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So drunk driving legislation should have been left upto common sense!
I think well may have to agree to disagree.
I don't know about in SC, but here in NY, if you are stopped for suspected drunk driving, the cops confiscate your vehicle, BEFORE TRIAL! The result is an over-crowded lot paid for by the taxpayers of rusting out vehicles and people who were unable to go to work due to their loss of transportation. Our over-zealous former DA even put up a Wall of Shame with pictures of DWI's which oopsie, included people who were found to be innocent. It has since been taken down.
The stupid texting person is equally guilty of killing someone as the drunk who just got in his car after 6 hours at the bar. The dead person is equally dead in both cases.
Should a texting law include confiscation of the vehicle?
How about smoking in your own car with a child in it? Should the government be able to confiscate your car on the grounds that your kid might develop asthma?
It's one thing to punish a behavior once a crime has resulted which affects other people. It's quite another to confiscate private property on the grounds that behavior of the operator "might" cause harm.
It was not my intent to start a discussion on hard or soft law, and you raise several interesting points.
The purpose of the post was more intent on putting a penalty in front of stupid people to try and financial dissuede them from their uncommon sense, but I can see how we got were we got too.
Maybe if someone's been involved in an accident or pulled over for reckless driving, after the alcohol test they could check the phone records to see if texts were sent at the time of the incident. Then IF it can be proven (only after conviction not before) stiff fines and penaltys. I do think the DWI laws help. I know many people who no longer drink and drive because of of them.
You seem to have missed Ole Tom Cat's succinct point. Laws, legislation and penalties can never fix "stupid".
While there are always a few morons who disobey the law (or common sense) at the expense of other people's safety, we are a nation of laws and laws do matter.
Common sense tells me murder is wrong, but it is good to have the law on the books, too, so that courts and people have a clear understanding of the consequences.
Common sense tells me it's silly not to wear a seatbelt, but I might let it slip sometimes if I didn't worry about being pulled over and fined.
Will some people bend the rules? Sure. But the law matters, and a texting while driving LAW is exactly what common sense would be.
I've lived in three states with texting/calling while driving laws. None of those states saw any measurable benefit from it. People did whatever they were going to do anyway, and the laws were barely enforceable from the day they were passed.
While there are always a few morons who disobey the law (or common sense) at the expense of other people's safety, we are a nation of laws and laws do matter.
Common sense tells me murder is wrong, but it is good to have the law on the books, too, so that courts and people have a clear understanding of the consequences.
Common sense tells me it's silly not to wear a seatbelt, but I might let it slip sometimes if I didn't worry about being pulled over and fined.
Will some people bend the rules? Sure. But the law matters, and a texting while driving LAW is exactly what common sense would be.
I never said that we were not a nation of laws, I said that we already have laws in place to cover this it is called careless or reckless driving......
While there are always a few morons who disobey the law (or common sense) at the expense of other people's safety, we are a nation of laws and laws do matter.
Common sense tells me murder is wrong, but it is good to have the law on the books, too, so that courts and people have a clear understanding of the consequences.
Common sense tells me it's silly not to wear a seatbelt, but I might let it slip sometimes if I didn't worry about being pulled over and fined.
Will some people bend the rules? Sure. But the law matters, and a texting while driving LAW is exactly what common sense would be.
And, like Ol' Tom Cat, I didn't mean to imply that there shouldn't be laws on the books that punish a crime (such as murder) where the criminal's actions affect another person(s). But if the distracted/reckless driving law is already on the books, why do you need another targeting a specific device? I don't have a built-in GPS in my car, but those things sure are a distraction while driving. Should they be banned from cars?
(Have you seen the Allstate commercial with the Mayhem guy acting as the GPS and yelling "recalculate"? LOL!)
But the seat belt law you mention, is a good example of what I consider an infringement on my personal liberty. I'll wear my seatbelt if I am traveling on the highway or very slippery roads. But for around the town driving, I find it very uncomfortable - it digs into my neck no matter how I adjust it. And yes, I got a ticket once when I stopped at a stop sign and saw a cop sitting around the corner who saw me grab for my seatbelt to put it on ...
I think the word we are looking for is moderation.
Any law taken to extreme becomes ridicoius for example, ObserverNY's DUI example of vehicles impounded before being proven guitly.
The seat belt law, in general, I would agree should be a personal choice as the not using it is unlikely to harm a third party, but this would only apply to adults.
As for not wearing a seat belt, I hope you drive a car without airbags, although they are fairly unlikely to active at slower speeds the combination of airbag and no seat belt, I don't think is a good combination.
OleTomCat and ObserverNY, I take that you have not emailed Nikki Haley then!
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