Members of a Georgia House committee considering two bills to outlaw texting while driving raised repeated questions during debate about whether it could even be enforced.
According to Morris News Service, the two bills would impose a fine and add points to a driver's record. Similar laws have been enacted in a growing number of states as handheld electronic devices have become more common.
John Cabrer, who grew up in Senoia but now lives in Fullerton, Calif., said his state passed a no-texting law that went into effect this month. Cabrer has some concerns about what that might mean for his privacy.
"What should be illegal is for law enforcement or anybody else to go into your account records, and find out if you were texting right before you ran over that highway patrolman and construction worker," Cabrer said.
"I mean, does it really matter why you did it?"
He suggested that since the laws are difficult to enforce, there might be a technological solution.
"All phones are GPS aware," he said. Theoretically, said Cabrer, there should be a way to "calculate speed, and disable texting when the threshold is exceeded."
A poster at The Times-Herald Web site agreed that enforcement of anti-texting laws could become "a privacy issue."
"The only way the law can be enforced is for a citizen to be forced to surrender their personal private cell phone to a police officer who will then have access to their call logs and contact information to decide if they have in fact been texting while driving," said the poster. "This is information a judge normally has to issue a search warrant for when cause has been shown. Now individual officers will be able to demand to look into your phone. Why not just enforce reckless driving laws already on the books?"
But other posters to The Times-Herald Web site are more supportive.
"My son was hit head on by a driver on his phone," said one poster. "This driver was in his late 50's that struck my son. Yes, it totaled out my car. My son is in the hospital. He has had four operations so far, more to follow... in the spur of a moment, you never know what's going to happen."
According to the Morris News Service, nearly everyone who spoke in favor of the prohibition at the Georgia Capitol this week admitted to texting themselves while behind the wheel.
"I will have to tell you I am an expert at texting while driving," said one of the authors, Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon.
Even though enforcement may be difficult, Peake said, enacting a law will serve as a deterrent and save lives.
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Monday, June 28, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
‘A formula for disaster’ States crack down on texting while driving
In the annals of distracted driving history, texting while motoring down the road isn’t even the latest chapter.
Ever-advancing technology already lets drivers surf the Internet from their car dashboard. Before that, drivers have diverted — and are still diverting — their attention from the road while turning the radio dial, putting on makeup during the morning commute, chowing on a rushed lunch or reaching for a dropped pen.
You get the point.
Now, the Georgia Legislature is considering outlawing texting while driving.
Call it TWD.
Two bills (HB 944 and HB 938) aim to curb it. However, questions linger about how the ban would work. How can law enforcement know if a driver is texting or using a cell phone for something else, such as making a call? Will reading a text message be disallowed? How about checking a sports score on the Web?
Roger Williams is one of the people who will decide. He’s a Republican state representative from Dalton. Williams supports a texting while driving ban. Asked about the bigger issue of distracted driving and how to legislate it, Williams said, “Of course, there are a lot of distractions in a vehicle. People eat hamburgers, they read books and all that, but texting takes so much attention away from the road.”
As far as enforcing the proposed ban, he believes legislation may be tweaked to apply to wrecks that are caused by a driver who was texting.
“I don’t think the state patrol or law enforcement is going to be pulling people over and looking to see if they’ve got their cell phone out,” Williams said.
While driving into work at the state Capitol, he said he often sees people oblivious to their surroundings while typing away on their cellular devices.
“I shy away from them,” said Williams, who has spent about 20 years off and on as a representative. “Especially at traffic signals. They’ll be texting on that thing and traffic gets backed up. Or they’ll swerve out of their lane and almost run into you. You’ve got to be very careful.”
The problem of texting while driving is worsening as adults become more technologically-savvy and as teenagers ignore the possible pitfalls, said Dave Colmans, director of the Atlanta-based Georgia Insurance Information Service (www.giis.org). The organization supports legislation to discourage texting while driving.
“What we’re trying to get people to realize (is that) when you do have to look away from the road to see what you’re texting and to read what has been sent to you, it’s just a formula for disaster,” Colmans said.
Source
Ever-advancing technology already lets drivers surf the Internet from their car dashboard. Before that, drivers have diverted — and are still diverting — their attention from the road while turning the radio dial, putting on makeup during the morning commute, chowing on a rushed lunch or reaching for a dropped pen.
You get the point.
Now, the Georgia Legislature is considering outlawing texting while driving.
Call it TWD.
Two bills (HB 944 and HB 938) aim to curb it. However, questions linger about how the ban would work. How can law enforcement know if a driver is texting or using a cell phone for something else, such as making a call? Will reading a text message be disallowed? How about checking a sports score on the Web?
Roger Williams is one of the people who will decide. He’s a Republican state representative from Dalton. Williams supports a texting while driving ban. Asked about the bigger issue of distracted driving and how to legislate it, Williams said, “Of course, there are a lot of distractions in a vehicle. People eat hamburgers, they read books and all that, but texting takes so much attention away from the road.”
As far as enforcing the proposed ban, he believes legislation may be tweaked to apply to wrecks that are caused by a driver who was texting.
“I don’t think the state patrol or law enforcement is going to be pulling people over and looking to see if they’ve got their cell phone out,” Williams said.
While driving into work at the state Capitol, he said he often sees people oblivious to their surroundings while typing away on their cellular devices.
“I shy away from them,” said Williams, who has spent about 20 years off and on as a representative. “Especially at traffic signals. They’ll be texting on that thing and traffic gets backed up. Or they’ll swerve out of their lane and almost run into you. You’ve got to be very careful.”
The problem of texting while driving is worsening as adults become more technologically-savvy and as teenagers ignore the possible pitfalls, said Dave Colmans, director of the Atlanta-based Georgia Insurance Information Service (www.giis.org). The organization supports legislation to discourage texting while driving.
“What we’re trying to get people to realize (is that) when you do have to look away from the road to see what you’re texting and to read what has been sent to you, it’s just a formula for disaster,” Colmans said.
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