Re: 511 Traffic Phone Lines May Raise Crash Risk

It is also true that police officers _do_ have more training on the

> subject than "Joe Sixpack' does. I don't know of a civiian 'drivers > ed' course that touches on the matter, nor a state license exam that > addresses it.

All of that, true or not, does not address the question of actual safety. Some civilians are former police officers, for example, and could have experienced the same training you say makes it ok to talk while driving. Yet all civilians are nominally subject to the laws against using a phone while driving. (Though I'm sure it's true that a former officer would get a pass from most cops after he showed his identification.)

The fact remains that, before these new laws, it was already illegal to fail to pay attention while driving. The purpose of the cell phone ban is not to create a crime where there wasn't one but to make it easier to prove the crime. Unfortunately, the laws also /do/ create a new crime, using a cell phone while still paying attention to driving. Why should that be a crime? Just so the officer doesn't have to decide if a driver was paying attention before citing a violation? Those officers who are so highly trained to be aware of everything going on shouldn't have to be sufficiently aware to make such a simple decision? Baloney.

Do you think that someone stuck in traffic which is not moving /at all/ should not be able to use his cell phone to call 511? Do you think that someone driving on a rural Interstate and observing a drunk driver should /not/ call 911 to report that observation? Or should pull onto the shoulder before making the call? If you say to pull onto the shoulder, are you ok that making that rule will mean fewer reports of drunk drivers? -- Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA "Greed is to the moralists of the snipped-for-privacy@compata.com, +1 714 434 7359 left what sex is to the moralists snipped-for-privacy@alumni.caltech.edu of the right." - Cathy Young

Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA "Politics is the business of getting snipped-for-privacy@compata.com, +1 714 434 7359 power and privilege without snipped-for-privacy@alumni.caltech.edu possessing merit." - P. J. O'Rourke

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Dave Close
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