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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Dos Equis on September 17, 2007, 11:20:15 AM
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Good luck enforcing this one. How do you distinguish a 17-year-old from a 19-year-old while they're driving?
Guv signs law banning minors from using cell phones while driving
Tom Chorneau,Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writers
Friday, September 14, 2007
Allan Quach says he talks on his cell phone while driving, but tries to chat only with parents or friends who urgently need to talk to him. But minors like him won't be able to do that much longer, at least not legally.
Come July 1, thousands of 16- and 17-year-olds in California will be prohibited from using cell phones, PDAs, laptops and pagers while driving, under a bill signed Thursday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"It's going to make it harder to pick somebody up or take important phone calls - like an interview (for a job) or if something happened in your family," Quach, a student at Galileo High, said Thursday on his cell phone as he drove his car. Quach, 17, will turn 18 days before the law kicks in, so the restriction won't apply to him.
But Schwarzenegger and other backers of the law say there is increasing evidence that cell phones and other "mobile service devices" are a major source of distraction among all drivers, but especially teens, who are also the motorists most likely to have accidents.
Teens cited under SB33, authored by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, face a fine of $20 for a first offense and $50 each time after that. Officials said traffic officers will not be allowed to pull drivers over simply because of a cell phone infraction, and violations will not count as part of the traffic safety point system. Emergency calls will be exempt.
Fifteen other states and the District of Columbia have similar restrictions on teenage drivers.
Bay Area teenagers interviewed Thursday said they aren't sure the new regulations are fair.
"That's insane - it's madness," said Cameron Young of San Francisco, who, at 13, has a few years before he can get his license. "No technology? I'm speechless. Not cool, not cool at all."
Berkeley High School senior Will Kruse, who will turn 18 before the law kicks in, hadn't heard of the measure until Thursday and wasn't happy about it.
"Cell phones are such a big part of our society now," he said, although he acknowledged that he's seen some of his peers doing "crazy stuff" while driving.
"I know a lot of my friends text message when they drive," he said. "You have to look down a lot while you're driving to do that."
Schwarzenegger, whose eldest daughter turned 16 last year and began driving, said teens need special protection.
"The simple fact is that teenage drivers are more easily distracted," he said Thursday at a bill-signing ceremony at Sequoia High School in Redwood City. "They are young, inexperienced and have a slower reaction time."
In a recent survey by AAA and Seventeen magazine, about a third of the teenagers polled admitted to being distracted when driving while either sending text messages or talking on cell phones. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study found that 8 percent of drivers ages 16 to 24 used a handheld phone during daylight hours in 2004, compared with 5 percent in 2002 and 3 percent in 2000.
The governor's office reported that highway crashes are the leading cause of death among 16- to 20-year-olds, while highway accidents are the cause of 44 percent of teen deaths in the United States each year.
Simitian, who wrote a law passed last year that requires the use of hands-free devices for drivers of all ages beginning July 1, said he believes that cell phones pose the greatest risk to drivers - especially teens. Under the law signed Thursday, teenage drivers will not be able to use even hands-free devices while driving.
"I understand that access to a set of car keys and a cell phone are a rite of passage for teenagers, but the combination can prove deadly," he said. "The message we need to be sending now is that the two don't mix."
But some transportation experts said there's still no strong data linking cell phones with crashes.
Matt Sundeen, transportation analyst with the National Council of State Legislatures, said crash sites usually include physical evidence of a cause such as drunken drinking or speeding. He said accidents involving cell phone use are usually self-reported by the victim or by witnesses and thus might not be accurate or complete.
While many teenagers oppose the new law, a group of eighth-graders in Granite Bay (Placer County) actively supported it.
Students in Craig Cook's history class analyzed Simitian's bill this year and argued over its merits. They overwhelmingly supported the bill and submitted their arguments to the Legislature during hearings in May.
"It surprised me," said Cook. "I try as a teacher not to assume too much, and you'd expect most of the kids would think of this as a horrible intrusion in their lives. But by a 2-to-1 vote, they supported the bill."
The law
Beginning July 1, anyone under age 18 will be prohibited from using a cell phone, laptop, PDA, pager or two-way messaging device while driving in California. Traffic officers, however, will not be allowed to pull over drivers simply because of a cell phone infraction.
Penalties
The fine for the first offense will be $20, and each additional violation will cost $50.
Elsewhere
Similar laws are in effect in 15 other states (Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia), as well as Washington, D.C.
By the numbers
61%
Number of teens who admit to risky driving habits
46%
Share of the risky drivers who say they text message when driving
51%
Share of the risky drivers who say they talk on cell phones while driving
40%
Number of teens who exceed the speed limit by 10 mph or more while driving
Source: AAA / Seventeen magazine survey conducted in April of more than 1,000 16- and 17-year-old drivers.
Chronicle staff writer Jill Tucker contributed to this report. Online resources - the text of SB33: links.sfgate.com/ZUE. E-mail the writers at tchorneau@sfchronicle.com and mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/09/14/MNR0S5MGK.DTL
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This law should be extended to all drivers.
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This law should be extended to all drivers.
True, but then I'd going to jail. :-\
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This law should be extended to all drivers.
THANK YOU....so your government believe a Cell is more distracting to a teen than to a adult? ???
I had to take a cab a view days ago and we in Ireland have a law that bans the use of Cells when you are driving, now this cab driver was constantly taking calls shifting and steering with one hand... after the 3 call I said to him that if he takes one more call and jeopardises my safety I will report him, the rest of the drive was unpleasant but I arrived save and healthy.
There is no much difference between somebody who drink and drives and somebody who takes calls while driving, both are extremely sorry when they have killed somebody while being distracted, but the person(s) remain dead or injured.
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True, but then I'd going to jail. :-\
They have a law in the Netherlands against driving while holding your mobile phone.
Using a handsfree is ok though.
From what I understand, it works pretty good. If you get caught, you get a fine, not sent to jail though.
And I also have seen research which shows a significant drop in traffic attention and general driving abilities with people who are using their mobile phones, so the need to prevent people from using the mobile phone while driving is clear.
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This law should be extended to all drivers.
I wish! :-\
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They have a law in the Netherlands against driving while holding your mobile phone.
Using a handsfree is ok though.
From what I understand, it works pretty good. If you get caught, you get a fine, not sent to jail though.
And I also have seen research which shows a significant drop in traffic attention and general driving abilities with people who are using their mobile phones, so the need to prevent people from using the mobile phone while driving is clear.
Speaking to somebody with a handfree set is as distracting as a cell itself, it takes the aspect of shifting and steering with one hand (if your auto is manual and not a lazy ass yank car :P ) away but I'm a firm believe that you should do one thing while driving... concentrate not to hurt anybody including yourself.
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THANK YOU....so your government believe a Cell is more distracting to a teen than to a adult? ???
Very much so bro. You see back in the early 1900's in order for the states to recieve federal grant money for the repair and upkeep of roads they were given a stipulation (supreme court allows stipulations to be attahed to grant money) this stipulation was to raise the drinking age from 18 to 21, one state said it's a violation of our soverinty, South Dakota challenged it....while it went to the supreme court Reinquist saw the facts...and told them it had "soverign rules" it applied to the benefit of society.
Just trust the statistics, it will save lives, they will soon be doing this with adults, this is a experimental phase once the sociologist step in and collect data a year from now it will be a sanction and start spreading like wildfire elsewhere.
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Very much so bro. You see back in the early 1900's in order for the states to recieve federal grant money for the repair and upkeep of roads they were given a stipulation (supreme court allows stipulations to be attahed to grant money) this stipulation was to raise the drinking age from 18 to 21, one state said it's a violation of our soverinty, South Dakota challenged it....while it went to the supreme court Reinquist saw the facts...and told them it had "soverign rules" it applied to the benefit of society.
Just trust the statistics, it will save lives, they will soon be doing this with adults, this is a experimental phase once the sociologist step in and collect data a year from now it will be a sanction and start spreading like wildfire elsewhere.
Why the fuck is it so hard to not answer your phone for a while, I hate the fact taht everybody needs to be availible today constantly available.
And why a experimental phase for god sake just ban the fucking things for everybody who drives anything that goes faster than 4 miles per hour.
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This is probably a good idea.
Teens are still learning just to be alert and drive. Having a cell phone only distracts them more.
I realize it will be hard to distinguish a 17 teen year old from a 20 year old but having the law in place will curb teens using sell phones significantly.
I know that cell phone in the hands of any driver can be potentially dangerous but I'm inclined to think that an adult who can't drive safely with a cell phone can't drive safely without one either.
I've been driving and on a cell phone for at least 10 years. Never even got close to an accident.
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I'm inclined to think that an adult who can't drive safely with a cell phone can't drive safely without one either.
uh oh no no no, an adult that cannot drive savely without a mobile is a fucking accident waiting to happen with that damn thing.
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Why the fuck is it so hard to not answer your phone for a while, I hate the fact taht everybody needs to be availible today constantly available.
And why a experimental phase for god sake just ban the fucking things for everybody who drives anything that goes faster than 4 miles per hour.
I have no idea. Miss a call big deal you can call em back, I hate talking on my cell while im driving I like to relax and listen to music, get from point A to point B in the most relaxing way possible.
I saw an accident that was involved in texting, 4 girls 3 dead. Driving on a road trip, the driver text messeged someone back and forth the steering wheel turned, and the tahoe rolled 6 times doing 75 mph, driver lived, one of the girls lived to tell how the accident hap happend to clear the thoughts of alcohol being involved.
Some companies now make for the parents a "black box" it tells how the car is being operated, and if the driver recieves or transmits outgoing calls from within the car, alerts the parents with a telephone call or a instant email.
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They have a law in the Netherlands against driving while holding your mobile phone.
Using a handsfree is ok though.
From what I understand, it works pretty good. If you get caught, you get a fine, not sent to jail though.
And I also have seen research which shows a significant drop in traffic attention and general driving abilities with people who are using their mobile phones, so the need to prevent people from using the mobile phone while driving is clear.
I agree. We tried to pass a law banning cell phone use by everyone here and it met some pretty strong opposition.
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uh oh no no no, an adult that cannot drive savely without a mobile is a fucking accident waiting to happen with that damn thing.
That's what I'm saying. some people are just crappy drivers to begin with and putting a cell phone in their hand while driving makes it worse. But there are good drivers who are alert and drive good enough and can handle using a sell phone on the freeway or around town.
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True, but then I'd going to jail. :-\
haaaaaaaaaaaa
lol ;D