IXLR8

This is the result of a cell phone yapping idiot. My body didn't do much better...

goofballdeluxe

I'll take it one step further: use of phones in cars at all, regardless of hands-free, should be banned. Fines should be based on income as well. Good luck getting police to do anything fairly and uniformly.

IXLR8

Ed, drivers only need to do one thing in a car....DRIVE.

Those who think yapping on a cell phone is fine, I wish them a pilot who is having a heated argument with their soon to be divorced wife while on final approach at minimums.

IXLR8

In some countries they are.

e9stibi

+1! The death toll needs to be higher until people start to think about this. Let's be a good example and not use the phone at all while driving. If something is important than it should be possible to stop, deal with it quickly and effectively and keep driving safely without this potentially deadly distraction. The invention of flat rates have been the worst thing happening ...

If your kids need some graphic wake up call, use this video from 2009 (from BBC). As I said, it is graphic but this is what happens every day with an increasing trend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I54mlK0kVw

Ed Hughes

We've been discussing this on the 911 forum for a week or so. No big surprise! As I said there, this isn't just a California issue. States and cities across the country are headed "upside down". Raising fines and penalties is low hanging fruit.

Canyon56

I suppose the other side of the argument could be that the reason "there were only a few hundred deaths in CA last year because of drinking/driving" might be because of "all the DUI 'don't drink and drive' BS."

Interestingly enough, when I speak with interns and students they tend to say that drinking and driving is for losers and that they would never do it and instead call a cab, etc.. They seem pretty hip to the issues and they imply that it's hip to not even be a drinker or stoner these days.

It wasn't too long ago that "designated driver" wasn't even part of the American lexicon. So it's very possible that "all the DUI BS" is actually taking effect, slowly but surely.

In respect to phones, I have a full voice control system in my other car and complete hands-free phone, stereo, and Nav, etc.. But I've discovered that I can't remember the past few miles when I've been on the phone. So I stopped answering the phone while driving. Even hands-free is incredibly distracting.

goofballdeluxe

Yes, as usual, you make many valid points.

I guess what I was trying to say is the powers that be push these messages in big part due to the revenue, just as many municipalities enforce traffic laws mostly for revenue these days, not safety.

Clearly, local governments love when people get busted for driving .08% (used to be .10% by the way; why did it change? More $$$ perhaps?) because DUI penalties and fees are a gold mine for municipalities. I know someone who got a DUI in his driveway, with the engine off listening to the radio. $10K in fees later...and these fees are skyrocketing not because of some moral outrage or because of so many killed by DUI, but because the city is broke through corruption and ineptitude.

If it was really about safely, no one should ever be allowed to talk or text on a phone. It cannot enhance your focus on driving, and it can only distract you as you operate a 3500 pound missile. Why isn't texting punishable as DUI? Studies show it's at least as dangerous. Texting should be punishable the same way, yet it isn't. I guess the wireless phone lobby up in Washington D.C. is stronger than MADD...

DUI is $10K. Texting on cell is probably $200 fine worst case. That says it all.

FlatSix911

I am going to have my 15 yo daughter watch that video ...

Quadcammer

what in the hell does that have to do with it?

Don't like the bigger fines, don't break the law...pretty simple.

If you think the fines are too large, move to a different state.

95 NC 993

All these excessive fines create another monster that government doesn't even consider. That is the creation of offenders that will be unable or refuse to pay the fines. This creates an unnecessary number of drivers who will be driving with revoked or suspended licenses. Once the DL's are no good, why bother complying with insurance? The DL is already suspended, who cares? Now you have even more uninsured drivers on the roads, more incidents of 'hit and run' (because who wants to get caught with no DL), and the insurance costs go up in turn as well. A never ending cycle in the wrong direction. When I started law enforcement in 1977 in FL the fines were $25 for most everything. Affordable without crippling people's wallets. It taught a lesson and actually served as a learning tool for many. Not all naturally but it was still a deterrant due to points accumulating and insurance rates going up. How on God's green earth can goverment justify these insane increases and expect no consequences for these actions?

Quadcammer

You drive on a suspended license with no insurance and you go to jail.

There will always be people who want to risk it.

IXLR8

Simple! Confiscate the car.They just started doing that in Italy recently and other countries as well. When people can't seem to figure things out for themselves, others (the government) will do it for them.

There are far too many cases where drivers licences have been revoked for multiple DUI offences only to have the a-hole finally take out a family in a car. No car...no hazard.

A driver had a slight fender bender in a traffic circle in Rovereto, Italy recently. He was way over the alcohol limit. His car was confiscated and sold. He later jumped off a bridge. Problem solved...before he could hurt anyone innocent!

Terry Adams

I am ok with all of the fines, including speeding. I bought a 9500ci. It goes off so often - not falses either - that I have slowed down.
Texting fine should be 10X the cell phone fine. Even hands free is not distraction free.

It's more about revenue generation than safety, but all is fair in income redistribution and government waste. Unlike income taxes, these are all voluntary.

The pity is, a cop can generate more revenue out of a 10 mph over ticket than out of a blatant cell phone use ticket, so enforcement becomes arbitrary.

matt777

In general, if the laws and fines are for the good of the public from a safety perspective, I am fine with them. If they are revenue based, then not so much (have you ever seen speed traps in hidden locations that caught many offenders rather than near high accident rate intersections?). What is the real driver behind these new fines?