NTSB: No cell phones while driver, period (border, cost, Nevada)

[Finn_Jarber]

Originally Posted by monkeywrenching

safety?

show me where in the Constituion it says anything about promoting safety.

people have to remember that there are already laws against inattentive driving, and that there is no reason to have anymore laws against this type of offense.

any law that is passed to combat this offense, is just put into place as a feelgood law to make the democrats and republicans feel like the politicians are actually doing something.

just enforce the laws already in place, no need to make more laws designed to mess up an already overloaded justice system.

They are not talking about new laws, but making a recommendation. They will recommend that states will consider cell phone usage as inattentive driving and enforce the law accordingly. Nothing unconstitutional about it.

[afoigrokerkok]

Originally Posted by Finn_Jarber

They are not talking about new laws, but making a recommendation. They will recommend that states will consider cell phone usage as inattentive driving and enforce the law accordingly. Nothing unconstitutional about it.

What they may do is threaten to withhold transportation funds from any state that does not pass a law against it.

[monkeywrenching]

Originally Posted by Finn_Jarber

They are not talking about new laws, but making a recommendation. They will recommend that states will consider cell phone usage as inattentive driving and enforce the law accordingly. Nothing unconstitutional about it.

of course they are talking about a recommendation, but the several states will take it as make another feelgood law when there are already laws on the books concerning this.

[Three Wolves In Snow]

Originally Posted by Ceece

Why the hell would this be a states rights issue? I can't imagine anything worse actually, especially for long distance/cross country drivers.


Banning things is always the knee jerk reactions of those who don't want to think about it. There can't just be a reason, there has to also be quantifiable results and the knowledge that whatever result you are trying to achieve will be achieved with a ban. In this case it's just not so, we won't stop people from having accidents or doing other things while in the car and banning ONE distraction and not all the others really is an exercise in futility. We need to set rules, make laws, and have punishments and accept that driving is dangerous. I'm ok with huge fines for being caught texting or reading or putting on makeup or even looking at a map while zooming down the freeway. That's all we CAN do because banning something so common by preventing any cell phone use in a car, period, is never going to work. NEVER. Have we learned nothing?

Because the it should be up to the people of the state, NOT the Federal Government. The Fed has NO BUSINESS dictating to the entire country what they will do.

If some states want to ban it and others do not, that's how it should go, period!

[Three Wolves In Snow]

By the way, talking to another passenger can be distracting if you are not paying attention to the road, (like I see in the movies all the time...they turn their head and look at the passenger for a good solid 20 seconds or more...who does this?!?!?!?!!?), but the difference between having a passenger in the car and someone on the phone is the passenger IS another set of eyes in that car with you while the person on the other end of the phone is NOT.

[plannine]

Originally Posted by Zembonez

Traffic deaths DECLINED in 2011 just as they have virtually very year for the last 50.

Deaths had gone down because of the mandated safety equipment in cars, and improved medical procedures. The number of those seriously injured or disabled keep going up.

[Rajaran]

How many people get equally or more distracted by:

reading maps
smoking
tuning/programming their radio
loading CD's
talking to passengers
playing LOUD music
eying/programming their GPS
reaching for cup holders/drinks
adjusting the A/C
having unsecured pets
adjusting windows
opening sun-roofs

[Valley Native]

A nationwide ban is not needed. If states or individual communities want to pass their own laws (specifically if the citizens are allowed to vote on the issue), then fine. The Feds do not need to be involved in issues like this. Their concern should be keeping our borders safe, fixing the budget mess, and REDUCING the size of government ... not implementing more useless laws.

[plannine]

Originally Posted by Rajaran

How many people get equally or more distracted by:

reading maps
smoking
tuning/programming their radio
loading CD's
talking to passengers
playing LOUD music
eying/programming their GPS
reaching for cup holders/drinks
adjusting the A/C
having unsecured pets
adjusting windows
opening sun-roofs

While some of those should not be done either, most take seconds to do, and can be done without taking your eyes and mind off the road. Many phone calls last for miles and miles and can take most of your attention. You might be looking straight ahead, but you are thinking about the phone call rather then the road.

I've got 4 bolts in my hip & leg thanks to a distracted driver on cellphone, so I'm all in favor of it.

[Goodnight]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

A nationwide ban is not needed. If states or individual communities want to pass their own laws (specifically if the citizens are allowed to vote on the issue), then fine. The Feds do not need to be involved in issues like this. Their concern should be keeping our borders safe, fixing the budget mess, and REDUCING the size of government ... not implementing more useless laws.

Thousands of innocent people are injured each year by people texting, this has nothing to do with our budget problems, should they not be involved in any safety issues?