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Sure you can - come into my living room cussing like a marmot and I may very well throw you out. Free speech is a government thing, and owners of private property can largely do what they wish. For example, spam the forums and we'll pull your posts. :shades: (this Wiki link may be of interest)
Make all the roads intrastate private toll roads and maybe the owners will ban cells so they'll reduce their potential liability for car wrecks?
A good idea there. Illinois has a tollway system where this could be applied. Would think that technology could provide detection systems along the toll roads to catch any car/vehicle with only a driver that is transmitting/receiving cell signals.
Just like red light cameras, monitoring would not have to be manned. It would be portable, have a camera and signal detectors, not seen by drivers and be moved around day-to-day. Any car passing it with only a driver and transmitting/receiving would have its cell id recorded with place and time of day. Owner of cell phone would get ticket and fine in next month's cell bill.
Drivers on phone every day over a stretch of toll road might get hit with 10-20 infractions before they would see it on monthly cell bill. Cell providers would get a small amount of the fine for their administration expense. Anyone not paying the fine with their cell phone service would have their service turned off. Would be good source of revenue for the state to fund schools.
Of course, there would be lots of publicity and warnings about banned cell phone use on toll roads well in advance of implementation of system.
But you'll have to get the FCC to play along and they don't like them.
Driving is not a right either. The let me catch up on my day with my wife, cell phone user is a danger to themselves and people around them. I don't advocate suspending their license, but if they are driving like they are drunk, make them pay a healthy fine.
Whistle too. :shades:
My brother turned off his land line last month. My sister did an airport run today back East and borrowed a cell so she could wait in her car in the holding area while her friend debarked (sounds too marmottish, let's say deboarded). She's never used one before but is now shopping for a cell. Guess I'll be the last hold out among my siblings to get one, although I did call home last week driving down Bogus Basin Road on my boarding buddy's phone.
This topic is going to be filed under losing battles when the dust settles I think.
Land-line phones connected to tel co central offices are more reliable than cell phones. The central offices usually have batteries and standby generators that automatically kick in when commercial power is lost. Cell phones rely on cell towers that also use commercial power but have limited amount of emergency backup power.
Best is combo of home land line phone with cell phone for making long distance calls and for use while driving. :P
Never happen.
Face it, cell phones are never going away.....there will always be voice communication devices in cars. Trying to stop it is wasted breath and energy...it is a loss cause. Society wants it....businesses provide it. The price is worth the benefit.
Hell, one of the biggest automakers in the world (Ford) is now putting devices in all of their cars. GM has been doing it for years.
You might as well go on strike against the wheel.
Heck, you can't slander either. Freedom of Speach does not mean you can say what you want whenever you want to. But is does allow someone to have a conversation in private.
Indiana Toll Road Sold to Foreign Company (leasing deal). The Chicago Skyway was leased for 99 years not long ago (link).
Since you can exclude those who don't pay the toll, it would seem to fall outside the public goods example.
Face it, cell phones are never going away.....there will always be voice communication devices in cars. Trying to stop it is wasted breath and energy...it is a loss cause.
Rights?? Nobody has a right to operate a vehicle on public roads. Individuals are granted priviledge to do so as long as having drivers license, licensed vehicle, insured vehicle (many states), have a legally functioning vehicle and operate it according to rules of the road or state dot.
There is precedence for new laws that might ban drivers using cell phones. You just can't do what you want in your car on a public road. For example - cannot have open liquour containers, cannot have loaded weapon in console or on passenger seat, cannot drive naked nor can passenger(s), cannot exceed 0.08 blood alcohol level, cannot throw garbage out the window, cannot drive when taking certain medications, etc. Laws were put in place for common good of both driving public and pedestrians. As more and more legislators in states see the light, they will pass laws banning cell phone use.
It took decades after invention of auto in 1890's before laws were passed on DUI and open liquor containers. Same will be true of cell phones and drivers.
One has got to get away from notion that motor vehicle is private and that the driver and/or occupants can do as they wish in vehicle when operated on public roads.
BUT, I don't give a crap if a road is private, public or whatever......you can't stop a conversation in a car.
AND roads are by definition a PUBLIC GOOD. Just because a road may be owned, does not mean that the governemt does not impose standards. Schools are also public goods private or otherwise. The term neither implies government ownership or not.
I just returned from a business law class....used my cell the whole way home. Cell phones will not ever go away. They may take on a different form, but you can't ban conversation.
I think some of you may want to move to China or Korea to find laws more to your liking. DUI and phones virtually have nothing legally in common, while they both embody an issue regarding safety, conversations are 100% legal and protected by the Constitution (you guys remember that peice of paper?) and getting drunk is not. BTW, you can consume booze and drive and still not break the law, you just can't do it in a car...in most places. This implies that a little bit of booze if OK, just like a little bit of cell phone use - lol
Besides, ANY law attempting to ban cell phones would be completely, utterly, unenforceable. PLUS, can you imagine the law suites that localities will face? The exposure is tremendous for them. That si why most of them of caving under legal pressure shortly after laws are envoked. Not to mention, not one of these laws has resulted in a decrease in fatalities.
Yeah, I encounter guys like you all the time. Just yesterday I encountered a driver ahead of me with a cell phone on his ear on a long stretch of straight 2-lane highway. His speed was fluctuating, but I will admit he was keeping his car centered in the lane. This is not always the case. I finally passed him when I got the opportunity, not wanting to fluctuate in speed like he was.
I also returned from a class yesterday, but I had planned ahead and made some calls before the class, made a call during a break and then waited until I got home to make another call on land line. Not rocket science to have paper day-planner with schedules and contacts or have a PDA such as old-fashioned Handspring Visor. Any frivolous or personal calls are usually made from home.
AND roads are by definition a PUBLIC GOOD.
What is that?
DUI and phones virtually have nothing legally in common, while they both embody an issue regarding safety, conversations are 100% legal and protected by the Constitution
Not necessarily so. I can think of many occassions where talk or conversation will get you arrested or fined or otherwise penalized.
Besides, ANY law attempting to ban cell phones would be completely, utterly, unenforceable.
Re laws banning drivers using cell phones. It would be possible to enforce this.
PLUS, can you imagine the law suites that localities will face?
Alternatively, perhaps drivers using a cell phone and causing a crash with injuries might have extra level of prosecution and face a law suite for negligence in driving. This is more likely.
Toll roads are quasi at best. link
I did, however, not break the law.
And no, you can not, nor will you ever have an enforceable cell phone law. Need we go down this road again? OK...one more time....nearly every GM vehicle has On Star. Ford now has a similar hands free system. How they heck can Mr. Police Officer pull someone over for using these devices....let alone the countless other handsfree style devices available. It is just not possible.
I am glad you can plan ahead.....I don't need to....I have a phone. Why sit in class for an extra 20 minutes when you can drive and talk? Phones are a great convenience....some of use can walk and chew gum at the same time.
BTW, newsflash, if you truly cared about safety, you should not drive to class. You should take a class online. Would that not be the best use of time and technology? You risked your life and others just by driving to school when it could have been avoided. (tongue in cheek).
There are so many more important issues in socierty when it comes to health and death threats. How about heart disease? Obesity? Or cancer? 1 in 330 children are diagnosed with cancer in this country before the age of 19.
I was watching an episode of cops where a driver was pulled over for some reason. Cops tested him and he had a BAC of .79. They gave him a citation and let him go. He, however, did not break the law either. Would you want him around you and your family on an expressway?
And no, you can not, nor will you ever have an enforceable cell phone law
And you can argue no law is enforceable if people en-masse decide to disobey it.
am glad you can plan ahead.....I don't need to....I have a phone
Sure and the next time they may be carting you and your family to the morgue because you have a phone and decided to use it inappropriately and didn't have the brain power to control your vehicle as needed by road conditions. That's the down side of freedom and liberty.
There are so many more important issues in socierty when it comes to health and death threats.
So we should get laws such as noise and public disorder off our books because people die of heart disease? I think not. You are never going to stop people from using hands-free, but a very stiff fine for driving like a drunk, ought to sober up the cell phone user. Some edumacation about the hazards of driving while your brain is impaired wouldn't hurt either.
Here I was almost convinced that you were capable of acknowledging that talking on a cell phone could impair the drivers ability to react but then you have to go and revert back to troglodyte mode.
Yes phones are a great convenience but equating talking on a cell phone while driving (two cognitively demanding tasks) to walking and chewing gum (simple motor skills) only demonstrates your ignorance.
-Frank
The legislation was introduced in reaction to an incident where a 16-YO girl who was texting, crashed head-on into an oncoming car, killing both drivers.
I’m a firm believer in personal responsibility so on one hand, I agree that making more laws accomplishes little. However on the other hand, some peoples total lack of common sense makes it necessary to pass laws which define acceptable behavior.
Even if it’s not readily enforceable, having a law would hopefully raise the awareness of the potential dangers of driving while texting or talking on the phone
In a very real sense, cell phone legislation is much like drunken driving legislation. There are countless occasions where drivers with far more than a .08 BAC have safely made it to their destination. But that doesn’t mean I want to be on the road with them. Similarly, the vast majority of the time, a driver having a heated conversation on the cell phone will also make it safely to their destination but that doesn’t change the fact that they were dangerously distracted from the act of driving and were at a much higher risk of causing an accident.
-Frank
How can one take a black belt course online? Apparently, some law classes do not have 4th grade spelling proficiency as prerequisite.
And no, you can not, nor will you ever have an enforceable cell phone law. Need we go down this road again? OK...one more time....nearly every GM vehicle has On Star.
When total ban laws are enacted, On Star will be allowed only in emergencies such as in a car crash or medical emergency.
Total ban has kind of started in my State. Drivers under 19 are not allowed to use a cell phone while driving.
Besides a ban on frivolous driver cell phone conversations, the new ban laws should also cover drivers using their car as a rolling business office who conduct business calls while driving.
No Text Messages or Calls for NJ Drivers (Seattle Times)
Hey, wait a minute...
His informal observation/fact finding from accidents/fender benders is that distracted drivers from cell phones/texting is a major growing problem that is causing more accidents than excessive speed, aggressive drivers and tailgaters.
He is suppose to treat all traffic offenses equally but smiled slightly and said "The speeder may still get occasional warning.... The cell phone user will NOT!"
That's a cops opinion, he's on the road more than anybody except perhaps a trucker/bus driver so the debate over cell phone use is pretty much a mute point for me.
Also have a trucker in the family that is of the same opinion - "It was bad enough before cell phones, %#%$@ idiots that couldn't even stay in their lane or put their eyeballs out for trouble even back then!" I think he posted in this thread a while back and was not to impressed with the "experts" that were pro-use. Hates the internet anyway so you can snark away.... You'll be typing white letters on white paper.....
I think I'm with him.... Last Post (seriously).... Snark away...
1. don't remember
2. texting
3. aggressive driving
4. tailgating by large trucks
5. cell phone usage
"The speeder may still get occasional warning.... The cell phone user will NOT!"
I was pulled over by a state trooper for speeding (20+ very unlike me) and quick lane changing without signals (very unlike me). After a long day at the office, no alchohol, no cell phones, no distractions except my mind. Took my information and asked if record is clean. Said "yes". Came back a few minutes later with a written warning. To say I was surprised is an understatement but grateful at the same time. Easily could have nailed me. Even if people around you are doing the bad behavior and you are with the crowd, you still can get nailed.
More proof of the pudding.
It sure looks like a foxnews.com URL. :shades:
The Subaru Crew Chat is on tonight. The chat room opens at 8:45PM ET Hope to see YOU there! Check out the schedule
And I think you'll agree with my premise. :shades:
Hopefully the cops will be ticketing people who display them in the window.
That "prism" device has very small numbers. A better device, if it were legal, would project large letters/numbers on back window of car/suv such as: Chat?, Call me NNN-NNN-NNNN.
But, who would be dumb enough to display their number on back window?
Yesterday, I was in dentist waiting room and a woman left inner office with cell phone to her ear talking loudly. She walked across waiting room to exit door then out to parking lot. How "Stupid" and inconsiderate to do that and not wait perhaps 30 seconds until she was in her car or parking lot to make her call. Maybe antidote for this is to start singing loudly in the company of these boors.
Cell phone ban while driving saves lives (KTBY.com)
Chrysler to offer wireless Internet on 2009 models (Straightline)
My take, you can't legistate common sense. People who drive and text and who are caught, should be jailed as a minimum though.
I'm all for personal responsibility and common sense but clearly both are becoming increasingly scarce in today's society.
There have been numerous instances just in the past year where a teenage driver who was texting either had a head-on collision or ran off the road and rolled and these incidents invariably resulted in multiple fatalities.
So... since you can't lock up a dead person, how do we prevent this from happening and protect other drivers from becoming innocent victims? How would you feel if a loved one was killed by someone texting while driving?
-Frank
So if your point is any driver can do anything and be distracted from driving, I agree. But with electronic portable devices it's the lack of common sense and the percentage of usage. Since people don't seem to have enough common sense, the government will step in.
I can't control what other people do. All I can do is drive defensively. But those who cause wrongful death via electronic portable device, should be made to pay and laws should be in place to make that happen.
Hey, I heard on the news a guy was awarded $750K when a golf ball went through his windshield and glass fragments entered his eye. After recovery his vision suffered.
Cell phone usage while driving seems to be on the rise, but so do tickets being issued. I avoid being next to cell phone driving users like the plague, they cannot drive safely.
Personally, I would prefer summary execution at the side of the road. But that's just me.
There should be some kind of emphasis against all distracted driving - no matter if yapping or texting or eating or smoking or kid-tending etc. I wonder what the cost has been over the years by those who light up when driving.
-Frank
No matter what law you pass with phones, there will always be an electronic solution to avoid it.
We really should just get rid of all technology. Life, I think, was better for all of us when we lived in caves and drew on walls.
Well, I wasn't actually alive then. How old ARE you exactly?! :-P
They managed more than 2500 cell phone tickets in the first couple of weeks of the new law here in California, but most people are still openly continuing their old habits. The fine is a joke, no points go on your record if you're ticketed, it's a much less severe infraction than speeding in the eyes of the law. And judging from what I see personally, I would say that about 95% of the drivers on the road are speeding on a regular basis.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)