[karostay]

Originally Posted by BritParrothead

Yes they do enforce, and quite vigorously too! My oldest son was caught(stupid boy). He had a choice drivers awareness course or 6 points, I think. He took the course. Cost him about $200 in total. He learned his lesson.
We have many 'spy cars' here, with on board cameras, Big Brother is watching every move we make !!

Why would you call your son stupid

[buggyone]

I find it amazing that there even should have been any debate about a law against texting and driving. It is a simple no brainier. Anyone who texts and drives is STUPID and should have their license revoked the very first time. It should also be a primary reason for police stopping drivers and not a secondary.

[DougB]

I believe LE cannot give you a ticket for texting while driving unless you are committing another violation at the same time.

[karostay]

Originally Posted by buggyone

I find it amazing that there even should have been any debate about a law against texting and driving. It is a simple no brainier. Anyone who texts and drives is STUPID and should have their license revoked the very first time. It should also be a primary reason for police stopping drivers and not a secondary.

Is it any more in your own words stupid if some one lit a cigarette while driving
Isn't that concidered a distraction

[buggyone]

Originally Posted by karostay

Is it any more in your own words stupid if some one lit a cigarette while driving
Isn't that concidered a distraction

Well, smoking cigarettes is stupid too, isn't it?

Texting is a longer distraction but, yes, both are STUPID.

[Bucco]

Originally Posted by buggyone

Well, smoking cigarettes is stupid too, isn't it?

Texting is a longer distraction but, yes, both are STUPID.

BUGGY nailed this one.

Reading and typing while driving is not a good thing and any comparison pales. Reading, think of a response and type it......that is more than a bit distracting.

[BritParrothead]

Originally Posted by karostay

Why would you call your son stupid

Why did I call my son stupid?? Because what he was doing was extremely stupid!!

No phone call or text message is worth risking a life for! He now keeps his phone In the glove box.

We see every day on our news, local and national. Stories about folks being killed or maimed by 'stupid people' texting and phoning.

[Microcodeboy]

Texting and driving? Really? They had to make a law?????

[DougB]

Driving this morning on 441, I looked over to my right and there was a woman in a brand new Mustang doing 70 miles per hour with her face up close to her rear view mirror putting on her eyeliner!

I looked away for a couple of seconds and when I looked back she was halfway over in my lane still working on that makeup!

It scared me so much that I dropped my electric shaver, which knocked the donut out of my other hand.

In all the confusion of trying to straighten up the car using my knees against the steering wheel, it knocked my cell phone from my ear, which fell into the coffee between my legs, causing it to splash and burn Big Jim and the twins causing me to scream, which made me drop the cigarette out of my mouth, ruined my shirt and DISCONNECTED AN IMPORTANT CALL.

[Schaumburger]

Originally Posted by DougB

Driving this morning on 441, I looked over to my right and there was a woman in a brand new Mustang doing 70 miles per hour with her face up close to her rear view mirror putting on her eyeliner!

I looked away for a couple of seconds and when I looked back she was halfway over in my lane still working on that makeup!

It scared me so much that I dropped my electric shaver, which knocked the donut out of my other hand.

In all the confusion of trying to straighten up the car using my knees against the steering wheel, it knocked my cell phone from my ear, which fell into the coffee between my legs, causing it to splash and burn Big Jim and the twins causing me to scream, which made me drop the cigarette out of my mouth, ruined my shirt and DISCONNECTED AN IMPORTANT CALL.

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by DougB

Driving this morning on 441, I looked over to my right and there was a woman in a brand new Mustang doing 70 miles per hour with her face up close to her rear view mirror putting on her eyeliner!

I looked away for a couple of seconds and when I looked back she was halfway over in my lane still working on that makeup!

It scared me so much that I dropped my electric shaver, which knocked the donut out of my other hand.

In all the confusion of trying to straighten up the car using my knees against the steering wheel, it knocked my cell phone from my ear, which fell into the coffee between my legs, causing it to splash and burn Big Jim and the twins causing me to scream, which made me drop the cigarette out of my mouth, ruined my shirt and DISCONNECTED AN IMPORTANT CALL.

Doug. You ain't right.

But I love you.

[Microcodeboy]

DougB,

Where do you get your material? It is priceless!!

[BobAllen1290]

Just because a law is passed does not mean it will solve the problem. NYS and Maryland have serious fines on the books for talking/texting while driving. Drive around the Baltimore Beltway or across any of the NYS interstates and you will see talking and texting going on all the time. Most people who do it are also savvy enough to put down the phone if a cop comes into view.

By now virtually all states have had seatbelt laws for decades and overall compliance of that law is about 60%.

Where the talking/texting law does help is (unfortunately) at the scene of an accident when the police take cell phones into evidence and they check for phone activity prior to the accident.

[Flipper]

Originally Posted by bonrich

5 points on your license and $150 fine in NYS.

New cars can be equiped with a "signal blocking" feature, that blocks all cell texting activity as soon as the car begins to move. Yes it could be over riden and that car could emit a signal indentifying the car to be sent an auto fine/ticket much like paying your toll with an epass.
Any number of solution can be devised if the problem was realy being taken seriously.
Amber alert took an awful long time to convince our represenatives (lobbiest lovers) to break away from whoever was pushing to not have such a tool, to actual enact it.