CAPITOL State lawmaker pushes for ban of text messaging while driving The Associated Press
Text messaging on a cellphone while driving a car can be a deadly distraction, says a Long Island state senator who wants to make the practice illegal. State Sen. Carl Marcellino said the deaths of fi ve teenagers killed in a head-on wreck last month in the Finger Lakes region highlighted the lethal potential of texting and driving and demonstrated the need for the proposed ban. Although police continue to investigate the crash, they know text messages were sent and received on the 17-year-old driver’s cellphone moments before the accident that killed her and four other recent high school graduates. Investigators said they may never know which of the teens was using the phone. “Talking on cellphones isn’t the only distraction. The explosion of text messaging has created a new problem,” Marcellino, R-Syosset, said Wednesday. “You need two thumbs to use these devices. How do you hold the wheel? You have to take your eyes off the road to see the screen or see the letters. It’s terribly dangerous,” he said. Marcellino has introduced a law that would ban writing, sending or reading text messages while driving. The measure would amend the existing ban on talking on hand-held cellphones while behind the wheel, he said. The proposal is sponsored in the Assembly by Felix Ortiz, a Democrat from Brooklyn. Marcellino said he expects the bill to reach the Senate floor in the fall. If signed into law, violators would be fined $100, the same penalty for breaking the handheld cell law. CTIA-The Wireless Association, an industry group, said it would support such a law and that consumers should use common sense. “We don’t think anyone should be text-messaging while driving,” said CTIA spokesman Joe Farren.
Do we really need a law to tell us not to type on a cell phone or ipod while driving? This should fall under common sense, and as Ron White would say " There's no cure for stupid"
How about.... - No driving while eating - No driving while drinking soda/coffee - No driving while putting on make-up - No driving while shaving - No driving while watching a portable DVD - No driving while smoking - No driving while sneezing - No driving while crying - No driving while laughing
And last but not least....NO DRIVING WHILE DROWSEY!!!!!
Stupid laws for stupid people!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
How about.... - No driving while eating - No driving while drinking soda/coffee - No driving while putting on make-up - No driving while shaving - No driving while watching a portable DVD - No driving while smoking - No driving while sneezing - No driving while crying - No driving while laughing
And last but not least....NO DRIVING WHILE DROWSEY!!!!!
Stupid laws for stupid people!
I thought this one was already on the books... And last but not least....NO DRIVING WHILE DROWSEY!!!!!
I thought this one was already on the books... And last but not least....NO DRIVING WHILE DROWSEY!!!!!
Still pending!!! Not law yet!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
If the no driving while drowsy law passes how are the police going to enforce it, after the accident happens they'll give the driver a ticket and that'll prevent an accident how.
It is just one of those stupid idiotic laws that some stupid idiotic lawyer proposed so s/he can make more money!!!! Laws are made for the lawyers, clearly not for the benefit of the people!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Eyes on the road First published: Friday, July 20, 2007
This one begins with a caveat. In a safer world, where common sense dependably prevailed over our more reckless instincts, there would be little fodder for editorial comment in text messaging on a cellphone or a BlackBerry while driving a car. But that does happen, disregard for safety notwithstanding. It may have happened, in fact, during a horrific accident in the Finger Lakes region last month. Text messages were sent and received from the cellphone of a 17-year-old driver just before she and four high school friends were killed. State Sen. Carl Marcellino, a Republican from Long Island, and Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, a Democrat from Brooklyn, want to make what in the vernacular of the day might be known as TWD a violation of New York's traffic laws.
We'd have to support them, before anyone screams Big Brother or types out something like BGBRO. Text messaging may very well be a transitional technology, but it's all the rage right now, especially among the younger people who are inexperienced drivers. The thought of LOL, DUDE -- 90 MPH!! is something that shouldn't escape the grown-ups who write the traffic laws.
New York already, and very sensibly, bans the use of hand-held cellphones while driving. A study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in 2005 found that the risk of an accident is four times greater for someone driving while using a cellphone, even if it's not hand-held. Just give these researchers some time to calculate the danger involved when something as distracting as text messaging gets in the way of driving. In the meantime, who would want to argue with Anne McCartt, a researcher for the institute?
"I don't think you need a study to tell you that text messaging while you're driving is an extremely unsafe thing to do," she says.
There are other unsafe activities for drivers, too, of course. Fiddling with the radio or CD player, shaving, scarfing down a hasty meal or attending to restless kids all come to mind. If it seems like text messaging is being singled out, it's important to remember that it's also dangerous. Some tasks in a hectic world full of technological changes and so susceptible to the latest gadgets shouldn't be combined. Multitasking ought to have its limits.
Washington state already has a ban on texting and driving. Connecticut, Arizona, New Jersey, California and Oregon are considering them, too.
All that raises the related issue of enforcement. Traffic laws don't do much good when they can be violated without much consequence. Hand-held cellphone use would be a lot less frequent, we'd think, if more people were ticketed for it.
How often do you see drivers weaving all over the road while holding cellphones to their ears? It's enough to makes you want to rap out U C THT GUY?
Not that you would, or, should, of course. TWD is reckless enough that it should be illegal.
THE ISSUE: A bill in the Legislature would ban sending text messages while driving.
THE STAKES: Mixing certain tasks and technologies makes the roads all the more dangerous.
Oh that's ok...it probably just had Kosiur campaigning mail in it anyways!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Texting ban for drivers would be easy to ignore First published: Saturday, July 21, 2007
In light of the recent traffic tragedy involving a car full of young girls, apparently it has been determined that the driver was texting prior to the crash. Now there is a call for a law banning texting while driving.
It's pretty apparent that like the current cellphone ban, it would be difficult to enforce, and ignored.
There is already minimal enforcement of basic traffic laws in the Capital Region, like obeying stop signs and traffic signals. A young woman was killed in Niskayuna a few months ago when the driver "rolled" through the stop sign. Perhaps more aggressive enforcement of these existing laws would prevent future tragedies like this.
Wll, I guess if they get pulled over while texting if this goes through, they should finish up the message to the other person, telling them they were pulled over and expect the message back..."Sux2BU."
I don't know how on earth they are going to enforce this unless they use the gps tracking system to see what people are doing with their phones at any given time. I've been a passenger in a car and have text messaged....and no one would possible know what I was doing. You really don't need to hold the phone up that high to do it. It will be like the stupid, 'driving while drowsey law', the 'no markers/spray paint law' and of course the newest one...'THE SEX OFFENDER LAW'!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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