MO bill would ban cellphone use while driving

With some exceptions, though the P-D doesn't list what those would be.

Comments

[Lan]

Right on.

[Jim]

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[You're a Mean Drunk R2D2™]

I'm not much of a fan of this, depending on what the exceptions are.

Hands free devices should be usable as sometimes you need to get in touch with someone while on the road and we don't want people parking on the side of the interstates to make a quick call.

[kayceewolf]

I've got mixed feelings on this. On the one hand, I've seen more than my share of soccer moms in SUV's who are blissfully unaware of drifting into neighboring lanes until someone blows a horn at them (which is usually followed by a mom's upraised middle finger since they are certain they did nothing wrong).

In my own experience I know I'm not as attentive if I'm on the cell phone and I try to keep any calls I receive brief or make arrangements to call back.

But ... there's a big difference between talking on the cell phone while driving down an interstate when traffic is spaced apart and the conditions are good and talking on a cell phone while driving down Shawnee Mission Parkway during a rushhour rainstorm.

[Sasquach]

There is already a law for this. It's called inattentive driving. People who can't talk on the phone and drive are probably just as likely to drive like idiots off their phone. Why pass another redundant law to bust stupid people when the majority of the population can walk and chew gum at the same time.

[Truth Teller]

New World Order coming your way! Now we have change we can believe in. Yes we can!

[Johns]

New World Order, my behind. Should we legalize DUI while we're at it? How about shooting guns up in the air?

[Sasquach]

"Should we legalize DUI while we're at it? How about shooting guns up in the air?" - Johns

No, but these things are not really the same as a law banning driving while on a cell phone for 2 reasons: 1) those things are inherently dangerous, where driving while on the phone is not unless you're an idiot, and 2) those laws address a unique problem not addressed by other laws, where cell phone driving bans are already covered by inattentive driving laws.

This is just a way for politicians to make it look like they are doing something by pandering to a small fraction of the population and passing laws that will have no real effect anyway.

[SG]

Driving while on the phone is inherently dangerous; my grandpa's shotgun is not.
There is nothing more dangerous than some airhead swerving in traffic while gesticulating wildly with both hands while on the cellphone.

[Sasquach]

Talking on a cell phone while driving is no more dangerous than talking to a passenger while driving, unless, of course, the person talking is an idiot. Firing a gun into the air (as was the example given above) is a whole lot more dangerous than even the idiot on the phone in their car. At least you can usually see the car coming before it hits you. If you don't understand that, SG, then yes, it is probably dangerous for you to talk on the phone while you are driving.

[Karen]

It's about time!

[spicolli]

I seen this fat beotch the other day reading a book AND cramming french fries in her mouth.
What about the "put your make-up on while driving" lady?
It could go on & on people, get a grip and don't be so stupid.
Maybe we could ban the people, that want to ban everything, from breathing.

[Nemesis]

Sasquach, you probably are the only person in KC with enough brain power and cordination to do two things at once. You may be able to see the other car coming at you, but can you evade it safely every time? Not likely.

[Sasquach]

Dodging looneys on the road will be a fact of life whether cell phones are banned or not. Cell phones are only a very small peice of the tip of the iceburg of why people drive like 'tards. My point is that cell phone bans are redundant and unneccesary. I'd bet the majority of people who get in accidents on cell phones are going to get in accidents off cell phones as well. We don't need another law that punishes competent people for something incompetent people are going to do anyway, especially when there is already a law to address it.

[SM]

Let's work on enforcing existing reckless driving laws rather than creating new ones.

[Truth Teller]

Well - Gubmints all over the USA are in ALL kinds of trouble. Falling home values = falling tax revenues! Guess how they make up for it??? You guessed it LEO (they don't have quotas, HAHAHAHA).

Can we outlaw normal behavior?
YES WE CAN!

Guess what happens when Gubmint takes your hard earned pay?

They leave you with change you can believe in!

[Truth Teller]

We can alway HOPE for a new tomorrow.

Don't hold your breath though!

[TRM]

We live in such a mobile society that an outright ban on talking and driving would not work. Good points were made that there are so many other ways drivers distract themselves, singling out just one is simply silly. Granted making hands-free cellular use mandantory would help. Without a phone cradled on the neck & ear, people would be able to visually check their mirrors and focus on the road a bit better. Besides, banning talk-driving would reduce the amount of minutes used/billed and the cell company lobbyists would be working overtime.
We need to start applying the inattentive driving laws for often to make people more aware they need to focus on the roads more.
FYI I've gone from doing the old neck cradle, to wired headsets, to bluetooth headsets. Wireless is the best at letting me talk & drive at the same time. If traffic gets heavy, I simply get off my phone and pay attention to the road.

[Mike Jones]

This is ridiculous

[Ralfred]

I was driving home on I-35 last night when a car cuts in front of me from the exit lane. I was about to lay on the horn when I read the back of the car. Overland Park Police

I agree, if the police would enforce the laws we already have we wouldn't need new laws. But apparently they cannot even follow the law.

[Me]

Blame Sprint for taking GTE's MSE technology for the U.S. Army for coming up with the civilian version of wireless phones.

Good idea. A few weeks ago, there was a 16 year old female turning a corner while tex messaging her friend and hit a police car from behind.

Good idea. A few weeks ago, there was a 16 year old female turning a corner while tex messaging her friend and hit a police car from behind.

[carl]

Something has to be done , I've been ran off the highway twice from people using their cell phones , luckily no one got hurt. One was a hockey mom driving a SUV and the other was a guy driving a pick-up, neither didn't care what was going on around them. I'm glad to hear someone is trying to do something about it.

[Terri]

Until "idiots smoking cigarettes while driving" are banned I have no respect for any other law. What is more idiotic than letting people slowing commit suicide while driving? I hope any telecom co. in MO moves out in protest if they pass this law. That will really help the community.

[Terri]

Until "idiots smoking cigarettes while driving" are banned I have no respect for any other law. What is more idiotic than letting people slowing commit suicide while driving? I hope any telecom co. in MO moves out in protest if they pass this law. That will really help the community.

[Quad Kings]

Well, Sasquach, do you propose they should except people above the "idiot" level of intelligence?

And you're actually wrong. They've done studies, and drivers holding something (a phone) to their heads while talking are FAR more likely to be distracted and have FAR slower reaction times. So it's not the same as talking to passengers.

[seriously]

Terri, you're an idiot. What the hell does that have to do with anything? You can smoke with both hands on the wheel, unless you're trying to load a bowl. Dumbass.

[Kevin]

Maybe they should just ban Missouri drivers..... They are the real problem. I'm convinced they don't have to take a driver's test to get a license.

[KC Brougham]

That law has been in effect since July in CA. It's great. You can still do it if you're cool about it, which frankly, if people were cool about it in the first place, they wouldn't have to to outlaw it.

Maybe they should just ban Missouri drivers.....

Oddly enough, I grew up on the MO side and we always thought the same thing about JoCo drivers, the self absorbed yutzes.

[SG]

Why don't you just admit it! You want to drive and yak on the phone like a mindless idiot! That's what this is all about, isn't it! People like you are dangerous!

[EZ]

Why does there need to be a law specific to cell phones when there's already a law against inattentive driving? If you cause an accident because you were talking on a cell phone, you're guilty of inattentive driving, right? Does eating, putting on make-up, etc., etc., etc., each need to have their own separate laws? ONE LAW: "Inattentive driving".

[Nemesis]

KC Brougham: It seems that bad drivers are epidemic everywhere. KC is actually pretty tame compared to Dallas, Houston, Chicago and Detroit where they should paint start finish lines on the roads. I have been in cellular from the infancy of cellular and the problem has been consistent in getting worse year by year. The general driving population will not police themselves nor do they think there is a problem and now think it is a right to be motormouths at the expense of others. BTW Sprint did not invent cellular or PCS technology. It was actually concieved in the old AT&T bell labs in the 1940's but shelved because developing the technology was very expensive.

[KC Brougham]

I don't see people riding your behind in KC like they do here in San Diego. It's Tora Tora Tora all the time.

I find it funny how rightwingers on here are using the colloquial "gubmint," which is usually the way anti-government stormtroopers pronounce it. Liberals are an educated bunch, and actually know how to pronounce the term. God, you don't even know how to properly ridicule people.

[Every Cell-Phone Talking Driver]

Everyone who talks on a cell phone while driving is an idiot and a danger to other cars on the road. Except me. I'm the ONE and ONLY exception. Well, perhaps my spouse and children do OK. The other idiots are the problem, why should I be punished?

[Tim in NKC]

I find it funny how rightwingers on here are using the colloquial "gubmint," which is usually the way anti-government stormtroopers pronounce it. Liberals are an educated bunch, and actually know how to pronounce the term. God, you don't even know how to properly ridicule people.

Posted by: | Tuesday, December 02, 2008 at 04:49 PM

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God, you are a gutless turd who can't even sign their posts...

[rich]

this is a great law. many people expecially young inexperience drivers have died trying to drive and text. very dangerous!

Gay.

Everyone that drives faster than me is a maniac, everyone that drives slower is an idiot.

[T]

Looking at the number of cars around KC with body damage, I think the better thing to do is require most drivers here to take a remedial driver's ed course.

California has had this law for a while and only applies to making cell phone calls. It's not specific to text messaging. They must word the law properly.
Bluetooth is okay however. People still won't drive with 2 hands on the wheel or pay attention. Another big brother attempt by our elected officials.

[Nemesis]

"Liberals are an educated bunch, and actually know how to pronounce the term."

I'll keep my money, I'll keep my guns, I'll keep my freedom, you can keep the change.

[garth]

THANK GOD!

[G]

This is great, but it doesn't go far enough. Cell phone use should be banned in all public places.

[Sasquach]

I've seen several of the studies that say that driving on a cell phone is as dangerous as drinking and driving. The methods are flawed, and a couple even state that the conditions do not mimic real driving and that current statistical evidence on whether or not cell phones have an effect on accident rates are inconclusive at best.

My point is that if cell phones (and not generally inattentive people) are the problem, why didn't accident rates explode with the growth of the technology. There isn't a single study out there right now that has found any correlation between an increase in accident rates and the growth of cell phone technology. As I said before, it isn't the cell phone that causes the problem, its dumb people who are going to be inattentive and cause accidents regardless of whether or not they are on a phone, and there's already a law against inattentive driving.

But passing laws to deal with percieved, but imaginary, threats is a good thing right?

[Chuck Rizzo]

This is a good law, even though I am guilty of driving and talking on my cell on many occasions.

To the poster who said that guns are more dangerous than driving and talking on the phone, I just want to let you know your dead wrong, no pun intended. According to the DMV there were 41,059 in 2007. During the same time period there were roughly 30,000 with more than half of those being suicides. So I would argue, a vehicle is far more deadly than a gun. If you took out the suicides from gun related deaths you'd be looking at around 12,000. Which is still a large number but is about 1/4 the number of auto accident deaths.