{"id":871,"date":"2006-10-09T05:45:27","date_gmt":"2006-10-09T10:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.net\/?p=871"},"modified":"2006-10-09T05:45:27","modified_gmt":"2006-10-09T10:45:27","slug":"on-cellular-drivers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/?p=871","title":{"rendered":"On Cellular Drivers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Otto Stern writes at The Register<\/a> about the threat of drivers on their cell phones. It’s a threat drivers deal with every day–drivers focused on conversations, on fumbling for numbers on the keypad, not focused on the road. Stern writes that “California last month approved a law to ban talking on cell phones, starting in July 2008. Drivers rejecting handsfree technology face a minimum fine of $20 and a maximum fine of $50.” Maximum fine–fifty dollars. Stern’s reaction?<\/p>\n

Anyone with half a brain knows that cell phone-enabled drivers pose far more of an immediate risk on the roadways than boozers. I’ve only seen four obviously drunk drivers in my entire life, while I face off against the cell phone crowd stopping short or weaving into my lane on a daily basis. And yet mothers want to put cell phone in the hands of children, while taking away our right to drive buzzed. Outrageous.<\/p>\n

If Budwesier had a half decent lobbyist, DUIs would carry a $50 maximum penalty too. Perhaps Largent could be tempted to work for the real good guys with a six-pack and a few million?<\/p>\n

Let’s face the facts, America. Cell phone-enabled drivers are worse than drunk drivers, and neither group is that bad.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think Stern might be taking the piss–drunk drivers are<\/i> a serious problem, and there is absolutely no<\/i> reason why the penalties should be decreased. But Stern has inadvertantly hit on an idea I’ve thought about from time to time.<\/p>\n

If society wants its drivers to stop using their cell phones while driving, then society needs to impose stiff penalties for doing so. A fifty dollar fine is a slap on the wrist. Losing one’s license and earning a jail sentence–that<\/i> would make someone think twice.<\/p>\n

Use a cell phone while driving, go to jail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Otto Stern writes at The Register about the threat of drivers on their cell phones. It’s a threat drivers deal with every day–drivers focused on conversations, on fumbling for numbers on the keypad, not focused on the road. Stern writes that “California last month approved a law to ban talking on cell phones, starting inContinue reading “On Cellular Drivers”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[119],"tags":[4108],"class_list":["post-871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-politics","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}