Penalty for driving while texting in Long Island-a disabled cell phone [telecom]

Penalty for driving while texting in Long Island-a disabled cell phone New York prosecutor says driving while texting is as dangerous as drunk driving.

by David Kravets Sept 9 2014 Ars Technica

Motorists popped for texting-while-driving violations in Long Island could be mandated to temporarily disable their mobile phones the next time they take to the road.

That's according to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, who says she is moving to mandate that either hardware be installed or apps be activated that disable the mobile phone while behind the wheel. The district attorney likened the texter's punishment to drunk drivers who sometimes are required to breathe into a device before turning on the ignition.

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***** Moderator's Note *****

Is Ms. Rice an elected official?

Bill Horne Moderator

Reply to
Monty Solomon
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Yes, district attorneys are elected in New York.

Assuming the technical details are workable, this seems like a reasonable idea. I don't want to put texting drivers in jail, I just want them to stop texting and pay attention to the fripping road.

***** Moderator's Note *****

Primary elections were held yesterday in Massachusetts, and I was wondering if the Nassau County District Attorney was also in an election cycle, and might be hungry for headlines.

There is no app, device, system, or method that would make it possible to eliminate texting by the /driver/ of a vehicle. It can, of course, be done for the entire car, but not just for the driver.

I assume that Ms. Rice is aware of this already, and has wasted a lot of people's time by shopping for free ink.

Bill Horne Moderator

Reply to
John Levine

Yes, there was a primary, [although] not for D.A. The only interesting contested offices were [those of] governor and lieutenant governor.

Cars already have bluetooth and sometimes wifi, so it wouldn't be out of the question to program the phone to recognize the car's bluetooth. I agree it's not something available off the shelf, but it doesn't seem technologically challenging if there were a demand for it. And even if it were expensive, it'd still be a lot cheaper than putting someone in jail.

R's, John

Reply to
John Levine

Bill,

There is a method and there's an article in today's NY Times (business section). The problem is that it is network based and none of the networks want to implement it, although Sprint helped with the testing. It does, in fact, just shut off the driver's phone. Details at:

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ET

***** Moderator's Note *****

I read the article, and I commented that I don't think it can work.

Even if it could, I don't want it: any "solution" to the problem of drivers using cellphones which relies of keeping tabs on which car is going in which direction, and /exactly/ who is at the wheel, is going to create more problems than it solves.

I'd rather see a ban on cellphone use by drivers. Connecticutt already has one.

Bill Horne Moderator

Reply to
Eric Tappert

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