hands free, bluetooth, you name it.
Where does it end?
Should you get a ticket because a cop sees your lips moving?
Having the cell phone in the car becomes my most productive time. In fact, I plan on making my calls during my drive time.
Sorry if I did not use the tag. I thought it would be obvious but with our freedoms being lost so easily I can understand your reaction and not picking up on it.
Well Ozzy you obviously lack reading skills don't you Bubba? Too many beers? I said 65 Fairlane equiped with some modern equipment like seatbelts, airbags and antilock brakes would be safer cars. What is wrong with that? Or do you just love your government Mandated new vehicle like a Smart Car? Would you put your familiy in one?
Second part IF you bothered to read is one poster did not want them in the occupied portiion of the vehicle at all but rather in a trunk locked up and turned off. You tell me Sherlock what good does it do in the trunk if you are pinned in a wreck off the road?
You are completely wrong. Even the crappiest, cheapest car in the US sold today is FAR safer than the largest, most expensive car of 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, any number of years that you want ago. Everyone seems to forget that those “big cars” of the 50’s and 60’s were mostly air - no side beams in the doors, two sheets of metal about as thick as that on a refrigerator door between you and someone blowing a red light at 50 MPH. Single brake fluid circuits - any leak would cause a total loss of braking. Non-collapsible steering columns that would impale the driver when the steering wheel bent. Metal dashboards that would kill the occupants by splitting their heads open (but the good news was that the CAR could be repaired)! Non-laminated glass that would neatly decapitate the occupants as their heads went through the windshield (no seat belts to hold them back). I could go on. Cars are designed to be sacrificial these days. Repairing or replacing (the financial value of) a person costs society and insurance companies MUCH more.
I also think that “old timers” have very fuzzy memories about how much maintenance and repair that older cars took as opposed to today’s cars. I will grant that the maintenance was potentially easier to do, but tuning up a car every 6-12000 miles was not unusual at all 40 years ago. For example, if you really wanted your car to run well back then, you adjusted and cleaned your car’s ignition points every 3000 miles.
You just can’t tell anymore LOL. Sorry about the misunderstanding. I do use a cell driving. Most of my driving is rural but some in congested city as well. I use a headset because of hearing aids or I would use a Bluetooth. The cord is out of the way so no wire hazard. Texting while driving? Nope. I do one of two options. I pull over or I call the person. But my phone is mounted dash top level where I do not have to take my eyes off the road and I also use speed dial and voice caller ID.
I've seen older cars laying on their top without hardly a dent and the drivers usually unharmed and the top intact. I could jump up and down on many of todays cars and bend in the roof. Remember when a crowd of kids could sit on the hood? I could walk across the hood of the older ones.
As for repair and maintenance cost? Don't even go there You Loose. At age 16 I could do all my own repair work be it replacing clutch or an engine overhaul. My ex-father in law who was a mechanic on trucks till his retirement won't touch the newer cars of today. If you don't have the computer you can't do Zilch. If you don't have the special tools same thing. I know after the crank positioning sensor on our van failed leaving me and my wife stranded in a very bad stretch of two land highway in the middle of it as I was making a turn. By stranded I mean just that unable to exit the vehicle. The cost to fix it was considerable just like it cost $1000 now to get a water pump changed that used to cost $25-$30 part and was a 1-2 hour job for the average man. Next is in tank fuel pumps same thing. A $30 part and 30 minutes work became a $300-$500 plus part and means emptying the tank as well. IOW for most persons another trip too the shop.
Re read my later post. The older cars with antilock brakes, seatbelts and airbags would offer better protection. Also somewhere in the mid 60's car went to dual brake cylinders. But there was several ways to stop if brakes failed including the emergency brake or gearing down. For that matter on a straight shift you could cut the engine in gear. Do that now and see what happens. You lock the steering wheel. Gee that blunder took a rocket scientist.
People got hurt years ago mostly because the interstates weren't finished and traffic was often on two lane highways at 50-55 MPH. IOW head on collisions. In my end of my state that was two laned highways going through ridges and mountains.
Now if a car engine quits while vehicle in motion you loose power steering and power brakes if you let up just once on the brakes. The older ignition systems generally did not completely fail all at once. If it did you still had brakes and steering that even my 4'10 95 pound wife when she was able too drive could have stopped easily and safely. I changed plugs and points every 12,000 miles about the same as the ones last now. To get a spark plug out of some engines also is a trip to the shop. I don't know about you but I don't have thet kind of money.
Governmnet has it's limits and refuses time after time too live within them. The government is supposed to protect you from foreign invasion thus the common defense. A law enforcement officer is not there too protect you either. You can die waiting on one. Name me a law where government has not expanded far beyond the intent. Seatbelts for example. A crime that only hurts ones self. It started out as a safety education campaign. Nanny Staters weren't happy. Next it became warnings. Nanny Staters were not happy. Now in states like mine they have a two time in your life time policy. Second time caught in your lifetime no more license. Drunks get better justice.
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