No, but I don’t give people my cell phone number because I only rarely have it with me. I’m home in bed well over 90% of the time and can be reached reliably on the land line. So this isn’t a law I’m likely to violate (especially since there is a good chance I won’t ever drive again.)
I have Bluetooth in the car and I also tell people I’ll call them back. I’ve had a few cars cross over the center line and I can see they are looking down. Just the other day I saw a mail carrier driving the other day, she had a ear piece and was just yacking
In Connecticut they will pull you over if your not using a hands free device. When I see people talking or texting like on the highway I give them a dirty look and shake my head. I also see more older people doing this. Crazy!!
perhaps your bed could be motorized? I m sure we could build one.
hmmm. I m trying to get my ass out of bed more, but that could be a project for the future.
motorized chair…
I had a bluetooth earpiece briefly, until my twin boys appropriated and lost the charger. I only used it a few times while driving, but found it far less distracting than using a handheld phone, which obliterates your vision on the side you’re holding it. I set the phone to auto-answer on the bluetooth, and it didn’t seem to take any concentration away from my driving.
While I agree talking on cell phone is VERY DANGEROUS…The far bigger danger is texting. It’s by far the most dangerous. Can you imagine what it’ll be like in 50 years when the 20 something texters are still texting at 70.
I’m all for making texting while driving the same offense as a DUI.
@Barkydog
Come on, you’re amount friends. Was it “really” a Pepsi ?
@ok4450
Our entire state is composed of "back roads"with little traffic and probably has the highest cell phone user rate. So you are right. Most people use that as a phone use situation.
But I think they put the law into effect to be used, not in and of itself but , when that action is the cause of other problems, that citation can be added.
Trouble is…
There’s already a law that can be used…careless driving !
Why in god’s name they haven’t wholesalely applied this law ( judges and ploice alike ) is beyond me.
If you don’t CARE about your driving resposibilty enough then THAT’S careless driving…period.
Eating, makeup, videos, newspaper, phone, texting, physically engaged with your lover…ALL of this, I could go on…IS in fact careless driving.
The law is already on the books…use it.
hmmm. I m trying to get my ass out of bed more, but that could be a project for the future. motorized chair....I've always told my wife that, if I ever get to the point I need a mobility scooter or the like to get around, I'll be just the sort of jack-axle that'd drop a SBC in it!
“hmmm. I m trying to get my ass out of bed more, but that could be a project for the future.
motorized chair…”
Interesting that a few years ago in Duluth, MN, a guy built a motorized easy chair. He drove it to a bar and the police arrested him for DWI for driving his chair. It went back and forth and finally the city ended up auctioning his chair off. I’m not in favor of people driving after they have been drinking but really, a guy driving a chair? In other cities people have also been cited for driving their lawn mowers and even a horse while drunk. Sometimes I think we just go too far. Now onto electronic cigs.
Just another stupid voter on a learning curve.
yeah , I wanna comfortable chair. I don t drink so I should be ok.
i ll drop me a little leather number on a wheel chair frame…
Bing I read a news article some time ago concerning a man who was charged with DUI on a horse. He was quite intoxicated and was laying on the horses back while it plodded along taking him home. He was not holding the reins. I would consider him a passenger. His argument in court was that the horse was quite sober. He was convicted. In my state the official threshold for DUI is BAC .08. However the arresting officer can subjectively determine you are DUI even if you are below .08 by breath and/or blood test. It’s gone crazy!
Arresting a guy driving a motorized lazy boy is a waste of police resources
it’s not even worth the paperwork
I think the guy with the lazy boy was actually pretty smart. At least he was responsible enough to not drive his automobile
Duluth will now forever be linked to that motorized lazy boy
Here’s my prediction . . .
A guy goes to the local and has a few beers too many
he is responsible and calls a cab to take him home
The cab driver gets pulled over for dui, but the police cite the passenger
sadly, I could truly see that happening
Didn’t mean to move this to DUIs, and I personally never ever drive after having a drink, but in Minnesota the test is if you have control of your vehicle. Having the keys to your car is considered having control. So you go out to your car and decide to sleep it off and run the car to keep warm and are cited for DUI. I remember reading about it here. I think the guy was even in the back seat. So what are you supposed to do with your keys at 2:00 in the morning? Seems to me that if a guy is responsible enough to sleep it off in his car, he should be commended not cited, whether he’s got the car running or not. Just IMHO.
@Bing
That brings up a funny story
Years ago I drove to a bar and had too many drinks
I got in my car and slept it off in the backseat. I did NOT put the key in the ignition and I did NOT run the engine to warm up the interior
I had heard that the cops can cite you if you put the key in the ignition, that is why I was so careful
I believe the cops even drove by at one point . . . long after the bar was closed . . . and looked what I was doing. Since they saw no key in the ignition, and the hood of the car was stone cold, they left me alone
db4690 Quite a few years ago when DUI was just becoming a big deal a friend of mine was driving home from the Elk’s Lodge. He realized he was impaired, legally parked in a parking lot and was using a phone booth to have his wife pick him up. The cops showed up while he was still in the phone booth and asked if that was his car. He told the truth and was rewarded with $5,000+ in fines (ca-ching) and a years license suspension. He was at least 20 feet from the car. I thought DUI was DRIVING Under the Influence. He was severely punished for trying to do the right thing.
Several people around here have been arrested for things like that but were not charged with DUI or DWI. There’a a catchall charge of “Physical Control of a Motor Vehicle While Intoxicated” and used even if someone is asleep in the back seat.
I think those charges against the guy leaving the Elks club are a load of cxxp and even more so because it was in a parking lot which I assume is private property.
@sgtrock21
Do you think the cops followed him to the parking lot?
I’ll be honest . . . I was once pulled over for suspicion of DUI. I was very cooperative and polite to the officers. I said yes, sir and yes, ma’am. I passed the sobriety tests and was released
I believe if I had not been polite, I may have been hauled in on some other, lesser charge. The officer can use discretion . . . ?
I’d love a motorized bed. My mattress is memory foam so maybe it would remember how to get home if I got lost. Unfortunately, I live up three flights of stairs, which I can still manage, but I’m getting concerned I may not be able to soon if things keep getting worse (as they usually seem to.) So maybe a motorized bed that can climb stairs? Tricky problem as there are a lot of landings to negotiate. Google is probably already working on it. I have several friends who work for Google, so maybe I can volunteer to test the driverless cars, if I can’t have a bed. Unlike some of you I think the driverless car is a great idea. Being unable easily to get around makes conveniences like that look like very good ideas.