New York state has seen text messaging ticketing take a sharp rise since since tougher enforcement of electronic distracted driving laws went into effect in July 2011. Overall, law enforcement officers wrote almost 120,000 electronic distracted driving tickets in the seven months from July 12, 2011, to Feb. 7, 2012. Text messaging violations saw the most significant increase, to 7,495 tickets. A new state law made text messaging subject to primary enforcement, while a DMV policy added a third point against the driver's license of electronic distracted driving violators. The bulk of the … [Read more...]
Truckers: Why no public cell ban?
January 10, 2012 by 13 Comments
The federal government says truck drivers can't talk on handheld cell phones. Fair enough, the pros say -- but what about the "four wheelers" who cause most of the wrecks involving trucks? A week after that federal ban on handheld cell phone use went into effect, the trucking industry seems to have the issue in its rear-view mirror. But some truckers still want to know why professional drivers are being singled out. "I am so tired of hearing, 'The feds can't do anything with four-wheelers,'" one pro wrote in an industry forum. "If they're gonna travel the same roads I do, they can follow the … [Read more...]
Alaska texting law gets a rewrite
January 5, 2012 by 1 Comment
A pair of state representatives have submitted to the Legislature a new version of Alaska's text messaging law to ensure its intent is clear to the courts. Reps. Les Gara and Bill Thomas on Jan. 6 filed the bipartisan legislation House Bill 255, which would remove any doubt that texting and driving is illegal in Alaska. The ambiguous wording of Alaska's 2008 prohibition on texting & driving came back to haunt legislators when a magistrate in tiny Kenai ruled that the state needed to be more precise with the distracted driving law. The magistrate noted correctly that its wording never … [Read more...]
Distracted driving year in review
December 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment
The debate over distracted driving burned hotter than ever as 2011 ended, thanks to a controversial call for a total ban of cell phone use while behind the wheel. The year saw significant progress in the legislative war on against distracted driving. While some state laws prohibiting use of handheld cell phones took effect, most of the success came with bans of text messaging while driving. Here's a recap of the big distracted driving stories of 2011: New year, new laws (Jan. 1-2): Three states — Delaware, Kentucky and Kansas — see their new distracted driving laws take full effect as 2011 … [Read more...]
LaHood: No blanket cell phone ban
December 23, 2011 by Leave a Comment
DOT chief Roy LaHood says his war on distracted driving won't lead to a full ban on handheld electronics. "The problem is not hands-free," LaHood said at a DOT news conference Dec. 21. "That is not the big problem (with distracted drivers)." LaHood was publicly distancing himself from the National Transportation Safety Board's Dec. 13 call for a blanket ban on cell phones and similar portable electronic devices -- regardless of whether hands-free devices are utilized. To date, all distracted driving laws in the U.S. allow adults to use hands-free devices such as Bluetooth headsets. NTSB … [Read more...]
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