Interesting People mailing list archives
Silliness in Action: California Poised for Cell Phone Ban
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 27 Aug 2006 11:36:56 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> Date: August 27, 2006 11:16:53 AM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: lauren () vortex com, smoke_dc () yahoo comSubject: more on Silliness in Action: California Poised for Cell Phone Ban
From: patrick thibodeau <smoke_dc () yahoo com> If the California law is silly, then what should be done to reduce cell phone related death and injury?
Enact and enforce strong laws with significant penalties against distracted/unsafe driving in *any* form. In many states, laws are already are on the books related to distracted driving, that would in theory cover unsafe driving actions while using a cell phone (whether hands-free or handheld) as well as any other unsafe actions that drivers may embark upon while driving. Unfortunately, these laws are not widely enforced. As I noted previously, if you want to remove cell phones from the long list of potential driving distractions, the science indicates that you would need to ban their use entirely (whether hands-free or not) -- merely substituting hands-free for hand held won't have the intended effect in the long run. We might want to remove car radios and other audio/video devices also, since people fiddling with radio and other control knobs in vehicles while driving are high up on the "distractions leading to accidents" list. Or... we can stop the inappropriate focus on individual devices and instead concentrate on actual driving and drivers behaving in unsafe manners -- no matter what the reason for their distractions. ---Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, IOIC - International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
Current thread:
- Silliness in Action: California Poised for Cell Phone Ban David Farber (Aug 27)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Silliness in Action: California Poised for Cell Phone Ban David Farber (Aug 27)
- Silliness in Action: California Poised for Cell Phone Ban David Farber (Aug 28)