California Bans Texting While Driving

September 25, 2008

  • September 25, 2008 at 12:24 pm
    CA Driver says:
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    When we finally were able to start ticketing people for talking while driving on a handheld cell, they just scoffed at it and continued to keep holding the cell and driving. This will not be any different. The fines are not enough to deter people from the behavior. Every day on the freeway, I see people still holding the cell phone to their ear. The fines need to be increased for either of these laws to be a real deterrent.

  • September 25, 2008 at 12:44 pm
    Dread says:
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    Increased fines will be politically unpopular so don’t hold your breath. The simple fact is that human beings are incapable of acting responsibly and will continue to do whatever gives them instant gratification. They have no discipline and have to entertain themselves 24×7. Woe be the S.O.B. that rear ends me because he/she was on a cellphone or texting. I won’t wait for the police to arrive express my displeasure.

  • September 25, 2008 at 1:35 am
    Brokette says:
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    I have purchased 3 Bluetooth earpieces none of which work to even a low level of professionalism. $250 later I’m frustrated with the level that my customer service has fallen to. As a broker, 75% of my work is done by phone and the other 25% involves client meetings that I must travel to and from. People who drive erratically for any reason should be cited. Those of us capable of multi-tasking should be left alone. I’m obeying the law but I’m not happy about it, especially when I see others breaking it.

  • September 25, 2008 at 2:01 am
    Ricki says:
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    Brokette: I find it hard to believe there is any issue that requires you to be available in real time 24×7. Let’s be honest, people use the technology becasue it’s there………not because there’s a legitimate purpose for it. Medical or law enforcement professionals I understand. Everyone else……..no.

  • September 25, 2008 at 2:09 am
    Brokette says:
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    Yes, Ricki, I’m getting along without it. However, my customer service has suffered because of it. When you have a client getting kicked off a jobsite because some bureaucrat doesn’t understand what we do I can assure you, that client thinks it’s an emergency. And my clients DO let me sleep 6 hours a night. So 24/7/365? No. But 12 hours, 5 days a week, yes.

  • September 25, 2008 at 4:09 am
    rg says:
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    Too bad people allow their cars to be turned into their offices. When whistling down the road at 70 MPH + your job is to drive the car, not listen to some stupid insured complain about a problem they most likely caused anyway. I’m fed up with having to take the responsibility for someone that is so important (in their mind anyway)they cannot be bothered with the niceties of keping track of that 2 ton missle they are driving. Somehow business was taken care of just a short while ago without cell phones etc. so find that effiency again and get off the phones on the cars and if you text, well please just crash and burn.

  • September 25, 2008 at 4:29 am
    Brokette says:
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    I wish I had the luxury of your attitude but with competitors seducing clients with out and out lies and falling prices, it would take only one unreturned phone call to piss a client off enough to take his insurance elsewhere. I get paid to produce, not sit around and take car change requests.

  • September 25, 2008 at 4:43 am
    KLS says:
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    If you or someone you know is ever injured by a distracted driver who was on a cell phone but thought they were excellent multi-taskers, I have a feeling your attitude would change.

    Consider the possibility that MOST people who drive and talk on cell phones probably DO consider themselves very capable of multi-tasking behind the wheel, just as you feel about yourself. Otherwise they wouldn’t risk their own lives or the lives of others… Not the most pleasant thought, is it?

    It’s one thing to multi-task as much as possible… but not where lives might be taken if a mistake is made.

    Being in insurance, you should be able to assess that the reward of multi-tasking behind the wheel is not worth the risk, no matter what.

  • September 25, 2008 at 4:49 am
    Multitasking says:
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    Good comment KLS, and correct. I’m sure multitaskers do neither very well. Just like posting here, where is your attention? Pull over & talk on the phone or drive without being on the phone. Keep your head in the game.

  • September 25, 2008 at 4:51 am
    Brokette says:
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    Frankly, I have to focus more closely on erratic drivers now that the no handset law in imposed because all the people still using their handsets (and breaking the law) are the same idiots who were a menace before the law was enacted. Honestly, I think the road is more dangerous now than it was before.

  • September 26, 2008 at 9:07 am
    Dread says:
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    RG’s comments are squarely on point. Driving a vehicle on a public highway has always been and should always be a FULL TIME JOB REQUIRING 100% FOCUS AND ATTENTION. I don’t know who took it upon themself to think it is anything less just because you have technology toys. Those who think they can “multi-task” while driving an automobile are fools. If you MUST take/make a call on the road, have enough sense and respect for MY LIFE and pull off and make/take your call. With a little prior planning and time management nobody needs to be on the phone while driving. As for texting while driving, that’ pure stupidity and even worse than talking while driving.

    The only way to get stupid people’s attention is to hold them accountable and make the consequence of their refusal to obey the law meaningful. Let’s start with a $1,000 fine for having a cellphone up to your ear…….for the first offense. Quite frankly, I’d support a severe beating or public floggine in lieu of a monetary fine because some people just don’t get it.

  • September 26, 2008 at 10:33 am
    Brokette says:
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    If California was serious about making driving safer there is a multitude of people who shouldn’t be allowed to drive but they’ll never to anything about THAT because, God forbid, they should be accused of “profiling”.

  • September 26, 2008 at 10:43 am
    Thinker says:
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    OK, so we have a law currently about talking on your cell while driving and come January 1 we will have a law that will hopefully deter would be txters from txting while driving. What about other things that distract drivers? The smoker who lights up a cigarette and possibly takes their eyes off the road to not only get the cigarette and then light it. Then while they are smoking they ash out their window and finally throw their butt out on street when done. How about eating and drinking while driving? There are other distractions that should be looked at if we want to make our roads safer.

    It is true that just a few years ago cell phones were in their infancy and very expensive. I think we need to remember that owning and using a cell phone is a luxury and not a necessity.

    When the new law went into effect rather than deal with a headset (which I do have and use) I normally get in the car, turn my phone on quiet so it doesn’t ring or vibrate, and drive to my destination. When I get there I check my phone. People can wait until I am ready to get back to them especially when it involves me arriving in one piece to where I’m going.

  • September 26, 2008 at 11:09 am
    Stat Guy says:
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    Ricki, I’m with you; but this came up before and I found that there are a lot of people who can’t get enough work in the office or at home who work while driving. I think it is compulsive: knowing they can call, text or email, they won’t let an hour go by without doing SOMETHING! I would be nice if these people had friends or some other diversion to occupy their time so that they can stop the blah-blah-blah but I think they just can’t help being a windbag. Call me old fashioned but they need to get a life and/or another job. A friend of mine is always on the phone when he’s in the bathroom and he loves calling it “multi-tasking”, I call it just plain stupid to be so impatient; no room in his life for down time.

  • September 26, 2008 at 12:16 pm
    Brokette says:
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    I’m sorry that y’all have an image of someone who uses their phone in the car as a “windbag”. The reality is that there are occasions when clients/assistants/children need to talk to me and I happen to be in transit. These are not hours long calls. They are short and to the point. Honestly, I find the use of an earpiece/headset much more distracting than a simple handset. That’s why I don’t talk in my car anymore. Frankly, I’m tired of being judged at work and in society by the lowest common denominator. I don’t need the nanny-state to tell me what’s safe and what’s not.

  • September 26, 2008 at 4:29 am
    lastbat says:
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    I agree that I don’t need a nanny state telling me what to do.

    I also agree that for this to work the fines have to mean something. Start off in the hundreds and go up from there. Nobody is going to worry about a $50 fine. And they sure as heck won’t be thinking about the uptick in their insurance rate from the violation.

  • September 29, 2008 at 10:44 am
    Stat Guy says:
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    Brokette, from the sounds of your posts, you seem to be quite aware of your driving and cell usage. By all means, if you can do so safely, all I can do is express concern and caution you. But that’s more like preaching to the choir; the fact is that there are too many people driving and on the phone who are engaged in a telephone conversation that has nothing to do with business; these are the folks I called “windbags”. I see them chatting away animatedly and it reminds me of my sister who would talk all evening with her girlfriends. These are just blathering drivel and they have their place but not while driving. If I offended you, please accept my apology.

  • September 29, 2008 at 11:29 am
    Brokette says:
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    Oh, Stat Guy, thanks for the apology. I really DO enjoy a spirited debate and never take offense, even when the name calling starts (which it usually does). Life is frustrating sometimes and even more so when you’re not guilty of the infraction but limited by the statute made to keep others in line. No harm, no foul. Thanks!



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