No Distractions
Missouri’s law against young people sending text messages while driving is only the beginning. Regulators want to make sure drivers can think about nothing but the road in front of them:
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called distracted driving a “hot button” issue for state legislatures and said he’s against all distracted driving, not just cell phone use.
“I don’t care what the distraction is,” he said. “We’re going to set the highest bar possible. There should be no distractions.”
An obvious problem with outlawing all distractions is that we could never enforce such broad controls on drivers’ behavior. That doesn’t dissuade the texting ban’s supporters, who say that whether anyone is ever found to be in violation of a law doesn’t matter. Here’s how an AAA spokesman puts it:
“The benefit of having it in the statute is voluntary compliance, sort of like every other law.”
Perhaps the roads are safer because drivers willingly cooperate with texting bans, but, if so, texting bans are the exception. Most laws are effective because we can prosecute people for breaking them, and thereby deter people from breaking them in the future.
The more laws we write restricting drivers’ activities, the less we’ll be able to depend on their voluntary compliance. Drivers won’t pay attention to a laundry list forbidding every activity they could engage in while behind the wheel.
I have mixed feelings about this law. For one thing, even if passed, it would be difficult to enforce. The younger the driver, probably the better at texter. They can do it with the cell phone obstructed from view, well below the steering wheel. (Unless of course, they own an iPhone, which is impossible to text on without looking at the screen.) i think Martin Scorsese know all about this notion.
http://popwatch.ew.com/2007/02/22/the_award_for_b/
I imagine this law will be followed as often as speed limits, and enforced as strictly too. Its main purpose seems to be just to have a law on the books to curb the public outcry from parent’s groups that nothing is being done to protect the children. Oh won’t somebody think of the children!?! (That one was for you, @joshsmith.)
Comment by Jake Voss — January 25, 2010 @ 2:10 p.m.
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And there is something WRONG with that? Considering that the average family vehicle is now a truck that weighs in excess of 2 tons, you’re damn right I want drivers to be focused on the road in front of them. My jaw dropped when I read this. Does Sara read, apply makeup, or eat while driving too? People think speed kills…it’s not speed, it’s inattention to the road that kills. Sure, it’s crazy that we are forced to try and legislate common sense, but given this “I’ve got better things to do than pay full attention to the road” attitude, it seems we really have no choice.
Comment by bubba — January 28, 2010 @ 11:58 a.m.
* Regulators want to make sure drivers can think about nothing but the road in front of them *
Don’t know why my opening comment didn’t post, but this is what I was replying to.
Comment by bubba — January 28, 2010 @ 11:59 a.m.