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 ...
nannystatism at it’s finest.
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?
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
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.
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.
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.
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!
I guess the 10th Amendment is null and void in Washington.
If people aren't going to use some common sense, there'll be a law, whether we like it or not.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
So the rich a$$holes get the safe roads, while the cash poor get the risky ones. Yup that’s just the right outcome.
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.
Roads are somewhat special because their construction is often impractical without eminent domain, and because many roads are used so far below capacity 99.9% of the time that the marginal cost per vehicle mile is essentially nil, rendering market pricing concepts irrelevant. That having been said, in general the effect of using free markets to allocate resources is that the rich get better stuff but pay a lot more for it. What's wrong with that?
The other is when the lady clipped the bicyclist when rounding a right hand turn. After about five minutes (she had stopped) she got out of her car and said “I'm sorry I was talking to my son”.
Roads, like most utilities, definitely do use the commons. It is not appropriate to let people buy their way out of consequences of misusing the commons.
That does not remove the one at the phone company.
Then the answer is obvious, ban young girls from driving. (Note the absence of a sarc tag.)
I doubt they are going to go there on a road side stop.
Plus a officer that says “give me your phone” will get a NO from me.
Go get your damn warrant.
You’ve just now noticed?
#10, dead.
#9, dying.
#2, crippled.
#4, wounded.
#1, abused.
Just off the top of my head. See tag.
“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.”
That won’t even BEGIN to kill the history of your activity.
I have very mixed feelings about the proposed ban. The old “your rights end where my rights begin” effect exists here - I don’t want me or my car to get totaled by an idiot texting. I think there should be a compromise - although even “hands free” dialing has been shown to have some effect on driving ability, that should be permitted. There are kits available that hook up to your phone via Bluetooth and work pretty well retrofitted to a car - a friend has one and it was very cool and only cost $100 or so. If people JUST GOTTA use a phone in the car, they can get one of these or buy a car with this built in.
Anyway - somehow, the vast majority of us managed to do rather well throughout the 20th century without a damn phone glued to our faces 16 hours a day.
Aren’t there already laws on the books for reckless driving?
#5 is being harassed
It will be the insurance thing, a wreck while using a phone will have you starting paying the insurance rates of a drunk. See how long you want to deal with that one. I read that using a hand held phone by a CDL truck driver is now a 2700.00 fine. I bet it will be extended to the blue tooth crap shortly.
I can text while I drive just by speaking. I can listen to text messages.
The phone tells me of an incoming call by saying, "Incoming call, answer or decline." I say, "Answer" and then talk. Call hangs up automatically.
If they are going to ban cell phones while driving then they need to also ban this....
This...
and this...
You are correct. There actually should be no talking whatsoever in the car while it is moving. Not on a cell phone or otherwise. Everyone should have to remain quiet.
I've seen people talking that were not even on a phone that get very distracted. If a police officer sees anyone talking they should be pulled over and given a ticket. To control young children from talking, seat belts should have a mandatory pacifier that straps into place.
For that matter, they should also take radios out of cars. Talk about the dangers of those. If they continue to allow radios it should be mandatory they have hands free controls.
I saw Ray La Hood on TV and he seemed genuinely personally responsible and concerned about the problem - and it IS a problem. I really don’t think he is trying to be a nanny here. He is trying to keep American citizens alive and productive.
Everyone reading this has seen at least one idiot oblivious to their surroundings while texting and (sort of) driving - and I have seen the aftermath of an accident caused by this.
Let’s go to the other extreme - “why do we have DUI laws? The free market should solve the problem.” If you are found guilty of causing an accident due to drinking (or texting), etc, and you don’t have the resources to cover the accident/hospital bills/burial expenses and other damages, society gets to sell your body parts.
I got my (then in his late 60’s) dad an old-style cell phone to use in the mid-1990’s. I told him that I didn’t think he had the reflexes to drive AND use it and that I would give it to him only if he promised never to use it while driving, and he took my advice. Consider that those old phones were just that - phones with 12 buttons and a numeric screen.
I’m not even THAT old and I won’t dial or answer the phone while driving (even stopped). There is NOTHING in my life that is THAT important, and I probably wouldn’t be able to do anything about it immediately anyway. That’s what voice mail is supposed to cover.
I predict that there will be horrific carnage on the road when these kids with “smart phones” get into their 50’s and 60’s unless some rules are put in place.
IMO, if there is something that important to you, you need to re-examine your time management skills, or your employer is being unreasonable; they need to pay for a hands-free installation, or you should find another job. If you are really that “important”, then you or your employer should be able to afford a driver who is not permitted to use his/her phone.
The guy in photo #1 is already breaking a law in many states that existed BEFORE cell phones - no headphones - this law existed so that ambulances and police cars could be heard. I don’t think that this is unreasonable.
You can be as irresponsible and negligent on your own property as you damned well please but when you get onto shared PUBLIC roadways, it is NOT “nannystatism” to impose safety rules except to irresponsible dumb asses who will he happy to get others maimed or killed.
The same crap that permits the Federal government to impose 0.08 blood alcohol content on states (headed downward to 0.03 from 0.15 not even a decade ago) and federal speed limits will make this the law of the land.
“But I haven’t hit anyone” doesn’t matter to a sequence of formality laws that already exist when it comes to driving.
Same way the dopers who laugh at cigarettes and beer think they will be able to buy or toke anywhere, anyplace, anytime will find themselves hoisted on their own petard for saying how evil drinking and tobacco are.
First they came for applies here. And I’ve been hit by cellphone driving idiots. Also anytime it’s daylight and I see someone on the highway weaving in a lane and driving 5 miles under the limit, they have a phone in hand.
They pose a threat even if they haven’t hit anyone yet. Shall we junk all such precautionary laws? Punish those who cause the accidents. My driver didn’t even get charged for running into my stopped car at 40MPH. Cop didn’t want to deal with paperwork so it just went to the state for statistical purposes (aka NOT MY JOB).
I hold a CDL and drive a commercial truck. You don’t have to tell me twice. We are already required to use a hands free.
I wonder how long before the old CB is banned from my truck.
And chances are they never knew you had to do that either. They never know.
What's really scary is when you're on the thruway and they're in the passing lane....not a clue there are others on the road next to them...they pull in way too early...you slow down fast to avoid yet another accident they would have caused....and they haven't any idea that of the accident you prevented.
We’ve had two fatal accidents in just our small community here....both teenage drivers...one girl lost her life...in the other accident a brother, sister and friend lost their life.
Both were on their cellphones.
My worse problem while driving is sneezing. Not only do I have to reach for the Kleenex, but I sneeze so hard I actually close my eyes. And the worse of it is I spray my windshield down with snot!
Lucky I have never sneezed in an officer’s face while he was giving me a ticket. However, with all the years I have driven, I have never got a ticket or had an accident that was my fault. And AAAA . . . AAAAaaaa . . . AAAAACHOOOOOOOOO . . . that’s nothing to sneeze about!
“Anyway - somehow, the vast majority of us managed to do rather well throughout the 20th century without a damn phone glued to our faces 16 hours a day.”
Yep. That pretty much sums up my feelings. Had a female 911 disspatcher one day that she would die if she didn’t have her cellphone. Said she just didn’t know how she survivied before. I just walked off.
Zero Tolerance. Another fine idea brought to you by Progressive Democrats. Known the world over for being, well, Progressive Democrats.
We lost kids in my neighborhood trying to get too school before the tardy bell rang. So I guess we need laws to ban school bells so no kid will rush to school. One classmate of mine was killed on a motorcycle. Should we ban them? Cell talkers don't bother me especially adult drivers. People who drive with the foot on the brake annoy me and they cause wrecks. BTW how many officers have you dodged while driving? I'm curious because they are among the highest users of cell phones plus have a C.A.D. Computer in plain sight. I'd say GPS systems are more dangerous than cell phone talking as they require taking eyes off the road. What about ONSTAR? Do you have ONSTAR in your car?
Multitasking while driving is not that difficult. Truckers have done it for decades. The key too it is where you position things you use. Put things where you do not take your eyes off the road. Another biggie few people even thing about is equipping your vehicle with red inside lighting for night. Truckers have done this for years. You can see the inside of the vehicle and not affect your night vision in the least.
Most teenagers wreck due too several things. Driving way beyond their skills, SPEEDING, INEXPERIENCE, TAKING RECKLESS CHANCES, and distraction of friends. Their driving experiences and recognition of road dangers are not that of a seasoned driver.
I'm in my mid 50's. When I was in high school in the early 1970's win a rural area we averaged one traffic death per year per high school sometimes two. The same persons who say no cellphones would likely think nothing though of allowing their teenager behind the wheel of a vehicle with way too much power. I drove bigger cars like Fairlanes with small {289} V-8 engines or a six banger.
Kids are also getting slaughtered in today's vehicles simple because you can total them at a 20 MPH crash. This is due to federal mandated standards for mileage and emissions. Name me even one government agency addressing that one. More of my classmates would have died had they been driving the same type cars MANDATED today. Most of my classmates drove vehicles made in the early to late 60's. They were solid built.
My husband was in a head on collision in June, with a kid texting and turned in front of my husband at an intersection! The kid said my husband was speeding but witnesses told another story... The Kid was texting and was charged with 4 violations! My husband just finished therapy a week ago! Id hit him so hard the air bags deployed!
I drive daily on the local hwys and have to watch every step due to idiots on phones! It was the same when we lived in NJ. I am personally sick of it!
I have to use my phone in the car for work, and I use my ear piece and only talk a few seconds.
Just this afternoon and elderly man in a truck was on his phone in front of me merging on the hwy and he was bobbing all over the place doing about 25 mph. He almost caused a pile up, but we all swerved and lived!
So I am one for common sense here.. Stay off the damn phone while driving..
Kids are the worst too!
As you can tell this issue really pisses me off! I can't wait til January when the PD can give $500 tickets and then take licenses after the 2nd offense!
I think too own a gun you should have too take a mandatory weapons training course and register your weapon. You should not be able to carry it where it might possibly harm others. If someone is with you then you can not have your weapon. If kids are in your home you should not own a weapon either. You should be arrested if you do so. Guns should be built with mandatory built in trigger locks requiring several complex steps to fire including a key.
Please no one flame me. Of course I do not believe or support this. Nor do I support Nanny State Laws. Sometimes people think it's just peachy too take things away things from others because they themselves have no use for it.
I carry a cell because in case people haven't looked lately there are no public pay phones to be found. I carry it so I can leave the house and run errands and can be reached for medical reasons of several family members ASAP whereever I happen to be. It replaced a pager when pay phones disappeared.
As for addressing the issue of those who talk and can't drive? Hey I got a news flash for you they can't drive after they hang up the phone either. If you follow them you'll see them doodling down the interstate and a whopping 45-50 MPH. They will be the ones also even when not talking sitting on a green light for 5 seconds then slowly pulling out. They will also while trying to merge onto the interstate stay in the merge lane at 45 MPH till the very end despite any and all attempts you make too let them in. Then they decide too merge with you beside them. Again this is with or without cell phone.
A person who lacks the multitasking skills to drive and talk safely really should not be driving to start with. They have more danger issues than simply using a cell phone.
Neither can the government. If you think government gives even one shred of care about your well being you are mistaken. It is another step toward a Police State which is the end goal. Hey I have no issue with a cop pulling over a talker going all over the road. There is a great and effective law actually several to cover the offense. Reckless Driving and Failure to maintain control. Now do you not think if it was about safety alone that they would only use reckless driving to someone actually driving reckless?
It's the same thing as seatbelts. I loathe seatbelt laws. I think seatbelts are true life savers though. I do not support mandatory usage by an adult. I am also among a few who simply can not tolerate wearing a shoulder harness. I can't even wear a buttoned too the top two buttons shirt not a tee shirt.
My state has a two tickets policy and revocation follows upon second in your entire lifetime offense of not wearing a seat belt. So far I've been lucky I haven't gotten caught.
I think you’re on the right track. Automobiles are entirely too dangerous to be entrusted to mere humans, who have proven time and time again to be.....imperfect. We simply cannot expect people to employ common sense and take responsibility for their actions.
Take your observation regarding children for example. Studies have shown that even with a pacifier children can exhibit agitated and/or cranky behavior that can distract the driver. Now I’d hate to have a young child pounded up my azz for having caused an accident, therefore to only prudent thing to do is prohibit the transport of kids unless they are properly anesthetized.
Actually, when you consider all the accidents they cause, automobiles are too complicated for human use. I’d hate to have an F-350 pounded up my azz for having caused an accident, so we should outlaw them entirely.
It’s for the children, doncha know...
If anyone supports the free, unrestricted use of handhelds while driving then if they have an honest bone in their body, they should support repealing all the drunk driving laws.
It has been shown time and time again that handhelds are far, far more dangerous than a couple beers.
And you are MUCH more likely to have someone driving near you that has a handheld than has had a six pack.
If states can ignore immigration laws the why not Federal Laws on cell phone use?
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