F/U texting and driving, that Missouri crash, NTSB recommends ban on cell phone use while driving

[silvarios]

Mike Johnson wrote: Talking on a cell phone is a distraction, and it should be illegal while driving. Here in CA, it's a ticket, but no points on your record. That's absurd. Anybody saying "X is also distracting" is missing the point. We don't legalize heroin because alcohol is legal.

Straw man? I don't think anyone is advocating anything that causes distracted driving. I think the point is being made that In many jurisdictions, there are already laws against the general behavior of driving while distracted. Why not enforce existing legislation? In fact, the incident being cited shows the at fault party was already in violation of such a law.

[silvarios]

Sorry davester, didn't see your post. Same thoughts, but your points were better relayed (not to mention posted well before mine meandered from my brain to the keyboard).

[Grace62]

As I said before, distracted driving charges are very easy to beat in court and have weak to non-existent primary enforcement mechanisms. So they don't contribute much to safety and prevention.

We need primary enforcement laws for this specific behavior. That's the only way to curb it. Cell phone use is responsible for a quarter of all traffic accidents now. Tough DUI laws and enforcement save lives, and tough anti-texting laws and enforcement will do the same.

[digby]

OWC Jamie wrote:
Children? Spouses? A vehicle has any number of distractions and not all are electronic ...

Oh, can we have a ban on spouses critiquing the driver?