Colorado is the nearest blue state. Pack your bags and move there.
I'm sure Hickenlooper and his pals can make room on their collective teat for your suckling mouths.
Posted on 03/11/2011 8:08:30 AM PST by winstonwolf33
TEXAS--Texting while driving has become a hot topic in Austin. A single phone message cost one West Texas girl her life. Her family shared her story with the House Transportation Committee in the capitol this week. If it passes, Texas could join the group of states who have already put a ban on texting while behind the wheel.
"Too many accidents are happening and my grandkids are doing it," Sylvia Timmons said.
She was texting, and we went across the median and across the lane and almost hit an oncoming car and I told her to stop and she wouldn't," Lynnette Waldrep said. "So, I grabbed her phone and threw it out the window."
Fortunately, Lynnette Waldrep and her friend didn't end up in an accident. Other Texas drivers weren't so lucky, and lawmakers are considering to make texting and driving illegal.
"It takes your focus off of what you're doing, which is driving and that's a serious enough task at hand you don't need to be clouding the issue with trying to pay attention to texting somebody that you're going to pick up milk on the way home or that you're going to meet them at a certain time," Mark Tackett said, Texas Highway Trooper.
Highway troopers can't disclose how such a law will be enforced until it passes the house and senate.
Many locals agree. If a driver must text or call, he or she should pull over.
"I just think they should stop it all together because there's too many accidents and I just don't like it myself," Timmons said.
In Texas, it's only illegal to be on a cell phone while driving in a school zone, but if the offender is caught, it could mean fines of up to $500.
"I mean, it will be safer for me," Jerry Moore said. "It will make me safer."
Those under 18 are already prohibited from dialing while their foot is on the gas.
"It's a very bad idea," Waldrep said. "I've seen a lot of my friends go over the median doing it and I don't personally do it. I think it's the dumbest thing you can do."
If it passes, law enforcement could be issuing drivers tickets for texting while on the road.
Thirty states have already put a ban on texting and driving. Only eight have banned all types cell phone use while on the road.
Colorado is the nearest blue state. Pack your bags and move there.
I'm sure Hickenlooper and his pals can make room on their collective teat for your suckling mouths.
As much I’m sick of nanny state do-good silliness, texting and driving is very dangerous unless you’re out in the middle of nowhere. I live in the crowded Northeast and see some really stupid “driving” b/c people are just so engrossed in typing on their blackberries or ipads or whatever.
With a ban, they’ll just hide the phone in their laps to text and see even less of the road.
Cry me a river; I’ve had too many near-misses due to idiots texting while driving
The state needs some revenue to cover the expected short fall in the next two budget years. A little texting ticket money may help reduce that short fall.
Those drivers are guilty of negligence. There's a law for that already.
I have a little ap on my phone that I can program to flash words on the screen...so, I have a standard setup when I see someone texting while driving...If I can catch them at a light and get their attention it flashes this: YOU TEXT AND DRIVE? F*****G IDIOT! But I use the REAL ‘f’ word. You should see the looks on peoples faces, but it gets the point across.
Of course, they have time to pass item like this and the State Smoking Ban but somehow can’t find the time to vote on the Voter ID bill...
They have a supermajority for the first time in a 100+ years and this is what they spend their time on?
Sometimes I wonder why I bother voting for these worthless sacks of...
Exactly, and it needs to be enforced!
Making texting/driving against the law is like making murder a hate crime when race is involved.
Murder is murder, we don't need any more laws!
People are not free to drive in an impaired fashion and that has been established. Do we need a law that tells us not to text and drive? If you are not watching the road and you get into an accident then you are going to be found negligent. End someone’s life and you should go to jail.
See Post #6
I've never been a fan of laws against cell phones or texting in cars, and I'm a staunch proponent of highway safety (I'm a civil engineer and I do a lot of work on projects where road safety is paramount). My problem with these laws is that they're aimed at addressing a symptom of a much bigger problem, which is the ongoing decline in driving abilities across this country.
The primary flaw of these laws is that they're too specific. A driver who operates a vehicle in a dangerous manner for any reason is a problem, regardless of whether it's because they're elderly, drunk, texting or just plain retarded.
Sounds like a good first step. Folks on cell phones should be restricted to the right lane on interstates.
I cannot take these drive while texting idiots here in Fort Worth. Speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down. All for this law. Will admit am guilty of this on occasion myself - this will keep me from doing it. Also, almost all cars now are handsfree bluetooth so talking while driving is no more a distraction than talking to your passsenger(s).
Yep for negilence but that doesn’t get any money unless one is negilent and maybe causes an accident. A law against Texting would get more money regardless of the negilent factor. Money, Money, Money....
What...you want the RIGHT to not pay attention while driving? That's your RIGHT? It's your RIGHT to weave into my lane because you aren't paying attention to the road?
I don't think so buddy. It happens at least 2 times a week on the way home from work (I live south of Houston and drive 288 2x daily to get to/from work). Some body...usually a woman or teenaged girl...is texting on her phone and moves over into my lane. Most of the time they are a little in front of me and I just slow down. But sometimes I am right next to them and they get a good honking.
So...the lives that are lost around the state...ALL THE TIME (best friend is a cop...and two good friends are DPS) because people are texting...are not important to you...but your right to text while driving is?
So...we shouldn't do ANYTHING to prevent the accidents...only punish people afterwards? That's messed up.
The problem is that all the locusts are moving here since they ruined the place they were at, i.e. California, New York, Maryland, New Jersey..... Do you see the number of plates from out of state vehicles in the last few years? Guess where the majority are from, why they came here, but also what opinions and political views they have? Most of these folks are smart enough to come here because this place isn’t a screwed up cesspool without jobs, but guess what they support and vote for when here?
Here’s the problem with the claim that this is just a revenue generator for the city/state: In order for me (as a prosecutor) to prove the person was texting, rather than GPSing or playing Angry Birds, I have to subpoena and get into evidence the driver’s phone records, which costs more both in time and in money than the fine amount, and is not assessable as court costs.
I hate the fact that my daughters text while driving (even though they deny it) and I don’t want them to kill themselves or anybody else; however, I’m kinda with the FReeper who said it’s like making murder a hate crime: it’s still murder, and the person’s no more or less dead because of the motive.
Colonel, USAFR
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