Now is the time at SDA when we witness the evolution of hands free devices!
Toronto Star. 2009 – Ontario motorists will likely have until fall before it becomes illegal to use hand-held cellphones and other electronic devices like BlackBerrys and global positioning systems while at the wheel..
Cnews, 2010 – Lambton County OPP say they stopped a big rig driver doing some driving dentistry along Hwy. 402 on Wednesday.
I heard about an American trucker that got fined a few days after the cellphone ban came into effect in Ontario for using his CB. What’s next, banning manual transmissions? I’d think they are just as or more distracting than using a CB radio.
The truth is that most laws need an IQ clause added to them. If your IQ is below some level then the law applies, otherwise it does not.
The gear grinder was probably a tooth grinder.
The thing that’s always bothered me about these behaviour-specific laws is that we already have laws that allow highway police to use their best judgement when someone is clearly being an idiot behind the wheel – dangerous driving, criminal negligence, etc. Anyone incapable of asking and answering the simple question “am I being a dumbass right now?” when behind the wheel shouldn’t be allowed behind the wheel in the first place.
TJS
[…….I heard about an American trucker that got fined a few days after the cellphone ban came into effect in Ontario for using his CB. What’s next, banning manual transmissions? I’d think they are just as or more distracting than using a CB radio…..]
Never heard that…..
The obvious question is are the Police banned from using their communciations gear unless parked. Aviation????
Innovation marches on….
Satellite links for trucks involved a small keyboard….which was auckward/dangerous to use while underway….then call-phone were adopted as a cheaper alternative…..with dispatchers not terribly sympathetic to the driver pulling over before answering…..
While military aircraft and airliners involve hands-free gear…..Police and fire do not….and light aircraft..
How about the trucker that was fined for smoking in his rig?. The cops claimed that it was his workplace and smoking in a workplace is banned in Ontario.
Why would you not focus on driving while driving? If putting on make-up, texting or juggling is far more engaging than watching the road, driving is not for you.
Osumashi, you’d think that, but I’ve seen people -reading- while driving. Not reading a map or an address, reading a book. Saw that one time in New York and thought I’d seen everything, then I saw it again in Hamilton Ontario on Upper Gage Ave. a couple months ago.
Oh yeah, I blew my horn at that guy!
But still, the problem is attempting to idiot proof the world is futile. The world just keeps creating bigger idiots.
Daniel Ream…..
The thing that’s always bothered me about these behaviour-specific laws is that we already have laws that allow highway police to use their best judgement when someone is clearly being an idiot behind the wheel – dangerous driving, criminal negligence, etc.
Exactly!
This law is the kind of knee jerk response from idiot politicians who believe they can use it to pander for votes from sheeple.
Our legal codes and statutes have examples of this sort of thing going back to horse and buggy times.
My opinion is that virtually all these statutes are unenforceable. In the case of the cellphone thing …. how many police do you want to pay for to drive around monitoring people in their cars?
I think the solution to idiot drivers is to make the driving tests seriously difficult and with mandatory retesting every 5 years.
Yes, Bingo Daniel Ream (the silliness of behaviour-specific laws). As you suggest, it’s all covered under existing laws: driving without undue care and attention (or whatever the wording).
Me too, The Phamtom. On a ride, I encountered a READER coming toward me on Chuckanut Drive near Bellingham WA. I thought, ‘nah, this can’t be’ but it was. And a BOOK too which I confirmed with a quick left glance when we were alongside.
A gear-head friend has been pushing me to put GPS on my motorcycle. I told him that if I was absolutely certain I wouldn’t use it while riding, I’d get one. Knowing I would, I haven’t. I know of a rider in BC who’s made a habit of rear-ending fellow group riders whilst operating his GPS.
If you’ll excuse my uncharateristic crudity, same rider-friend told me he’s seen quite a few blow-jobs while passing cars. It’s unclear whether this would qualify as operating a hand-held device.
Yeah, right.
Nothing like having a creative writer on staff.
I’ve been listening to these silly P releases for years: woman tossing a salad while driving; man stirring a stew in a crock-pot on the 401;teenager steering with his feet at 188 kph.
So we all shake our heads and go tsk, tsk; Aren’t we lucky to have our traffic cops out on the road.
I’m waiting for this headline out of the OPP media relations branch: Officers star-gazing while criminals pound senior citizens in Caledonia.
Well, there is something to be said for having specific behaviours defined as offenses. It makes them easy to prove and reduces (at least potentially) the amount of courtroom hijinks you have to put up with. It’s a lot easier for a cop, six months after the fact, to swear credibly “he was holding a phone” than to swear “he was endangering traffic”. A lot less subjectivity, a lot less room for browbeating the cop.
That said, I don’t think this is a necessary or productive move.