Put Down That Phone When You Get Behind The Wheel
Texting while driving is now a primary offense in Pennsylvania.
In case you hadn't heard, Gov. Tom Corbett signed S.B. 314 into law yesterday. The measure, proposed by state Rep. (and now Montgomery County Commissioner-elect) Josh Shapiro, makes it a primary offense to text while driving.
Last month the General Assembly overwhelmingly passed the bill to ban reading, writing or sending a text message while driving. During debate on the issue, Shapiro offered an amendment on the House floor to strengthen the ban by making it a primary offense to text and drive. The amendment allows a driver to be pulled over for reading, writing or sending a text message while driving, as opposed to it being a secondary offense which would result in a fine after an accident occurs.
"I am thrilled that this measure is finally becoming law in Pennsylvania," Shapiro said in a release. "I have fought for years for this commonsense legislation. It isn’t often that lawmakers can truly know the effect of a new law in advance. This is one case where we do; signing this bill into law today will simply save lives on Pennsylvania’s roadways."
Nine states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation that bans the use of hand-held cell phones while driving. Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia have banned texting while driving.
In Pennsylvania, tickets for violating the law will carry a $50 fine.
Ruthiness
12:29 pm on Thursday, November 10, 2011
And so it begins - the nanny state! Are we also going to ban eating while driving, changing the station on the radio or touching the GPS while driving? Are we going to ban transporting noisy children in the car because its distracting? What's next for the serfs I wonder in PA... And now - Josh Shapiro is a Montgomery County Commissioner to boot! Bad voters!!!!
Ruthiness
12:31 pm on Thursday, November 10, 2011
Oh and - this law is pretty much unenforceable - how exactly does a cop see that someone is texting in their car while driving??? Maybe this is going to be more of a thing where angry drivers rat out other drivers they are angry at? Just wondering...
Ruthiness
12:36 pm on Thursday, November 10, 2011
One more thought - this is yet another "PRE-CRIME" - like drinking while driving - they are actually arresting people for the POTENTIAL of a crime. They are making the assumption that ALL DRINKING AND ALL TEXTING WHILE DRIVING RESULTS IN LOSS OF LIFE OR PROPERTY and that is SIMPLY NOT TRUE. The DUI laws were the very FIRST in PRE-CRIME laws where people could be arrested and fined for not having damaged any property or hurt another person. It's not a big step then to the next step which is THOUGHT CRIME. In fact, HATE CRIME laws are in the realm of THOUGHT CRIME. Because a victim of a crime is in some perceived protected group such as LGBT or dark-skinned, and if the perpetrator is NOT in that group - then automatically is is assumed that the crime was motivated by hatred of that protected group. How much more are we going to let this nanny police state encroach on our freedoms as individuals in a civil society? Hmmm?
I think it would be EXCELLENT if Josh Shapiro got pulled over for texting or dialing his phone while driving.. That would be karma!
Erik Wood
4:41 pm on Thursday, November 10, 2011
I think legislation has value in raising public awareness in forums like this one but it will be difficult to solely legislate our way out of this issue. I just read that 72% of teens text daily - many text more 4000 times a month. New college students no longer have email addresses! They use texting and Facebook - even with their professors. Tweens (ages 9 -12) send texts to each other from their bikes. This text and drive issue is in its infancy and its not going away.
I decided to do something about distracted driving after my three year old daughter was nearly run down right in front of me by a texting driver. Instead of a shackle that locks down phones and alienates the user (especially teens) I built a tool called OTTER that is a simple GPS based, texting auto reply app for smartphones. It also silences call ringtones while driving unless you have a bluetooth enabled. I think if we can empower the individual then change will come to our highways now and not just our laws.
Erik Wood, owner
OTTER LLC
OTTER app
Ruthiness
4:57 pm on Thursday, November 10, 2011
Good ideas and I support innovation in addressing this issue. Other options (which I use while in the car) are voice activated dialing, bluetooth headset to communicate/call/voice activate etc The truly ingenious way to deal with the huge amount of texting by the younger generation is to allow voice to text apps that can allow something that will more closely approach conversation - just through a cell phone. Maybe there already is an app like that even! Laws are negative reinforcement - there should be positive reinforcement to move toward a less distracted way to communicate while driving...