NY State - 2 points on record for cell phone use while driving!!!!!

[twistdchick]

YAY!   Finally some serious consequences for using a cell phone in new york! 
 BUT.... will people TEXT more because the cops won't see them with the phone to their ear?

[Bishamon]

How about cell phone use while riding?

http://cmgonline.com/content/view/3302/57/

 

[Punx Clever]

So how many points for putting on makeup while driving, or reaching around to slap the kid in the far back of the minivan while driving?

[booger]

This will have zero effect unfortunately. Here in DC it's been illegal for a while but people still do it all day long, and the cops sit in their cruisers and watch them. Only when they start treating it like a felony DUI will it register as breaking the law with most people, and even then they'll do it anyway. People still drive drunk. The more things change the more they stay the same.

[jsd2]

I live in NY and it is the same for texting....2 points and at least $100 fine.

The law started Wednesday.  Before that is was just the fine.

Jim

[herm]

here in maine we are a little behind the times.....

the state is only now thinking about making texting illegal while driving...and of course there are the opponents who say the police should be focusing on more serious infractions

[cokey]

Yea how bout all the cops I see on phonez while driving?  At least 1 out of 3 I notice..

[Drjones]

That's because they're better than you.  Get back in your place subject!

[zarn02]

It's now illegal to text and drive here in Kansas. Haven't really heard much about it, but I suspect the result will be that folks will just be more distracted as they try and hide their phone while texting.

No law can hold back a population that believes that what they're doing is no big deal.

[sbrguy]

Unfortunately nothing is going to matter until MORE children die because of someone texting/talking on the phone while driving.  

Its that simple.  

Nothing was as successful and made drunk driving illegal more than MADD and their stories of "my beautiful (insert any age under 16, the younger the better) yro daughter/son died by an EVIL drunk driver, boo hoo, i'm sad and such"

that is the road map to make texting and talking on the phone illegal.  nothing short of that is going to do anything worth a damn

which means if you want to make phoning or texting illegal faster, then you have to hopeand pray for 1000s more kids to die due to those actions so that people will wake up when someone tells those stories except replace "EVIL DRUNK DRIVER" with "EVIL TEXTING/PHONING DRIVER, until then nobody thinks anything is wrong with texting or talking on the phone while driving.

[Punx Clever]

Unfortunately nothing is going to matter until MORE children die because of someone texting/talking on the phone while driving.  

Its that simple.  

Nothing was as successful and made drunk driving illegal more than MADD and their stories of "my beautiful (insert any age under 16, the younger the better) yro daughter/son died by an EVIL drunk driver, boo hoo, i'm sad and such"

that is the road map to make texting and talking on the phone illegal.  nothing short of that is going to do anything worth a damn

which means if you want to make phoning or texting illegal faster, then you have to hopeand pray for 1000s more kids to die due to those actions so that people will wake up when someone tells those stories except replace "EVIL DRUNK DRIVER" with "EVIL TEXTING/PHONING DRIVER, until then nobody thinks anything is wrong with texting or talking on the phone while driving.

That is quite the modest proposal.

[dark_duc]

As far as texting and driving goes, I wish they could make it mandatory for everyone getting or renewing a license to watch this video...get's you thinking (if you have 10 minutes to spare)

Texting PSA Longform Rev3

[SDkid]

In CA it's illegal to text or hold your phone in your hand while driving.  People still do it, but if something happens, you might as well be drunk and unlicensed, because that is how much punishment they will bring down.  It's a pretty big offense if something happens.  Only a $50-100 fine for the first offense if you just get pulled over, and it gets worse from there.  It's not a worthless law, but I don't know the effect it has had on the collision rate (not "accident rate" since there is no such thing). 

People are still going to put on makeup and eat/drink and mess with their kids in the back seat and whatever; don't assume this law will make people flawless drivers, only punished worse when something happens.  That won't help you much if you're already a hood ornament.

[jerryz]

In UK its technically illegal now to eat, talk, text,phone ,adjust radio , even coughing or sneezing whilst driving a car ,people have been prosecuted for all the above for alledgedly not being in control of their vehicle .Its a police state !!

in Thailand i have seen cops watching porn video while driving as its legal here to have a DVD screen in the drivers field of view ,, often see women driving while simultaneously applying makup with one hand ,talking on phone with the other and , watching  a soap on the DVD screen so no view of the road and her elbow turning the steering wheel ,,,,Thats why they call it amazing Thailand

[sbrguy]

That is quite the modest proposal.

honestly i wish all it took was a simple law and not deaths to change people's habits, truly i don't want others to die

but the MADD model of how to make something that was once considered as harmless (sarcasm) as texting and talking on the phone, to something that is now villified and hated by most everyone can't be denied that what they did worked to change the laws to be much harsher than they were.  

their model of telling teens in high school during lectures about countless and in GORY DETAIL about the death of someone they loved, usually a child,  did change the view of drunk driving in high schools, at least i saw it in my high school. It worked and that has to be applauded. but i dont' think it would have had as much impact if it was just someone saying "well i paid a $1000 in fines".

by the way that is an awesome PSA announcement above that is what has to be done on a grander scale to change laws and change people's behaviors.

that psa needs to be slightly changed  focusses too much on the person dying that caused their own death and not enough on the guy that killed the cyclist and "only got probation" wtf?

most people will say "well i'm better than those people" people need to identify more with the person that was killed by the person that was texting not someone that died bc they were texting.