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Experts: States will continue to put brakes on cell phone bans
CNN ^ | Wed December 14, 2011 | Michael Martinez and Zohreen Adamjee

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 ...


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1 posted on 12/14/2011 8:21:30 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

nannystatism at it’s finest.


2 posted on 12/14/2011 8:32:33 PM PST by ilgipper (Everything you get from the government was taken from someone else)
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To: MinorityRepublican

I live in my car. I never text while driving but use hands free and talk ALOT.

Can you imagine the traffic jams as people pull over to take and make calls on the side of the roads?


3 posted on 12/14/2011 8:35:37 PM PST by CSI007
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To: MinorityRepublican

Lets see
Insurance companies benefitted from 55 mph speed limit and federal highway dollars were tied to change in speed limits.

Insurance companies benefitted from having seat belts legislated and the Feds wanted it and tied state seat belt laws to highway funds. In our state it is a ticketable offense to be beltless.

Insurance companies would benefit from cell phone bans and how long do you think it will take for federal highway funds to be tied to state legislation banning cell phone use


4 posted on 12/14/2011 8:35:37 PM PST by Chickensoup (In the 20th century 200 million people were killed by their own governments.)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Texting is stupid.

But I have seen drivers on the interstate reading the newspaper.

So as the saying goes, you can’t fix stupid.

As for using the phone, I there is no doubt in my mind that the phone has prevented far more wrecks than it has caused.

Those of us who have done a lot of driving know that the greatest danger to the motoring public is drowsiness; falling asleep at the wheel.

How many drivers have been kept awake by a phone call?

And the interesting thing is that during the period of time that the cell phone has become indispensable, the fatality rate per 100,000 miles has fallen and has done so in every one of those years.

So one could just as well argue that the cell phone has made driving more safe.

I won’t go that far, but I will say that when you take the cell away from a bad driver, what you have left is still a bad driver.


5 posted on 12/14/2011 8:35:51 PM PST by old curmudgeon
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To: MinorityRepublican

Yes I can understand not doing chit chat and facebook but a lot of us earn our living getting pages, service orders and sell orders on the blackberry or iphone.


6 posted on 12/14/2011 8:37:46 PM PST by Rodm
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To: CSI007

Don’t pull over on the shoulder. You’ll get a fine for that to. you’ll have to travel to the next exit, get off the highway and find a “legal” place to park.

won’t be long and there will be a kill history app for your phone. Get pulled over, hit the button and BOOM all your call history and txt messages for the past day is gone.


7 posted on 12/14/2011 8:38:25 PM PST by cableguymn
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To: ilgipper

That’s the long & short of it. People who have no damned business meddling in other people’s affairs.

“But it’s for your own good”.

Pttttui!


8 posted on 12/14/2011 8:38:37 PM PST by rockrr ("I said that I was scared of you!" - pokie the pretend cowboy)
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To: MinorityRepublican

I guess the 10th Amendment is null and void in Washington.


9 posted on 12/14/2011 8:39:23 PM PST by BigSkyFreeper (You have entered an invalid birthday)
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To: MinorityRepublican
I like having the freedom to answer my phone while driving. That said, some of the most boneheaded stunts, worst driving, and frankly, accidents urgently looking for a place to happen were going down the road with a cell phone stuck to the side of their face or looking down at the screen.

If people aren't going to use some common sense, there'll be a law, whether we like it or not.

10 posted on 12/14/2011 8:40:12 PM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)
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To: MinorityRepublican

In principle your eyes are supposed to be on the road when your car is moving on it, not on a radio or a map or a cell phone screen or keypad. I don’t mind if you choose to risk your hide over that text which just can’t wait, but please don’t risk mine too.


11 posted on 12/14/2011 8:40:32 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Sometimes progressives find their scripture in the penumbra of sacred bathroom stall writings (Tzar))
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To: CSI007

Like you, I’m in my car and on the road a lot. I don’t mind seeing folks use cell phones to talk on, but when I see them texting, it drives me crazy. Hands free, Bluetooth isn’t a distraction.


12 posted on 12/14/2011 8:40:38 PM PST by Road Warrior ‘04 (I miss President Bush greatly! Palin in 2012! 2012 - The End Of An Error! (Oathkeeper))
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To: CSI007

I have no problem with voice-command phones. If a heads-up alphanumeric display for drivers could be implemented I guess that would be OK too. But please don’t peck on your keypad while you’re driving on a road I’m trying to survive on myself.


13 posted on 12/14/2011 8:43:40 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Sometimes progressives find their scripture in the penumbra of sacred bathroom stall writings (Tzar))
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To: MinorityRepublican

I’ve had to slam on my brakes many times to avoid some idiot on his phone. I can’t believe the number of posters here who think they have a right to drive and talk on their damn phone.


14 posted on 12/14/2011 8:44:29 PM PST by ozzymandus
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To: rockrr

When you kill my family I have the right to take your cell phone and pound it up your azz hooked up to 110 volt AC and watch you burn.


15 posted on 12/14/2011 8:52:10 PM PST by biff (WAS)
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To: ozzymandus

Since you like their rules so much, you should move yourself to some nanny state cess pool like NY where it’s illegal to even drive with your phone in your hand at all. You’ll find lots of like-minded people there.


16 posted on 12/14/2011 8:52:25 PM PST by perfect_rovian_storm (Perry's idea of border control: Use both hands to welcome the illegals right in.)
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To: ozzymandus

Three times, I have come very close to being wiped out by young girls texting on their phones.

Texting while driving has been banned in the city where I live, and believe it or not, I do feel a bit safer.

A lot of new cars come with a blue tooth hook-up built in. You just have to turn the motor on while having your phone turned on, and it gives you the option of hooking to your phone with a blue tooth, or hands free operation. I love that feature of my new car.


17 posted on 12/14/2011 8:53:33 PM PST by basil (It's time to rid the country of "gun free zones" aka "Killing Fields")
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To: HiTech RedNeck
Tiered highway system and free-market roads.

All of the drunks, idiots and nincompoops pay a higher fee on tolled roads while responsible people pay less and get the benefit of not having their insides scraped off the side of the road when an illegal alien from Honduras or drunk pol. sideswipes them at 70 MPH.

18 posted on 12/14/2011 8:53:41 PM PST by OddLane (If Lionel Hutz and Guy Smiley had a lovechild together, his name would be "Mitt Romney." -KAJ)
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To: OddLane

So the rich a$$holes get the safe roads, while the cash poor get the risky ones. Yup that’s just the right outcome.


19 posted on 12/14/2011 8:56:15 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Sometimes progressives find their scripture in the penumbra of sacred bathroom stall writings (Tzar))
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To: MinorityRepublican
I wish people would wake up to the real purpose behind these bans: to increase the gap between "real" people, who can afford chauffeurs, and pæons. While it's true that some of the people who are real morons behind the wheel also seem to have cell phones glued to their chin, many such people would be morons behind the wheel with or without cell phones.

Further, since none of the proposed bans on "text messaging" while driving make any allowance for possibilities which would allow one to receive short messages and reply with even shorter messages (e.g. "Yes", "No", etc.) with less distraction than would often be posed by billboards, street signs, or attractive people on the sidewalk, there's little incentive for companies to work on developing them.

20 posted on 12/14/2011 9:04:31 PM PST by supercat (Renounce Covetousness.)
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