We could all see this one coming. When Rep. Richard Roy, D-Milford, went on a crusade to get the state legislator to pass a statewide ban on hand held cell phones, the likely outcome was going to be what we see now. People still drive, yakking on cell phones, held in their hands. Except that maybe they have some hands-free device sitting in the car with them, unused.
Naturally Richard Roy wants to revisit the legislation, and increase the fine, currently $100 and spending tax money on an education program, presumably to alert people to the law. As if people were actually unaware. Which is not the problem.
The problem is that hands-free technologies, whether the wired headset, speakerphone or bluetooth headset don’t work well. It’s not just the technology of hands-free, the quality of phone reception is less than ideal in many parts of Connecticut, causing conversations to become a guessing game.
Yet, State Rep Roy wants to continue this tinkering with this bad legislation, encouraging Rep. Thomas J. Drew, D-Fairfield who says the fine should be $250, and went as far as leading an unsuccessful attempt to get the fine raised in the last legislative session.
“The people are really just blatantly ignoring it and eventually someone’s going to be very seriously hurt,” Drew said to the Connecticut Post. ” We have to continue doing what we can to eliminate that unnecessary risk.”
Here we see the good old fear tactic. Ye gads. Sometimes political flunkies are just so dumb. The real problem is that we have scores of bad drivers in this state that blatantly break existing motor vehicle laws on a daily basis. You know these laws, or at least once did, since they are the ones that the DMV uses to test applicants for driver licenses. Do we really think that its the hand held cell phone that causes drivers to swerve from lane to lane, cut off vehicles in other lanes, tail gate, make turns without signaling and traveling on I-95 at 80 mph?
If the State police just minimally enforced the existing rules of the road, we’d all be driving in a risk reduced environment. But no, legislators, who have studiously avoided any attempt at tackling big issues like reforming property tax, want more efforts wasted on feel good legislation.
The biggest problem with this law is that it is virtually unenforceable. You can see for yourself how difficult it is by trying to observe how many people you see driving while talking on a hand held cell phone. Some, will have the bluetooth eair piece on one ear and will still be holding the phone. Some will be holding the phone while its on speaker phone. Some will be tapping out text messages, not talking, and you won’t even see the phone. Some will be writing down directions while listening through the car speakers. Some will be singing along to MP3 tunes, and not talking. And all of that is mostly observable when cars are driving slowly, at stop lights or not moving. Try this experiment, keeping your eyes on the road, at 70 mph. Tinted windows? Out of luck, you’ll need to be driving in front or behind the suspected vehicle. Night time, that tell tale glow won’t tell you much with all the reflection from headlights.
Better driving is an admirable goal, but focusing on non driving behaviors is the wrong approach. Some people, who are neither driving while talking on the phone, nor otherwise engaged in distracting behaviors, should not be allowed on the roads. We all know them when we see them, the slow moving, permanent turn signaling hesitant crawls because they likely can’t read the street signs. The riced out rides that blow past stopped school buses. The SUV moms who can barely see above the dash and are more concerned with looking in the backseat at their hermetically confined child cocoons in the back seat. The pick up trucks laden with crap that flies off the bed as they hit every pot hole like a driving game of whack-a-mole. Last but certainly not least, the DWI.
The state Department of Motor Vehicles reported last week that there are 2,426,278 valid drivers licenses; 2,177,567 registered passenger vehicles and a total of 2,997,050 vehicles, including trucks and buses. The total number of mobile phones is harder to gauge because of the various competing companies and technologies.
While the state Judicial Branch reported that more than 9,800 people statewide were caught for violating the law during calendar-year 2006, this year, between Jan. 1 and June 30, 16,231 cases were brought to court, indicating a sharp increase in enforcement.
Of the 16,231 drivers cited, 8,585 were let off the hook after producing evidence that they purchased hands-free devices.
Those found guilty during the first six months of this year totaled 6,833, including 27 bus drivers and 16 drivers under the age of 18, who are prohibited from using any communications devices.
The numbers don’t lie. Despite the increased enforcement, the bad driving continues. And the bad legislators keep focusing on the wrong problem.
source: The Connecticut Post, Cell phone law making a poor connection, by KEN DIXON, 09/29/2007
