It's football Sunday in AmeriKa, right?
I'm not worried because I don't play around with the phone when I'm driving.
And while I am not defending or advocating distracted driving in any way, this is just one more example of lawmakers taking action to make it look like they are doing something.
They can't solve the economy or any other problems, and they dare not confess to looting the taxpayers and putting their cushy, taxpayer-funded lifestyles on the line.
Thus we get wheel-spinning s*** like this:
"As ban nears, state spreads word against driver texting" by Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff | September 21, 2010
With a ban on texting while driving just 10 days away, officials launched a statewide campaign yesterday aimed at weaning drivers from their cellphones.
Related: Mass Texts From the Mass. State House
The state lighted up about 400 message signs — the roadside LED signs better known for offering road-closure information — as well as eight massive digital billboards over its busiest highways, alerting drivers that “texting while driving is against the law’’ as of Sept. 30.
That campaign will be supplemented in the coming days with posters at branches of the Registry of Motor Vehicles, public address announcements at high schools and on MBTA platforms, and a radio ad campaign coordinated by the American Automobile Association....
How much is this going to COST TAXPAYERS?
The law also seeks to remove more bad drivers from the roads, by reducing the number of “surchargeable incidents’’ that trigger a license suspension by the state.
I KNEW it was ALL ABOUT the MONEY!
The punishments for violations of the law are most severe for young drivers.
Isn't that discrimination? Good thing the 'too-pid kids don't know dat!
A first offense for a junior operator will bring a $100 fine, a 60-day license suspension, and required attendance at a “driver attitudinal retraining course.’’ Subsequent offenses will bring greater penalties.
For adults, a first offense results in a $35 fine; the fines increase for repeat offenses within 12 months but do not count against insurance.
“It’s going to be very difficult to enforce,’’ said A. Wayne Sampson, executive director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association and a former Shrewsbury police chief. “Unless the person is holding the cellphone up at the steering wheel and through the window, and the officer is right next to them and they see them hitting the keys, it’s going to be very hard for us to do that.’’
Sampson and James Machado, executive director of the Massachusetts Police Association, said law enforcement could subpoena phones or phone records to determine whether someone had been texting in the event of an accident that caused serious injury or death, but officers would be unlikely to do so simply for the purpose of writing or defending a $35 ticket for texting....
But you NEVER KNOW!!!
Despite the difficulties of enforcing texting bans, advocates hope such legislation will have a deterrent effect, especially if police officers warn drivers they suspect of violations.
“Drivers don’t like to be pulled over,’’ said Jonathan Adkins, spokesman for the national Governors Highway Safety Association. “Even if you end up not getting a ticket, it’s not a pleasant experience.’’
Yes, and that fascist attitude doesn't win you any converts!
And what do they mean being stopped by our friends the peace officers protecting us from all sorts of things is unpleasant?
Yeah, that's where REAL WORLD REALITY collides with the MYTH of the MEDIA!
When most citizens in REAL LIFE AmeriKa see the police they don't say to themselves "Oh, good."
Even if they are doing nothing wrong the FIRST REACTION is "uh-oh."
The SIGN of a FASCIST STATE if there ever was one!
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Of course, we all know who is $etting the tone:
"Tougher laws sought on driving distractions; Proposals target in-car habits at US conference" by Ken Thomas, Associated Press | September 22, 2010
WASHINGTON — Making sure drivers keep their eyes on the road will require a network of tough laws, enforcement by police, and personal responsibility, the government said yesterday.
I was just wondering when this government was going to obey its laws, enforce its laws, and be responsible.
Obama administration officials said during a second conference on distracted driving that it had made progress in pushing states to target drivers who send text messages and use mobile devices from the road, but that too many people are being killed because of inattentive motorists....
And TOO MANY YOUNG PEOPLE are being KILLED in WARS and OCCUPATIONS based on LIES, sir!!!
Massachusetts is one of 30 states to pass a texting ban, and one of 28 to ban all cellphone use by novice drivers. The new law, signed by Governor Deval Patrick in July, prohibits drivers under age 18 from using any mobile electronic device while driving, bars drivers 18 and older from reading or writing text messages or e-mails or searching the Internet at the wheel, and makes it easier for police officers and doctors to alert the state if they believe someone is no longer mentally or physically fit to drive. It goes into effect Sept. 30.
Yesterday’s conference brought together government leaders, safety advocates, and business groups to discuss ways of reducing distracted driving....
As part of the conference, the Transportation Department proposed barring truck drivers from sending text messages while hauling hazardous materials. The proposal would close a loophole for hazardous material haulers not covered by separate rules, now being finalized, that prohibit commercial bus and truck drivers from sending text messages on the job.
Hazardous materials had a loophole?
The department also wrapped up rules to restrict train operators from using cellphones and mobile devices on duty.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has pushed states to adopt tougher laws against sending text messages from behind the wheel and the federal government has prohibited federal employees from texting while driving on government business.
Safety advocates are trying to replicate the success of campaigns in the 1980s that helped reduce drunken-driving deaths and increased seat belt use.
The conference highlighted efforts by corporations to prevent employees from using mobile devices while driving on business.
This government really does serve them in every single way.
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Related: Parents play a key role in discouraging texting
Tragic crash leads to safe driving crusade
Your Sunday morning, agenda-pushing, front-page features, folks.
And guess what?
The LAWS do NOT WORK!
They MAKE it WORSE!
"Study dismisses texting bans’ effect; Laws fail to make roads safer, report finds" by Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff | September 28, 2010
Just two days before a texting-while-driving ban takes effect in Massachusetts, a new study being released today says that similar bans in other states have not reduced automobile accidents.
The report does not dispute the danger of texting while driving. It suggests that banning the practice, as 30 states have done, does not automatically produce safer roads.
“If we’re counting on texting bans to reduce crashes from distracted driving, they’re not doing that,’’ said Adrian Lund, president of the Highway Loss Data Institute, which conducted the study. The institute, along with its sister organization, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, is funded by insurance companies.
This is ONE TIME the INSURANCE COMPANIES are TELLING the TRUTH!
They WANT TO KNOW WHAT they will be PAYING OUT so they project and protect profits!
Lund, who is scheduled to present the findings today in Kansas City at the annual meeting of the Governors Highway Safety Association, said early word of the findings has made him unpopular at the conference....
Yup, you CAN NOT TELL the TRUTH about ANYTHING here in AmeriKa!
You either ACCEPT the AGENDA-PUSHING ORTHODOXY or SHADDUP!!
US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood immediately condemned the study as “completely misleading.’’
Excuse me, someone from the GOVERNMENT had the NERVE to SAY THAT?
This LIE about the WARS, ECONOMY, GULF OIL SPILL, and EVERYTHING ELSE GOVERNMENT said that?
I guess they WOULD BE EXPERTS in MISLEADING, huh?
“Lives are at stake, and all the reputable research we have says that tough laws, good enforcement, and increased public awareness will help put a stop to the deadly epidemic of distracted driving on our roads,’’ LaHood said in a statement....
As if this LIE YOU INTO WAR and LOOT YOU GOVERNMENT cares about you!!
The new study is not the first time the research institute has suggested that legislative efforts to combat distracted driving are not affecting crash rates. In January, the institute found virtually no change in crash frequency for states that had enacted bans on handheld phone use.
Yes, but DO NOT LET HARD EVIDENCE DESTROY your ILLUSIONS!
In the latest study, the institute examined four states that were among the first to ban texting while driving — California, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Washington — and compared insurance claims for collisions in those states before and after the ban, as well as in neighboring states where laws did not change during that time.
Yup, they did REAL THOROUGH JOB, didn't they?
In one of the states, the rate of crashes did not change significantly; in the other three, it went up slightly.
Oh, so the PROBLEM GOT WORSE once there was a LAW, huh? What a SURPRISE!!
Lund said there could be multiple explanations for an increase, including the possibility that drivers who continue to text despite a ban might be lowering their hands and taking their eyes off the road in an attempt to text more discreetly, out of view of police. And for those who do give up texting, other distractions may be filling the void.
Other studies by the Insurance Institute-Highway Loss Data Institute have found that many drivers are not heeding texting bans....
Because we have HAD IT with BIG BROTHER riding shotgun!!
Every time you turn around these days GOVERNMENT is UP YOUR ASS!
Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, said the lesson from the study is that more enforcement is needed to get drivers to comply with bans and give up their dangerous texting habits — and that more research is needed to understand the problem and its potential solutions....
Harsha said a federally funded program in the Syracuse, N.Y., and Hartford areas has suggested that some law enforcement efforts work better at catching and discouraging texting drivers, such as observing motorists from sport utility vehicles that afford a better glimpse into passing cars.
What about the GLOBAL WARMING, 'er, CLIMATE CHANGE CRISIS?
Somehow that DOESN'T SEEM to MATTER when it comes to TYRANNY or the COMFY LIFESTYLES of the POLTICOS!
She said she is hopeful that Congress will approve a proposed $50 million plan to provide grants to states that have enacted bans, to pay for more police work to catch lawbreakers.
Yeah, FORK OVER MORE BORROWED TAX LOOT for FEDERAL TYRANNY that you will be TICKETED FOR, America!
Sig heil, a**holes!
Jeff Larson, head of a Massachusetts safe-driving organization that urged lawmakers to pass a texting ban, said the new ban should be considered “a starting point to making our roads safer.’’
“It took seat belt laws years before the full effects were felt,’’ he said in an e-mail....
He has a point to a certain extent; however, I'm sick of government $itting on my shoulder.
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Yeah, and FORGET the FACT that the LAW DOESN'T WORK!
"Police set for start of texting ban today; Vow to curtail distracted drivers" by Shelley Murphy, Globe Staff | September 30, 2010
State Police will be watching for drivers handling cellphones while weaving on highways. Boston traffic units plan to target young drivers. Police officers statewide say they face a challenge in distinguishing whether someone is texting or dialing while behind the wheel, but say they are committed to using the state’s new law to remove distracted drivers from the road.
“The message to the public is: You will be stopped, and some type of action will be taken, if an officer sees you violating one of the new law’s provisions or operating in an erratic manner,’’ said State Police Lieutenant Stephen J. Walsh, chief of staff to the commander of the Division of Field Services....
Do you understand this message?
Boston police officials said that officers in traffic units across the city will be on the lookout for violators, and they plan to target young drivers, who tend to be the worst offenders when it comes to texting....
Boston police Superintendent William Evans. “It’s going to be a big priority for us.’’
What, not enough RAPES, ROBBERIES, and MURDERS to SOLVE?
Initially, he said, officers will make a public education push; then, at some point, they may launch crackdowns near high schools.
Welcome to AmeriKa, kids!
Teenagers caught texting while driving should expect to get a citation, Evans added, because “that’s the only way we are going to get our message across.’’
And you know what ME$$AGE they MEAN!
And don't worry, I got the message: SIG HEIL!
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The Municipal Police Training Committee, the state agency that trains municipal officers, is including instruction on the law as part of its classroom and Internet training. State troopers will receive guidance on the law via e-mail and Internet.
But authorities said enforcement will largely be left to the discretion of officers. They must decide when there is sufficient evidence to ticket drivers for texting and make snap judgments on whether a driver holding a cellphone is under 18.
“The law doesn’t say that you must see them texting,’’ said Daniel Zivkovich, executive director of the Municipal Police Training Committee. However, he said the burden is on officers to prove the violation in court, if a driver appeals the ticket.
Imagine, the BURDEN of PROOF that a CRIME has been committed being on the authorities!
“That’s why some officers and chiefs are frustrated with this,’’ Zivkovich said. “At the end of the day, they have to prove the violation. . . . .’’
Isn't that what our SYSTEM of JUSTICE is SUPPOSED to BE?
Officers are not authorized to seize a driver’s cellphone, but may ask to see it to verify whether the driver was texting or talking, police said. However, drivers have the right to refuse. And even if a driver offers to turn over a cellphone, officers may not want to engage in a roadside debate.
Then again, they may want to give you a good beating. It's not like it has never happened before.
“I don’t think you are going to have many chiefs who are going to want their officers involved in trying to take phones and determine what [drivers] were doing,’’ said Medfield Police Chief Robert E. Meaney Jr.
Remember that for the next article, please.
John Reinstein, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said that if officers ask for a cellphone, it may later raise questions about whether a driver turned it over voluntarily.
Walsh said troopers must have reasonable suspicion that someone was texting to cite the driver for the practice. However, he said that if someone using a cellphone is stopped for driving erratically and an officer cannot prove they were texting, the officer could still cite them under the provision of the law that makes it an offense to allow a cellphone to interfere with safe driving.
“You don’t necessarily have to prove they were texting to enforce this law,’’ Walsh said. “You just have to show the device was interfering with the safe operation of a motor vehicle.’’
And the town coffers are magically filled!
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Law enforcement officials said most police departments lack the resources to launch initiatives aimed at texting or cellphones because there is no federal funding dedicated to those efforts, as there is for drunken driving checkpoints and seat belt enforcement.
“We’re not going to dedicate texting patrols,’’ said Walsh, but troopers will watch for violators, he added.
I will bet SOMEONE WILL!
He predicted that the majority of stops that lead to citations under the new law will be triggered by a driver weaving or driving erratically, common signs of a distracted driver.
Drivers are being urged to pull off the road to a safe place if they want to text, but Walsh said there has been an alarming increase in drivers pulling into the breakdown lane to talk or text. He cautioned that stopping along a state highway, except in an emergency, is also a violation.
State Senator Steven A. Baddour, a Methuen Democrat who cochairs the Legislature’s Transportation Committee, said that enforcement, along with education, is critical to the law’s success.
“The more aggressive law enforcement is in enforcing this ban,’’ Baddour said, “the more people will get the message: Don’t text and drive.’’
Yeah, the HEAVY HAND of GOVERNMENT is going to MAKE SURE I get the MESSAGE!!
And they WONDER why they are HATED?
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"Texters get a swift message; On ban’s first day, police halt distracted drivers" by Eric Moskowitz, Globe Staff | October 1, 2010
It was Day One of the state’s ban on texting while driving, and troopers Anthony Dear and Michael Ahern were scanning cars around them....
This after the police said they wouldn't be allocating resources to it.
And then they saw him....
Dear and Ahern are members of the State Police’s Community Action Team, a floating unit that supplements regular state and local patrols in high-crash and high-crime areas across Greater Boston. Yesterday, they allowed the Globe to observe as they followed a zigzagging route from South Boston to Dedham and back on highways and local roads to enforce the new ban, as well as all other traffic laws.
“It’s not just about texting,’’ said Dear, noting that there is also an established law that enables police to write $35 citations for “impeded operation’’ or “unsafe driving’’ of almost any kind, be it operating while listening to headphones, or driving with the seat reclined too far.
The new law is part of a wave of related bills enacted nationally amid growing awareness of the dangers posed by distracted drivers. In 2009, nearly 1 million accidents and 500,000 injuries were attributed to distraction.
Last year, Americans sent 1.6 trillion text messages and spent 2.3 trillion minutes talking on cellphones, much of it done on the roads....
How can they know that?
Troopers are encouraged to use discretion and common sense, drawing on their experience and the circumstances, in enforcing the distracted-driving laws.
That is supposed to make me feel better?
Near the Braintree Split, the pair spotted a man in a Toyota Highlander who appeared to be either dozing or texting.
“His eyes are up, his eyes are down. . . . I want to see where his hands are,’’ said Ahern, as Dear navigated for a closer look. But when the troopers pulled alongside the man, he locked his focus on the road, both hands on the wheel. They kept driving....
The troopers said they were issuing more first-day warnings than citations, except for egregious violations, with education their primary goal. “If nothing else, a citation, a warning — it educates the public,’’ Ahern said. “And that education hopefully will help curb the behavior.’’
Oh, it is an education, all right! An in-your-face introduction to fascism!
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Did you like your ride in the police car, Globe?
Also see: Diehards say texting is tough to kick
Time to punt.
