If you text and drive, this ban's for you

We cannot go a day without some right-wing nutjob accusing democrats of taking away all of their rights! This isn’t about the rights of the person texting, it’s about the rights of the person driving safely who would get broadsided by the person driving and texting..

I want to smoke in public, I want to drive and text at the same time, I want to dump my waste into the river… blah blah blah

I think Erik makes good points. We know it's not the safest thing to do, but neither are any of the other activities he listed above. And if you (those of you who are fired up and think we'll all inevitably cause some major accident) really believe you don't do anything that distracts you, then maybe take a harder look at your habits. Everyone has something.

It's a subjective matter, as far as I'm concerned. Yes, it's a distraction - but it's not as major of a distraction for me personally than it is for some other people. And other things - like driving in heavy rain - may be a bigger distraction for me than they are for some.

So, I "third" the comment about knowing your limits. If you can't "safely" text or talk while driving, then don't.

I think that they should ban cell phones in bars, restaurants, parks, Saints games, homes and cars.
The long term effects of cell phone transmissions are not yet fully understood To make everywhere (including tibet and anywhere else that there are monks or gnomes) safe for everyone(including monks and gnomes), I think it would be prudent to have a permanent ban on Cell Phones. I for one don't want to die from brain cancer from the electronic pulses being emitted from your phone. Not to mention the millions of unrecycled cell phone that are sitting in landfills all over the planet. Did you know that if you took all of the old discarded cell phones in the world you could fill in Lake Superior with them,and then what would happen to the fishies). God only knows how many people have already died due to improper cell phone use and their harmful cancerous electronic emissions. Please MN legislature for the sake of all of our children and those starving in Africa too, and suffering in Myanmar, enact and ratify an amendment to the MN State constitution, banning the use of cell phones before they trigger the start of the apocolypse. We can call if the CPSAFAOHFAOMN (CELL PHONE SAFTEY ACT FOR ALL OF HUMANITY ACT OF MINNESOTA) Thank you for your attention to this matter and just remember, if you don't pass enough high profile, useless laws you will surely be voted out of office in the next election, just like all of the evil republicans. DO YOU HEAR ME AL FRANKEN!!! GET RID OF THE EMEFFING CELL PHONES NOW OR I'LL VOTE FOR COLEMAN!!!!

Yet another example of why some republicans need to be removed to make room for conservatives who are willing to get government out of our face in this police state. Nice work at handing over yet another behavior modification, Tim. I hope you are among the first pulled over and ticketed.

"So, I third the comment about knowing your limits. If you can't "safely" text or talk while driving, then don't."

sure and i've known people who've considered themselves "excellent" drunk drivers too, 1 of them is a quadriplegic now after he hit a tree at 3AM a few years ago

why are people like you so against safe driving? for the sake of your bad habits and personal convenience

This is all that Nanny state can come up with????

TEXTING WHILE DRIVING?????

They get paid to sit and debate issues like this and act as if they are doing somthing to actually improve safety...

1.) We have seatbelt laws... yet hardly no one gets pulled over for JUST a seat belt... the cop either is **** for the day or is bored...

2.) Like a cop will waste his time to pull someone over because he MIGHT think that the person is texting?? What if you pick your phone up and look the screen to view pictures... or other things. Is that the same as texting because your attention is on the phone? or does it not require active thinking to create sentences in replies because frankly texts don't require much thinking anyway, everything is short hand etc " lol , omw... wat time r u goin" Etc....

3.) So Im waiting on legislation that will put muzzles on kids in the back seats so soccer moms don't turn around and tell their crying kids to shut up...

4.) How about the radio.... lets take that out too.. because GOD knows how many unattentive drivers can't focus due to loud noises... but that is THEIR choice to turn their music up extremeley loud right..?

5.) I think our Govt can do something a lil better than worrying about things they will never change, people will still text, especially with T9 Word which if you text you will know that It can be VERY VERY VERY easy to text t9w... so easy, that you can text messages without looking at your phone with only one hand... sounds very very complex to do that and drive...

This is bull crap legislation that is only intended to make them appear to be doing something... next thing it will be radio or eating or hell smoking in your car.. because you all pay the Nanny she'll keep abusin that power..

I have a proposal! How about a law giving you a free pass to get out of your car at a stop light and kick the snot out of the person texting/talking/being a dumb **** in the car in front of you? I need that law because I swear I am going to be that guy sooner or later. You texters/talkers/innattentive morons all **** and you shouldn't have the right to be on my road in my humble opinion.$1000 fine for refusing to turn over your cell to an officer that wants to check your text log or take their damn vehicles, that'll make em wake up.

I say nail them all with huge fines or prison. If I got into an accident with one of these jerks I would go after their whole family until they suffered.

Chad wrote:

<quoted text>
no, actually they have a law on being drunk and driving, and an open container law. you can have a drink non-alcoholic beverages as much as you want while you drive, as long as you are being attentive......which has been brought up already, stop making more laws and bans, when the ones in place cover this issue and just enforce it....
please think then post

Chad, nobody was talking about non-alcoholic drinks. You think before you post and the rest of us won't have any additional issues.

Wacky Tobbacee wrote:

I have a proposal! How about a law giving you a free pass to get out of your car at a stop light and kick the snot out of the person texting/talking/being a dumb **** in the car in front of you? I need that law because I swear I am going to be that guy sooner or later. You texters/talkers/innattentive morons all **** and you shouldn't have the right to be on my road in my humble opinion.$1000 fine for refusing to turn over your cell to an officer that wants to check your text log or take their damn vehicles, that'll make em wake up.

I pay taxes...

smarter than you wrote:

I say nail them all with huge fines or prison. If I got into an accident with one of these jerks I would go after their whole family until they suffered.

Just like Liberals care to go after activist Judges that allow child rapists to walk free after just a few years...???

Fire in your heart !! You should start going after people with loud mufflers because thats really annoying too and ...

If I ever get in a accident while driving my Geo Green car... and end up deader than a tin can... it is clearly the FAULT of the other person for not being caring enough to leave his truck or SUV at home...

*/end sarcasm*

Cary wrote:

1.) We have seatbelt laws... yet hardly no one gets pulled over for JUST a seat belt... the cop either is **** for the day or is bored...

Um, the police are not ALLOWED to pull you over for just not wearing a seat belt. It's called a secondary offense. Maybe you caught the whole debate this year over making it a primary offense? Sheesh.

What the heck, I text all the time when I drive and I've never been in an accident, althought I've caused quite a few, but hey, that's life in the big city, right.

Game Plan wrote:

We cannot go a day without some right-wing nutjob accusing democrats of taking away all of their rights! This isn’t about the rights of the person texting, it’s about the rights of the person driving safely who would get broadsided by the person driving and texting..
I want to smoke in public, I want to drive and text at the same time, I want to dump my waste into the river… blah blah blah

why all the extra bans on stuff, they have a law for inattentive driving, if they are stating that text messaging = inattentive driving, then they do not need to add another law, just enforce the current one that we have.....and how do you enforce this, you are putting police officers checking on people to see if they are texting, making a phone call, or listening to music...they can see if the person is swerving, obeying the speed limit, if they are not they can already pull them over...with this law, i can bet you that the police will pull people over that are not breaking the law and just stating they observed the person texting, i think the real reason this was done was because they did not pass the seat belt revision making it a primary offense, they need a law that was a primary offense to give cops an excuse to pull peopl over that are not breaking the law....

be careful on playing music or taking a call on your cell phone because a cop will pull you over and one of your judges will state that you were breaking the spirit of the law.......

grandpa dan wrote:

"sure and i've known people who've considered themselves "excellent" drunk drivers too, 1 of them is a quadriplegic now after he hit a tree at 3AM a few years ago
why are people like you so against safe driving? for the sake of your bad habits and personal convenience

I didn't say I was excellent at it. And if you read the article, I also say I don't text while driving at high speeds or in bad weather. "Us people" probably have a different idea of "safe driving" than you do. I am not in any way defending myself, because everyone's opinions are obviously valid in their own right.

But if you're going to go so far as to relate drunk driving to driving while texting, you clearly have a very different perception than I do (and most other texters, I'd guess). If anyone is impaired as much by texting as they are by alcohol, there's no way there should be texting while they drive.

I, however, am not. Question that if you want.

I do hope, though, the people who are being judgmental (instead of stating opinions) are also taking a look at their non cellphone-related habits that might be just as distracting.

jpberka in Saint Paul wrote:

<quoted text>
Chad, nobody was talking about non-alcoholic drinks. You think before you post and the rest of us won't have any additional issues.

my initial post was that your state was getting to the point that it would start banning drinking (anytime) and being fat (anytime) and you went on a rant about drinking and driving, which not even the point of my post....so i was just going on your angle of my previous post, because you did not read or understand it.....

Texting should be banned in cars. As a motorcycle rider I all too often see people doing other things when they should be watching the road. Many texters have not seen me until it was almost too late.

Joan wrote:

FINALLY! Last August my 2 daughters, my neice and my nephew were all in seperate accidents, within two days, due to texting. They are all teenagers and nobody was seriously injured. It still cost alot of money with property damage and insurance rates going up. Cell phones, either talking or texting, are dangerous while driving.

raise smarter kids.

tired of stupid people wrote:

All I can say is if you hit me while your on the cell phone or texting I'll sue you for everything you ever worked for. Hurt me and I'll hunt you down.

prove it **** clown.

as an amendment to this bill;
1- no changing the radio station on car stereo
2- no "vanity checks" of hair or makeup in mirror
3- no drinking of beverages
4- no reach overs to put the pacifier in crying babies mouth
5- no more driving with the "gangsta lean" on the center front console. Two hands on wheel at all times.
6- no animated expressions of any kind. This includes, however is not limited to, singing, laughing, smiling, gesturing or speaking. This will be considered a distraction to driver.
7- no eating
8- no adjusting the temperature control or vent direction

and on and on and on and on...