Bills to curb distracted driving gain momentum

A consensus is emerging among lawmakers for an outright ban on cell phone texting behind the wheel.
(From The New York Times)

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[MadLyb]

Bravo.

Steve Farley gets it right. I am tired of watching out for other people, who think thay have some right to drive in a reckless manner, whether it be improperly using a cellphone, or applying makeup, eating or even reading a book (Yes, I had a boss who did this on long roadtrips).

I know these laws are very hard to enforce, and may actually lead to more dangerous behavior by raising the distraction level as they continue these activities in a more covert manner, but if it reduces the number of people performing the distracting activities then I am all for it.

[gerrrg]

Distracted driving is already on the books of most jurisdictions, but in the case of cell phone usage, lawmakers find it particularly offensive that the public should be using cell phones.

In states like Oregon, police and other specific groups are exempt from distracted driving laws, which makes about as much sense as saying that DUI is illegal for everyone else except for some people. Either the act of talking on a cell phone IS a problem for everyone, or it's not a problem for everyone. There should not be special classes of people that are treated differently.

[Yora_]

We've got such a law in Germany a couple of years ago. But if you get cought, you just have to pay a fine of 40? and have to face no further consequences, so you still see people doing it a lot.

[MikeDoyleBlogger]

Hello? Earth to Cnet & New York Times? This is not theoretical. The State of Illinois enacted a statewide ban on texting-while-driving two days ago on January 1, 2010.