Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Lawmakers increase fines for hand held phones & texting while driving – so what? A few extra bucks won’t make a difference

I can get in a car right now and drive down Central Avenue in McKinleyville and see someone talking on a hand held cell phone, or texting.

Guaranteed.

When are the lawmakers going to quit messing around and put some real teeth into stopping this problem?

I’ve talked with people who do this and they are completely unconcerned about paying a few bucks if caught. So far, none of the people I know that use hand held cell phones have been caught while driving. Friends and family included. It’s very frustrating to me because I take the danger very seriously, and would hate to be killed by another driver texting or talking on a hand held cell phone. I’m funny about things like that. Having survived combat in Vietnam and Cambodia, it would just suck to have some 17 year-old boy, or girl, take me out while gossiping with friends! 

  

Motorists who text or talk on hand-held phones face stiffer penalties under Senate measure

Lawmakers voted to raise the base fine from $20 to $50 for a first offense and from $50 to $100 for subsequent violations. The bill would also extend the ban to bicyclists.

“One taxpayer advocacy group questions whether the law has made the road safer, citing a study last year by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. States that lack such a law also had fewer accidents, the study showed.

"It's essentially just a revenue-generating mechanism without improving public safety,'' said Matt Gray, a lobbyist for Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety.”  Photo source

2 comments:

Rose said...

It's way more than fifty bucks (no, I haven't gotten one). My kids laugh as we pass a Sheriff's car and the driver is on his cell - 9 out of 10 people on the road are on their phones.

Texting while driving is obviously not safe, but otherwise - the lawmakers whose names are on this bill ought to get fined 10,000x the imposed fine when they are caught on their phones - and they are notorious for it. Whaddya wanna bet they're exempt.

Really - they have a budget to get under control - and all they do is pass nanny-state crap like this.

What are your legislators doing to cut spending? What's more important than keeping the state from going bankrupt? Oh, cellphones, lightbulbs and soda pop.

Rose said...

You think I am kidding - but I am not: Cash strapped CA Considers "Soda Tax"

How many times have we been down this road before. The Twinkie Tax, blah, blah, blah, and now this!

They should be ashamed to show their faces.

Trump's Lowest Grift Ever Saved for Holy Week

This is a story about how the devil's puppet, aka Donald Trump, mocked Christianity by selling a book combining the Bible, the Constitu...