Schumer would force all states to ban texting while driving

Chaingun81 · Jul 30, 2009

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LEO 229 wrote:

I will add my two cents...

First off.. in Virginia it is a secondary violation. So you have to do something else AND be texting before I can stop you.

Let me just say that seat belts are the same way and it is hard to get them too.

But at least with a seat belt you are doing a visible violation for a long time. This gives me a chance to see it and look for some other violation.

How long does it take to text someone... a few seconds here and there. And then I have to be side by side with you to watch you.

If I am side by side you will see me and maybe not do it or keep it in your lap out of sight.

But even if you do... being obvious as hell... and in my face.. as long as your tags are current, you do not speed, you signal on lane changes, and do not follow to closely... there is nothing I can do to you. :lol:

They say texting is worse that being DWI... but they made it a secondary violation. oh man!!! :shock:

I personally would separate these issues. In fact, I'd not even make a law requiring seat belts. And same goes for motorcycle helmet requirment.The difference is that by not wearing a seatbelt (or a helmet on a motorcycle) you only endagering yourself. If you are stupid enough to do so - go ahead. I view that as a part of personal freedom.

Texting while driving much like a DWI is an entirely different issue as you endager others by doing so. This has nothing to do with personal freedom and should be rigorously enforced.

I alsoagree with you that in many cases texting is worse than DWI. I know of a lot of otherwise responsiblepeople who do occasionalDWI-light (meaning they are not totally wasted, they are just over the legal limit) who are well aware of the implications of their condition (both legal and physical)and even though their reaction is impaired, they are driving very conservatively under the speed limit staying inthe rightlane religiously obeying all rules of the road. Ironically, they are probably driving safer than when they are sober.

Texting on the other hand is not viewed as a big deal and legal implications are negligible compared to DWI, so people do it in a much more unsafe manner.

I'd be interested to see if you'd agree with the above observation from your professional experience as a LEO

Chaingun81 · Jul 30, 2009

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TFred wrote:

The technically challenged, being completely unaware of such technology, would be confused by the apparent malfunction of their device, and divert even more attention to the phone, and away from their driving.

This would cause more accidents than it would prevent.

TFred

I was thinkng the same. Plus, you don't needreception to type, just to send a message, so a jammer would't prevent anyone fromtyping...

LEO 229 · Jul 30, 2009

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Chaingun81 wrote:

LEO 229 wrote:

I will add my two cents...

First off.. in Virginia it is a secondary violation. So you have to do something else AND be texting before I can stop you.

Let me just say that seat belts are the same way and it is hard to get them too.

But at least with a seat belt you are doing a visible violation for a long time. This gives me a chance to see it and look for some other violation.

How long does it take to text someone... a few seconds here and there. And then I have to be side by side with you to watch you.

If I am side by side you will see me and maybe not do it or keep it in your lap out of sight.

But even if you do... being obvious as hell... and in my face.. as long as your tags are current, you do not speed, you signal on lane changes, and do not follow to closely... there is nothing I can do to you. :lol:

They say texting is worse that being DWI... but they made it a secondary violation. oh man!!! :shock:

Click to expand...

I personally would separate these issues. In fact, I'd not even make a law requiring seat belts. And same goes for motorcycle helmet requirment.The difference is that by not wearing a seatbelt (or a helmet on a motorcycle) you only endagering yourself. If you are stupid enough to do so - go ahead. I view that as a part of personal freedom.

Texting while driving much like a DWI is an entirely different issue as you endager others by doing so. This has nothing to do with personal freedom and should be rigorously enforced.

I alsoagree with you that in many cases texting is worse than DWI. I know of a lot of otherwise responsiblepeople who do occasionalDWI-light (meaning they are not totally wasted, they are just over the legal limit) who are well aware of the implications of their condition (both legal and physical)and even though their reaction is impaired, they are driving very conservatively under the speed limit staying inthe rightlane religiously obeying all rules of the road. Ironically, they are probably driving safer than when they are sober.

Texting on the other hand is not viewed as a big deal and legal implications are negligible compared to DWI, so people do it in a much more unsafe manner.

I'd be interested to see if you'd agree with the above observation from your professional experience as a LEO

I do.

HankT · Jul 30, 2009

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Chaingun81 wrote:

TFred wrote:

The technically challenged, being completely unaware of such technology, would be confused by the apparent malfunction of their device, and divert even more attention to the phone, and away from their driving.

This would cause more accidents than it would prevent.

Click to expand...

I was thinkng the same. Plus, you don't needreception to type, just to send a message, so a jammer would't prevent anyone fromtyping...

Yah, OK........we'd certainly hate to "cause more accidents than it would prevent."

Here's a story in today's news:

Driver texts, talks, hits car, crashes into pool

[align=left]Jul 30 02:57 PM [/align]
LOCKPORT, N.Y. (AP) - Police said a Buffalo-area tow truck driver was texting on one cell phone while talking on another when he slammed into a car and crashed into a swimming pool. Niagara County sheriff's deputies said 25-year-old Nicholas Sparks of Burt admitted he was texting and talking when his flatbed truck hit the car Wednesday morning in Lockport.

The truck then crashed through a fence and sideswiped a house before rolling front-end first into an in-ground pool.

The 68-year-old woman driving the car suffered head injuries and was in good condition. Her 8-year-old niece suffered minor injuries.

Sparks was charged with reckless driving, talking on a cell phone and following too closely. It couldn't be determined Thursday morning if he has a lawyer.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D99OUQ5G1&show_article=1

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smoking357 · Jul 30, 2009

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Repeater wrote:

The bill would force states to write laws to prohibit messaging in vehicles or risk losing 25 percent of their annual federal highway money. Federal lawmakers have used similar strategies to force states to curb speeding and pass seat-belt laws. The new legislation would also set deadlines for regulators at the U.S. Transportation Department to devise minimum penalties for states to implement. States would have two years to enact their own laws.

Here come the cops to pull you over for "texting" while dialing a number on your cell phone. A cop can pull you over at any moment, and he only needs to claim that he saw you looking down, suggesting "in his professional experience" that you were texting.

The pendulum has been moving away from freedom for about a century. This country is about done.

smoking357 · Jul 30, 2009

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turbodog wrote:

Having been personally run off the road by an idiot with a cell phone. I'm in favor of any law banning use of the Godd***d things while operating a vehicle.

Having been the victim of lying and terrorizing police, I'm in favor of not handing the police any additional power.

Legba · Jul 30, 2009

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I got stopped by the cops for looking down at my lap in a parking lot - in a manner consistent with someone preparing drugs for consumption, mind you, per their PC report. I was eating fast food that had just been prepared for me, having just gone through a drive-through and pulling into the lot to eat. Real suspicious stuff.

The country is alreadydone if the courts don't summarily laugh that kind of "police work" out of court.

-ljp

smoking357 · Jul 30, 2009

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Legba wrote:

I got stopped by the cops for looking down at my lap in a parking lot - in a manner consistent with someone preparing drugs for consumption, mind you, per their PC report. I was eating fast food that had just been prepared for me, having just gone through a drive-through and pulling into the lot to eat. Real suspicious stuff.

The country is alreadydone if the courts don't summarily laugh that kind of "police work" out of court.

-ljp

The courts do everything they can to help the police continue to destroy this country.

The police do everything they can to imprison every last one of us, fabricating charges, along the way.

Legba · Jul 30, 2009

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Yeah, and this was some elite detective unit mistaking a cheeseburger for crack, not rookies just out of the academy. Not a fluke.

-ljp

Alexcabbie · Jul 30, 2009

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WELL. Driving while texting and driving while drunk are sub-sets of the maain traffic threat that applies anywhere there are cars, drivers and public roads. That threat is driving HUA (Head Up Ass). And if having your head up your ass is going to be arrestable, well I guess we can all be millionaires building jails for our own stupid selves.

In the alternative we can all make damn sure we have loud as f&*k horns to blast the heads out of the butts. Because the police only come in AFTER someone has been hurt.

Carnivore · Jul 30, 2009

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Anyone who thinks that getting the next text message through while behind the wheel at any rate of speed is more important than maintaining commanding control of a motorized vehicle needs to have the remainder of their birthdays taken away !!!!!!!!:banghead:

Alexcabbie · Jul 30, 2009

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Carnivore wrote:

Anyone who thinks that getting the next text message through while behind the wheel at any rate of speed is more important than maintaining commanding control of a motorized vehicle needs to have the remainder of their birthdays taken away !!!!!!!!:banghead:

Easy, Carnivore. Look, I drive FOR A LIVING and have seen everythin you have seen and more. Iiam able to navigate the complex traffis patterns at rush hor and handle listenking to traffic reports, a cusstomer and Base ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

Your average HUA driver (HUA= Head Up Ass) is NOT intoxicted. Just damned STUPID.

Funny gthing is that most of these HUA drivers are anti-gun. iI guess the siler lining is that an accident may change their perspectoive. But I would not count on it......

Carnivore · Jul 30, 2009

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I don't doubt your experience and coordination and multitasking ability for one minute, especially in your own backyard, I've driven a little of what wraps around Baltimore, D.C. and Philly, and to be honest with you I'm puckerd water tight about 60% of the time in those areas, But no one can predict what is going to happen next, especially in your office KEY WORD (predict). I use my phone to my ear, or on speaker while driving, but can barely accomplish a decent text sitting in my recliner, I'd be a fool to try it in the kind of stuff you drive in everyday.. Maybe what I should've worded is that there are humans among us that can barely manage chewing gum and walking simultaniously.. You know the kind !!

Michigander · Jul 30, 2009

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I want texting while driving banned as much as anybody else, but I do think it's more of a thing to be ruled on by individual states.

Citizen · Jul 30, 2009

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A whole buncha people should send this message to Schumer's phone or e-mail.

"Dear Senator Buttinski,

I am texting this while driving.

Butt-out of state's rights.

Signed,

Textualist."

Seriously, though. Imagine if he got 400,000 messages like that. He'd either have a stroke or shut up. Plus it would make for great headlines.

LEO 229 · Jul 31, 2009

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Citizen wrote:

A whole buncha people should send this message to Schumer's phone or e-mail.

"Dear Senator Buttinski,

I am texting this while driving.

Butt-out of state's rights.

Signed,

Textualist."

Seriously, though. Imagine if he got 400,000 messages like that. He'd either have a stroke or shut up. Plus it would make for great headlines.

First time you ever posted something that made me truly laugh! :lol:

Legba · Jul 31, 2009

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Might be funnier yet if it got cut off half way through...

-ljp

buster81 · Jul 31, 2009

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Less laws, not more please!

HankT · Jul 31, 2009

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buster81 wrote:

Less laws, not more please!

I bet this goof with a phone wishes there had been a law against DWT. Her victim, too.

Apr 4, 2009 9:48 am US/Pacific
Redding Woman Sentenced In Texting Accident Death

REDDING (AP) A woman who slammed into a line of vehicles while text messaging on her cell phone was sentenced to six years in prison for killing a woman whose car was rear-ended and exploded in flames.

Investigators said Deborah Matis-Engle was speeding and text messaging when she slammed into vehicles stopped at a construction zone on Aug. 13, 2007.

Shasta County prosecutor Stephanie Bridgett said the 49-year-old had paid several bills by cell phone in the moments before the crash. She was in the middle of one of those transactions when she hit 46-year-old Petra Winn's car, killing her.

Matis-Engle's attorney, Jeffrey Stotter, said he will appeal her vehicular manslaughter conviction and the sentence she received Friday.

http://cbs5.com/local/Redding.Texting.Driving.2.975907.html

smoking357 · Jul 31, 2009

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HankT wrote:

buster81 wrote:

Less laws, not more please!

Click to expand...

I bet this goof with a phone wishes there had been a law against DWT. Her victim, too.

Lots of laws against all sorts sorts of activities that still occur.

A law isn't much of an amulet.

Schumer would force all states to ban texting while driving

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