Posted by M. MacDonald on June 9, 2008, 10:31 am
Heard from radio CHP news anchor:
July 1, it will be illegal to use a cell phone in a vehicle (semi-truck
drivers excluded) unless it is hands-free. People under the age of 18, it
is illegal PERIOD to use a cell phone in a vehicle.
BUT...
It is OKAY to use the text messaging portion by anyone over 18. Seems they
left that portion out of the bill.
To me, the text messaging is worse than using the cell portion. Some
lawmaker really screwed up this law.
Mack
Posted by David T. Ashley on June 9, 2008, 10:57 am
> Heard from radio CHP news anchor:
> July 1, it will be illegal to use a cell phone in a vehicle (semi-truck
> drivers excluded) unless it is hands-free. People under the age of 18, it
> is illegal PERIOD to use a cell phone in a vehicle.
> BUT...
> It is OKAY to use the text messaging portion by anyone over 18. Seems
> they left that portion out of the bill.
> To me, the text messaging is worse than using the cell portion. Some
> lawmaker really screwed up this law.
Agreed.
First, the accident stats say that handsfree cellphone sets don't decrease
accident rates by that much. Reasons are clear: (a)person is still often
distracted while driving when needs to dial or program the phone, (b)even
while just talking, a person is often not mentally driving, and (c)in the
case of salespeople and so on, a person might be talking and looking down at
printed material at the same time. In fact, a handsfree set might make it
worse and encourage the person to consult printed materials while talking
and driving.
Second, texting is order-of-magnitude more dangerous than talking because of
the requirement to read the display, find keys, and mentally form the
message. They interviewed a female police officer some months ago who said
the same thing (and I agree with her opinion).
As far as improvements to the law:
First priority has to be to get eyes on the road (whether or not mind is on
the road). Nothing will be effective unless the cellphone is
voice-activated and the person actually CAN'T look at it to program or dial.
And there would have to be a law restricting other printed material in the
vehicle. Not practical because people use maps.
Solution: system that won't allow the vehicle to operate unless driver's
eyes are looking outside or at the instrument cluster?
One of the sales reps that visits my company told us about one of her
colleagues who has his laptop sitting in the passenger seat and actually
reads and answers e-mails while driving. Not good.
Posted by M. MacDonald on June 9, 2008, 5:36 pm
> "J. Clarke" wrote in message:
> Personally I think that the cell phone industry should be given a
> reasonable period of time (like 5-10 years) to implement technology
> that prevents cell phones from being used in any manner other than to
> call 911 by a person operating a motor vehicle, and if they don't come
> up with anything then at the end of that time require the system to be
> reprogrammed to refuse non-911 calls from or to any phone which
> according to its built in tracker is moving faster than 5 mph, and to
> disconnect calls in progress if any phone participating starts moving
> faster than that speed.
Good idea and doable. Our Toyota has a built-in GPS and you cannot program
it via the touch-screen with the car moving.
Mack
Posted by .p.jm on June 9, 2008, 5:47 pm
On Mon, 9 Jun 2008 14:36:24 -0700, "M. MacDonald"
>> "J. Clarke" wrote in message:
>> Personally I think that the cell phone industry should be given a
>> reasonable period of time (like 5-10 years) to implement technology
>> that prevents cell phones from being used in any manner other than to
>> call 911 by a person operating a motor vehicle, and if they don't come
>> up with anything then at the end of that time require the system to be
>> reprogrammed to refuse non-911 calls from or to any phone which
>> according to its built in tracker is moving faster than 5 mph, and to
>> disconnect calls in progress if any phone participating starts moving
>> faster than that speed.
>Good idea and doable. Our Toyota has a built-in GPS and you cannot program
>it via the touch-screen with the car moving.
Stupid idea, and totally undoable.
How do you distinguish the DRIVER from OTHERS in the vehicle ?
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Posted by The Older Gentleman on June 9, 2008, 5:51 pm
> On Mon, 9 Jun 2008 14:36:24 -0700, "M. MacDonald"
>
> >> "J. Clarke" wrote in message:
> >> Personally I think that the cell phone industry should be given a
> >> reasonable period of time (like 5-10 years) to implement technology
> >> that prevents cell phones from being used in any manner other than to
> >> call 911 by a person operating a motor vehicle, and if they don't come
> >> up with anything then at the end of that time require the system to be
> >> reprogrammed to refuse non-911 calls from or to any phone which
> >> according to its built in tracker is moving faster than 5 mph, and to
> >> disconnect calls in progress if any phone participating starts moving
> >> faster than that speed.
> >
> >Good idea and doable. Our Toyota has a built-in GPS and you cannot program
> >it via the touch-screen with the car moving.
>
> Stupid idea, and totally undoable.
>
> How do you distinguish the DRIVER from OTHERS in the vehicle ?
I know. Two consecutive fuckwits in one thread.
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> July 1, it will be illegal to use a cell phone in a vehicle (semi-truck
> drivers excluded) unless it is hands-free. People under the age of 18, it
> is illegal PERIOD to use a cell phone in a vehicle.
> BUT...
> It is OKAY to use the text messaging portion by anyone over 18. Seems
> they left that portion out of the bill.
> To me, the text messaging is worse than using the cell portion. Some
> lawmaker really screwed up this law.