Re: How the $20 first-time cellphone-in-car penalty will cost you $97

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

I don'y ya;l while driving. I have a speaker attachment and I may  
answer BUT it is just to see if it is a panic or not and then tell  
them I will call back latter or when I can pull off the road. BUT  
there are a lot of distractions in a car -- talk radio, yelling kids ,  
nagging wives (not mine). Do we out;law all of these things? How about  
brightly lit signboards at night? Where do we stop?

Dave


Begin forwarded message:

From: Steve Lamont <spl () ncmir ucsd edu>
Date: August 16, 2008 11:27:49 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] How the $20 first-time cellphone-in-car penalty will  
cost you $97

> > From: janosG <janosg () gmail com>
> > Date: August 15, 2008 9:48:05 AM PDT
> > Subject: How the $20 first-time cellphone-in-car penalty will cost
> > you $97
> >
> > [A stupid law, with outrageously inflated penalty - and I say that
> > without having been caught yet!...:)]
> >
> > <http://www.mercurynews.com/mrroadshow/ci_10212334?nclick_check=1>
> >
> > <<Here is the breakdown for a cell phone citation based on fees in
> > Santa Clara County and in San Jose. Fees vary slightly from county
> > to county.

As someone who was nearly run down by oblivious cell phone yakkers
twice in as many days as I was legally and otherwise safely crossing
the street in a crosswalk at a traffic light, I might suggest that the
penalty is not harsh enough.

It should be treated on the same level of offense as a DUI, since it's
been shown that hand held *or* hands free driving while using a cell
phone is as dangerous as being drunk.

        http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=570222

License suspension on the first offense, *permanent* revocation on the
second would be fine with me.

What's stupid (monumentally, I might add) is the notion that one is so
darned important that one must be in constant communication, even at
the risk of killing or maiming others.

Hang up and drive.

                                                        spl





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