Ban on devices in cars
At the end of last week, the Massachusetts House passed a bill banning using any types of devices in your car. This would mean texting, making calling without a hands-free headset, using pagers, using PDAs, and using laptops would be illegal while driving.
If this bill is passed by the Senate and the Governor’s office, it would mean a fine of $100 for the first offense, $250 for the second and $500 for each additional offense. Also beginning in July 2009, insurance companies would be able to charge violators surcharges.
I always use my bluetooth headset when making calls, but I definitely have been guilty of sending a text or two (usually in traffic, but not always). Would this affect you?
We all use cellphones to make and receive urgent calls that sometimes happen while we’re driving. Are we supposed to believe it’s safer to quickly change 3 lanes and pull over before answering your cellphone than it is to just pick it up and say hello?
I know cellphones distract. But so do people, signs, music, pets, radio, food, etc. and we’re not going to ban all of these–it’d be impossible AND undesirable to enforce. In the meantime we’re only going to create misunderstandings and randomly-enforced legal fees that frustrate citizens. Traffic law is fuzzy enough. Where do we draw the line?