Cell phone law... (legal, company, driving)

[nicolem]

Well I am not for a ban on cell phones. I too think there are too many laws on the books I think that if police would enforce the distracted driver law it could be covered under that.

I will tell you what needs to be banned, ticketed and in my opinion these people should be HEAVILY fined. Lazy lazy people who refuse to clear off their cars from ice and snow. I am sorry but that is the worst of the worst. People who all they do is wipe a little hole on the drivers part of the windshield- lazy and totally selfish to others in my opinion.

A few years back a woman was killed because ice flew off of a truck and killed her. The person did not remove the snow and ice off of their truck.

I have had two close calls because of these selfish people. In 2002-right after we bought our Corolla in February-we were going down 93 to a Monarchs game. A pick up truck blows by us and a HUGE sheet of ice flies at us, puts a huge chip in our wind shield and our car almost spun around. The roads were totally clear-at least for a few days-but this selfish jerk still had not cleared his truck off. Thank God my husband was driving and stopped us from spinning and we were ok-physically but mentally very shook up and our new car needed repairs and was not even a month old.

The second time was on 101-winter of 2006-2007. Again the roads were clear and some jerk in an SUV unleashes a huge sheet of ice on us. This time a chip in our windshield of another car and scaring the hell out of us. We got this guy's license plate and reported him to police and to our insurance company but nothing happened and we were still responsbile for the repairs.

Those were two of the worst. I have had many others on Rt 3 and Rt93 where they don't clear their cars at all. Sometimes it is "only" snow but that-if enough can block your view of the road for a split second-which is all it takes for an accident. In my view if anything shold be outlawed-that should be before cell phones because not clearing your car almost always involved hurting someone else. If you don't clear your car you are potentially hurting or killing others. I am sorry but too me that is the epitomy of selfishness.

I will add that I think last year-it might have been Milford-police actually stated ticketing these selfish people and I am glad. When they showed some of these people on WMUR who got tickets some of them were actually laughing-real funny.

[Klaatu_00]

How is talking on a cell-phone anymore distracting than having a conversation with another person in the car? Should that be out-lawed as well?

[JFRRACING]

i know n.y has a law against it but it is a joke. they worry more about seat belts then people talking on the phone. n.h's new moto is gonna be live free or die talking on you cell phone

[andybenjamin]

Originally Posted by Come_on_now

NH had a HUGE problem with Drunk drivers, that law needs to be wayyy tighter. I saw quite a few people with cell phones, and with roads like they are in NH with the twists and turns and no lights and drop offs thats asking for a funeral. THe only thing going for it is that it seems the state won't make the speed limits higher that 55 even on the highways so it takes forever to get anywhere but you're probably not going to be too seriously injured in a crash unless you're wreaklessly driving

There are places in NH that definitely have 65 mph speed limits. Not sure where you are getting that info.

As for outlawing things, if anything the approach is better when used as a distracting contributing factor but not as a blanket statement of "You are on a cell phone - therefore you are dangerous and here is a ticket". There are plenty of terrible drivers out there who don't need a cell phone to do something stupid. Conversely, someone can talk on the phone and be paying attention to the road just like they would be talking to someone in the car. Heck, how many times do you drive a stick with one hand on the wheel and one on the shift? Once you are on the highway the shifting hand would just be sitting on the shift and could easily hold a cell instead. Not much different than just talking to the person next to you at that point.

Bottom line is that it is the driver not paying attention and who does something to endanger others that is the issue, not talking on the phone alone.

[debbiej63]

NYS had the law in effect for no talking while driving - frankly it was a joke - people still use their cells when driving........I don't know what the penalty is if you're "caught" doing it, though.

Chicago passed that law last year or so, but I don't think it was really enforced. It was just in the city though, the state didn't pass it. I don't know if it made a difference. The state of IL did pass it for teen drivers. They were also trying to push through that you had to be 18 to get a driver's license.

[GotBackHome]

DC passed a law allowing only hands-free phone use, MD doesn't have any regulation.

I hate seeing people talking on their cell as well, but I kinda agree with Klaatu that talking on the cell isn't necessarily any more distracting than talking with a passenger. other than the physical problems of balancing the phone on your shoulder Again, like Nicole said: it falls under the distracted/dangerous driver situation and could be handled that way. Except that no one ever does. <sigh>

[proud American]

I used to be a truck driver and have seen many things




I've seen women putting their make up on while driving, businessmen and women trying to write as they drive.
Changing their tops or putting a coat on while driving
Is turning the radio station anymore of a distraction than a mobile phone?
Is lighting a cig any more of a distraction.

Maybe the driving test should be more stricter as many people who drive should not be driving.

I took my test in MA while I lived there and it lasted no more than 5 mins and was surprised at just how easy it was.


As for the helmet law, well that should be left to a person choice not regulated by another nanny state law.



When I moved south I took my riders test though a school and this subject was brought up.One guy in the class had just moved to the state from the north east and was working to get the helmet law changed to making all of us to wear them.

The instructor tried to keep his cool and tried to point out that this state is not like the one he left and shouldn't be trying to change his new state into his old one.
The ironic thing was that this guy was the only guy to fail the test, he fell off twice, could not ride at all , could never change the gears and then complained that it was because he wanted helmets .

The instructor turned quite casually and said maybe you should learn and and put the energy into learning to ride

[bryfry]

As much as I hate people who talk on cell phones while driving, I don't think they should create legislation around it. If you are found to be guilty of distracted driving after an accident, then you should get a ticket. Distracted driving laws are already in place anyway.

My beef is that people feel the need to jabber on cell phones insessently. What the heck did they do before? You payed attention to the road, that's what. Usually when some makes an illegal move near me 99% of the time they are on the phone. If you hold the phone to your left ear while talking, you can pretty much forget about using the directional signal. Add a cigarette, a coffee, tuning the radio, and a Big Mac, and you pretty much got a disaster waiting to happen.

I use a Bluetooth earbud when I drive so I can be hands free. Even then, I keep the conversation to a minimum when I can. I spend a lot of time in the car sometimes for my job, so the earbud is a must have. Prior to that I had a phone that you could set to external speaker and talk, still basically hands free. People just need to use their heads more. Unfortunately the cell phone is now engrained in our culture and most people are just too dumb or self-centered to realize that they endanger others around them.

Don't even get me going about customers using them when at the sales counter.....

[lisa g]

I can't imagine a law restricting cell phone use in So Cal. Police will have entire lanes of traffic pull over for ticketing!
Common sense should prevail here, and ideally there should be no need for a law.
Personally I think it's crazy how phone addicted society has become. The same point bry made - what the heck did they do before? It sickens me especially to see parents who show up for a school event in their kids class futz with their cell phones, disconnecting when they should be paying attention to their kid or the event. What's wrong with the here & now?

[Suzet2262]

Originally Posted by lisa g

I can't imagine a law restricting cell phone use in So Cal. Police will have entire lanes of traffic pull over for ticketing!
Common sense should prevail here, and ideally there should be no need for a law.
Personally I think it's crazy how phone addicted society has become. The same point bry made - what the heck did they do before? It sickens me especially to see parents who show up for a school event in their kids class futz with their cell phones, disconnecting when they should be paying attention to their kid or the event. What's wrong with the here & now?

I agree with your post Lisa. You would think people would have enough common sense to dont drink and drive, and talk on the phone and drive, but they dont. Change has to start somewhere. So if this law makes someone stop and think about dialing, talking and driving, then I guess it is a good thing. I just want folks to be safe on the roads. God knows there are enough people who are driving, um that could use a few more driving lessons...lol. If someone doesnt have the bluetooth and has to look at the phone to dial, you know they arent paying full attention to the road. Traffic can come to a stop in an instant, and if they arent looking, bam, they slam right into you..People who talk to each other in the car while driving.