Ban on Texting while driving? (law, dangerous, eat)

[algia]

Texting while driving ban just around the corner

Does this mean we can hope that some day drivers who don't turn their signals on will be banned from driving for a while? while they realize the rest of us are not mind readers, and can't tell where they'll be turning next? (or those who turn them AS they make their turns!!!!)

Or, that maybe there will be a day when drivers will realize there are OTHER drivers behind them at any given time, and that there is no chapter in the driving manual teaching that "you" are the only one who is going to pass that light on green?

I'd like to see how exactly is this texting going to be enforced! on a highway at 55+ miles an hour? Are we going to see car chases? or maybe that guy doing 40 in the passing lane be summoned to pull over by a bunch of cops? or do they have a "texting gun" now, like the speed one?

Look, there IS (fantastically enough) a driving manual available, even in PDF format, and if half the drivers out there would read it at least once, they would KNOW that there is no information, or laws that allow for ANY distractions while driving. I don't know why we need another law to "hopefully" enforce existing driving/traffic laws.

Driving is a privilege, not a right.

Why is this OK:
"Dialing a phone, talking on a phone and pressing the button to end a call is still OK."
THAT too takes several seconds of not paying attention to the road!

Truth be told, this would have never become an issue if people would have some common sense left in them. This is like smoking at the gas station...it is truly disappointing that people have become so oblivious to traffic rules.

[UKyank]

It's a purely unenforceable political law. Lawmakers were able to pat themselves on the back when passing it & also appease a few people that actually think the law means something, but all in all it's really a joke of a law.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Texting while driving is obviously stupid and dangerous so lets make unenforceable nanny state laws to ban it.

[Scott2187]

Originally Posted by algia

Why is this OK:
"Dialing a phone, talking on a phone and pressing the button to end a call is still OK."
THAT too takes several seconds of not paying attention to the road!

Truth be told, this would have never become an issue if people would have some common sense left in them. This is like smoking at the gas station...it is truly disappointing that people have become so oblivious to traffic rules.

You can be on facebook, or reading e-mails while driving, but you can't text. There was a good news report on one of the local stations a few weeks back talking about how it will be extremely difficult to enforce the law.

However, smoking at a gas station is only dangerous if the cigarette is lit while standing there. The cigarette on its own does not burn hot enough to ignite gasoline.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by algia

I'd like to see how exactly is this texting going to be enforced! on a highway at 55+ miles an hour? Are we going to see car chases? or maybe that guy doing 40 in the passing lane be summoned to pull over by a bunch of cops? or do they have a "texting gun" now, like the speed one?

It will be enforced similar to DUI/DWIs.

If there's an accident, you will be charged.

If your driving is suspicious, you'll probably be pulled over and your phone will be checked.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by Hopes

If your driving is suspicious, you'll probably be pulled over and your phone will be checked.

They cannot check a phone with a locked screen without a warrant due to the 4th Amendment.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

They cannot check a phone with a locked screen without a warrant due to the 4th Amendment.

Violators would have to be quick enough and lock their screens. Many people won't know to do that. It doesn't matter anyway. The police can access text records from the cell phone company. Of course they would only likely do that if there were an accident, not simply for reckless driving that didn't cause an accident.

I'm wondering how it works when a passenger is using your phone to text. We do that all the time here. I'll get a text and my passenger will check the test, read it to me, and respond with what I dictate. How will an officer know the difference? I guess the only way to prevent that is for the person texting to say "This is so and so, texting for so and so because she's driving." That way it's documented who is actually doing the texting.

While I agree that people shouldn't be texting while driving, I think it's crazy that people can't text while sitting at a red light. And how can they tell that a text happened while driving. What if you were texting in a parking lot immediately prior to pulling out into the highway and you got into an accident while pulling out? The log would appear as if you were texting because the police wouldn't know the exact minute of the accident.

Oh, and what about people who have phones that convert voice dictation to text? That's like talking on the phone, not texting.

It's difficult to guess how certain scenarios will be handled. And that's why I suspect that it will be applied mostly when there is an accident.

[Aqua Teen Carl]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Violators would have to be quick enough and lock their screens. Many people won't know to do that. It doesn't matter anyway. The police can access text records from the cell phone company. Of course they would only likely do that if there were an accident, not simply for reckless driving that didn't cause an accident.

Well the locked screen part is only of interest because if you have your phone on your text message screen then you are obviously caught. Going beyond viewing a cell phone in plain view of the vehicle would require a warrant. Also the police would have to get a warrant to access your text records from a carrier (it's not like police have a secret number they call where Verizon will dump all of your information over instantaneously).

[Kippy]

It is like the seat belt law. It is not really an enforceable law, but putting it on the books will hopefully raise awareness and discourage people from doing it.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by Aqua Teen Carl

They cannot check a phone with a locked screen without a warrant due to the 4th Amendment.

One would hope. The 4th Amendment seems to disappear more all the time....

It's all very tricky to enforce. And while the phone is the most obvious distraction we might have and one that's easy to target as unnecessary, banning stuff with it neglects all the other distractions in the car like eating and drinking, talking to passengers, kids in the back seat, etc.

Personally I've specifically abstained from even talking on the phone at all in the car for a few years, and even before then it was very rare that I would take or make a call in the car. Usually the phone is in my front pocket so it's really awkward anyway. I've never been in the habit of pulling it out of my pocket every time I get into the car (because then I have to remember to put it back into my pocket when I get out).

A new development, though, is that I fairly regularly have the iPhone out on the dash to play Pandora Radio through the car stereo. Two things are interesting here: there are controls on the Pandora screen, which stays unlocked if you want it to. These are easily glanced at for brief times with little distraction, no worse than the regular car controls in the center dash. But the second part is that the phone is out on the dash making it easier to pay attention to incoming texts, emails or calls. So far it doesn't prompt me to answer those. (I don't get many texts anyway, and emails can wait.) My concern at this point is that it would be mistaken for me texting or something. In other words, where does using apps like Pandora or some other music-playing app (common in the car) fall in terms of these laws? Hm....