Experts: States will continue to put brakes on cell phone bans

CNN ^ | Wed December 14, 2011 | Michael Martinez and Zohreen Adamjee

[ilgipper]

nannystatism at it’s finest.

[CSI007]

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?

[Chickensoup]

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

[old curmudgeon]

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.

[Rodm]

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.

[cableguymn]

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.

[rockrr]

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!

[BigSkyFreeper]

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

[Smokin' Joe]

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.

[HiTech RedNeck]

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.

[Road Warrior ‘04]

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.

[HiTech RedNeck]

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.

[ozzymandus]

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.

[biff]

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.

[perfect_rovian_storm]

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.

[basil]

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.

[OddLane]

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.

[HiTech RedNeck]

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

[supercat]

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.