Governor reaches out to drivers — by texting

Props to Gov. M. Jodi Rell for her plan to toughen Connecticut’s existing ban on driving and talking on handheld cell phones. She’s pushing for a text messaging ban, too.

No doubt Rell is one of the good guys on this issue.

But, get a load of the unfortunate wording in this invitation from the gov’s official web site:

Dear Friends:
If you are like me, there are days when you are on the road all day, away from your computer and with limited access to e-mail. However, you want to be the first to know of the important news … from my office. Now you can.

Sign up today to get text messages from my office sent to your cell phone. After all, keeping you up-to-date on what we are doing in Hartford is one of my top priorities. (Our italics)

Let’s hope no one who is “on the road all day” with a cell phone causes a wreck while reading Rell’s text message — regarding her text-messaging ban.

AMA’s Rx: No handheld devices for drivers

The American Medical Association — already on record against text messaging while driving — has endorsed laws that ban all forms of handheld devices for those behind the wheel.

Members called the use of handheld devices such as cell phones and texting devices “a very serious public health problem.”

“We’re very supportive of legislation to deal with this,” said AMA board member Dr. Edward Langston. “We want your hands on the steering wheel.

“A Harvard study estimates that about one in 20 traffic accidents involve a driver talking on a cell phone. By banning the use of handheld devices while driving, we can help prevent accidents and ensure the driver’s full attention is on the road.”

The AMA’s call for bans on drivers’ use of handheld devices includes cell phones, largely forgotten in the 2009 legislative rush to deal with texting by motorists.

The official position in favor of handheld cell phone laws was adopted the AMA’s semi-annual policy meeting on Nov. 10.

Last year the group of almost a quarter million physicians threw its weight behind various state efforts to ban text messaging while driving. “No one should have to worry that other drivers are focused on texting instead of traffic,” the medical association said at the time.

Calif. first lady caught on cell phone

The state of California’s first lady, Maria Shriver, has been photographed violating the handheld cell phone ban that her husband signed into law.

The governor promised “swift action.” Grounding perhaps?

The celebrity gossip web site TMZ posted a photo and video of Shriver yapping while driving at two different times, saying she dropped the cell phone when she realized she was being photographed.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used Twitter to say: “Thanks for bringing her violations to my attention. There’s going to be swift action.”

About the same time, TMZ said it caught Shriver yet again driving and cell-phoning in Brentwood. Here’s the evidence:

The unfriendly skies: Cell phones in flight

U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio doesn’t like what he hears about the possibility of cell phones being legalized on airline flights.

He’s sponsoring the Halting Airplane Noise to Give Us Peace Act — or HANG UP — which would prohibit the FCC from allowing mobile phone use in the skies.

DeFazio, D-Oregon, is no buttinski — he’s a member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

“After arriving hours early at the airport and often after waiting for a delayed, or even canceled, flight, what could make air travel worse?” he asks rhetorically in an opinion piece on cell phones on airplanes, in U.S. News & World Report. “How about being stuck next to a person droning on about his latest breakup or medical procedure for the length of your flight?”

DeFazio continues: “It is bad enough when the person sitting next to you on an overnight flight leaves the light on. Now imagine trying to sleep while he yaks on the phone. And on a plane, unlike on a bus or a train, a passenger cannot get up and move to get away from a person’s cellphone conversation. ”

His legislation recently passed the House of Representatives as part of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2009. Support comes from the National Business Travel Association, the International Airline Passengers Association and the Association of Flight Attendants/Communications Workers of America.

For a rebuttal, arguing in favor of cell phones on planes, check out “If Europe Can Handle In-Flight Cellphone Use, So Can America.” Here’s a sample:

The proposed ban is based upon the incorrect assumption that everyone else on the planet is just more polite than we are and that American flight crews cannot maintain cabin decorum as their foreign counterparts have done and continue to do every day. … America is ready to join the rest of the world when it comes to in-flight communication connectivity.