Skid Row Joe
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
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Joined: 04/26/2006
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Just venting....
I was sitting at a red light alongside a 20s something Bozo that was texting with two hands and thumbs, like it was going out of style. Even though he was in a pickup, my coach was taller as I was looking down at his thumbs going like crazy. He looked up at my slowly shaking head and frown, just as the light changed to green. We were both first in line on a very busy 6-lane parkway metro-loop.
When will these Bozos figure out that texting while on the roadway operating a motor vehicle endangers others lives? Never, I'd venture.
Edit spelling
* This post was
edited 10/29/09 09:12am by Skid Row Joe *
I have a sweet tender nature, however I enjoy sharing my thoughts and opinions. 
Fulltiming RVer & homeowner.
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jcapps
Not a senior just a
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Last week I was driving behind a weaving vehicle going 55 in a 65mph freeway. Finally decided to pass. He had one hand holding up a china dish and the other hand eating the food off it with a fork.
No hands on the wheel
"The great challenge of adulthood is holding on to your idealism after you lose your innocence."
– Bruce Springsteen
"This ain't the practice round"
- a friend
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Dutch_12078
Great Sacandaga Lake, NY
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NY State's "no texting while driving" law goes into effect Nov. 1st. The police are already admitting that it will be even more difficult to enforce than the "no handheld cell phone use while driving" law though.
Dutch
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The Texan
Summer: Cascade, Idaho - Winter: A Warm Climate
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Dutch_12078 wrote:NY State's "no texting while driving" law goes into effect Nov. 1st. The police are already admitting that it will be even more difficult to enforce than the "no handheld cell phone use while driving" law though.
Dutch That is a Cop out, pun intended.....25 years in LE and it is no harder to enforce, than reckless driving. You see the infraction, you write the citation, end of difficulty. They probably don't want to enforce it because it is not the revenue generator that a moving violation is. Pressure on both the local and state police by the public, to enforce the law, will get their attention.
Bob & Betsy - USN Ret'd '78 & FL LEO Ret'd '03 & FT Class of 2002
'05 HR Endeavor 40PRQ, 400 Cummins -With-'05 GMC Sierra SLT, CC, Z-71, the pusher & our '07 Arctic Cat 500A & '08 Suzuki KQ 400A, riding in the pusher.
Where the wheels are stopped
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PRT
NY~FL
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Joined: 05/25/2001
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Considering that NY doesn't enforce the talking law very well, I doubt that anything will improve. Why people think it's not dangerous is beyond me.
What is that important that they need to say?
Pat
May the road rise with you, the wind be always at your back.
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Crowe
Billerica, MA USA
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Texting, eating, reading a map, looking at a GPS, talking on the cell, fighting with another person-ANY distracted driving is dangerous.
Life is too short to spend it all in one place!
2004 Gulfstream Endura
2010 Subaru Outback soon-to-be toad
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Wrace
Seattle WA
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I don't understand why there needs to be separate laws for texting, talking, eating, reading, et al?
If a person is operating the vehicle in an unsafe manner why not just cite them for reckless driving or any of this type of infraction that is already on the books?
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Dutch_12078
Great Sacandaga Lake, NY
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The Texan wrote:Dutch_12078 wrote:NY State's "no texting while driving" law goes into effect Nov. 1st. The police are already admitting that it will be even more difficult to enforce than the "no handheld cell phone use while driving" law though.
Dutch That is a Cop out, pun intended.....25 years in LE and it is no harder to enforce, than reckless driving. You see the infraction, you write the citation, end of difficulty. They probably don't want to enforce it because it is not the revenue generator that a moving violation is. Pressure on both the local and state police by the public, to enforce the law, will get their attention.
The articles I've read say that the difficulty is in actually seeing the infraction, since not everyone texting does it with the phone held in view. One officer put it that it's hard enough to tell sometimes whether someone is talking on the phone or just scratching their ear at highway speeds, but the difference between texting in their lap or scratching their belly can be even harder to tell at speed. I don't think it was a cop out, just an honest evaluation of the situation. I'm sure it's much easier for a LEO following a car to see the infraction, but when bypassing a car at 110 mph, I'd think it's a bit tougher call.
Dutch
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Code2High
Ridgecrest, CA
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Reckless? I never heard that. What I was told by a crazy (really, we were taking him to the hospital!) but accurate CHiPpy was that reading, eating an enchirito, putting on mascara, and anything else one should not do while driving... this was a few years before cellphones, but the same would apply... would properly be written as a violation of the basic speed law, because "a safe speed to put on your mascara is zero, by the side of the road." Of course that means you'd write them for whatever speed they were going in a "zero" zone, which would be a pretty severe penalty most times. And a very good revenue maker, I'm sure.
I don't know why they needed a separate law for texting here in CA, they could have just informed people that it would be enforced as a speed violation, and I'm sure that would have had the same effect. The law has helped some, but one still sees people texting. There was a guy a few months back that killed someone while texting. They showed him on the news sobbing at his arraignment...normal guy, not a "criminal type" and not someone who ever meant to kill anyone. It was quite painful to see, I must say. I think they need to make that clip a PSA (have him do a voiceover as part of his probation) and plaster it everywhere from here to Boston, Mass, plus making every kid getting a license watch it first. But nobody ever listens to me...
susan
Can you say... "Finally a FALL day!"???
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houtrz
Lake Jackson Texas
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Trust me, its not just twenty somethings doing this.
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