California Teen Cell Phone Use Ban While Driving

[kandrathe]

And the degenerate from MA with ~20 DUI's? Does he have the same fame and money?

To (re)quote your first post:
Your fear of a police state where every little thing is written as right or wrong is hyperbolic Kandrathe. We're talking about a law that is preventing risky behavior while operating a piece of 2 ton machinery. As ideal as it would be to just outlaw reckless driving, it isn't enough to leave it ambiguous. A couple weeks ago I read a poll online that said 80% of drivers polled considered themselves to be in the top 30% of drivers; Whether or not that poll is correct in its percentages, it's pretty obvious most people think they're better at driving than they are in reality. Without some explicit rules, there are plenty of people out there who think they are 'just as good' driving with a cell phone in their ear.
And this solution doesn't even begin to solve the problem. You can't police everywhere, and if you tried, you'd be much closer to that police state you were worried about in your last post. The idea of making explicit what should be implicit is to tell people - specifically young adults learning to drive for the first time - there are some things that no matter how you *think* you're driving, they cause you to be less alert and make you reckless whether you're swerving or not.

And let's be honest, the problem with doing things in the car isn't just about swerving. The problem is in big part reaction time. And that isn't something police are going to pick up on when you're driving by at 60mph. When a kid's on a cell phone and an animal, or god forbid another kid, jumps in front of the car their reaction time is going to be diminished.

Look, we all know people are going to drive recklessly despite our best efforts. But to make explicit what is implicit in the law sends a clear message to young drivers. No, you can't talk with a cell phone in your ear and still operate a motor vehicle safely. And if you do it, you're going to be punished by law. It's not going to stop everyone, but it is going to prevent more kids from doing it than if you leave it to be implied.

Cheers,

Munk

I'm sorry, I don't understand how more laws without the threat of enforcement help make anyone safer. "What we need are more laws, and less cops!" does not make any sense to me. Around here every spring and fall we get icy roads. They kill many more people than cell phone use, but still not as many as drunks. Should we ban driving in icy conditions? We also have lots and lots of deer. They run at high speeds at dusk and dawn all the time and get people killed.

Life is unsafe. What we need are more rubber rooms to keep everyone perfectly safe.