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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Driving while talking on the phone a federal offense?

NTSB seeks nationwide ban on driver use of personal electronic devices

[This post has been updated]
The National Transportation Safety Board recommended a nationwide ban on driver use of personal electronic devices Tuesday, following its investigation into a deadly accident last year in Missouri.
NTSB Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman discussed the recommendations during a press conference after a meeting on that accident.
“According to [the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration], more than 3,000 people lost their lives last year in distraction-related accidents,”she said. “It is time for all of us to stand up for safety by turning off electronic devices when driving.”
While the NTSB investigates transportation and pipeline accidents and makes recommendations on safety rules and regulations, it has no power to implement them.
The NTSB’s recommendations urge all 50 states and the District ”to ban the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed to support the driving task).” According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, 35 states, including Maryland and Virginia, and the District ban texting while driving.
Read the rest here at WaPo.

4 comments:

  1. I seem to remember that the Fed's tried to ban alcohol at one time and that didn't work. It also seems like they've made "that nasty weed" illegal and are spending billions on that effort with little results. Some in the government also want to make all firearms illegal and they're having a rough time with that... now they want to try to stop people from using their electronics while they drive.... hmmmmm..... I forsee the day when 51% of Americans work for the Federal Government trying to keep 49% from doing... whatever! Oh those crazy liberals!!!

    Oh... Fuck Obama!

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  2. To this nanny state idea I offer my non-nanny state solution. One takes an exam at the DMV, sitting in a mock auto, with steering wheel and brake and gas, a screen in front: here the light turns from green to yellow to red. One's cell phone rings, a DMV employee acting as your employer demands you return to work asap as something is dreadfully wrong. Here comes a stop sign, the speed limit drops from 55 to 35, now your wife is on the phone, she is really pissed, a dog or kid darts out between parked cars.
    If you pass you get a drivers license to talk on your phone while driving, or else not.
    A twist on my DWI solution, where you show up at the DMV with a bottle and test how high your BAC can go before your reaction times degrade.
    But then we used to have a test to see if you were intelligent enough to vote.
    Now we have Obama.

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  3. Ok, so does that mean that cops can't answer radios or use their computers to run plates, paramedics can't answer calls, and all those idiots I see putting on makeup, eating, reading (a fucking romance novel at 65 mph for fucks sake!), changing radio stations, etc. are all going to be banned? Yeah right. They "banned" drinking and driving decades ago, and we still have liquored up morans plowing into families. This is just another idiotic move by the gubment to allow further intrusion. Fuck Obama and the idiots he rode in on!

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  4. Personally I feel people that talk or text while driving should be shot but the feds getting involved.

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