N.Y. state senator proposes ban on texting while driving
I came across an article in the NY Times this weekend regarding a proposed law to ban sending or reading text messages while driving. The proposed law is a reaction to a recent incident in upstate New York in which 4 teenagers were killed after a head-on collision. Police believe the driver of the vehicle may have been sending text messages immediately prior to the crash.
Pointless laws like this really bother me. Aren’t there plenty of laws on the books now that make it unlawful to drive in an unsafe manner or while distracted? It’s certainly tragic that these 4 kids died, but would it be any more or less tragic if they had died because the driver had fallen asleep instead of being distracted by a text message? More useless, redundant legislation with no purpose other than to try and protect us from ourselves. When will the politicians learn that they can’t legislate stupidity out of existence?
You can read the entire NY Times article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/nyregion/18cnd-driving.html
July 23rd, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Hey kid, for once we’re in total agreement ! All it would take is for these dumb-assed cops to pull their heads outa their donut holes and and be a bit more observant to their surroundings. The stuff I see EVERY day from the driver’s seat of my bus would straighten your short hairs ! Everything from the make-up in the rear view mirror to idiots with their cellphones glued to their heads to texting whilst driving with the knees and on to the little human air bags on on mommy’s lap and and and….. Then, half the time there’s a cop sitting at the nearest 7- Eleven ! I wish I had a buck for every “near miss” I saw every day due to this mindless bull—-. I’d retire today ! More legislation won’t fix a damned thing. MORE ENFORCEMENT will. If you hit these geniuses in the pocketbook enough with the existing laws, maybe they’ll wake up and smell the mocha java.
Pops