R U FCKN KRZY? DONT TEXT N DRIVE!


Texting ban while driving is good idea

By Kelvin Wade | | June 25, 2008 15:25

How do you ban handheld cell phone use while driving and leave a loophole you can drive a truck full of BlackBerries and iPhones through?

While handheld cell phone use while driving will be illegal come July 1, texting for adults will still be permissible. Isn't texting more dangerous?

Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, proposed legislation last week that would ban texting while driving. Simitian, who championed the handheld ban, evidently thought adding texting to the original bill would have sank it. When he first proposed the cell phone ban legislation years ago, he reportedly underestimated how widespread texting would become.

Violators of the new ban would be fined $76.

OK, yes, it's dangerous to drive while trying to type a message with one hand on a phone. That's a skill set that most of us simply don't have and shouldn't be trying to acquire. Simitian's original law does ban texting for minors.

The ironic thing is that if you've ever seen a teenager text message, they're like Liberace on a piano. Perhaps it's all the video game training. My girlfriend's 16-year-old step-granddaughter, Tiffany, can hold a conversation while texting several people at one time.

There are lots of things teens can't do as well as adults, but I bet you they'd text and drive a lot better than most of us.

While we all might feel safer if the guy driving next to us wasn't texting, I just wonder how the proposed texting ban would work. Will it ban receiving a text message while driving? Let's say you're cruising along and you receive a text message. You pull to a stop at a red light. If you glance at the message, does that mean you violated the law and have to cough up $76?

Keep in mind that if someone is driving in an unsafe manner while texting on a cell phone, even without this new law on the books, that's reckless driving.

Here's another question. With someone holding a cell phone out of view letting their fingers do the talking, how in the world is this ever going to be enforced? How can it be proven that the person was texting and not scrolling through their contacts looking for a phone number?

There are many distracting things people do while driving. Before GPS became ubiquitous, a lot more people drove with maps in their laps, glancing at it to navigate their way. Or some of us print out directions from Yahoo or Google Maps and use those while driving to find our way to a place we've never been before.

Glancing at those directions can take just as long as glancing at a text message.

I can get driving directions on my iPhone. If this new law is passed, can I no longer look at those directions while driving? How will an officer know if I'm looking at directions or reading a text message?

Simitian's new law, on which both the governor and the CHP have not taken positions, should pass. Even with my qualms about enforcement, there should be something on the books, maybe something as complex as making texting and driving illegal. If there's something that important to text about, pull off the road.

It's interesting where all of this technology is taking us. Now officers who use cell phones, radios and computers in their vehicles will have the added duty of making sure we're not doing the same.

Peace.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Don't text and drive. It's a dumb idea. To read more on texting and driving AND to find out about the world's second ugliest dog, CLICK HERE.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Matt Garcia

Image
Ten years ago, I woke up and turned on my laptop and went to the Daily Republic website and was devastated to learn of the shooting of Fairfield City Councilman Matt Garcia. I immediately called my brother Tony who answered and knew why I was calling. We shared our shock and horror. But mainly we just cried together on the phone. Later when Matt had been removed from life support and passed away I told Tony that it felt like hope itself had died. He told me, “Matt has inspired too many people to let hope die. But hope took a beating today.” It seemed like some horrible cosmic joke. Twenty-one year old Matt Garcia, elected to the Fairfield City Council on a platform of supporting youth and curbing violence is murdered on the streets of Fairfield. What's worse, his killer mistook him for someone else. It was a pointless act of evil in which a worthless example of a human being took the life of a priceless one. In 2007 Matt invited me to lunch at Joe's Buffet to discuss...
Read more

What if we could enforce our own driving laws?

Image
Thursday, June 6, 2013 Let’s all enforce our own driving laws By Kelvin Wade From page A11 | June 06, 2013 | Leave Comment Vallejo resident Anthony Cardenas, 52, became a local hero after painting his own crosswalk near his home on Sonoma Boulevard at Illinois Street. Cardenas claims the busy street is dangerous for pedestrians, so he painted the crosswalk and earned himself an arrest for felony vandalism and trip to jail for his trouble. Mr. Cardenas makes me want to place my tongue firmly in cheek and take matters into my own hands to make things safer. Have you ever had idiots zoom down your street in complete disregard for kids in the neighborhood? I’d love to creep outside at 3 a.m. with some cement and make my own speed bumps. The next time the speedsters come flying down my street, they’d make a sunroof with their own heads when they hit my new speed bump. BAM! Problem solved. Last week, my friend Nedra Polk asked me to write about the condition of Clay Bank Road between Air B...
Read more

The reason I've ditched my earphones at night

Monday, August 26, 2013 FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA Accident convinces me to ditch my iPad By Kelvin Wade From page A7 | August 22, 2013 | 4 Comments I’ve been an insomniac for years. I used to embrace my insomnia by putting on a pot of coffee at night and doing some of my best writing while the stars were out. I wrote about having a sleep study a couple of months ago and one of the things the analyst told me is I have to stay off my iPad in bed. That hasn’t happened. But recently, my girlfriend Cathi stumbled upon a cure for my nightly iPad habit. So there I was in the middle of the night in bed with earphones in listening to an awesome version of Paul McCartney and Wings’ “Live and Let Die” while pummeling various victims in “Words with Friends” on my iPad when I heard a boom. I turned on a lamp and saw my Beagle, Theo, panting at the bedroom door. I thought he’d jumped against the door to get my attention. Lately, he’s had to go out a lot at night (a dog with the bladder of a mouse...
Read more