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[OM] Driving laws was: Introduction haegint

Subject: [OM] Driving laws was: Introduction haegint
From: Johnie Stafford <jms@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: 25 Jul 2003 05:13:04 -0500
>>> On Fri, 25 Jul 2003 11:43:36 +0200, "Roger D. Key" <rdk@xxxxxxxxxx> said:

 rdk> In Denmark the police are beginning to use more and more photo
 rdk> speed traps; if the photo of the driver also shows that he is
 rdk> using a mobile phone, the driver gets a fine for that too (and
 rdk> another one if he/she is not using a seat belt).

They've tried to enact laws in Texas to allow traffic cameras to
ticket red-light runners. But it has always died for the same reason. 
A ticket for running a red light is a criminal citation against the
person driving the car. But a camera would only get info on the car,
therefore the ticket would have to be a civil citation against the
owner of the car rather than a criminal citation against the driver. 


 rdk> John Hermanson wrote:

 jh> That has been the law here for many months. People ignore it and
 jh> cops don't enforce it. yawn.........what else is new...........
 jh> Maybe law enforcement will be better in Texas. A recent "study"
 jh> found that a person driving while talking on a hand held phone
 jh> had driving skills below that of a legally DRUNK driver.

Well, the cell phone bill that started this discussion never made it
out of committee. And I am glad. Not that I think the concept is bad,
but everybody has deamonized talking on cell phones like it is the
ONLY source of driver inattention. For teenagers, talking on cell
phones is actually way down the list of driver inattention accidents. 
Talking to other people in the car and adjusting the car stereo is
much more likely to be the cause of a wreck among teens. 

Outlawing talking on a cell phone is just dealing with a single
contributor. I've seen many other things people do behind the wheel
that is at least as dangerous or even more. I was following a mini-van
at 70 MPH down a highway in Dallas last year. The (apparent) mother
that was driving spent about four times as much time turned around
yelling at the kids in the back than she did looking where she was
going. A day doesn't go by without seeing at least one woman putting
on makeup or a man shaving or putting on a tie or something. And then
there are those that eat while driving.

My personal favorite though, and you can spot them a long way off
because they're going slow and weaving all over the place, is the
newspaper readers. I've seen several, driving about 10 MPH slower than
the rest of traffic and weaving back and forth while they read the
newspaper. That one really blows my mind.

If you're going to outlaw talking on cell phones while driving, outlaw
the other causes of driver inattention as well.

Johnie


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