Shadowfax ;
All of those things and more already ARE illegal.
But for some strange reason officers do not use the ‘‘careless driving’’ ( or even wreckless driving ) citation nearly enough.
Perhaps because it requires a court appearance time and other proof of the infraction ?.
A law already exist.
how 'bout we actually USE it ?
That’s what I was driving at, yes. It’s already illegal to drive like an idiot, but unless they think they can get a DWI or a using-phone element involved, cops tend to let bad driving slide.
Heck, in my town I’ve seen people run red lights right in front of cops, and the cop just watches and does nothing.
In MA the fine for driving while texting is LESS then driving in rain without your wipers on.
So some states need their laws updated. The cops in MA would love to see much stiffer cell phone use laws but their hand are tied.
I have the pleasure of driving on California freeways, with both a car and a motorcycle. Not at the same time. So there have been guys driving with a left leg out the window, hooked on the mirror, a guy playing a tambourine with both hands, a woman reading the newspaper spread over the steering wheel (at 65 mph), people twisted around in the driver’s seat, yelling at a kid in the back seat, people smoking pot with some complicated device, people drinking alcohol, people falling asleep, people happily driving 37 mph in the middle of a 65 mph, crowded freeway.
None of those people was using a cell phone at the time.
And, of course, I’ve seen the same as all of us; people distracted by electronics weaving down the road at too slow a speed, or blowing a stop sign.
And every one of them was doing what they were doing without much, if any, thought that it might be illegal. And if I was a traffic cop, would I arrest each of them? Probably not. Every arrest takes me off the highway for 15 minutes or so, while who knows what else might happen. Maybe if traffic officers had video cameras that could record events, identify license plates, date, time, location, etc these things could be captured and processed into tickets electronically. It seems possible to me that a police car could be recording this stuff all the time and an officer would only have to make some sort of electronic bookmark on the recording, to be reviewed later. Sure, people would fight it in court and limits would be set, but the simple possibility that you’d get a ticket in the mail, or by email, should be a deterrent.
I may regret saying this again but for the life of me I cannot understand why so many people feel compelled to be in constant contact with someone else. I often watch people driving along talking on a cell phone and wonder if they are giving a moment by moment description of their surroundings and their progress as they drive toward home or wherever…
I would not doubt it. “I’m turning left. I’m turning right but no one knows what I am going to do because I can’t pry the phone away from my head to push the lever thingy up or down”. I just saw this in Reader’s Digest. Needed. An app that texts you when the light turns green.
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Here’s a product I just heard about on the radio on the way down to the farm store-not to drag up an old post but I don’t want all the notifications of a new post. At any rate it is just a pocket to put cell phones in that blocks the signals. So no incoming calls or texts while it is in the case. About $14. This isn’t spam. Just thought it was interesting. But then you have to use it.
If I owned a restaurant, I’d buy a couple dozen for loaners to give to patrons using their phones while they are eating. You are supposed to be talking to each other not looking at your phone.
Should I feel totally insignificant when I go days and even weeks without a single phone call or text? I just checked my phone and there were 6 junk calls 1 call and text from my sister. in the past week that showed up. It’s been weeks since I cleared the phone so that’s how popular I am. But like I always say, no news is good news. I don’t have a clue whose quote that is.
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I get most of my calls from the wife with a few from the IRS saying they are going to arrest me. It’s the same lady all the time though with English as her second language.
There were a few occasions that I would have been relieved if the IRS had arrested me @bing. It’s funny how with all the current hoopla over tax cuts for “job makers” I don’t recognize any real relief for the real small business owners.And the first $100,000 of earnings on a DBA P&L Summary is hammered into oblivion. It was 30 years ago when I realized that people with incomes 100 times greater than mine were paying half the tax rate that I was paying.
And I was once escorted out of the IRS office by US Marshals to get a certified check and return before 5:00 or find all my back accounts seized.
Mine are the fake scam folks not the real IRS.
Right.
For the record…the IRS will NEVER EVER call you. It’ll be a through legal channels, like a registered letter or an IRS agent.
That’s why company executives get most of their pay in Stock Options. Much lower stock rate then salary tax rates.
Yes. And as best I can understand the latest tax change if I reopened my business and incorporated it and paid myself a minimum wage salary each week at the end of the year I could cash in my profits and pay taxes at the Wall St hedge fund traders’ rate.