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.
Debating cell phone laws is silly. Its all RECKLESS DRIVING.
Eating a burger and fries with no hands on the wheel.
Changing your infants diaper in the front seat with one hand.
Puting on make-up using the rear-view mirror while moving.
Grasping at the pile of music cds on the floorboard.
Turning around to discipline your screaming brats.
Having sex while driving. (You know it happens.)
There is no difference between these distractions and using a cell phone. Stop making new laws, and enforce the old ones.
Breaking News:
“one California State Senator Carole Migden — former voter for a state bill that fines people for using their cellphones while driving — rear-ended her state-issued SUV into a Honda sedan on Highway 12 in Solano County, today. While on her phone. The driver of the Honda was taken to the hospital with minor injuries, although the most painful aspect of this story is surely the jaws-of-life-biting irony.”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/18/BAG9MPTMU88.DTL
Devine justice is sweet….
Read carefully. They have no intention of enforcing this.
“neither offense will be enough to get a driver pulled over by the police”
That means when you run a red light, speed, or have an accident, and THEN they noticed you were on your phone, you owe an extra $100.
The only change I would make is a requirement of reasonable suspicion that the cell phone use contributed to the accident.
Plenty people can talk on the phone and drive just fine. The studies tend to rely on the assumption that no matter what happens on the road, the driver will continue to give their conversation their full attention. This is nonsense.
Sirefelix,
You make a good point about this already being covered under a blanket “Unsafe Driving” or “Reckless Driving”. The danger is that cell phones have become so ingrained in our society that it becomes more difficult to prosecute and easier to defend that using a cell phone isn’t as unsafe or reckless as we believe. To have that action defined negates this defense.
I too have read reports of police writing tickets for eating cereal and milk, dressing, applying make-up, inserting contact lenses, and other plainly stupid moves. Sometimes though, the old laws don’t adequately address today’s situations.
As well as cell phones being a distraction, how about those who sing along with their sound system, or whose sound system is so loud their brain vibrates.
Anyone, anytime who is observed or admits to using a telephone WHILE THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE DRIVING A DAMNED CAR!!!! ought to have their driver’s license instantly suspended (i.e. ripped up in front of them by a cop).
If there’s no-one else in the car with a valid driver’s license, the car should then be tagged and towed.
Even if it doesn’t solve the problem, the city fathers and mothers will be overjoyed with the income from the tickets and the impound charges.
‘As well as cell phones being a distraction, how about those who sing along with their sound system, or whose sound system is so loud their brain vibrates. ”
Oh man, that is a huge one. Not only does it deafen and distract the driver, but every car around him. I love music but there is something about that deep throbbing base vibrating the rear view mirrors on my vehicle that goes to my deepest anger.
#32 – Having sex while driving. (You know it happens.)
Do I ever…
Boom chicka wah wah…
Driving down Mountlake Blvd here in Seattle (source of the law / story) the guy in the car next to me was reading the Seattle Times, folded over the steering wheel, while driving.
It’s hard to underestimate the intelligence one may encounter on the roads. Text messaging — why not?
Wow…. I recently moved from Ct where a hands-free law is already in effect. You see, the problem is people seem to think we already have those amazing cars like in “I Robot”…. While I agree texting, reading, putting on make-up, yelling at children, etc are all unnecessary tasks that people do while driving I also understand that sometimes it seems nessecary and for some a daily routine. Each driver needs to come to a realization that no one is perfect and that not everyone feels the same way you do about everything…. just cause you cant stand cell phones doesn’t mean this doesn’t apply to you.
41,
My problem comes with the Kids, and threatening to STOP the car, and drop them off, If they dont SHUT UP.
I think I can guarentee, that the NEXT cop past, would have words with you.
And as I showd a friend, the best way to end an argument over a phone…TURN it OFF, CLICK.
As to txting…Ive done abit on the OLD PDA’s with limited numbers, and you can get fast and VERY good. BUT you arnt using BOTH hands on the wheel.
Im waiting for the FIRSt car that detects when you release the wheel, and Automatically STOPS the car..
THEn Im wiating for the BYPASS tot he feature.