Distracted drivers

[redfalconf35]

If I wrote the laws:

1. First offense- $500
2. Second offense- DL suspended 3 months
3. Third offense- DL suspended for 5 years, and at least a month in jail.

Harsh? I don't think so. Driving is serious business, and you can kill people too easily with a car, just because you think you are so special.

This, with a few tweaks, is where I'm at, too. In my opinion, instead of being so worried about why people are driving like buffoons, let's just tighten down on the buffoonery. Forget checkpoints and radar guns and looking for cell phones in the car. The person you kill is no less dead because you were telling your kids in the back seat to stop fighting or just being an aggressive jerk than if you were texting your friend.

The first time you're caught doing something dangerous (crossing the yellow line, cutting somebody off, slamming on the brakes, tailgating, swerving between lanes, rear-ending somebody at a stoplight, running a red, speeding well beyond ambient traffic flow, etc.), $1000 fine + a 3x multiplier for being drunk and a 2x multiplier for being on your phone. Second time, 1 year DL suspension, 1 month jail, $5000 fine, plus the multipliers (to both the suspension and the fine). Third time, you're no longer welcome to drive in that jurisdiction, ever again. Add to that 6 months jail and some prohibitive fine.

In my opinion, traffic law enforcement needs to be less focused on which of the car's have burnt out lightbulbs and more focused on sending a very strong message to those people who take advantage of the attentiveness of their surrounding drivers.

 

[oc_in_fw]

This, with a few tweaks, is where I'm at, too. In my opinion, instead of being so worried about why people are driving like buffoons, let's just tighten down on the buffoonery. Forget checkpoints and radar guns and looking for cell phones in the car. The person you kill is no less dead because you were telling your kids in the back seat to stop fighting or just being an aggressive jerk than if you were texting your friend.

The first time you're caught doing something dangerous (crossing the yellow line, cutting somebody off, slamming on the brakes, tailgating, swerving between lanes, rear-ending somebody at a stoplight, running a red, speeding well beyond ambient traffic flow, etc.), $1000 fine + a 3x multiplier for being drunk and a 2x multiplier for being on your phone. Second time, 1 year DL suspension, 1 month jail, $5000 fine, plus the multipliers (to both the suspension and the fine). Third time, you're no longer welcome to drive in that jurisdiction, ever again. Add to that 6 months jail and some prohibitive fine.

In my opinion, traffic law enforcement needs to be less focused on which of the car's have burnt out lightbulbs and more focused on sending a very strong message to those people who take advantage of the attentiveness of their surrounding drivers.

We tend to not take driving very seriously. Supposedly the engineers at Porsche asked focus groups years ago how to make their cars more appealing to Americans. One of the suggestions was to include cup holders. Porsche's opinion was "Why do you need cup holders? You are driving".

 

[The Knize]

You all my be too young to recall that when "portable" phones were first introduced they were largely "car" phones. Thus, I think folks got used to the idea that one could talk on the phone when driving. I never actually had one, but when it was first suggested that one should have to pull over and stop to talk on a car phone the idea seemed completely impracticable to me and would never be accepted generally. I think that is part of what is going on. That if cell phones were introduced today without the predecessor of car phones, folks would think "of course, one should not be talking on the phone while driving a car. That would be distracting and dangerous." But before now lots of people were "conditioned" that talking on the phone while driving was a natural thing, perhaps like not wearing a seat belt! <g>

Texting is a different thing, arguably. Seems easy to do. But I think a much bigger distraction that talking on a phone. Reminds me of Asiz Ansari's routine about the indignity of killing oneself by driving over a cliff while Googling one's own name.

Actually, I think, dialing a cell phone is a much bigger distraction than merely talking on a phone.

GPS can be distracting, too, but way less distracting than trying to follow a map or list of instructions while driving, and way less liking to cause someone to cross multiple lanes to keep from missing an exit.