NYC cabbies could have cellphone use blocked while driving... but probably not

[Via WCBS]
driving posts

There's already been a number of states that have passed some form of ban on cellphone use while driving, but the National Safety Council seems to think that there's still far too many folks out there talking or texting behind the wheel, and it's now calling for an all out nationwide ban on the practice. What's more, the group also says that laws that allow for handsfree cellphone use are "giving people a placebo, in effect," and that they don't, in fact, make calling while driving any safer. The group also seems to be taking particular aim at businesses, saying that calling while driving can increase costs and even open up employers to liability. As you might have guessed, however, the cellphone industry, and the CTIA specifically, disagree with that assessment quite a bit, and instead say that they believe that "safe, sensible and limited use of a cell phone when you're behind the wheel is possible," and that if someone is "driving irresponsibly because of cell phone use, they should be cited for that. And under current law, they can be."
Talking while driving just got a little more expensive on the west coast. Legislation went into effect last month in California and Washington requiring the use a headset of some sort. California's law was passed way back in 2006, yet most would-be good citizens waited until the absolute last minute to comply, with sales of Bluetooth headsets surging to four-times the national average in the months prior according to the NPD Group. Still, 7,182 citations were handed to naughty Californians in July. Up north only 100 were nabbed, as Washingtonian drivers can't be pulled over unless they commit some other violation as well, making headset use there a little more ... optional, so long as you lay off the throttle, Speed Racer.
Oh sure, we've seen alleged criminals wriggle out from under the strong arm of the law, but this one takes things to an entirely different platform. Reportedly, a truck driver in Germany was pulled over for yapping on his cellphone while cruising, but apparently, said trucker actually wasn't talking when the boys in blue saw his handset upside his melon. As the story goes, the 43-year old was actually using the freshly recharged mobile to "warm his ear" in an attempt to alleviate an earache. Astonishingly enough, he was even able to provide "an itemized telephone bill proving he had not been using the phone at the time he was stopped," thus, a court in Hamm accepted the excuse and let him go sans penalty. Something tells us this guy's got friends in low places.
Add Oregon and Washington to the list of states that now officially frown on yapping while driving. Oregon's sporting the less restrictive legislation of the two Pacific Northwestern states, preventing teens from using cellphones in the car as of January 1. Washington already banned the idiotic practice of texting while driving last year, and will ban handsets altogether (except for handsfree devices) this July. Of course, with lawyers eternally in the mix, let's just hope the fine lawmakers out there have dotted their I's and crossed their T's lest these new laws spend more time in court than they do on the road.
If you're ready for a healthy dose of unconventional wisdom, you've come to the right place, as a couple of confident graduate student economists at UC-Berkeley are purporting that there is "no match in the evening cellphone use spike and crash data." Basically, the duo is suggesting that although we've been on the mobile horn a lot more these days, the number of fatal vehicular accidents over the past 18 years have not experienced the same leap. Weird logic, we know, so take it for whatever it is (or isn't) worth.
Be honest, when's the last time you responded to a text message from behind the wheel? If you're in with the majority of cellphone-toting Americans, you've done it -- though you probably also think it should be outlawed. A recent poll of about 2,000 US adults found that some 57 percent had participated in a little SMS action while driving at some point in their lives, but they were at least cognizant of its danger, with 91 percent guessing it was as dangerous as driving on a couple drinks. We'd guess as much, too -- if not more so, considering that texting takes brain function and your eyes away from the road. 89 percent of the polled folks want the practice outlawed, which really makes us wonder about those two percent that know it's dangerous and want to keep on doing it. Let us know to stay away with a bumper sticker on your jalopy, k?
We're sure somewhere Drew Curtis's head is exploding over this one: submitted for your perusal, 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. Then again, at least we know Midgen's heart is in the right place; like the cleaned-up drug addict invited to tell schoolkids to stay off the dope, surely this morning more than others Midgen felt all the more confident in having voted the way she did.
Following up on a prior threat, Washington has put its legislative rubber to the road to become the first state to turn texting drivers into criminals. While the safety of handsfree voice calling continues to be a source of controversy, texting behind the wheel is a pretty boneheaded move any way you slice it -- seeing how it robs you of your eyes, your hands, and your attention -- so we applaud Washington's stance here. For the time being, though, it's more of a symbolic move since the state's politicians gave the law virtually no bite to back up its bark; besides the relatively light $101 fine, DWT is a secondary offense, meaning that a driver already needs to be nailed for something else (say, speeding) to get thrown the book. Maybe a little time in the pokey would get violators on the straight and narrow?






