Cell phone bill, text message ban signed into law | KOMO-TV – Seattle, Washington | Local & Regional — I’ve been sitting on this post since the law was passed some days ago. I’ve been sitting on it because I cannot believe that anyone actually drives and does text messaging. Do you?
Hang up or pay up: Using your hands to talk on the phone or tap out a text message while behind the wheel of a car will be illegal next year.
Gov. Chris Gregoire signed the measures into law Friday, flanked by children who suffered serious injuries after being hit by distracted drivers.
Under the new laws, drivers who read and compose text messages or talk on a cell phone without a hands-free device could face a $101 ticket. The text-messaging ban takes effect Jan. 1; the cell-phone law will be enforced starting in July 2008.
Drivers are exempt in some situations, including emergencies, and neither offense will be enough to get a driver pulled over by the police.
But parents of children injured in collisions with such drivers said the new laws are still a major improvement.
State senator ([who] voted last year to impose a $20 fine for talking on cell phones while driving) rear-ends Vallejo woman while talking on cell phone
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_5937218
I believe it, seen it with my own eyes. Seen people reading books too, propped up on the steering wheel at 60 mph, at night witht the dome light on. Some people are just crazy.
I see it quite often. Drivers holding their cellphones and madly pushing the buttons as they drive and text. Oblivious to their surroundings…
Tom
This is the kind of well-meaning and even correct law that will prove totally unenforceable. Maybe we just need more public service announcements telling people not to shave, read the paper, talk on the phone, type emails and text messages, etc while driving. I’d suggest a few:
Drive as if your life depends on it!
or
Want to keep your brain in your head? Keep your mind on the road!
or
Dying to stay in touch?
I think text messaging is a stupid childish fad. It makes no sense. Voice mail works better and is easier. Next thing will be the mobile telegraph.
It’s right up there with driving and map-reading & GPS operation.
How about letting cops on the street make a judgment call? Many people are capable of driving while talking on the cell phone, and can judge for themselves when its appropriate. Same with text-messaging.
My girlfriend has done it… she can type out paragraphs while driving.
-A
My Friends Daughter rear ended a car at a stop sign while texting.
Sorry… Been there, done that….
I am right there with Misanthropic Scott (#4). All the more reason why we need our cars automated, so we can read and eat, etc. while the car gets us there safely…
I agree with #5. Text messaging is a huge ripoff. Especially when you consider the bandwidth required. I hope it either becomes free or goes away. It just chaps me.
I wonder if that ban will include C.B.s?
14. Ummm, there are actually people who still use CB’s? I Thought that went out with Smokey and the Bandit good buddy.
#s 4, 5, 13, re text messaging vs. voice mail. Don’t be silly. You can’t leave voice mail in class.
My daughter considers an incoming text message to be a mandate: read and reply NOW. I found out that applied even when she was a student driver. It was a frightening challenge to get her to modify that behavior (assuming I actually did.)
As a recently arrival to Seattle, I’ve seen a lot of this – have been cutoff several times in the last few months while driving on I-5 – particularly around the 45th/50th exit & ravenna exit areas… lots of college kids do this that ive noticed…
I’m paranoid & dont talk on phone while driving, but thats just me…
Much to my chagrin, I have ridden with people while they were texting. As a Seattleite I feel this law doesn’t go far enough. In my opinion, there should be a minimum of a 500 dollar fine with the potential of a 30 day incarceration. That may seem strict, but people seem to forget that driving a car is a privelege. Even though cars are much saver today than they were 30 years ago, there is no room to consider them anything less than multi-ton 65-70 mph projectiles.
Texting is for kids. I use a bluetooh headset which makes using the phone hands free and have voice dial so I can call my most often dialed numbers while keeping both hands on the wheel. Simple solution.
€They should ban cell phones outright, even when you’re not driving. These things are possibly killing honeybee populations, and I dont think we can take the chance.
15.. Um…
You’ve obviously never been around anyone who drives for a living.. Of course people still use C.B.s.. good buddy.. How do you you think truckers find out where all the wrecks and smokeys are?
That “hows my driving” number on the back of trucks, isn’t to the truckers cell phone.
Why does any city NEED another law? Doesn’t “reckless driving” cover every mobile violation, even if you don’t have an accident.
And how is this helpful:
“Drivers are exempt in some situations, including emergencies, and neither offense will be enough to get a driver pulled over by the police.”
So, will interpretations of these exemptions create MORE court trials and lawsuits?
I think a law should be created to stop lawyers, in the form of politicians, from making more redundant laws.
21. 10-4 rubber duck.
#22 – Why does any city NEED another law? Doesn’t “reckless driving” cover every mobile violation, even if you don’t have an accident.
I agree with that point. Another law for something was already covered…
Reckless Operation will get you pulled over… Thus if a cop sees you with a cell phone to your ear or pushing the buttons on your cell phone, he/she should pull you over and issue you a citation. Will that create a lot of pissed off motorists? Yes. Do I Care? Not in the least.
No matter what you think, you are wrong if you think you are safely operating a moving motor vehical while texting.
I tend to think hands free operation is safe but I’m not an expert in the field, or the paramedic that scrapes brains off of windshields, so if they say to cut it out, well… there is nothing you have to say to me that can’t wait till I stop the car.
It’s been shown, conclusively, that it’s not dialling or holding the phone that is the distraction; it’s the concentration given to the conversation that diverts one’s attention away from conscious awareness of hazardous situations…
Think about it – don’t we all know people who, once they’re talking on the phone, wouldn’t notice if a bomb went off, they’re so utterly oblivious to everything going on around them?
And texting diverts even more mental resources than simply speaking, so it really is that much more dangerous.
#25…Lauren…..I just read sometime in the last couple weeks the results of several independently done research groups that it seems the conversation is the real danger. They all found that hands free is no more safe than holding the phone device.
Being a complete Luddite on the matter of cell phones, I may be a bit biased, but you could ban them completely tomorrow and I would cheer.
But I do understand that for a very limited few the cellphone is a good thing. Doctors, rescue workers, self employed who work away from their home or office all day, off duty police or fire personal. But the vast majority of cell phone use is just plain stupid, vainity.
#12 – ethanol,
Wasn’t there an urban legend about a guy in an RV that put on the cruise control and went to make a cup of coffee? (thought it was auto-pilot or some such)
I doubt it was true, but it’s just close enough to sound almost believable.
#26 – But the vast majority of cell phone use is just plain stupid, vainity.
You mean vanity?
And no… It isn’t.
Cells phones are brilliant idea and good for everyone.
While I would argue that your teenage daughter doesn’t need one and that guy having a loud conversation while walking through the mall is actually a jerk…
But cell phones completely replace land lines and are untethered, which means I can use my phone while I’m shopping, in the event of an emergency anytime, anyplace, to make reservations or to address a customer service need, without being tied to my home.
What makes you think a cell phone appeals to my vanity when any chump off the street can get a cell phone?
Sometimes ATC gets honked when I don’t answer immediately. Since they’re on the ground drinking coffee and I’m at altitude fighting turbulence, t-storms, busted navs in IFR, etc., they can just wait. I’ll talk when I’m good and ready. “Center, stand by one” seems to work just fine.
Rule #1 – “fly your airplane” should be extended to “drive your car.”
Sorry, it’s just difficult for me to imagine texting while driving. How absurd. If I ever catch my grandniece doing that, adios phone!
#28, OFTLO, I don’t have a land line either, so a cell phone is a necessity. Vanity? Mine’s three years old, and I disable the ringer in public. Isn’t that called courtesy? Joshua, just out of curiosity did you consider that?
This is a start… I think ALL cellphone calling should be outlawed. (yes! even hands free)
People on the phone are not concentrating on the driving.
Even more important than their hands, is their MIND which is not on their driving.
But, for my idea to work, there needs to be an infrastructure of places to pull off the road and talk. I’d pay for this with a tax on cell phones. The cell companies would howl bloody murder but they can afford it.
#30, Greg Allen,
There’s no study about a driver conversing with passengers vs. drivers talking on a phone. But my $1 Louis is on the danger of talking or (Good Grief !! texting) on the cellphone since it requires a large portion of the mind to visualize the person on the other end of the conversation.
Now that would be an interesting study. Help me write the grant and we’re in. (Hey you kids !! Settle down or I’m stopping this car !! )