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Re: How the $20 first-time cellphone-in-car penalty will cost you $97
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 16 Aug 2008 14:22:12 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> Date: August 16, 2008 1:47:20 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: lauren () vortex comSubject: Re: [IP] Re: How the $20 first-time cellphone-in-car penalty will cost you $97
Dave, The "no handheld phones while driving" laws are based on "feel good" politics, not science. Even the main proponent of the law here in California has admitted that the science isn't there. If you really want to cut down on distraction accidents, you need to ban all outside distractions and the children in the back seat, as a start. The trick is that you can easily *see* someone holding a cell phone, but you can't easily see many of the even more serious distractions from another vehicle. And the science says over and over again that the distraction level is the same from handheld or hands-free phones, but politicians don't have the guts to ban *all* cell phone usage while driving in this country. On this topic: http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000190.html http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000189.html --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, NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com - - -
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 $97From: 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 ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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Current thread:
- How the $20 first-time cellphone-in-car penalty will cost you $97 David Farber (Aug 16)
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- Re: How the $20 first-time cellphone-in-car penalty will cost you $97 David Farber (Aug 16)
- Re: How the $20 first-time cellphone-in-car penalty will cost you $97 David Farber (Aug 16)