$2000 1st offense fine, 6 mo. loss of license. My idea to deal with texting while driving in the Seattle area. (tax, live)

[CrazyDonkey]

I'd be in favor of more steps on the ladder, rather than starting out at step-one at $2,000 and step-two at license forfeiture. For instance: 1) $500; 2) $1,000, license suspension, education classes; 3) $2,000, license forfeiture, cell-phone addiction therapy; 4+) $5,000-$10,000, vehicle seizure, jail-time. $500 would still be a significant hit for a low-income driver.

[SoCal25]

I don't think the issue is more fines, it's that it's not enforced all that well. I see people looking at their phones every time I'm driving but without a drastic increase in cops how does it get enforced?

[homesinseattle]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

I'd be in favor of more steps on the ladder, rather than starting out at step-one at $2,000 and step-two at license forfeiture. For instance: 1) $500; 2) $1,000, license suspension, education classes; 3) $2,000, license forfeiture, cell-phone addiction therapy; 4+) $5,000-$10,000, vehicle seizure, jail-time. $500 would still be a significant hit for a low-income driver.

I don't think so, I think the first offense needs to really hurt, and people need to know (through advertising/marketing) how much it will hurt. There needs too be fear in the air about it, awareness of the fines and graphic photos about what can happen in an accident. That first offense could kill someone.

[rjshae]

Take away their texting privileges for a year. They'll melt like butter in the desert.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

I don't think so, I think the first offense needs to really hurt, and people need to know (through advertising/marketing) how much it will hurt. There needs too be fear in the air about it, awareness of the fines and graphic photos about what can happen in an accident. That first offense could kill someone.

$2,000 is still too high for a first offense for illegal use of a cell-phone, talking or texting - maybe make texting and negligent driving aggravating factors that would double or triple the fine.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

The loss of license would be second offense. I know we’ve discussed this before. I drive a lot with my work, every day I see drivers texting at 70 MPH on the freeway, saw a guy swerve this morning and almost kill himself. Our laws (and I know it would be statewide) have to have some real teeth, the money from the fines would go into high visibility (anti texting while driving) ad campaigns with brutal warnings about the fines, photos of horrible wrecks.

I’m sick of this crap, puts my life in danger. Who (legislatively) would vote against this idea? In my fury, (I’m not joking), the other day I registered the URL (StopCarTexting.com). Thoughts about my penalty ideas or what I could do with the URL? A friend who understand devices told me that it would be possible to have phones lock up (with the exception of nav and incoming calls) if the speed a device is traveling exceeds a certain speed, say 10MPH. Is this true?

Did you get his license number, and report it? That's how to deal with cr@p you're sick of. You'd be doing everyone else a favor. Are you allowed to phone and drive? If so, you could have called police to report a hazard on the road, even if you didn't get his license. You could provide the car description, direction of travel, etc.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Do it. And for other types of distracted driving.

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Did you get his license number, and report it? That's how to deal with cr@p you're sick of. You'd be doing everyone else a favor. Are you allowed to phone and drive? If so, you could have called police to report a hazard on the road, even if you didn't get his license. You could provide the car description, direction of travel, etc.

What exactly do you think that would accomplish? The police cannot write tickets based on civilian reports.

[bergun]

Funny that you bring this up. Last night on my way home and on a surface side road, that wasn't too busy, some guy rear-ended the car in front of him pretty hard... Turning the car sideways and the guy, who was still holding his phone, crashed into empty trash cans on a sidewalk. Since it was raining, nobody was walking on that sideway, which was a blessing.

I was right behind him when he crashed and as I was passing him... Looking at him to make sure he was OK, as well as the victim, you could see the lights on his phone as he was still clutching onto his steering wheel. I could be wrong, but I would bet he was most likely texting when he crashed into the other guy's car since he wasn't paying attention to his speed and traffic, in heavy rain.

Something needs to be done and done soon. "I" think that the first offense should be $1K for the first offense, $2Ks for the second offense and so on.

This means everybody, to include the homeless, they have those free phones, and the illegal alien drivers, many without license and insurance, which is another issue. If this law is ignored by local cities, like Seattle, and turns more into another King County's "selective enforcement," since the homeless do not have money and the political fear that illegals could be put on radar for deportation, I say forget it.

I'm tired of the two-tier King County justice system.

[pnwguy2]

Originally Posted by Thom52

I can't really argue with the dangers caused by texting drivers.

Just wondering if the law would apply to cops on their phones too?

I see a lot of police driving distracted. They are willing users of tech too. They can’t use the excuse of it is “part of their job”. It is just as dangerous.